4 Simple Steps To Using The Gift Of Envisioning For Your Goals

Envisioning, or visualization, and the use of envisioning as a success tool, is not new. It’s been around for decades, but like many other fundamental business differentiators, it is primarily used by a small minority of entrepreneurs and business people. This is a shame, because when exercised correctly, it can help one achieve their goals not only in business, but in most other facets of their life.
One reason envisioning is not employed as often as it could be is that it’s difficult. Like most skills that can produce dramatic changes, it requires a solid base, constant maintenance, updates as necessary, and reflection to realize its success. Life and the daily distractions of our lives get in the way and planning something that may not occur for years or decades takes a back seat.
The concept of envisioningis deceivingly simple, considering the difficulty most people have in successfully implementing it. One must create a picture in their minds of what it is they want to achieve. This may be attaining a successful role in their chosen career; publishing a significant paper or book; building their dream home; starting and selling a company for $100M; or getting married and raising a family. After achieving this mental picture, one then sets out to achieve that goal, keeping in mind the picture so that when they attain the goal, they clearly realize they have achieved their specified goal and can file it away as a success, enjoy the increased confidence and beneficial feelings that rightfully come with that success, and move on to the next visualization with more confidence they can achieve their goals.
Follow these steps to successful envisioning.

1. Have a blank slate.If you think of creating a vision as creating a drawing on an etch-a-sketch (if you’re old enough to remember these…), you can’t create a clear vision unless you shake the etch-a-sketch so that it is blank. You have to be able to clear your mind to be able to create the clear vision. You can’t do this if you’re continually reacting to the outside world, filling your free time with banal stimuli such as television or video games, or dealing with negative influences in your life. So what to do? Get away. Go to someplace new. That doesn’t mean going to Tahiti and sitting on the beach for 6 months (unless you have the means and desire to do so), but could simply mean going to a quiet lunch by yourself at a new café, or after work driving to the beach or a park to sit quietly and think. Go for a run or a walk. Forget about all the things that require your immediate attention and just think. Don’t blast loud music in your headphones or read a book, just clear your mind so you can reflect and think. For some people, this can be very hard, and they will seek some stimulus to keep from thinking — avoid that temptation and just think. Get away from negative influences in your life, whether they are people, jobs, relationships, or situations. Life is far too short to let your visions be undermined by negativity.
2. Create your vision. Hold it in your mind. Write it out if that helps. Draw a picture of what success looks like. Picture your emotions as you enjoy that success. Make it as detailed as you can. Hold it in your mind as you drift off to sleep and think about it when you wake up. Then relax. Go back to your daily life then revisit your vision in a few days or weeks. With the passage of time, make modifications to it as you think you need to. At this stage of your vision, you’re best off by not sharing it with others as their feedback will influence your vision. It’s your vision, not someone else’s. People by nature will try to fit your vision into their perspective and will try to convince you to change it. When Apple launched the first iPad it was panned by critics who couldn’t envision this device ever replacing a laptop or being used by any but a few. Steve Jobs obviously didn’t consult them for advice when he was envisioning the iPad. At this stage, you need to create your vision on your own.
3. Create a path to your vision from where you are now.This is the critical step that separates a vision from a dream. You can create a vision of being the President of the USA, but if you never think about how you will get from being a waiter to that point it’s just a dream. Do you have the education and skills you need? The connections? The money? The physical skills? The mental skills or tenacity? If not, figure out how you can get those things. Talk to people that have done what you envision and ask them. Ask a lot of them, as they each may have a different set of experiences that you can borrow from. If you need to refine your vision, do so, but make sure you don’t give up on your vision under the pretext of refining it. The path you create may seem impossible, but if you break it down into doable steps you’ll find that even what seem like the most impossible visions can be achieved.
4. Execute on your path.Start the small steps you need to get there. Congratulate yourself on your progress for making those steps. When time passes and you haven’t made progress, don’t give up, just re-envision and motivate yourself to take those small steps. If you have done steps 2 and 3 correctly, you will find that you are taking both conscious and unconscious steps towards your vision and making choices that move you towards your vision rather than away from it. At this point you can start sharing your vision with others, but be careful of those who will seek to undermine your vision because it threatens their own self-confidence. 

Let me know if you have worked these tips-
Coach Milton



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