Unaccustomed as I am to blowing my own trumpet, and funnily enough I was the first girl in our school band to play that instrument, I’m doing just that today as I have a clear objective in mind which will hopefully be enlightening and of use to you, so please bear with me.

Achievements

During my adult life I’ve established and run an advisory service that helped hundreds of thousands of women get out of hormone hell, I wrote 27 self-help books which were mainly published by household named publishers around the world, I wrote columns in national daily newspapers and magazines, appeared regularly on national TV and eventually had my own TV show. In addition, I nurtured and raised four wonderful children, maintained many friendships and a happy marriage for 24 years. And for 7 years, following the death of my 21 year old daughter Hester, a medical student, cheerleader and student mentor, who was given a legal high, I established the Angelus Foundation which campaigned successfully to raise awareness about legal highs and change the law, and it achieved both which is why I’ve been awarded a British Empire Award in the 2018 Queens New Year Honours List.

What do I want to achieve?

When I wrote all that down in one paragraph it made me wonder how one ordinary woman could possibly achieved all of that with limited training, resources and expertise. Mulling it through in my head I remembered the annual tradition I felt drawn to start in the early 1980’s and I was blown away by the power of it. For each year I would think seriously and deeply for days leading up to the New Year about what I wished for my family, both my work and personal life and the effect I could have on the lives of others and I would create a set of words to reflect each goal as if it had been achieved in present time. Since 2003, by the January 1st, I written a new set of goals for the year neatly saving them on my computer, and before that, for as many years as I can remember, I penned them on sheets of A4 paper and stored them in my filing cabinet.

Goals

I called them goals, but actually they were really my biggest heartfelt dreams for the year, for my family, my career and myself. It was almost a process of tuning into my calling for the year and making detailed, but concise, focused notes about the steps I would aim to walk during my journey for the coming year.

You can do this too

These days, there are many books written about living your dreams but back when I began visioning each year as a blank canvas and naming what I would like to put on it, it wasn’t a particularly popular topic. Reviewing my annual lists, as I have today, I feel both proud and humble but above all realise I hit on a system which works. Whilst I didn’t achieve everything I set out to each year, amazingly upon reflection, much of my wish list became a reality in the subsequent year or two. As it seems to have been such a success in my life I thought I would share my method, like one of my recipes, so that you can use it to make your dreams a reality in 2018 without having to read yet another self-help book.

Recipe for Success

1. Imagine that you have a large blank canvas and that you are able to paint it just the way you want it. Don’t filter the ideas that come into your mind, or listen to any negative voices that are bound to tell you it’s impossible, just let the ideas flow and commit them to words and pictures.
2. Take some time out to dream about what you would like to put on your blank canvas and how you would like it to look when it’s finished. This process could take several hours or could be done over a number of days.
3. Meditate on what you ideally would like to achieve in your personal, family and spiritual life then write outline notes.
4. Repeat step 3 with what you would like to achieve in your work life.
5. If you are spiritually minded, ask the Universe the guide with your goal setting before you go to sleep on a night when you have some clear time the next morning.
6. When you wake the next morning, in your fresh state, review your notes and turn them into a firm plan.
7. When you feel happy with the end result either save it as a word document or file it away somewhere accessible so that you can review it each month to make sure you are on track.
8. Celebrate! It always feels a great achievement to me when the goals that I’m in love with have been set for the year. Mark the completion of the first phase of the process by treating yourself to something special, be it time for yourself, a wonderful walk in nature, watching a good movie or having dinner with a like-minded friend or your partner to share your new plans.
9. Make a collage filled with pictures and words to capture your goals and gaze at it daily to begin to live the life of your dreams. If you haven’t done this before you will find the book Visioning, Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams, by Dr Lucia Capacchionne a most useful tool.

I’m focussing on exciting new goals and projects this year which will help millions of women around the world to reclaim their wellbeing. I will continue to share my story with you in the coming weeks and months. I’d also love to receive feedback about how you get on with the process and any magical happenings that result and will keep you posted about mine.
Wishing you a happy, successful and goal driven 2018.

Maryon Stewart x