Key Leadership | Wait, then Wait Longer

I've heard so many amazing personal examples of the value of visualization. I remember hearing a story at a conference I was attending in Louisville, Kentucky. The speaker was an OB-GYN down in Haiti and he was sharing that he has seen success from teaching his patients the value of visualization. He said that his patients would come to him unable to produce children and he would tell them the one bit of advice: "Go buy baby clothes." He wanted his patients to realize the incredible power of visualizing what it is that you want before you have it.

I remember one of my good friends recommending to me that I watch "The Secret" on Netflix that discusses the incredible power of The Law of Attraction and how it can work in marvelous ways in our favor.

It is vital to visualize what it is that you want.

On my dream board I have various images of the things that I have visualized myself in the possession of at certain points in my life.

One of the biggest things I get to visualize that I am actually seeing coming to pass is a picture of a check that I wrote on April 4, 2016. I wrote the check in the amount of $5,000 and wrote it out to "Mr Missionary". I dated the check May of 2020. I decided on April 4, 2016 that I would, in May of 2020 visit five missionaries and would write five checks for $5,000 each to those five missionaries. That is a huge dream that I have held on to for quite some time and its so awesome to watch the pieces of that dream come to pass!

But there is another picture on my dream board that truthfully is very small. It is a picture of an oven -- a $550 oven that I researched and decided that was the oven I wanted to put in my kitchen. I have been asked by people that have seen my dream board why that particular oven is on my dream board. I always share the same answer. I put that oven on my dream board to teach me the principle of delayed gratification.

I have the money in my bank account to purchase that oven, however making that purchase is not the principle of delayed gratification.

In the Financial Fitness book on page seventy-three the following statement seems to define delayed gratification best:

"Delayed gratification is when you can afford something but you hold off because you prioritize your financial security over a new toy or something you don't need."

That picture on my dream board of an oven is a mere reminder that I must first accomplish the goal I have set in place in my business before I can make the purchase of that oven.

When you get your tax return this month or next month. Are you going to take $1,000 and put it in a savings account to let it sit as an emergency fund? Or are you going to instantly feel good about spending it all on something you don't have to have now.

Set goals for what you want, accomplish the goal then make the purchase a reward.

When it comes time to go to the store and buy that oven that I have visualized myself having I will not only be able to pay cash for it, but that oven will be a trophy of sorts -- a trophy in my kitchen that I will be able to look at and say, "I earned that oven!"

Now, It doesn't have to be an oven for you but what if you found something that you know you'd like to have and instead of making it an expense turn it into a reward by applying the principle of delayed gratification?