Fire Up Your Life! Former Miss Hawaii Empowers You to Visualize Your New Year

"After losing four beauty pageants, visualization changed my life," former Miss Hawaii Donna Hartley said. "I´ve devoted my life to help other people reach their goals through visualization."

Hartley´s first dream was skiing in the Olympics. She was close to qualifying for the United States ski team when everything changed.

"My Olympic dream was dashed when I underwent heart surgery at 16. Years later, while I was attending the University of Hawaii, I saw a Miss Hawaii brochure and it jogged my memory of watching a Miss America pageant when I was eight-years-old living in Pennsylvania. I said I would be a Miss and be on national television. My vision was to become Miss Hawaii," Hartley explained. "To make money to fund my pageant dreams, I sold Rena Ware waterless cookware in door-to-door sales. They were the largest direct sales company at the time. Chuck Smart, my boss and an incredible mentor, taught me how to visualize my goal and make it happen. I had a goal to sell thousands of dollars worth of pots and pans to fund the voice lessons, a pageant coach, diction lessons, and the expensive wardrobe, which included bathing suit and gown for the competition."

Hartley believes in the skill of visualization. For her, she lives her life by setting goals, visualizing those goals on a visualization board, and accomplishing her dreams. It has worked time and time again.

"You have to see it every day and every night by creating a visualization board. In preparation for the Miss Hawaii pageant, I visualized the outcome for ninety days and ninety nights. I said I was Miss Hawaii. I saw myself in the gown and sash, wearing the tiara. I saw myself walking down the ramp. It was a skill I developed and I believed in my intention by focusing on the outcome. I did not use negative comments such as ´I can´t become Miss Hawaii.´ Instead, I only focused on positives," Hartley said. "I visualized and educated myself through training. The Miss Hawaii pageant was part of the Miss USA program. You didn´t need to sing or dance, you needed to speak, which is my gift. That´s what started my career in international speaking."

Hartley won the competition and became Miss Hawaii. Now, she wants to help people visualize and achieve their goals for 2008.

"Focus on your goals. Do you want to be more successful in your job? Do you want to lose weight? Do you want more adventures with your family? There are long-term goals everyone wants to reach. Maybe you want to learn Spanish or travel abroad, or study a new subject. What do you want to do with your family to reach a new level of love, communication and togetherness?" Hartley asked. "When you see it, then it can happen. As Miss Hawaii, I used this skill and that carried over into the rest of my life. I used visualization to buy my home, adopt my daughter, start a speaking career, and become an author."

To create your own Fire Up You Life! Visualization board:

STEP ONE: Buy a corkboard.

STEP TWO: Create five categories and type up your goals for the corkboard.

1. Family goals – What do you want for your family this year?

2. Career goals – Do you want career growth in the New Year?

3. Health goals – Do you want to lose weight in the New Year?

4. Vacation/travel goals – Do you want to enjoy certain trips each year?

5. Long-term goals – Do you need to educate yourself to reach long-term goals?

STEP THREE: Post pictures on the corkboard. Use pictures in every goal category to visualize yourself in that situation. If you don´t have pictures of yourself, you can also use pictures from magazines or from the computer.

STEP FOUR: Hang the board in a prominent place where you see it every morning and every night.

STEP FIVE: Visualize your set goals every day.

"Write out what you want and be specific to your goals. If you want to walk ten miles a week on a health walk, write it down. If you want to go on a trip to Yellowstone, see yourself at the park. Make the visualization board colorful; use lots of pictures, powerful words, and different size printing. Keep it interesting. Most importantly, don´t just throw something together. A real visualization board should take hours or weeks to create and keep adding to it," Hartley said.

By acknowledging a goal, you empower yourself.

"Acknowledge the goal on your board and note when you complete each one. Then, you move onto the next goal. In the middle of the board, use pictures of your family. I use pictures of my daughter. But, maybe you have some uplifting family pictures from Christmas or fun on the baseball field or enjoying yourselves on a special vacation, whatever represents the goals of bringing the family together," Hartley explained. "The mind is a powerful tool. Walt Disney visualized his parks and famous athletes have used visualization to win gold medals."

Today, Hartley travels the world as a full-time visualization trainer and a FIRE UP YOUR LIFE! speaker who helps people attain their firepower. Hartley even visualizes her travel back to Hawaii every year.

"For my clients, I teach them how to set goals, how to fire up their life, how to give a speech, how to visualize the future, how to meditate and attain goals. In essence, I help them find their firepower," Hartley added. "The skills work. I fine-tuned the process over the years and have proven that it works with my clients. When you create your visualization board, go through these steps, and you will live your dreams in 2008. Everything is possible with firepower!"

For more information on Hartley´s book and speaking availability visit www.DonnaHartley.com.