Imagine you are successful. Where are you? Imagine you are truly happy. Who are you with? What are you doing? Really dive down into the details! What are you wearing? What furniture is around you? What does the countertop feel like when you run your hand across it? It is all in the details! OK, now close your eyes, take a minute to focus on all the details of your visions, and come back.
Welcome back!
The ideas and detail that you are able to see in your mind can be manifested, according to many successful leaders. Motivational speaker Tony Robbins talks about his morning routine where he uses visualization techniques every morning to set the pace for the day to come as opposed to hitting the snooze button multiple times and then rushing out to grab breakfast and go. It is a way to channel your goals and get your mind straight to head down your path.
My Journey
July 30th, 2019, was the day I truly understood what a path was. A few days earlier I had checked myself into the emergency room with radiating pain in my side. The original thought was an appendix, but the bloodwork did not match. A few days later I was wheeled into my room with my two young daughters at my side. The doctor told me I had a cancer mass in my stomach that was shutting down the digestive organs path. My body was quickly filling with toxins and if I didn’t get it removed quickly, it would be fatal. I cried as my daughters each took a shoulder to cry into.
As I draped a towel over my eyes to hide my fear, I saw something. I saw a vision of me on the other side of the surgery, I was alive, I was successful in life, my family was happy. I stopped my tears, looked at my girls and told them I had a path and dying at that time was not part of that path. Since I know it is not the end, it is only an obstacle.
I can’t say my recovery was easy, it was only made easier from the overwhelming support of family, friends and work. I know in my heart that my path vision guided me through the obstacle.
Positive Words, Positive Mindset
Your mindset dictates a lot of what happens to you. You know the person who grumbles through the day, complaining about every interaction only because they know that bad things will happen to them. And they are right.
You know that person who whistles down the hallway, smiles at everyone, and talks positively when addressing situations? This person does actually receive negative actions throughout the day, however, is not fazed by actions as the first person was. This is because the person chooses to look for the positive and deal with the negative.
This mindset is affected by everything you do and say and you must be careful not to choose your words and actions that go against your mindset. In a meeting with some very talented district managers, I challenged them to use the word opportunities instead of failures when addressing the executive board for their review.
This simple substitution of words says, “I did not fail. I realized what I must do to succeed.” After all, failure is when something happens and you learn nothing from it. We replaced the negative mindset of outcome with a positive one to set the goals in their path.
In my house we do not use the phrase “impossible” but “improbable” is acceptable. This lifts the barrier you placed on a goal as you were saying it could never happen. Now you are saying it could happen, and you can begin to work out the details. The phrase “I don’t know” is also banned from our vocabulary, as it should for everyone (especially your customer-facing team). Using a phrase like, “I am unsure” lets you open your mind to the options.
I invite you to look at practices in your life that go against your path. Simple phrases and actions not only go against your goals, but they let others question your motives and abilities. Take time to visualize your success and happiness and identify things that you do now that go against that path. Then make the small changes.
