In the past three articles we have examined our thought processes and how our thoughts affect both our financial and singing success. We’ve learned that these thoughts drive our behavior and create the circumstances in which we live. We’ve discussed examining the cycles in our lives as a way of discovering the thoughts that are driving those cycles. We’ve learned the technique of using affirmations to habituate new ways of thinking and how to apply that new thinking in our lives. By this time I hope you have a better idea of what you want from your financial and singing life.
In this article we’re going to learn about a powerful tool for achieving every good thing you’ve ever dreamed about or wished for. Almost every prosperity book I’ve ever read mentions or discusses this tool in detail. The tool is visualization and it is Success Principal No. 3.
Motivational author Napoleon Hill said, “One must realize that all who have accumulated great fortunes first did a certain amount of dreaming, hoping, wishing, desiring, and planning before they acquired money.” (Italics added for emphasis.)
What do you want then? Have you defined what success is for you? Do you have a clear picture of it in your mind? Most people go through life with only a vague notion of what they want and wonder why they seem to be spinning their wheels and going nowhere. Helen Keller said it best: “Worse than being blind would be to be able to see and not have any vision.”
To assist you in achieving a clear picture of what you want, I am going to guide you through an easy step-by-step process to get you started creating what I call a “Life Vision.” We will go through questions that will help you clarify what you want. Writing down your answers can be a powerful tool to help you see more clearly and to determine what is important to you.
Your Life Vision statement will describe your ideal life, the ultimate outcome you desire for various aspects of your life. Keep in mind that you want to describe your ideal life, not what you now perceive as possible to achieve. Many people who have achieved great things in their lives didn’t know how they were going to do it when they conceived the idea. The how of achieving your vision will show up as you go along, one baby step at a time.
To begin, get a pen and paper or sit down at your computer and open up a new word processing document. I prefer to write on my computer because I refine and clarify my vision often. At the center of the top of the document write or enter in bold letters: “Life Vision.” Good! Pat yourself on the back for beginning a process that will have a positive impact on both your financial and singing life.
This is going to be your rough draft, which will initially take you only a few minutes. Later, after you’ve let it sit for a while, you can go back to it and start the refining and clarifying process—which, by the way, will be an exciting, ongoing process for the rest of your life. I have been thrilled time and again to read things I’ve written down and see how they’ve been fulfilled in ways that far exceeded my expectations. It is a way of tracking your progress and coming to the realization that you are a powerfully creative being.
Write using only positive sentences about what you want, in first person and present tense, as if you are experiencing what you’re writing about right now.
Write down the answers to the following questions.
Step 1: Awaken your vision.
* What represents your dreams and moves your heart? In other words, what are you passionate about? What do you love to do? What kind of people do you love to be around? What kind of environment do you enjoy? What excites you, gets you turned on and charged up? You may want to begin these sentences with: “When my life is ideal, I am ____________.”
* What would your general standard of living be?
* Whom would you help, serve, and share with? What would you share with them?
* What are the underlying reasons you want to achieve these dreams? Is it relaxation, freedom of time, peace of mind, mind expansion, a higher capacity to love and be loved? Describe yourself experiencing them.
* How do you feel when you are experiencing them?
Step 2: Whom do you admire most?
* Who are the successful people you admire most in life?
* What are the character traits you admire in them?
* Which of these traits would you like to incorporate into your life?
* Write down a description of the ultimate, most wonderful you that you can envision having incorporated these admired traits into your own character.
Step 3: Envision your future life.
Imagine the peace, happiness, and comfort your success will bring to you and your loved ones at each of these stages of life.
* What do you see yourself doing one year from now?
* What do you see yourself doing five years from now?
* What do you see yourself doing 10 years from now?
Writing your short-term and long-term goals will bridge the gap between where you are today and where you want to be. A person with well-defined goals will accomplish more in a year than others without goals accomplish in five years. When we have goals we can know whether we are on the right track for the kind of life we want to create.
Now that you have written down the answers to these questions it is time to write down your life vision statement. Remember to write down your ideal life, not what you now perceive as possible. I’ve watched my vision change dramatically from the time I wrote it down to the form it is in today because the dreams I had of my ideal life had been so buried by the life experiences I had been creating that I had become very “practical” and had dismissed my ideal life vision as just a childish fantasy.
The following is an example of a Life Vision statement you can use as a reference to help you get started. I have only written a little bit in each area to give you an idea of how to begin. Most of what I’ve written below would be better with more clarification and definition of what it might mean for you. My own Life Vision is very detailed, but also very personal.
Me:
I am living my life joyfully and passionately. I am following my bliss and doing my purpose in life. I am a loving being who is kind and growing in my creativity and intelligence. I am generously giving to the world of my gifts and talents.
Following my bliss:
I am sharing pleasurable time with loved ones and forming healthy relationships. I am traveling the world with loved ones, meeting loved ones, or meeting people who become loved ones along the way. I am living in a home at the base of a tall, rocky mountain in a peaceful location. I am studying with masters regularly.
My singing:
I am singing in elite opera houses and concert halls worldwide, enjoying celebrity status. I am creating pleasurable, singing business opportunities where I share my singing gifts with the world. I am singing for international sound tracks for mainstream, financially successful movies and commercials.
Money:
I am enjoying receiving more than $120,000 each year. I am experiencing financial freedom. I am receiving more then $10,000 each month from nine streams of income. I am easily and effortlessly affording my every financial dream and desire. I am receiving money doing what I love and have fun doing. I am receiving large checks of $3,000 or more arriving in my mail on a daily basis.
Health:
I am caring for and maintaining my healthy body, enjoying optimal health. I am supporting my trim, healthy lifestyle eating foods that fill me with energy and give me radiant health. I am doing yoga two times each week, increasing my flexibility and building my muscles.
By writing down your Life Vision statement you have taken a dramatic step toward the purposeful creation of your life. Now that you have it written down, what are some steps you can take to realize the fulfillment of your vision?
Clearly visualize what you have described as if it is happening around you
As you are reading your vision see yourself as if you are in the situation you have described and it is happening around you. You may even want to physically act out what you see yourself doing. Dress yourself in the costume, greet the conductor and shake his hand, walk out onto the stage and feel the spotlights hit your face, hear the applause, etc. Not being able to clearly visualize what you want may be an indication that you need to define what you want more clearly. When your passions are clear, you can create goals that are aligned with your passions and begin to create the life you choose to live.
Emotionalize your vision
How does it feel to experience singing the role you would like to sing? Can you feel the excitement, pleasure, peace, thrill, satisfaction, fulfillment, etc. of what you envision as if it were happening?
Emotions are much more powerful than thoughts. In my own life experience I’ve seen over and over again how a powerful emotion I’m experiencing will win hands down if there is a battle between my emotions and my thoughts.
Have a vision you feel passionately about
If you answered the first questions in Step 1, you have written down what you are truly passionate about. Most likely you enjoy doing these things and you’re good at them so it should be easy to stay on task and focus attention on doing them. Sometimes you trick yourself into thinking your passion is to become a multi-millionaire, when you aren’t actually inclined to put your attention on making money and creating wealth. If this is the case, your mind is playing a game with you, telling you this is your passion when in fact you just want to feel safe from bills, responsibilities, and discomfort. Such mind games never lead to fulfillment.
Repetition is the mother of all learning
Most of us are creatures of habit, some of it deeply entrenched. It may work well for you to review your vision statement on a daily basis for two to three weeks in the beginning and then pull it out about once per week after that to help you stay focused on your goals and the new habits you want to create. If I’m going through a challenging time, I spend quite a bit of time reviewing my vision statement, reminding me of what I want and where I’m going.
Your vision statement will have a dramatic effect on your life as you strive onward and upwards towards its fulfillment. You will reap rewards from the journey and the process, including the changes that will happen in your life as you progress towards your goals. Most importantly, you will meet new people and develop new friendships along the way.
Let me leave you with words from author Norman Vincent Peale, and an assignment. “Empty pockets never held anyone back. It’s only the empty heads and empty hearts that do it.”
Assignment: Write down your Life Vision statement and review and refine it daily.
