by Rome Madison
I was working with one of my coaching clients the other day reviewing her strategies to reach her 2015 goals and she asked me, “what’s the most critical thing to keep in mind as I’m going throughout the year to achieve my goals?” Well, this is a question if you ask 10 people chances are you going to get 11 different answers. So, I’ll ask you….what is the most critical component of reaching your goals or taking yourself to a new level this year? Give it some thought.
I believe without a doubt there is one critical component to realizing positive change in life, certainly when it comes to elevating your performance. It’s more important than goal setting; more important than breaking goals down into buckets of strategies and action steps; more important than writing your goals or creating vision boards. The most critical aspect of achieving any goal is your vision. What is the vision? Is it the places that you want to go, the things that you want to accomplish, the accoutrements that you want to collect, or places you want to go?
With respect to vision many focus on what success is going to bring to their life, but what I mean by vision is how you see yourself.
Scripture tells us “where there is no vision the people perish.” But I believe what that is saying is if you cannot see yourself being the person who can do those things, or if you don’t believe it with integrity you that you can do it, you will perish without ever being it.
You can have a picture of a Maserati in your office and you look at it every day but if you don’t know what it’s like to actually sit in the Maserati and actually feel the exhilaration of riding in a Maserati…… the g-force of turning the corner going 150 miles/hr feeling how hard the seats are and how heavy the car is, getting it into every fiber of your spirit and your soul (you might not want to go to 120 miles/hr. I just thought it sounds cool #pukecity). If you can feel the Maserati emotionally it will start to attract the opportunities, people and resources you need to get that Maserati.
If you don’t feel it in your body it’s hard to see yourself actually doing it. Without feeling it’s hard to maintain that vision and manifest that as being a reality in your life. This is why vision is so powerful and the most powerful part of any plan that you have.
Let me give you an example….Chris Gardner. A movie was made about his life called The Pursuit of Happyness where Will Smith played the part of Chris. Maybe you’re heard of him? The Elephant Slayer! The guy who closes million and billion dollar deals! Before this massive success Chris Gardner leveraged his life savings to start a business but that business failed. He lost his marriage and found himself bankrupt living in homeless shelters with his son….and that’s when he started his career as a investment broker! The critical part of making the transition from being homeless to being a billion-dollar business closer in the financial services arena is that he had the vision that he could do it. He didn’t see himself as a homeless person and did not let his environment define his being. He was able to formulate a new vision of himself by going by those towerin financial centres, looking at the cars they drove to get a sense of what it was like and how exciting he was going to be when he was driving one of those cars. Chris didn’t have on the $500 Armani suits the other brokers had on at the time, but he saw himself in a $500 Armani suit and he spoke to them as if he had a $500 Armani suit on.
By doing activating his emotions the vision permeated his being and he was able to create as a billion-dollar deal closer. It works the same with you! Here’s what you need to do to create a vision is going to help you land the part. To help you get the call back or help you close the deal! These three steps will manifest your greatness to get you ready for your Oscar winning performance.
- Spend time visualizing what it is and who it is you want to be. Take time out of your day to find a comfortable place that will allow you to concentrate on your vision. It may be a park or part of your home, maybe your backyard or a room in your house. You should be uninterrupted when you visualize. When you do this exercise, visualize in 3-D! Focus on what you wearing…. what is your environment like: is it hot or is it cold? Who’s with you in the vision? What are you doing? How do you feel? Something starts to happen subconsciously. You put yourself in a state where you feel the vision physiologically. You need to work those muscles of your mind in order to let that things sink deep into your spirit, deep into your mind you can believe that vision with integrity.
- The second thing is to embrace your vision. To embrace your vision means to embrace it on the inside. You’ll start to have feelings and emotions about fulfilling your vision. It’s a natural that once you build those mental muscles to believe that that person you see in your vision is becoming more of you every day, you start to notice that vision brings certain feelings to you. Feelings of gratitude, power, joy, excitement! You feel humbled that one day you’re going to be living the very things you’re dreaming about because the closer you get to accomplishing your vision those feelings become stronger.
- Finally, move toward that vision every day. What can you do today to move closer to your vision? No matter how far out and outrageous your goals are take baby steps each day. Here’s a daily question to ask each day to put yourself in the state of experiencing your vision immediately. If you ask this question, day-by-day the answers will be revealed from inside and you’ll start to act, talk and walk like the Superstar performer that you’re striving to be.
Set this question as a reminder on your smart phone at certain times of the day and speak it aloud to yourself. When you speak it, you’re speaking it into existence and speaking power into yourself. Ask yourself this question standing in the mirror so you can get it into your conscious and your subconscious. You will stir up the power and ability to do things that you never thought you could or would do, and eventually you become that very person that you see in your vision. Here is the question:
How would the person I would like to be doing the things I’m about to do today?
Day by day when you’re asking this question you start to visualize the very things that person would do. You put yourself in the state of your future self by doing, speaking, walking and talking like that person you see in your vision. Day by day you transform and that vision becomes a reality. You will start to see things around you change. You will start to notice people respond to you differently. You’ll notice all the information, opportunities and resources that are right in front of you that you once could not see or took for granted.
If you’ve become impatient or less motivated in working to achieve your goals because it seems so far away try these three action steps. There’s no reason you can’t experience your vision now! Why not?…..your time is NOW!
