Don't wait for success: It's up to you to create it

By Carolyn Leighton-Tal

esigning your future -- empowering words, empowering concept. If I had heard this at a young age, I would have known instinctively that this was a concept I could use, but I would not have known specifically how to apply it to my life. Like so many of the women I have come to know through Women in Technology International (WITI), I was born with a very definite personality. And even at an early age, I always needed to create my own path -- the one that made sense to me.

However, it wasn't until I was close to 40 and had started working with a business coach that I was able to effectively outline the steps required to design my future. Because I enjoy sharing my life lessons with anyone who might benefit -- this is one of the central principles of WITI that many people feel so passionately about -- in this column, I decided to share some of the things I learned. This entire issue of WITI fasttrack is packed with tools and tips to help you develop your future as well.

Here is an exercise I do regularly that helps me assess my life choices and design my future.

Step 1. Make a lifetime -- not a one-time -- commitment to mentally move from a reactive mode of working on someone else's agenda to a proactive mode of designing and supporting your own agenda. This is the most significant step toward designing your future and a truly empowering one, because it is precisely from this mind shift that you will gain strength and make your best decisions.

Step 2. Visualize coming to the end of your life and reviewing the choices you made. Mentally review what worked and what didn't, what mattered and what didn't. This exercise helps me ensure that my thinking, my choices, and my values are focused and carry my principles.

Step 3. Develop a list of goals you would like to achieve in your lifetime. I make my list in two columns: personal and professional. This is a fluid list, which should be reviewed and changed as frequently as you wish. Our growth will bring different perspectives and priorities, which will alter this list.

Step 4. Turn these goals into affirmations, visualizations, and actions. Techniques such as affirming, visualizing, and creating action items for yourself are powerful in helping you achieve your goals. Here's an example from my list.

• Goal: I will write my first book by the time I turn 40.
• Affirmation: I have completed my first book proposal and sent it to the top 10 publishers.
• Visualization: Every night before I go to sleep, visualize myself successfully writing my book proposal, sending it to publishers, and receiving an acceptance (and a check) in the mail.
• Action items/time lines: Block out two hours a day on my calendar for writing. Create a deadline for the proposal and for each chapter I write.

  Look at your goal list often and evaluate it with these ideas in mind.

• Are you on track with your goals and time lines?
• What parts of your life are not working? Turn those parts of your life into goals, affirmations, visualizations, and action steps. Then look at the parts of your life that are working in the eyes of the outside world, and make sure they are also working for you.
• Make sure that whatever you are doing personally and professionally is totally integrated with your personal integrity code. That is your very best assurance of staying healthy, both mentally and physically.

What techniques have worked for you during your career and personal development? Send your thoughts, along with your name, title, and organization, to carolyn@witi.com.

Carolyn Leighton-Tal is founder, chair, and president of Women in Technology International.