Sweet smells of freshly made waffles, bacon and fried potatoes linger from the cozy third-floor apartment into the hallway greeting each guest at the front door. As they make the trek up the three flights of stairs, sounds of laughter and the energizing tunes from Solange Knowles' A Seat at the Table are blasting through the air. Each woman invited to attend our "2017: Don't Sleep on Your Vision" party arrived in their pajamas with magazines and boards in hand.

This is the 7th annual girlfriends' vision board party and I must say this one felt like the most powerful gathering yet.

Vision boards are a way to set goals for yourself, not New Year's resolutions, but a manageable set of goals you want to accomplish in the new year. Vision boards seem to hold more power than simply jotting down a checklist of random things that you often forget about by mid-January. Creativity and clear cut visions are the keys to a successful vision board. It's the difference between slapping a sheet of notebook paper on your wall, checking off your goals with any writing utensil you find and posting a beautifully made collage of images and powerful statements to drive your vision for the year.

Why gather your closest girlfriends and their friends together for something that can be done alone in your own home? Well, the answer is simple.

Kenya W., one of the originators of our group's yearly gathering, said it best, "Participating in the parties elevates the experience…When you share your goals with other successful, like-minded women they can hold you accountable and they give me energy and hope."

My sentiments exactly, girlfriend.

Being in a room full of positive women reflecting on the past years' struggles and achievements while building a vision for the new year together has so much power and reminds us all that we aren't alone. Rashida H-J believes, "It is important to have people in different places in their life's journey to explain the probability of negative or positive outcomes."

With a room full of women ranging in age from their early 20's to early 40's, it's the perfect time to get advice and that extra push needed to jump into a new career or reach out to your boss for that promotion you know you deserve.

Throughout our seven years of planning visions together, we have witnessed one another get engaged, married, have children, start businesses, become masters and leaders in our professions, and make moves to major cities where our visions on those boards came to fruition.

As Janelle S. poetically stated, "(We) speak out loud the things that we are hoping to find, then, like a gift, a like-minded woman finds it for you and passes it over. It's kind of symbolic. They know your secret dreams and encourage you to include them even when you're too afraid to."

Our parties are inspiring, hopeful and on-going encouragement to reach all of the goals set forth on our vision boards. For me, my good girlfriends have inspired me to begin the year meeting my very first goal on my board…WRITE!

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