Visualising Success
By – Sally Longson
You've got an idea of where your year is headed. Yes, it could be a year of letting life drift by and just letting it all happen. Equally, it could be a year of opportunity, when your dreams become a reality, your career takes off, or you meet the perfect partner you've always wanted. The more you visualise your dreams as reality, the more likely they are to happen.
It's important to have a very clear idea of what a goal would mean for you; and what your life would be like if you achieved that goal.
If you did it...
For each thing you wanted to do in 2004, press the fast forward button and imagine that you've done it and identify:
- What you have actually done.
- How you feel now that you've done it.
- What achieving that goal meant for you.
- How your life is different because of it.
- Who else has benefited from it?
- What you got out of working towards it.
- What resources did you use make it happen?
- How has this goal affected your outlook on life and your future?
It's very powerful to see or feel yourself achieving your goals. Positive motivators such as visualising an end result can help drive us to get what we want.
Sometimes, though, we need a different sort of motivation to get to work to make something happen. There's nothing like a little pain to make us sit up and take action, to improve a situation that we're uncomfortable with
What's it costing you NOT to do it?
This can really give us a kick to make us realising what we're missing by not doing something, or what we're losing. Let's take an example. If you're one of those people who pay enough to keep the credit card company quiet every month, and you're starting to wonder how you'll ever pay them off totally, the following could be a useful tactic to use:
- Look back over the last 12 months.
- Add up all the interest you have paid the credit card company.
- How much is it?
- What else could you have done with that money instead? How could you have used it to enhance an area of your life that's important to you? For example, could you have used it to treat yourself to a massage, if time for you is important to you?
You be moving your card around to new companies offering 0% interest for the first few months to avoid paying interest. If this sounds like you:
- How much time in your life has that taken every time?
- What could you have done with that time instead?
Visualise either scenario - the positive and the negative. Which is going to help you move on with your life and make your life better? It's a bit like weighing up pros and cons; but visualising different outcomes gives you a chance to sit down and identify which one is really worth working towards.
Reinforce why you want something
How often do we think about why we want something? Focus 90% on the WHY; the other 10% on HOW will follow and we can put in place what we need to do to get there. Reinforce why it's important for you to achieve your goal and you're more likely to do it.
If you focus on the end result, and what it will mean for you. You're less likely to see obstacles that come in your way.
Remind yourself what you want.
Write your goals down on a card. Carry that card on you. Pin it up somewhere you can see it at home, look at your card regularly throughout the day. Immerse yourself in what you want to do, achieve, have, be and do. Be clear about how YOU will benefit and who else will, too. Remind yourself of your goals and what's important to you every day; you're the only one who can make them happen!
Achievement takes commitment. Do something towards your goals every day, however small.
