Vision Check – 2017

May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed ~ Ps. 20:4

I'm headed to the gym this morning for my weekly indoor swim.  The place will be more crowded than usual.  Sadly, it won't last long, maybe another couple of weeks.  For most, the end of this month will mean a return to couch potato land where too many Americans will roam until the next new year comes around and the cycle repeats.  My son's words still resonate in my head even though he's half-way around the world right now.  He told us, "you're 90% more likely to reach your goals when you write them down."  He was the fastest to complete his vision board, a family project we worked on while our youngest son was in town for the Holidays.  The rest of us needed more time to complete ours.  I didn't finish mine until early this morning.  It lists ten Bible quotes to help me focus on the new year ahead, including the verse from the Book of Psalms at the top of this post.  Another quote reads, time together is your rarest asset, you can't risk it being ordinary.  One section of the board is dedicated to my tennis dreams.  There's a picture of a 2013 Ford Escape with the date, 11/17, my target date for upgrading my used Honda, now at 210,000 miles.  A rough draft of my next book cover sports an Amazon.com Best Seller Sticker.  Based on sales of my first two books, that may seem far-fetched.  I know one thing – it's better to dream big than to not dream at all.  If I can change just one life with my next book I will be elated.

Today is a good day for a vision check.  Write your goals down.  Add some pictures to help you visualize all the opportunities ahead in the new year.  I hope to keep creating vision boards every year until I'm called up.  My commitment, as stated on this year's vision board, is to "be the caveman," and "to do my best every day, every time, without fail, no exceptions."  If I can still see when I'm 90 and I can still hit a tennis ball, I'm teaming up with my cousin to compete in the Men's 90's National Tennis Championships.  I have this feeling he will probably want to keep experimenting on his beloved lab rat and I'm already anticipating him staring me in the eye and saying, "let's go for the 100's, cuz.  All we have to do is outlive everybody and just show up.  Are you in?"  I'll come up with some insane answer from this year's vision board..."Every day, every time, without fail, no exceptions!"  That's my vision.  What's yours?  Have a great day.