Visualizing Success

A long time ago, someone tried to explain vision boards to me. Sure it was a nice presentation. Sure the examples were amazing. The one question they couldn’t explain to me was how did the process really work.

OK, not the science of how it works, but the way the mind visualizes things and how those things come into being. There has to be some logical explanation, some physical connection. One can’t conjure up solutions out of thin air, or can they?

Let’s get one thing clear. The premise of imagining riches and they just show up… bogus as far as this blog is concerned. I’m no demi-god or God himself. I can’t think things into existence (as in conjure up things by just thought alone. Thought followed by systematic actions based on a solid plan is totally different). Just making sure we’re clear here.

The whole exercise of putting photos on a board and looking at it every day and pretending I’m there was just a bit too much to handle. Couldn’t get into it. Couldn’t make myself believe.

What I did take from the presentation and the seminar is that the mind is a powerful creative agent. It can hold the unknown in clear focus. Example. My mind can imagine me owning a Ferrari if I allow myself to think about the experience in enough details.

Where the rubber meets the road is that one can build up the various steps to go from vision to reality. No one really talked about the work back then. They all pushed that sweet Kool Aide of dream big and paste the items on your vision board and that is all you need to attract that reality.

So…my little experiment…

Being that the examples in the vision boarding seminar was based on material wealth things, I figured I’d try something I had once tried as a child. I wanted, as a child, to sit in a Camaro Z28. It was a dream that came true in my childhood too. What if I tried this vision board thing for a red Corvette. Would that work?

Feeling silly, I went about setting up th vision board. Time passed. Years passed. No Corvette showed up at my door. I guess I didn’t believe it hard enough. I did see several on the road, but that is not news to me.

Then, an opportunity came up that I said yes to. A business opportunity. The necessary training class was slated to take place on the other side of the country. Instead of flying out, someone asked me to do them a favor and drive them out there, as they were going to the same geographic area.

Taking the coincidence in stride, went for a long drive. A very eye opening long drive. The country is very very wide. 3k miles is no joke! Fun though it was, one of the experiences in the trip did catch my attention.

During one of the early stops along the way, there was a dealership and in front of it was a red Corvette. Had the notion of the vision board not been on the edge of my mind (the business mentors had asked me to do one for my business before the trip) I would have thought nothing of it.

Knowing that the vision board had not brought the Vette to me, I figured I’d extend the stop a few more minutes to stand up close and personal to the Vette. Snapped a few photos. Enjoyed the feel of the polish on my finger tips. Looked inside through the window. The dream was almost true.

Then the sales guy came out. That ended the reverie quick. I was not going to part with my license and have a credit check just to sit inside the beauty of that machine. Thanks, but no thanks.

Some will say that I missed out on a big chance. I don’t think so. Had I not been thinking about the vision board, I would have seen the Corvette and kept moving. The only thing the board did was make me aware that I had the idea/vision of experiencing a Corvette. So, I did. And it was lovely.

The memory was great enough that many years after the fact, I’m now blogging about it with a smile on my face.