Natalie MacNeil Takes On the World

Can you see the big dreams for your life 15 years from now? Funny how that vision can be so crystal clear; colored with success, leadership, accolades and love except that you don’t have the slightest clue on how you’ll ever get there. Having the confidence that your dreams will be conquered without understanding exactly what the path will look like to achieve those goals is normal. You’re not alone. Many of us have the vision without understanding the stepping-stones.

However, Levo League friend and today’s future leader, Natalie MacNeil, has tangible tools to begin working toward your dream. If you’re not familiar with Natalie and her portfolio of success, listen up, as there are few ladies whose tactics have proven so effective at such a young age.

Imagine having an Emmy, a Stevie and a published book before the age of thirty. Well, for Natalie there is no imagination to it, because those are just a few bullet points from her impressive bio. Taking a second look, though, it’s clear that her ability to imagine a vision for what she wants her life to look like each year, coupled with measurable action, is exactly how she found success.

Natalie just released She Takes on the World, an extension of her award-winning blog with the same name. The blog had received international accolades (winning her the Stevie Award in 2010) and was listed by Forbes as one of the “Ten Best Career Sites for Women.” Top all of that off with co-founding an Emmy award-winning firm, Imaginarius, which produces interactive and digital media, and I don’t know about you, but I’m left thinking “Girlfriend, WHAT is your secret!?”

The secret is Natalie’s dedication to her Master Action Plan, or MAP. She says that each year she creates a book of her MAP, which consists of five goals that she wants to accomplish in the upcoming year. She then breaks down each of those five goals into five workable milestones, each with their own vision boards. (If you’re not familiar with a vision board, check this out and get crackin’). This MAP becomes not only a map for her year, but as the years pass, each book literally becomes a stepping-stone to her giant dreams. (A template of her MAP is included in She Takes on the World, available on Amazon)

Natalie considers herself both a dreamer and a doer. A focus on action, which accompanies the idea, is just as important as the idea itself. Natalie said in an interview that she never wanted to watch someone else turn her idea into a successful business; that she’d rather try and fail than wish she would have just tried.

So go out there and try. Don’t get overwhelmed by your big dreams. Turn them into an actionable plan today and before you know it, those small steps will result in giant successes that you didn’t even know were possible this year. There is so much to be accomplished, so much prosperity to experience, if you will just do something about it today… even if that first step is simply to create your own MAP.

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Maxie McCoy has a Bachelor’s degree and a Masters from Lehigh in Journalism and Media, respectively. She is the co-writer of Less Work More Money and has experience hosting for Fox Sports Southwest. Follow her @maxiemccoy