How important is it to dream? Do you ever remember your dreams? What if you could not only remember your dreams but actually use the amazing insights that you receive in them to get you closer to your goals in real life!
“Hey You at the back of the class stop day-dreaming now and pay attention!”
Which one of us did not hear that phrase repeated many times in our school days?
Having dreams and aspirations is an essential part of any successful entrepreneur's makeup. But what do successful people do to utilize the power of those dreams?
This article gives you some tips on using visualization, to achieve your goals.
Imagine trying to sell TV advertising, in the early days when most people had not seen a television. These hardy pioneers, when radio and newspapers were the only form of external entertainment in the house, must have been able to create an image. I mean a TV is not something they could traipse around with as a demonstration model!
If these guys had not persevered and been able to paint a mental picture, of a small box sitting in someone's front room, bringing in pictures, like they were used to in the cinema, then commercial TV as we know it today, would not have happened. The sales people in those days used the art of visualization to sell the concept that “a picture is worth a thousand words”
The key word here is “imagine”! I want you to imagine, or indeed create a picture of what success means to you. Sitting on a sun kissed beach or playing round after round of golf whenever you want – just create that picture.
Making that “picture in your mind's eye” seem like reality!
It was once said that a vision without corresponding and compelling action is a mirage – great to look at but without true substance.
First to be successful in business or your personal life, you need to define your personal definition of success. What is success for you? Which goals do you need to reach to be successful?
Write them down, think about them, and visualize them.
Visualization is much more powerful than most people imagine. By nurturing a desired image in your mind repeatedly, you will allow yourself to be successful –easily and simply!
How to plan your objectives
In this positive frame of mind ask yourself exactly what it is that you do well. Check this with people who really know you. Ask them how they see what you do in a willing and positive frame of mind.
Does doing more of this help you achieve your goals?
Now set your objectives. They should be based on doing more of what you are good at, to reach your goals. The good news is that having done the previous exercise you know it will be in synch with what the market actually wants.
You need to set milestones, or short term goals to keep you honest as your plan progresses. The more you plan your objectives, the higher the chances of success. Objectives need to be realistic yet optimistic, quantifiable to be measured.
Sometimes your dream may seem completely unobtainable. I mean imagine the guy who decided that it was possible to fly to the moon. Think back 20 years! Could anyone imagine that everybody would be carrying around a mobile phone that could take and receive calls, play music, take photographs and pay bills with?
We will all have setbacks and feel discouraged. It is however vitally important that you still keep some small successes going in your life while you find a new approach to achieving your “impossible” dream.
A journey of 1,000km starts with a single step. Often the way gets blocked and we have to double back. In fact without knowing precisely what is over the next peak, we could end up walking 10,000km to complete our initial journey.
Think of the great explorers, did they give up? Or did they plan some small action to get them over the next hurdle. It may have seemed to the casual onlooker that they had abandoned their dream. Heck no, they were just finding a way to overcome the obstacle and continue on through positive actions albeit in a slightly different direction.
Fulfilling a strategy through visualization.
What you will now have done is connect a dream with reality, by setting out a set of actions or steps to help you get there. This is what the business gurus call a strategy. In reality it is a set of actionable steps, turning a dream or goal into reality.
There will be bits of your plan that you just can't do well. This is where forming a mastermind group of people can help. Having an external perspective can help you firm up the reality of what you can achieve.
Don't be afraid of crazy dreams. Imagine if Walt Disney had given up on his dream of creating squeaky little caricatures running around on your TV or film screen. Where would we be now?
What of the Wright brothers who dreamt of flying across the Atlantic . They needed help to make their dream come true. A crazy dream maybe, but one that they pulled off and we all know who they are.
There are times when you dream will go fuzzy, or out of focus, when things go wrong – don't worry, go back to your imagination, get the image of success and focus on what did go well. It's what the rich and famous did and you probably already do a lot of, without knowing it!
What do Entrepreneurs have in common?
Rather than trying to come up with my own definition, I have used one that was created nearly 30 years ago. Interestingly enough if you look at today's heroes I am sure you will recognise at least 7 of the following 9 attributes.
But what are the attributes of the entrepreneur? The most convincing list by far,
was assembled by Geoffrey A. Timmons in an article published by the Harvard Business Review in 1979. He found that entrepreneurs required the following nine qualities: - A high level of drive and energy
- Enough self-confidence to take carefully calculated, moderate risks
- A clear idea of money as a way of keeping score, and as a means of generating more money still
- The ability to get others to work with you and for you productively
- High but realistic achievable goals
- The belief that you can control your own destiny
- Readiness to learn from your own mistakes and failures
- A long-term vision of the future of your business
- Intense competitive urge, with self-imposed standards
So how many of these traits do you have to drive your dream forward?
What is your compelling dream?
I don't know what you dream of because you are unique. Your dreams come from your experiences, hopes and in many cases frustrations.
Many great inventions come from something going wrong. Like the guy who designed the cardboard cartons for milk originally and now for all liquid food now called Tetrapak™. Imagine if Ruben Rausing's had not dropped a glass bottle of sour milk on the floor. His vision cam from the desire to create a container that would allow milk to be stored in non-breakable containers.
So what is your dream? What is that thing you always wanted to do? Is it more than just a fanciful wish? Are you prepared to go and put your actions where your mind is?
Good, then go do it!
D reams are the fabric of ambition. Just as a master tailor can visualise the end garment, people of true substance use their dreams to fashion their goals. By weaving the appropriate pattern through positive action they turn the threads of thought into a powerful reality.
Do you want the nightmare of missed opportunities or will you take your most precious insights and create something by which the world will remember you by?
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