- Samuel Johnson

As I write my article for this month's edition of The AFA Volunteer, I'm sitting in my hotel room in Indianapolis. We've just completed our spring Board Meeting and I'm feeling both exhausted and excited. Exhausted because this is the first "down time" I've had since the semester started and excited because our Board has completed its initial discussion about the new Strategic Plan.

Under the direction of our facilitator, Jeffrey Cufaude, we spent two days crafting a new Mission, Vision and Goal Areas. Jeffrey offered a few thoughts as we began:

• The final product must be easily understood.
• It needs to get people excited about the organization.
• It must compel people to take action.

Our process began by first reviewing the Association's current Mission and Vision. After discussing what we thought were the most important themes we focused on answering the question, "what is the Association uniquely positioned to do?" From these discussions we drafted a new Mission and Vision and turned our attention to new Goal Areas, organized around the actions we need to take in order to turn the Mission and Vision into reality. Over the next few weeks and months the Board will continue to revisit and refine the work from this initial meeting. At the same time we'll begin to share our work with the membership.

As we reflected on meeting everyone agreed that this initial conversation was so natural; that the Association has a sense of momentum which will propel us to accomplish much over the next five years. Clearly, without the work of past boards and their commitment to completing our previous plans we would not have the capacity or ability to embark on a new plan. We owe all of our past board members our thanks and gratitude for their stewardship.

At the end of our meeting Jeffrey gave each of us a small, square card that read, "Success." Inside each card was a quote. My card's quote is the title of this column, "clear your mind of can't." As we leave the comfort of the last plan it is important that all of us as volunteers of AFA clear our minds of "can't." Big goals and new ideas may be daunting, but together we can continue to create change and advance our association. Together we can commit to the accomplishment of the unthinkable. Together we can do anything. Are you ready to clear YOUR mind of can't?