When you wake up in the morning are you excited by your career? Your job? Your life?
One day I woke up and I was the VP of Sales and Marketing in charge of $200 million in sales annually. So you could say I was doing okay for myself. But I found out that money does not buy happiness.
We are the creators of our own destiny. We choose what path to follow and I chose the unscripted way of creating my own company.
Now my life is by design. I want to share with you how I designed my vision and the tools I use to help me achieve my goals.
Check out my vision board. It is not a typical vision board. It represents who I am, where I am going and what I have to bring to the table.
I use a vision board and a narrative to help me achieve my goals. I could go on and on about the science behind it, and I will below. Simply: It works. I’ll give you two illustrations.
Illustration #1:
I took my family on a vacation. I had it planned out to the minute months before we left and the itinerary looked something like this which I handed to my enthusiastic family members.
Day #2
9:00 Leave hotel
9:20 Pickup breakfast to go
11:10 Arrive a Everglides, walking tour
12:30 Lunch at the Crocodile takeout (slight detour as after holding a baby croc we couldn’t eat it!) Sometime you just have to go with the flow and change directions.
1:30 Glide boat tour
3:30 Depart
6:00 Dinner at Miami Beach, Lido Bayside Grill
So as you can see I plan out vacations to get the most out of the experience and time in a different place or country. So why not design your life the way you want it?
Illustration #2:
Do a little test with me. Look around the room you are in, how many items are red? Great, you see a few items that are red. Now, close your eyes, can you name the number of things that are blue? You can’t name very many. That is because it wasn’t where your focus was.
The power of visualization is similar. Many elite athletes have been using visualization since 1974. Boxing legend, Muhammad Ali would visualize every fight in his mind. He would see himself at the end of the fight, him and the referee with their arms in the air. He would hear the crowd celebrating him as champion, he would smell the sweat in the ring, and the taste of victory. He called this mental process “future history” and we can all use this to program our minds for success.
In 2016, TD Bank conducted a survey of 1100 people and 500 small business owners to learn about their “visualization practices.” The survey found that people who imagine their financial and business goals are more confident they will achieve them, than those who don’t.
In addition, 76% of business owners said that today their business is where they envisioned it would be when they started it.
Did you know 82% of small business owners that used a vision board from the get-go reported that they have accomplished more than 50% of the goals they included on that board.
Why are visualizations so important?
Visualization does three things.
1. It activates the creative powers of your subconscious mind.
2. It programs the perceptual filters in your brain. Where you can utilize the available resources in your environment. Likely, they were always there, you didn’t see them until now.
3. It magnetizes and attracts to you the people, resources, and opportunities you need to achieve your goal. (J. Caulfield)
By doing visualization everyday, you will naturally be more motivated to do things that move you toward your goals.
Who are you and where are you going? I often get asked for my advice on people’s careers. That is not surprising given that I design mentorship programs to accelerate people’s careers. I often ask in response, where do you want to go? I’ll ask you – Where do YOU want to go?
I was never a person who let life just happen to me. I have always made things happen. I had a goal to visit Brazil and I focused on it, I only applied for jobs that would take me to Brazil. Guess what? I landed a job and I spent almost 2 years in Brazil.
I am a strong believer in you get what you focus on.
Having a vision board is vital to getting what you want. It is like a roadmap for your mind.
I love the quote from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland:
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where–” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
What is the science behind vision boards?
The subconscious mind is more powerful than the conscious mind. When you see your vision board everyday, your subconscious is closing the gap between your present self and future self. It is providing solutions. Feel free to email me for academic references.
I read my narrative every night before I go to bed and every morning when I wake up.
It is written in the present tense and set in the future. I pay particular notice to sensory in an effort to feel and connect emotion to my dream.
Everyday an idea comes into my mind on how to advance my dream. I take action. Soon the future will be here and I will be living, tasting, smelling, hearing and feeling all the wonderful things I have laid out. This is my narrative.
Just as an added note the CEO of Amazon has all of his senior staff write narratives. What is yours?
Don’t you think it is time to Design YOUR Life!
Have a wonderful week!
Carol
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