Visualisation is one thing but doing, actually doing something about it, is the other.

I just seen an advert for the ‘visualise your wealth and you will receive it’ school of leadership and motivational guru’s.

I always ask myself, why?

First of all, on the advertisement…. remember it is an advertisement. Designed to make you spend or consume more.

The consume more part always takes me back to my childhood when I would be brushing my teeth… the instructions on the side of the toothpaste tube was ‘use a pea sized squeeze of toothpaste on your brush’…

The TV advertisement for the same toothpaste had the person squeezing a full, perfectly shaped, oblong of toothpaste that filled the whole brush head. Looks great on TV…. Probably the equivalent of 4 peas side-by-side on your brush. Funny that!

My take on this at the time was, the Dentist wants you to have good healthy teeth…. the Marketer and the toothpaste Company want to sell loads of toothpaste to then make loads of money.

I was probably a little off on my assumptions now that I have more understanding. Some Dentists, the Company and Marketers wanted to make more money… the government had the regulations and guidelines to guide you on the one pea size.

Anyhow….

The get rich scheme by visualising is a fiction of the reality. It might help you get a clear picture in your head to motivate you to do something but visualising it alone, will. not. make. it. happen.

I repeat, visualisations will not make it happen.

The only way to make things happen is by doing stuff. Actions.

Actions speak louder than words and louder than the pictures that you form in your mind.

The guys selling you the ‘visualisations will work’ deal are the same as the Dentists/Company/Marketers combination – they are trying to make you spend some and then spend some more.

Sure. Visualisation will give you a target, a goal or an aspirational outcome to aim for, but keep it a little bit real. Visualising the impossible is not a positive.

I would suggest not visualising on a big pot of money, a fast car or a billionaire lifestyle (which this advert promised)… because you are likely to end up frustrated and disappointed.

That will do you more harm than good.

Visualise on something more tangible and personal, a healthy body, a happiness lifestyle or a £’s amount of money in the bank to cover your years expenses and how safe that might make you feel… connect to it emotionally, then build a plan on that thought and focus on the months ahead. Think!

What things do you have to do?

Ask yourself, what do you have to stop doing, start doing, when, where…. how?

Ask yourself the big Why? Question and answer that.

Ask yourself all of these action questions and ask some more, and then work out your answers to the questions that you have asked.

Anything else is just dreaming.

Work from a place of ‘small increases make a big difference’ and estimate your timelines correctly. What do you really think you will achieve within a month, a year, 3 years, 5, 10?

Note; keep short to medium term goals simple and with clear actions, longer term goals more vague… and directional.

My example is my current plan… my statement of intent.

As a man in his 50’s, I have a Dad bod sprouting across my body frame. It’s not too bad, but I could improve on it. With a hot and humid Beijing summer pending, I don’t want to be uncomfortable, so I will wear a short sleeved T-shirt. I want to look good in a T-shirt.

Starting on the 1st of February 2021, I have a 3 month goal with a simple target… get a healthier and fitter body for the summer.

Why? I want to look good in a T-shirt.

How? I will exercise for 30 minutes.

When? Every day apart from a Sunday.

Where? In the local gym and balance in the morning by working out at home.

What will I stop doing? Eating junk food, which I will cut down by approximately 80%. (see above pictures)

What is my reward? This is part of the emotional connection; I will get an arm tattoo. Yep, mid-life crisis.

What is my visualisation? A picture in my minds eye of me, comfortable wearing a T-shirt during a hot summer in Beijing and sporting a new tattoo…

…while I enjoy everything that life has to offer in that moment.

This is direct, but more loose than some of the other plans I have. I am purposely not setting out what I do in the gym etc, because I want to keep it as an emotional linked target andI want to reduce the over-engineering of the tasks/actions.

This is visualisation and a whole lot more – actions. Doing something.

Will it work?

It has before and I think so, because I want that tattoo and I don’t want to sweat to death in a forty degree heatwave in Beijing.

Check back in on the 1st of May for an update.

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