In 1937, Napoleon Hill, in his book Think and Grow Rich, noted that positive visionary thinking helped the great American leaders get to where they wanted to go in life – Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, John D Rockefeller, the list goes on. And even today this still applies: Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Meg Whitman, Richard Branson to name a few.
Most of us are reactionary. You know the type: “‘if only I had more money, then I would do X’, or ‘Next year when I’m slimmer I’ll be able to do Y’. We seem to naturally default into thinking that if we had more of something or less of something now then we would be happier.
Sadly, this means that our success depends on what our current situation is. So unless you are a super healthy supermodel millionaire then you probably don’t need to read this. Sorry to single you out like that Elle Macpherson.
So, the solution is simple. Learn to be a visionary. That way, no matter what is going on in your life right now, you’ll find your path to success.
Having spent most of my life trying to work out how to learn to be a visionary, I’ve noted 4 ways that work for me:
1. Appreciate the good things about where you are in life right now – accepting your situation as it currently stands, is the first step to becoming a visionary person instead of a reactionary person. Remember that no matter how thinly you slice it, it always has two sides! So look for the positives. Difficulty rating: Easy to Medium
2. Unleash your imagination! – Go wild and ‘think big’ (as Richard Branson always says). Use your experiences so far to work out what you truly want and imagine it coming to life. There are lots of fun games to play with this one, including one I call Funny Money – a game where you imagine that you have so much money that you don’t know what to do with, so you’re stuffing it into every spare pocket of space in your house. Try it, I’m sure it will make you smile J Difficulty rating: Easy
3. Have faith that it WILL come – Now that you’re feeling good about where you are, and have explored lots of things that you want to have in your life, the hard bit is letting them come to you. Imagine a door that is locked. Behind that door is everything you’ve ever wished for, waiting to be united with you so that you can live happily ever after together. Having faith and releasing resistance is the key to opening the door. Just relax and just know that everything will work out for you. Difficulty rating: Hard
4. Pick yourself quickly when the world is trying to make you down – No matter how much time you spend daydreaming about a better [insert appropriate adjective here], there will be times when the world just doesn’t want to play ball. So learn to take those moments with a pinch of salt and pick yourself up as quickly as you can. With practice, difficulty rating: Medium
Now it’s your turn. What other advice would you offer to those who are struggling to make the switch from reactionary to visionary? Share your comments below and let’s have a chat about this life changing way of thinking.
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