Why you should attract your dreams rather than chase them

*Originally published on Virgin.com

It’s the beginning of a new year, and I know a lot of people – including myself – are asking “How do I fulfil my potential?” Should I start chasing, and grasping and grinding?

Should I set goals and create a vision board? We all want to know how we can ensure that at the end of 2018, we can look back and say we did everything we could to maximise on our talents.

I don’t believe in chasing, but in attracting. This year, I set an intention of abundance and ease for myself, for the Branson Centre, for the entrepreneurs we serve, and for the countries in which we live. I’m calling it into being – we don’t have to work ourselves into a frenzy in order to fulfil our potential. We can create all that we want from a place of peace, in fact, our mental and societal health depend on it!

At the Centre in Jamaica, we are starting the New Year with a new cohort of eight entrepreneur teams, who will go through a new programme, with an end of goal of securing major equity investment.

The cohorts will have monthly CEO meetings with top business leaders in the island, receive a three-member Board of Advisors, pitch to investors every quarter (to build relationships and expertise), and hopefully secure investment by the end of the year.

In the British Virgin Islands, our entrepreneurs are in rebuilding mode post-hurricane. We have a schedule including inspirational and knowledge-building sessions, ongoing mentorship, and business coaching. We’re also exploring funding opportunities to support our entrepreneurs in their rebuilding efforts.

I am encouraging every member of our team to fulfil their potential in 2018 by bringing their whole selves to work – not just their work selves. My hope is that they are able to fulfil personal goals and passions through their work at the Centre. Some of the things we’ve talked about include becoming better public speakers, building personal brands and setting personal investment goals for the year.

For the Centre as a whole, our 2018 mission is to raise public awareness locally and globally about the great work we’ve been doing and to fulfil our annual fundraising targets – we also intend to launch in one additional Caribbean island by the end of the year. We turn seven years old in 2018, and we want to make this a big one!

We need your help to keep on track with all of our goals. Keep in contact with us by signing up to our newsletter, and watch this space from more posts from all our team members. I wish us all abundance and peace in 2018.