Rebecca Donatelli

By Rebecca Donatelli

December 2019: It’s close to year’s end, the holiday season is upon us (crazy, isn’t it?), and we are in that “frantically planning for the New Year” phase.

We all do it—wake up one day at the end of the year “feeling inspired” and write the inevitable New Year’s resolutions list. For the majority of us, it usually resembles something like this:

• Double business
• Lose 20 pounds
• Save money
• Travel to five different destinations
• World peace

Don’t get me wrong, I love writing a good New Year’s resolution list. But the truth is, we seem to find ourselves in the same pattern year after year. We load up on coffee and hit the day hard keeping each resolution in mind, but then life happens and the list suddenly vanishes. Sayonara, size 2 waist.

Image by @picjumbo_com from Pixabay.

As of fairly recently, I ditched the traditional New Year’s resolutions list and started creating a vision statement for myself. I wanted more of a road map to keep me track for my goals rather than a bulleted list with no direction. It’s similar to when you travel to a new destination—you’re likely to reach your destination quicker with specific directions versus driving aimlessly until you get there.

So, what is a vision statement, and how will writing a vision statement versus a list New Year’s of resolutions allow me to stay on a better track with my goals?

A vision statement is an illustrative description of what you (or your company/team) desire to achieve in a specific period of time. A vision statement provides intention, focus, and conviction. While a New Year’s resolutions list also outlines your goals, it lacks direction on how to achieve them, making it easy to get off track and disregard throughout the year.

When you’re ready to get started, you should hand-write your vision statement in pen, and it should be dated exactly one year from the day you write it. Basically, you will be writing it in a way that implies you did achieve your goals.

“I woke up every day at 6:30 a.m. and went to LA Fitness to work out for one hour, and dropped 20 pounds!”

“I called five expired listings, wrote five handwritten cards, and posted on social media every day, which pushed me to hit my volume goal of $10 million in sales!”

The beauty of writing a vision statement is that you’re the boss, and you can format it any way that you like. It should be personal to you, yet very specific, and if you start getting emotional as you’re writing, you’ve done it right.

My final recommendation: Get it laminated and carry your vision statement with you everywhere you go. I keep mine in my planner (yes, I use a planner versus my phone calendar) so I can remind myself every day what is most important to me.

So grab a coffee, a blue pen and paper, and get writing. Let’s make 2020 the best year ever!

Rebecca Donatelli, ABR, SRS, is a residential agent and team lead of The Rebecca Donatelli Team with McDowell Homes Real Estate Services in Cleveland, Ohio. She was honored in REALTOR® Magazine’s 2019 class of 30 Under 30 and was voted a Top REALTOR® in Northeast Ohio by Cleveland Magazine in 2018 and 2019. She has built a large online presence through social media, specifically Instagram. Follow her @rebeccadonatelli.REALTOR.