As a creative entrepreneur, I’ve had to learn a number of tools to help me stay positive and work towards the life I want for myself and my family. Building a business and a brand isn’t easy and sometimes failing is part of the recipe for success. That being said, I don’t like the feeling of failure and every time something has knocked me down, I’ve had to figure out a way around it. That’s where visualization comes in.
What is it?
Visualization is the art imagining what you hope to accomplish before you actually accomplish it. It’s a tool that has been used by scholars, olympians, successful business men and women and of course, yours truly. In fact, I can’t think of any accomplishment that I didn’t visualize first. Although it sounds pretty straight forward, it’s more than just picturing a desired outcome in your head. You must imagine everything that comes with that outcome including how you feel, how your world would change and the details of what it looks like. For example, before I opened my salon, I didn’t just visualize a salon with my name slapped on the outside. I imagined every detail. I knew it would be white, modern and communal. I knew the type of women I would hire to work alongside of me. I knew the products I would sell to my clients. Although the vision continued to evolve, when it came time to make it a reality, the image in my mind was clear.
Why do it?
Obviously I would like to be known as a visionary like the rest of my entrepreneurial peers. Just kidding (kind of). For me, I’ve learned how I’m most successful and that includes taking the time to dream. That’s really what visualization is at its core. It’s dreaming and manifesting what your life will continue to look like. I’ll be honest, visualization doesn’t always mean imagining your greatest accomplishments. Sometimes, it’s imagining the daily victories like getting to the gym or cooking dinner. That being said, it can make all the difference. Regardless of how insignificant you may think it is.
How to do it?
There isn’t a scientific roadmap to visualization, but I can certainly share what works for me. I have the opportunity to talk with women all day long while they sit in my chair and so many of them have an idea of what holds them back and more often than not, they even have some idea of how to change it. That being said, visualization isn’t a one-step approach. We all know that no matter how often we wish for something, it doesn’t happen without action. Same goes for visualization. It doesn’t take the place of doing the work, but it does help prepare us for it. I’m a firm believer that we can’t do one without the other. My advice would be to start with something small and practice visualizing an outcome and then designing the steps it will take to make that outcome possible. Like I said before, it can be as simple as making dinner or going to the gym (which is actually not always so simple in my world but you know what I mean).
You don’t have to be an expert in visualization for it to be effective. My advice would be to just pick something and start. Set aside time to think and dream, set aside time to write out that dream and then outline the actions necessary to make that dream come to fruition. Commit to checking in with yourself every day and watch how your dreams continue to evolve. We are all meant to accomplish something great (maybe even build something of our own) and if you’re still trying to figure out what that looks like, visualization may be the answer.
For more ideas on how to live a life you love, check out my previous blog post, “My Top 3 Inspiration Hacks”.
Happy Visualizing!
