I am a firm believer in data. In fact, as a former Corporate Accountant turned Math teacher and instructional coach, I’ve literally built my career on data analysis and I continue to do so as my husband and I build our digital marketing and consulting business. I am, however, also a firm believer that our expectations and beliefs shape our reality – both our personal and professional reality.
To say my husband is a skeptic about my borderline obsession with manifestation and the Law of Attraction is an understatement. He’s usually a good sport when my mom makes us watch “The Secret” or when I play a vintage Neville Goddard lecture from YouTube on a long drive. But when he can’t contain a groan, I quickly remind him of Expectations Theory – a macroeconomic theory we learned in our college Econ classes years before the Law of Attraction was so popular.
This is the theory that both the current and future economy are influenced by people’s expectations. Clearly it’s much deeper than this but I often bring it up when my husband rolls his eyes at me when I lecture him about needing to change his expectations. So if you found yourself rolling your eyes when you saw this title, don’t give up on this post yet!
Let’s assume you too are at least somewhat skeptical that anything involving the terms ‘visualization’ or ‘manifestation’ can possibly benefit your business. If the absolute worst case scenario is that you “waste” a few minutes of your day for a week or two trying a few of these techniques, isn’t it worth a shot? If people’s expectations can impact the entire economy, isn’t there at least a chance that your expectations can impact your personal and professional success?
There are countless journals recounting athletes successfully using visualization with detailed explanations about the Reticular Activating System, the occipital lobe, and many other terms that my business-minded brain finds it difficult to focus upon. The bottom line is economists and neuroscientists can’t all be wrong – there must be something to our expectations and visualization impacting our reality.
Before you write a formal business plan, you have to determine what it is you’re working toward. That’s where the visualization comes into play. Without taking your current circumstances into account, what is your ultimate goal with your business? Take a moment to close your eyes and imagine where you see yourself as a business owner. Maybe you already have a business and you imagine it becoming highly successful with multiple locations. Maybe you just decided today that you want to take the leap and begin your entrepreneurial journey and you imagine yourself signing your first major client.
Here is today’s challenge for you as we begin to build your business plan together, and it’s a very simple one…
1. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and clear your mind. Now, imagine you’re introducing yourself to a new client. You are already an established and successful business owner.
2. Where are you…do you have a modern, corner office overlooking the city, have you turned a beautifully furnished room at your home into your office with all of your recent earnings, are you meeting at a trendy restaurant nearby or in a city you’ve always dreamed of visiting, or are you meeting via video conference because you’re sitting on the beach (my favorite spot is a bayside beach on Kent Island that I like use as my ‘remote office’)?
3. When the client asks about your business, what do you tell him or her? Why should they choose you? What does your business have to offer? How much are you making each day, each month, each quarter – what will your annual earnings be now that you consider yourself “successful?”
Be specific, what are you wearing, what are you saying, how do you FEEL? You must determine what success in your business looks like, sounds like, and most importantly feels like. There is no wrong answer here – no dream is too big or “crazy” – this is your dream!
Once you’ve imagined this scene, take 5 to 10 minutes to visualize it in as much detail as possible each evening as you’re ready to fall asleep. Don’t just replay it in your mind, allow yourself to ‘be’ in that scene as you’re falling asleep. Do this for the next week and enjoy it – enjoy that feeling of success because this is the first step to turning that dream into a reality!
