What if I gave you a new strategy to increase production, fire up enthusiasm, and boost productivity?
All you need to do is daydream.
Yes. I know, it sounds incredibly woo woo. Off the charts, hippy-dolackie, way far out there, crackers.
That doesn’t matter. What matters is that it works. Day dreaming, or visioning, as a regular practice in your business quite simply drives a whole tonne of energy into your future plans.
Even better, if you can manage to put your dreams onto a tactile, real life material you can have in your work space (like a board), what you’re giving yourself is a lot of little short visualisation exercises while you’re working.
It’s not just popular culture fluff like The Secret that suggests this kind of practice, Psychology Today published reports that brain patterns in weightlifters were strikingly similar when VISUALISING LIFTING hundreds of pounds as when actually lifting hundreds of pounds. The Cleveland Clinic Foundation compared people who actually worked out to those who just worked out in their heads and found a significant muscle increase in the visualisation group.
That’s reason enough to try it.
Here are other reasons I believe it will work for you:
- You get to ‘try’ on different business models.
It’s like shopping at a high end fashion house. You get to test drive all the scenarios and if you don’t like the one you’re wearing, swap it out for another glorious outfit.
This is a particularly good exercise when considering a new project. It’s much better to run the scenario through your head and decide it’s not for you than to pull out half way through the actual project.
Sit right in the seat of that baby. In your mind, drive around in your project, check out who you’d be working with. See the obstacles and road bumps, feel the glory of the success. Is it the right choice? You’ll be in a better position to decide once you’ve really day dreamed your way through the entire scenario. - You’ll get to map the steps.
When you’re on the road to the end point of your visioning, take notes. These notes form the basis of the plan for moving forward with the project. They’re your landmarks in the road map. - You’ll be able to increase your productivity when things aren’t feeling so inspirational.
Inspiration and motivation are great tools, when they’re present. All of us experience times when the inspiration has flown the coop and all that remains is dogged, stubborn hard work. Creating a visual tool that helps you remember why you began in the first place will have you back on track in no time.
Visioning keeps your mission at the forefront of decisions and keeps you taking action.
Daydreaming is radically different to creating a mission. A mission is a constantly refined, unending document you work towards for the span of your business life.
I’ve saved this great example for the end. Matthew Nagle is paralysed. With a silicone chip, Matthew controls a computer cursor, can communicate using his computer and controls a robotic arm. The chip in his brain took him four days to learn to control and has revolutionised his life. Great evidence of how brain power, visualisation and a spot of daydreaming can positively impact your journey.
Now, grab a picnic blanket, go get yourself some Vitamin D, take a pen and paper and begin your daydream!
