Setting your ambitions into motion

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The principles behind this are appropriate for any time that you feel life or business is just drifting by you, or perhaps you want to reinvigorate your aims in life.

Firstly, you must have dreams or goals to aspire to. These give you the motivation and set out the direction in which you want to move. Planning follows, to determine what you are going to do to move towards those dreams. Finally and importantly, you then have to make the effort to do it.

In this article we will be looking at the starting point – visualisation.

The diagram shows the process of visualizing – planning – action and additionally the review activity that leads to sustainable success.

visualisation

Visualisation

Do you actually know what you want? Are you sure?

While accepted as valid for lifestyle goals, there is a tendency to undervalue visualisation as a tool for setting business objectives. Just like any tool it can be applied to many situations effectively. Many of the top IT and software companies use visualisation to help determine where they want to be in the future.

The first thing to do is to find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed for about 30 minutes. Take a piece of paper and write at the top “The life of (your name)”.

Keep an open mind, don't expect, hope, fear, or assume anything. Don't be optimistic or pessimistic.

Now--suppose it's the day after you died: try and get the sense of that day. Look back over 'the past' and make some notes about what happened in your life. Write your notes in the past tense, as if whatever comes to mind really did happen in the past, and you're just remembering it.

 

Looking Back

Just relax and see whether you can 'remember' what happened in your life. You may not 'remember' right away--but we don't always remember things immediately when we try.

Look back towards the past and write in past tense what you see, whatever comes to mind that was accomplished, as well as any insight you realized and any personal changes you see that you went through.

 

After Doing the Exercise

What do you 'remember'? Did you accomplish what you wanted? What happened with your relationships? Did your life take unexpected directions? Did you live the life you wanted to live? Is there greater clarity on your priorities and values in life?

Now forget the idea that it's the day after you died. Let go of that idea. Relax and let go of any leftover feelings from doing the exercise, and take ten-fifteen minutes to write down your priorities in life, or your long-term goals and objectives, whatever you choose.

Visualistion technique text is copyright Steve Randall, Ph.D