Visualisation

I was at networking event recently. A new business owner was telling me that for a number of years, she’d envisaged running a yoga retreat somewhere exotic. She initially had no idea who it would be aimed at or how she would even start this venture with no business knowledge. Nevertheless, she repeatedly visualised this retreat and over time, the idea developed, evolved and started to come to life. She pinned a photo of her vision to her kitchen wall and began retraining whilst in a full- time job. Now, five years later, she’s left her job, launched a health and well-being business and was delighted to be running her first retreat for women on a tropical island. 

This illustrates the power of visualisation. Repeatedly visualising what you really want, however unrealistic this may initially seem, can begin to create a new template for the brain to bring about desired change.

So where do you start?
Using all of your senses, begin to visualise your perfect day, perfect job or perfect lifestyle. (Forget any job titles for now). Note the type of environment you visualise yourself in. Is it an office, studio, home, or outdoors? Who are you working with? What type of work are you doing? What is your level of responsibility? What makes it so enjoyable and fulfilling? What’s happening in your personal life?

Don’t overthink things, just go with your gut instinct, creating as much detail as possible about what you see, hear and feel (and even possibly taste and smell) in this perfect situation. Write down what you notice, or construct a mood board of pictures, photos and drawings. Keep revisiting and revising your list/mood board.  

Reflect on what you’ve created. What do you notice? These insights will begin to help you see specifically the change required.

You can then begin to create a roadmap, setting SMART goals in line with your vision, which may cover five months or 10 years, depending on your desired outcome. Using all of your senses, visualise vivid goals to focus on and work towards to begin to bring your vision to life with clarity and confidence.