There's power in visuals. A picture is worth a thousand words. Visuals tell a story--a story that would take so many words to tell. Even Jesus, probably the greatest teacher ever, painted pictures with words--he told stories visually, by creating visuals in people's heads.
A great place for a visual is your computer's desktop. What do you have on there now? If it's Aurora (you Mac user) or some ambigous hill with some sky (still using XP?) you're missing out on a great opportunity to remind yourself, visually, of something important. Like your family. Like a scene of Italy (if it's your goal to go to Italy), a big buck--if that's your thing--there is a tremendous opportunity to burn into your brain a visual that keeps you on course and drives you toward a goal.
My desktop background is Van Gogh's "Sower with Setting Sun." This painting is beautiful in and of itself, but it also speaks to me. The man's stride is confident. In the blazing setting sun, he's seeing his work through to the end (diligence), a few crows go after his seed but he doesn't care. He knows he has done what it takes and losing a seed here or there doesn't affect him. The sower is still working hard as the day draws to a close--perhaps he's working an hour later than the other sowers...? He is planting a new field, yet a great harvest is in the background. He already knows from the past that hard work produces fruit.
Work hard, be diligent, confident and...
About five or six years ago, I rang the death knell on Rock n' Roll. Anything on local radio was pretty much trash in my estimation, and finding anything new by any other means just wasn't easy enough to draw me away from my CD collection. Things didn't change overnight, but it almost seems that way.
For our non-profit friends out there, here is a quick success story of a grassroots organization and their use of the web and social media to make a big splash from day one. 