One of the catch phrases today is “visualization”. Visualization has been around since the dawn of man, it just wasn’t always called “visualization”. When I was a child, I was caught “daydreaming” more than once. We can all admit to daydreaming at one time or another, about vacations, events or new careers. I tend to liken daydreaming and visualization under similar schools of thought. Daydreaming is less formalized than visualization, it happens pretty spontaneously, but we are still visualizing something.
Envisioning success is no different than when we visualize anything else, but along life’s road, many of us have been taught not to daydream and so, many of us have lost sight of our dreams. Many of us are fearful of envisioning our success because we’ve been taught that it’s somehow immature or out of reach.
Without dreaming, how can we move ahead? I don’t mean dreaming as if we’re all floating on purple and yellow clouds surrounded by circus clowns riding Hippopotami and singing “Candy Man”. I mean dreams such as watching our children grow up. Dreams that entail becoming more successful in your current position or obtaining one that makes you feel complete. Dreams that allow you to look forward to retirement with security rather than trepidation. Dreaming is part of envisioning. In order to get a vision, we have to have an idea… dreams are ideas with emotion pushing them forward.
Many of us have been taught to “play it safe” and maintain the status quo… whatever that is nowadays. We’ve been taught to color inside the lines, think inside the box. It’s time to bust out of the box, color all over the page and become the person that YOU are destined to be.
This is one of the most exciting aspects of my job as a Certified Personal and Professional Coach. I am given the honor of assisting people in learning to color using their own hues and their own templates. Success is nothing more than being true to you and being happy with it.
So, how do we go about envisioning our success? Does all the previous “dream talk” have anything to do with reality. YES!!!
In order to envision your success, there are 6 steps:
1. What is YOUR definition of success? This is where your dream comes in. If you could dream up a world (keep it realistic… no living in Mario Brother’s world), what would it look like?
a. Where would your world be located? Your current neighborhood? In the mountains? By an ocean shore? Next to your relatives? Far from them?
b. Who would YOU be? I don’t mean physically, unless you are unhappy with yourself physically? Most of us can come up with places we’d like to add to or subtract from ourselves physically, but I mean who are you in your heart? What kind of person are you? Who do you associate with?
c. What do YOU do? How do YOU define YOU in your dream? Do you teach? If so, what do you teach? Do you work in an office building, at home, outside? Do you have an office… with a door (sounds silly, but this was on my list of must have’s once upon a time)?
Your world has to be created through a dream in order for you to define how you see yourself and the world in your vision of success. I may think having a rock-star career is THE definition of success, whereas you may believe being a loving, caring mother is THE definition of success, yet another may believe that leaving everything behind and going to a country in dire need of compassion and love to live out the rest of her days is THE definition of success.
2. Once you have your dream ironed out, then we can begin working on envisioning. I am a firm believer in writing down what you want, but write them in present tense:
a. I have two healthy, intelligent, well-behaved children.
b. I own a business that allows me to travel with my family and live a life of financial freedom and happiness.
c. I am able to give freely of my time.
Write out these affirmations in detail. Try not to leave anything out. The color of your walls, what kind of desk, chair or supplies you have on your desk, what you wear to work, when you work, etc… Post your affirmations somewhere. You want to see them. You want to read them… often.
3. Sit quietly, daily if you can, and pull your dream up, couple your dream with your affirmations. In your mind’s eye, visualize yourself:
a. Playing with your children. Going on vacations with your children. Watching your children graduate from college and going on to live THEIR definitions of successful lives.
b. Sitting in your home office making appointments to go to other states and then making travel arrangements. Visualize going to… The Grand Canyon with your family because you happen to have a meeting in Arizona the same week your kids are out of school for Spring Break… AND you have the funds to comfortably take the family with you.
c. Walking through a garden hand in hand with a young child and taking him to a table to eat a healthy meal. Watch the twinkle in his eye. Notice your heartbeat?
4. Begin to create the habits of success. Do you need an education? Do you need to network with other people? Do you need to spend time at a shelter? Begin to live the life you see as a success in your mind.
5. Journal… every day if possible. Journal what you are doing on your journey. What did you do today to bring you closer to your dream? Journaling solidifies the vision.
6. Get help if you need it. We’ve been taught to play it safe. It’s tough to break out of that mold sometimes.
Envisioning your success really isn’t “difficult” but it can be hard to break out of old habits, form new ones, and forge ahead. This is my passion. This is what I love. I live to be able to help others envision their passions, and then give them a hand up to first envision their success before they are living their success.
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