How a picture collage will make 2012 a great year for you

I love reaching summits.  And I love being out in the wilderness.  There is nothing better than  standing on top of a mountain top.  I’m at the highest point.  And the views are pretty good!

But sometimes it can be difficult to make time for the mountains.  I have the pressures of running a busy training and consultancy business.  And I want to make sure that I spend quality time with my family.

It’s easy for the mountains to be forgotten.  And day to day pressures can make print businesses stop thinking about the bigger picture too.  It’s easy for print businesses to forget their goals.

And that’s where picture collages come in

Picture collages are a great way to set your goals for 2012

You may not have heard of picture collages before.  But they are a great way to set out your goals for the coming year.  And they are a great way to make sure you keep to them.

People who use picture collages remain in control of where they are going.  They achieve what they set out to achieve.

People who set goals without using systems such as picture collages rarely achieve what they hope for.  They forget about what is important to them.  So they lose control of the bigger picture.  They get taken over by the little things in day to day life.  They wonder where their time has gone.

If you want to avoid that you need a picture collage.

What is a picture collage?

A picture collage is simply a set of pictures hung up in a prominent place in your workspace.  The pictures may be personal photos.  Or they may be taken from magazines, or from picture libraries.  They laid out by you, in a way that appeals to you.  Each picture represents a goal for you.

The goal is something that you wish to achieve next year.  There should be a mix of personal and private goals.

The collage exists to remind you of these goals.  Because the collage is where you can see it, you are always reminded of your goals.

You will be surprised at how this constant reminder works so effectively.  Last year, there wasn’t a single goal that I failed to achieve.

But there is one other reason for this.

It is important that you only set goals that you want to achieve

Think about why you are running your business?  And think about what you would like to achieve in the year ahead.  These are the goals that you should be setting.

Sometimes you may set a goal simply because you feel you ought to.  But this sort of goal is rarely achieved.  If your heart isn’t in it, the goal is unlikely to happen.  And if your heart isn’t in it, is it really worth spending time and effort on a goal?

Here are some the goals that I have set for 2012

My personal goals include:

• Having time to climb mountains (of course!)
• Having good family time
• Getting out to see more live music
• Improving my bread baking skills

And my business goals include

• Successfully launching the Print Industry Negotiation Handbook (click here to find out more)
• Writing and launching a guide to choosing a printing company
• Increasing the number of subscribers to my articles

Of course I have made my goals specific and measurable

So, for instance, I have a sales target for the Print Industry Negotiation Handbook.  And a specific activity plan to achieve these sales.  And I have a specific amount of time that I wish to devote to mountains.  But I haven’t got as far as setting myself a specific number of summits!

However, the purpose of the picture collage is simply to remind me that I have these goals.  The collage does not need to refer to all the specifics.

And it is this that causes many people to question if the picture collage really works.

Surely this is too simple to get results

But it is the simplicity of the picture collage that makes it effective.  I have been using them for a while now and they have worked well.  I don’t have to be put off by complicated action plans.  I just have a picture that I see nearly every day.  And that picture acts as a gentle reminder of my goals.

And it’s fun to make the collage too.

So get your picture collage underway today

Here are three things you need to do to get started:

1. Set a date when you will set aside one hour.  This is to set your outline goals and to make the collage
2. Start saving some magazines so that you have plenty of pictures when you make the collage.  Or start taking some inspirational pictures if you are a keen photographer
3. Make sure you have somewhere to hang your picture collage.  Reserve a space on the wall where you work

And, finally, it would be great to hear of some of the goals that you set.  It’s great to hear what motivates my readers.  And I’ll be able to think of you working on your achievements next year.

Just as you can think of me standing on the summit of a mountain.

This is my final article for 2011.  But I’ll be back on January with more for 2012.  In the meantime I hope you have a great Christmas and New Year break.

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P.S.  You will remember that one of my business goals for next year is to increase the number of readers that I have.  Could you help me with this?  Would you be able to tell three or four colleagues about this blog.  Please send them this link so that they can download my free e-book “Ten Common Print Selling Errors and What to Do About Them”.  Thank you – and have a great start to 2012!  Matthew