"Imagine your ideal future. Visualize yourself as if life were perfect in every aspect."
- Brian Tracy
Where do you want to be in five years? Visualize where you want your life to go, who you are, what you have achieved in five years.
I've always been a huge daydreamer. As a child, I would daydream about being a movie star. The older I got, I realized that my daydreaming was visualizing what I wanted my future to become.
When my husband and I were on the brink of bankruptcy and divorce, I would visualize us happily holding hands, with grey hair walking the grounds of an ancient castle in Europe. The vision of I held got me through a rough season of marriage and life. I projected a happier time, weathering the storm, and coming out the other side many years into the future still married and living our dream life. Granted, in the pictures of our travels in Europe, my hair is very grey, and my husband is bald. :). I also put on a few more pounds than I had visualized ten years earlier. We become what we think.
Having a vision changed my expectations, and that was key.
I began to expect better for myself! I focused on building a loving marriage. I realized to get better results in my life, and I had to create change. I had to be better, make better choices, raise my standards. I would have to BELIEVE that I was worthy of a life filled with love and prosperity. I had to shatter the limits I had put on myself.
If we visualize, will we be guaranteed the life that we have envisioned for ourselves?
I wish it were that easy. It's not.
Not only does it take vision to get what you want, but it takes a plan, action steps, grit, and tenacity. Nothing happens in life without focus and action. Dreams without effort are just wishes. Visualization is not a mysterious magical way to get what you want. But, it is the first step to realizing your ideal life.
HERE ARE 5 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF WHILE VISUALIZING YOURSELF IN 5 YEARS.
What are your surroundings, where do you live, who is in your life, how do you look?
What do you do for work or a career?
What accomplishments make you most proud? What impacts have you made on others?
How do you feel emotionally, physically, and mentally?
What steps did you take to get to where you are now?
These questions will help paint the picture of your ideal life and show you the direction to head. The solutions should align with your core values and your deepest desires. Do they? Can you envision yourself in 5 years living this way? Reflect on question #4, who does it make you feel?
Researchers found that visualizing yourself doing the steps it takes to reach your vision makes you more likely to succeed. Researchers found that visualizing the action steps needed to achieve the end goal works more effectively than only envisioning the end outcome. For example, it's more powerful to see your future self practicing your ballet moves, then only imagining taking your curtain call bows. Our thoughts shape our behavior and choices, which in turn reflect in the results we get.
Take a lock at what your answer was for question #5. What are the steps that you know (or think) you will need to take to reach your perfect future life? Write them down in chronological order and start taking baby steps toward them today.