Is your career or business satisfying to you right now? About 65% of us answer ‘yes.’ However, only about 22% report feeling truly enthusiastic, even when they are fairly satisfied.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting more from our work, where we spend on average 90,000 hours in our lifetime. It's not that our current situation is necessarily terrible. Quite the opposite. Looking for the next opportunity for growth is actually a very healthy pursuit, even when things are “OK’. It is possible to appreciate what we have, and still have even bigger dreams and plans. However, turning the really big dreams into realities can present a challenge—so much so, many of us try to keep our aspirations very small, and realistic.
Does that sound familiar?
It does for a lot of people. Many people, for diverse reasons, stop dreaming big, unwilling to entertain the idea that such levels of pure joy are possible for them. Sometimes it's because they find it difficult to envision something that isn't there in the room with them right now. It feels too far away.
By contrast, I have found, along with many of my clients, that the human mind is utterly amazing. It has the ability to make the seemingly impossible appear out of nowhere with startling speed—when we focus.
Hold the Vision
There is the saying, ‘Where we focus, we flourish.” And that is the experience I am describing. It isn’t just vague, wishful thinking, though. No. It is actually extremely specific, and actionable. It’s called visioning, and here are the components to this practice:
Allow yourself to want something that feels worthwhile – from going for the promotion, to starting your own business, writing a book, or starting a movement.
Next, study how others have done what you want to do. Read about it, hang out with people who are doing it, learn the good things and the bad things about it, speak the language, and begin to identify yourself as a part of the culture that does it.
Now, consider the actual steps you would need to take to go from where you currently are to where you want to be. If you can’t see all the path, that’s okay. Just the first step or two is okay to get started. Pick something small, like asking for a project that proves you are ready for a promotion, or building a website for your dream business.
Begin acting like the person who already is what you want to be. How will you dress? Who will you hang out with? What will a typical day look like? Be vivid, and step into that role, even before it happens, as much and as often as you can.
Learn to See What Can Be, Not Just What Already Is
Some people that succeed at the highest levels use this wonderful visioning ability to do so. It isn’t that they are more creative or innovative than the rest of us. It isn’t that they are more skilled, or their personalities are better suited to being visionary, like a Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou, Martin Luther King, Richard Branson, Marie Curie or Albert Einstein. We all have the ability to do visioning on our own behalf. It is everyone’s reach to see beyond the "right now" into amazing future realities.
These famous folks created huge successes by seeing past what already is. They believed it what is possible, and were willing to take the steps (and, yes, the risks) to claim it.
They didn’t get derailed for long on what’s wasn't going to work, although they certainly considered the possible obstacles. By looking at those challenges ahead, they used their formidable visioning resources to also see a way past the obstacles. Each of the visionaries listed above has shared the adversities (many severe) they faced, and how they leveraged the power of their thinking (and visioning) to move forward in spite of them.
The idea that we should not look at obstacles for fear of making them real is a dangerously limiting one, but no more so than remaining where we are out fear that they will stop us.
Big thinkers and big achievers do the same thing.
They see a future result and work backwards. The dream is of something that doesn't yet exist. Once you visualize a possible reality, work in reverse. Think of it as your future, highest, and best self, reaching back through time to light up a path of action for you.
Use your creative powers. You have them. Learn to see what isn't there yet. It might not exist now, but big thinking on your part can turn it into a future result—faster than you might envision.
Are you ready to think big? I mean, really big? Then give yourself the gift of an Unstoppable Discovery Call. It costs you nothing, and the insight and focus you create in just 30 minutes can make all the difference in you