If you ever want to amount to anything in life, then you need to have goals and dreams. Once you’ve identified what it is you want, then you need to plan out the steps you must take so that you can achieve it. You need to write down a specific action plan on how you intend to achieve your goal.
If you’ve got a larger-than-life long-term goal, then you need to break it down into 1-year goals, 2-year goals, 3-year goals, and so on, until you reach the desired endpoint. Now, writing your goals down on paper is great, but you also need to visualize it so you can make it come to life.
Here’s an example, if you want to become a successful business owner in 5 years, then you should define what you mean by ‘successful.’ Would you say you’re successful if you’ve built one store in your local area, or would you only consider yourself successful if you’ve got 20 stores within 5 years?
If you chose the latter, then you need to have a specific timeline in mind. On your first year, how many stores will you have? On the second year, how many additional stores will you add? And so on. Planning all this is good, but you’ll take your planning to a whole different level if you visualize your goal. How about you commission an artist to draw up what your store is going to look like so you can put it up on the wall? Somewhere you pass by every single day, so you’ll be reminded of what you want to achieve in the long run. How about by your bedside? Or how about in other high-traffic areas in your house and office?
You can even have a custom map of where you plan on having your stores – the cities and towns you plan to build a store in and what each store is going to look like.
It probably sounds like a lot of expense at this point, especially if you’re just starting out, but if you can see your dreams every single day – all 20 stores – then it’s going to motivate you nonstop!
Here are some more benefits to visualizing your dreams:
If you truly want to achieve your dreams and you see its representation every day, then you’re going to be motivated to keep going at it. On days when you feel sad or upset, you can look at an image of what you’re working so hard for. Then think of how you’d feel when you finally achieve it, when all your hard work’s finally paid off.
You’ll feel vindicated from all the negative people who told you that you can’t ever achieve your dream! Can you imagine how good that will feel? You’ll be inspired again to continue on with what you’re doing, and you’ll tell yourself you’ll keep on working hard for your dreams!
You’re pretty much free to chase after any dream or goal you want. You want to become a wealthy entrepreneur before you hit 30? You want to take your parents on a round-the-world trip on their golden wedding anniversary? Or how about you take your spouse on a second honeymoon by this time next year?
When you read the paragraph above, did you have a mental picture of the scenarios I painted? I bet you did. See, there’s practically no limit to what you can do and what you can dream of! The moment you visualize your dreams, the more motivated you are to go after it!
Looking at something you want so badly makes you happy, doesn’t it? You feel inspired. You feel motivated. You feel more positive about your life, and you tend to push your negative thoughts to the back of your mind. When you feel like this, you’re literally reducing your stress levels.
Another visualization technique to help you feel less stressed is you can try imagining being on an island (if that’s your thing!). You’re lying down on the beach and marveling at the sounds of the waves and the birds. All your worries being blown by the wind. Do this for a few minutes. When you open your eyes, you’ll feel so much better!
When you visualize your dreams, you think about what lies ahead in your future. You think positively about it. Otherwise, you won’t be taking the time to visualize your dreams. As time goes by, you start adding more details to your visualizations.
If you have a mental image of being a successful entrepreneur in a few years’ time, you may start visualizing the process on how you can get there.
Over time, as you get closer to achieving your dreams, you start thinking about how you and your family’s life will change. How you can spend more time with your family, and where you’re going to spend those extra days with them! That kind of positive thinking will only continue to motivate you to pursue your dreams!
You’d only visualize what’s really important to you. There’s no need to visualize things that won’t contribute to achieving your dreams. You can easily cut out all forms of negativity when you visualize your dreams.
Now, it’s quite easy for your imagination to go off on a tangent, but if you’ve got a physical image of what you want to achieve, then it’s easier for you to focus. This is why you should consider having a printout, a drawing, a painting, or something similar, of your dreams. It lets you hone in and focus on what really matters and what’s worth going after.