The Missing Link to Visualization

"I would visualize things coming to me....Visualization works if you work hard. That's the thing."

- Jim Carrey

I was on one of the masterclasses by Eric Ho and it really made me wanting to write this article. And yes, my quote above definitely has a connection to what I'm going to talk about.

So, with all the self-help gurus and the hoo-ha around this positivity movement going around, the world has understood the importance of the positive mindset and even the visualization of our end goal. And to be honest, I am myself a sucker for "think-good", quite a creative imaginationalist myself. But only manifesting works?

For that, let's re-visit the Chinese Bamboo tree story and be amused again - how it takes 4 years to ESTABLISH itself and break through the ground. But does it lie dormant in those 4 years when we see no sign of any development? No, it's still at work everyday on establishing itself; to reach to the ground and break through. Got it? Our manifesting the results of our visualization, i.e. our success story, is the magnificent growth we see of this tree in a short period of time after it reaches the surface (it grows humongous in just 5-6 weeks). But that is coupled with the action steps taken in silence even when we feel nothing is moving ahead or lying dormant, in this case.

So going back to if only manifesting works - success is a marriage between positive visualization and right efforts. Action is the way to attract things into our life; that is how it is. Think positive and visualize but we also have to be ready, we have to prepare ourselves everyday so when the opportunity knocks and the stage is set, we are ready to take over.

In utter honesty, I do not even like to call it "ready" or "prepared". Reason being it sounds like a block activity which takes only some time to complete and then it is done. It sort of puts a cap on the effort; sounds like no scope of growth beyond this. Whereas, being ready should be an ever-happening activity. It is what we are DOING everyday. The step we are taking EVERYDAY. So we are never ready; the question should be are we always in the process of getting better, are we growing? Progress and not targets should be our goal.

And for that to happen, we need to see what we need to do to achieve the result of the visualization and hard work. If I wanna become a billionaire by scaling up my business, am I working everyday on an idea which will disrupt the market? Am I investing time to upgrade my skills to pitch and close a deal? Am I confident enough to face investors of that stature? Because my visualization might get me an opportunity to bring me an investor but if my idea is not ready or my presentation skills are average or I do not know how to close the deal or I lack confidence, the opportunity would be lost.

Its the hustle that we do everyday to revise what else can we add; to go through it over and over again so as to add something new or subtract something redundant. Always ask are we getting better? Are we growing ourselves? Because this is how even Steve Jobs turned his name into a legend, an artist. So be positive, be a visionary, be determined and imagine, work and attract!