TO THE TOP!

Have you ever been halfway up the wrong side of a mountain, pedaling a bicycle as hard and as furiously as you possibly could, and suddenly thought that you just might not make it to the top?  Do you remember how your lungs ached in the attempt to suck in more air? You may even now be reliving the burning pain in your legs, your back, and your stomach, remembering how they suddenly pushed to the forefront of your consciousness.  For that period of time, they became your reality, your total focus.  The pain and the agony screamed out; “I can’t do this! Just stop!”

Perhaps, as you were ready to stop in mid-push, an image burst through your mind.  You saw yourself at the top of the climb, resting, and relishing the triumph of conquering not only that mountain slope, but your own worst fear for that day.  Not making it to the top….  And that mental image made the difference.  You focus shifted, You continued to fight and to push.  And you lived up to your best intention one more time.   What a rush that was for you!  And how powerful that moment felt as you physically made it to the top of YOUR MOUNTAIN……  LITERALLY.

Isn’t it amazing the difference that one fleeting glimpse of something that hasn’t even happened can make in your life?  That my friend is the power of your mind.  It can envision with clarity and detail a future event that you wish to become reality.  There is a great lesson here, and significant potential.

HOW IT HAPPENS

Its widely known that we have both conscious and subconscious portions of our brains.  You may realize that your consciousness is the realm of thinking and perceptions, of focus, and of what you may like to think of as your decision making power.  You may not realize that, as the chart to the left indicates, your conscious brain accounts for only about 10% of your brains processing capabilities.  And the awesome thing is that your subconscious mind has so many more capabilities than your normally utilize!  The good news is, that they are always there, waiting for you to tap into them.  That pivotal moment that you visualized in the mountain top scene above is just such an example.

Would you like to learn a simple method to utilize your subconscious mind to help you succeed in the things that you really want to accomplish?  Then read on my friend!  Oh by the way, this isn’t magic, or voodoo, simply the same methods that the worlds greatest achievers use to make it to the tops of their mountains.

THE POWER OF A PICTURE

You need to relearn to do what you did naturally as a child. You used your imagination with unfettered enthusiasm.  Do you remember when a simple dandelion could release endless possibilities of places to wander, and things to see?   Twirl, stem in hand again in your imagination and see the individual seed-lets separate and float away with shear abandon.  Notice how they shimmered in the sun as the cool breeze lifted and drew them into the sky.  Feel the softness of the delicate stem as you turned it gently between your fingers, hoping to encourage those few stray stragglers to begin their journey into the wind.  Now peer intently at the empty seed head and notice the tiny indentations that once held the fledgling seeds.  What did you did with the stem?  Did you toss it to the side?  Or did you place it securely in a pocket for future use?

Notice how so many details that haven’t even been mentioned have been bubbling through your mind as you read the description above.  Some of them were probably long forgotten memories, and some may just have been bits of imagination that filled in the details that your mind craves.  Such is the power of imagination.

TRY IT YOURSELF

With your permission, I am going to switch to the more personal first person dialogue style that I use in my coaching practices.  I would like to guide you through the process of using your imagination to build a vision of something that you would like to be successful at in the near future.  For this experiment, I would suggest that you pick some goal or task that at the moment seems just a bit out of your reach, but not entirely beyond your capabilities.   Are you ready to make a go of it?

Relax

If your were with me in my office, I would ask you to sit back and relax, maybe even close your eyes, and tilt your head slightly upwards as if looking into the sky.  But since you need to read this, please read through this exercise completely, and then follow the advice given.

See the success you’ve created

In your imagination I want you to go forward in time to when you have achieved the goal that you desire to achieve.   Yes you can do that in your imagination.  It could be a few days, it could be a month, or even years, but see yourself with the goal achieved.  Do you see yourself, can you see the goal accomplished? Was there something physically that changed?  What does that look like?  Now, describe out load, the feeling that you are experiencing, having made that great goal a reality.  Be as specific as you can, what has the accomplishment of that goal or task allowed you to do or to have that you did not think possible before?  Do you have that image securely fixed in your mind?  I want you to enjoy that feeling, that image that you have fixed.  Take a few moments to let the feeling wash over you.  Now I want you to think of some detail about that image that stands out in your mind, it might be the place where it took place, or the sounds that you hear.  Fix those securely in your mind, so that there is some detail which you can back up at a future time when you would like to recall that image.

Describe what it took to get there

Now that you have a vision of that successfully completed goal firmly anchored in your subconscious, take the next step towards your goal.  While you are still in that mental futuristic time that your imagination has created, please describe what your had to do to accomplish that goal.  Again let your imagination fill in those details.  Let the specific actions come to the forefront of your mind. Again, believe me, you can do this.  What roadblocks did you have to overcome, what changes did you have to make, what resources did you have to utilize?   How long did it take?  Mentally make notes as you answer each of these questions in your imagination.  Don’t worry or try to make judgments about whether those things are possible at this time.  Just let your imagination assume that a way was worked out.

Write it down and use it

When you feel that you have sufficiently filled in the details of how your got to the success that you have created, come back to the present and take a few moments to get up and stretch, look around the room, and get a piece of paper and a pen.  You will need them.

Albert Einstein is attributed as saying;

“Logic will get you from A to Z, Imagination will get you everywhere.”

If you followed the suggestions above, you should have in your mind two things.  A clearly defined description of what success will look, feel, and sound like.  That is what you can experience at the top of your mountain.

You should also the details of what you will need to do to accomplish the goal.

Now, grab that piece of paper, and start writing.  Stephen R. Covey taught that all things are created twice. He said that the physical follows the mental.   He was making the point that we create our future states in our minds, or let others create them by default.   He was also following scriptural patterns with this teaching. In Isaiah 46:10 we read that God declared the end from the beginning.

So, would you like to be more successful at achieving your goals?  Relearn to use your imagination to envision success.  Then let that same imagination help you fill in the details.   Use that as the starting place to plan your future.

Here’s your experiment until next time, pick one goal, follow the process, and use your notes to start your plan.  Try it several times with a variety of different goals, and notice that the same method works of a variety of different goals and tasks.  Learn to couple your imagination with your logic.  Take advantage of both your conscious and your subconscious brain power!  And have fun doing it!

Till next time