Turbo Charge Your Dreams! The Untapped Power of Visualization

I remember when I first got started in my network marketing business.  It was hammered into my head over and over again that my “WHY” – my goals and dreams – was the most important thing to my success in my business. 

While I believe this is true, I’ve also discovered the “HOW” is equally (if not more!) important.  I was told I needed to think about my WHY day and night.  I needed to write it down and post it on the wall in front of my desk so it was there, always staring me in the face. 

But it wasn't till I saw the HOW that I started to build belief in my network marketing opportunity  All the WHYS in the world just don't "cut the mustard" without a clear HOW.

It wasn’t until I read Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon HIll and The Master Key System by Charles Haanel that I realized the importance of visualization in the process of clarifying my “Why” AND, subsequently, the “How” for my “Why”!

Remember When You Were A Kid?

In childhood we had highly developed capacities for visualizing and forming mental images.

I used to be able to fly. I could make myself invisible. I could turn myself into an animal. I could enter adventure stories of my own creation and become the hero.

If I was bored, unhappy, or worried about something, I could take myself to a different time and place that was beyond my present mood.

How about you?

Many of us, through regular practice, have maintained these visualizing capacities beyond childhood.

In high school and college, when I had to give a report to the class, along with the preparation of my notes and rehearsal in front of a mirror, I used mental imagery to visualize myself giving a successful report and successfully answering questions.

Athletes mentally visualize their performance in a competition prior to the performance itself, as do actors and musicians before they step onto the stage, thus improving their actual performance when the time comes for the game, the recital, or the play.

A good friend of mine is in charge of the planning department for a major corporation in the United States. When problem solving and doing strategic planning for the company, he uses a number of visualization strategies to access different ways of approaching the situation.

When a problem arises or when he is leading the company in goal setting, he begins by visualizing the problem already solved or the goal attained. In his visualization he imagines (and leads others to imagine) everything that would be different in the company if the problem were gone or the goal attained. In other words, he creates a full inner vision of future possibilities for the company.

Then, from this perspective and vision of the future, being beyond the current problem in his mind’s eye, he walks backwards from that future to the present moment, year by year, month by month, day by day. With each step he “sees” what was done to meet the challenge. He suddenly knows what’s needed to deal with the present issue.

Visualization And Your Dreams and Goals

Visualization is a fantastic process to help you get what you want in your life and your business.  In my work with The 8 Kinds of Smart (a.k.a. “multiple intelligences”) visualization is one of the capacities of ImageSmart (a.k.a. “visual-spatial intelligence”).  It’s a capacity we were born with.  The key, as with any skill we’ve developed in our lives, is regular practice.

To this end, I’m give you ten suggestions for incorporating the practice of visualization into your daily personal and professional life.  Also, why not teach these and use them with your downline as well?  You'll instantly help them build belief in their business AND in themselves!

Ten Visualization Exercises to Turbo-Charge Your Dreams

1.  When you need to brainstorm options for a decision you are facing in your business, or you need to expand on an idea, visualize yourself watching a TV show which is all about your decision – it’s providing tons of practical suggestions!

2.  When you you are facing a issue, problem, or challenge in your business, with your downline, or a customer and you’re not sure how to deal with it, visualize having a conversation with an expert or a wise advisor who knows all the answers.

3.  When you want to evaluate the potential pros and cons of a decision you’re facing, visualize yourself in five years in the future and see the results of different courses of action.

4.  When you’re helping a team member, one of your children, or a customer with a problem they are facing, have them visualize the problem solved and walk backwards from the solution to see steps they took to solve it.

5.  When you feel the need for a larger viewpoint on something with which you are struggling, visualize yourself on top of a very high mountain where you can see and know everything.

6.  When you want to know more about a character you’ve met in a novel, story, movie, play, or maybe a potential business partner, visualize yourself as the ultimate talk show host asking them questions and receiving answers.

7.  When you are trying to recapture insights from an earlier stage of your life, visualize yourself returning to that time in your life – with your current concerns and issues – and seek for wisdom from your past.

8.  When you’re trying to figure out the potential impact of current decisions you have to make on your future life, visualize the decisions already made, then fast forward to the end of your life and examine its results.

9. When you need to remember or call upon learnings from history, visualize yourself in a time machine which can take you into the past – ask your questions and let history “speak”.

10. When you are trying to understand the significance of an everyday occurrence in the larger scheme of things, visualize yourself in space where you can see your whole life from beginning to end.

Visualization gives you a way to OutSmart Yourself by helping you move beyond the “same old, same old” answers to a problem.  It helps you access your creative intuitions.  At some level of your being you already know the solutions to your problems.  The regular practice of visualization will help you become better and better at retrieving this information.   You’ll find you’re trusting yourself more, and you’ll start believing more in your innate ability to find great solutions to your problems and to chase your dreams with passion!
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David Lazear
Phone: 773-525-6650

Follow David on Twitter

Blog: Home Business Smarts
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