Every year, right after Christmas, Christina Richter heads down to her local craft store and purchases what she calls her "vision board." It's really just a big yellow poster board, but she immediately starts filling it with goals she wants to achieve in the coming year.

"I write down ideas and cut out photos from magazines that help me visualize what I want," explains Richter, who is director of business development at CRI, a recruitment outsourcing firm. In the past, she has pasted $100 bills on the board to remind her of her financial goals. She has included a picture of a man and woman holding hands on a beach to emphasize what she's working toward: a dream trip to Costa Rica with her husband. She has even jotted down words like "serenity" and "peaceful" to prevent her from getting consumed by the ceaseless demands of her sales job.

"I look at the phrases and images on my vision board every day," says Richter. "It keeps me focused and reminds me why I get up every morning."