Doing Something Different Part 5

The Power of Affirmations

I have the privilege of discovering at a very young age that I have power over my surroundings. Part of this is the woo-woo spiritualism that I grew up with, and part of it is just simply practical experience. I always got what I wanted when I was younger, and not because I was spoiled (although some might make that accusation), but because I figured out how to make it real. Now, some things didn't become real until a decade later, but looking back I can tell you that the way I imagined my life would be at 27 is remarkably similar to how things actually turned out. (A few minor differences: the man I thought I'd be married to is dead, we don't live in a castle on the Peninsula, and I don't own a tattoo shoppe. The basic premise is the same: happily partnered, have a really great life, and own my own business.)

Now, I know some people will say "those two things have nothing in common! you're just using post-diction to prove your predictive ability!" I wouldn't go so far as to accuse myself of post-diction, but what I will say is that I decided at 17 that I would find "The One" within a decade, and set about making it happen, by getting over enough of my baggage that I could be recognizable to the person who now holds the code name Schmoogie.

Another instance of this was getting through art school. First I had to get in, so I visualized myself in that place, and set about making it happen. I also completed art school using that very same technique, and I'm pretty convinced that when I look back in 13 years as a National Sales Director (although, I really don't want to take that long to get there...), I'll find my life to be remarkably how I imagined it would be. And so all that time I spent in my little fantasy world as a teenager ended up working to my benefit, not only with the immediate escape it provided from my circumstances, but by giving me a vision of a better life that I could achieve.

The biggest tool that I use in this is, as you might have guessed by now: vision. What's it like? What's my world like? Where am I? What am I wearing? (I actually now own a dress I fantasized about when I was 14.) What am I doing? How do I feel? Now, act as if...

Some of this writing is me chronicling my journey, some of it is me writing trainings that I'll give when I'm a director and beyond. I imagine that I am talking to the people who will see me as their leader, and try to make it real for them aswell, even though by and large we don't really know each other yet. 

Anyway, the best affirmation I can offer is to see yourself where you want to be so vividly that you're able to reverse-engineer it, so to speak. If that's not your style, I'm sure there will be something else that is and works just as well to get you where you need to be.