The field of self-help and psychology in general is full of different techniques, concepts and tricks to accomplish your goals, get more done, and make it easier to manifest more in life. Two recent, unrelated events, gave me the chance to use these tools and although both happened around the same time, the two are unrelated, but do at the end of the day help us get more out of life in general.
2020 Olympics
I am a huge fan of the summer Olympics and usually watch most of the coverage. But ever since the 2008 Olympics, I noticed I get something much more from this global sports spectacle than just watching and cheering on Canadian and other favourite athletes and teams. I noticed the Olympics literally motivate me to push harder in my workouts and fitness (be it weightlifting, walking, hiking etc) . And by extension, this may spill into other areas of my life, but the fitness side of it is the one that benefits the most.
It is no wonder that my Apple Watch reported some of my best number in the last 3 weeks. And the more amazing or record-shattering the event is, the more it seems to subconsciously motivate me and push me to try new records or streaks. You could see that I am more than a casual follower and have a deeper connection with the games and athletes. I think about the sacrifices and hard work they put into their preparation to reach this stage. That somehow motivates me to work out harder.
Niagara Falls
my wife is in the middle of opening her own business, which should go live in about 2 weeks. So as we are in the home stretch, there are more things to finalize, complete and check off. On a recent trip to Niagara Falls, as we were looking and marveling at the falls and the gushing water, I did a little psychological experiment with my wife to get her subconscious working in her favour in her business endeavor: I asked her to look at the gushing water for 10 seconds and fully focus on it, including the loud sound of the fast falling water . I then told her to close her eyes and imagine this to be your business and water here is your cash flow. Visualize your business generating so much revenue like this non-stop overflowing waterfall.
This psychological exercise – which I literally came up with in the moment – seems to have struck the right mental spot with my wife as she embraced it and enjoyed the imagery. Then throughout the trip, and to drive the point further, I kept reminding her of the waterfall as a metaphor for her business generating so much revenue and lots of cash flow. In fact, our hotel room was facing the falls, so she was able to apply this mental imagery several times over 2 days.
In our journey to success and goal completion, be it in our careers, health, business or other areas of our life, it helps to form metaphors or imagery to create a lasting subconscious imprint. And once you have imprinted it on your subconscious, it will pretty much help you march forward and manifest your goals. Just remember, this is no substitute for hard work. Just use the two as complimentary to one another.
What is your metaphor to get to your goal? What imagery have you used to help your brain visualize your goal and outcomes in a more favourable manner?