Small Business Camp

What’s bothering you? No, what’s REALLY bothering you? What appears to be your biggest problem on the surface may just be a symptom of a more significant unanswered question. “Who am I?” and “What is my purpose?” tend to be the two questions that, if not properly answered, will cause life’s setbacks to appear insurmountable. All of us are searching for deeper levels of meaning to our existence. It is that sense of meaning which fuels your drive, enthusiasm and faith.Nazi Holocaust survivor, Victor Frankel wrote an incredible book entitled, Man’s Search for Meaning.  As a psychiatrist he was able to observe the belief systems and survival rate of people in the concentration camp. His conclusion was that individuals who imagined a future event survived the horrors of the Holocaust at a higher rate than those who held no hope.

This principle should be applied to our lives today. Despite your present problems, it is a future vision of yourself and your life that will help you find untapped resources and opportunities in your current situation. Back to the Future with Michael J. Fox is one of my favorite movies. Let us return back to your future and listen to the wisdom you would share. Imagine yourself five years in the future. You are successful, loved and happy.

What advice would you offer to your present self?
What would you stop doing?
What would you start doing?
What would you continue doing?

In order for the above visualization to work you have to be receptive to playing a new mental movie. People often stay stuck in a role by playing a past movie that is filled with pain, setbacks and heartaches. Or they allow limiting beliefs to play a movie about the future that generates fear and anxiety.

Break free of these traps by simply becoming open to new possibilities. It all starts with your breathing. You can survive 40 days with no food, 8 days with no water but try and survive more than 8 minutes without breathing! Your breath is the chief regulator of your immune system, emotions and problem solving capacity. Increase the quality of your breathing and increase the quality of your life.

Take a few minutes right now to close your eyes and imagine yourself in a move theater. Inhale and exhale. With each exhalation, see a number appear on the screen.

Let’ start at the number 25 and count backwards to one.

Inhale-Exhale-24.
Inhale-Exhale-23.
Inhale-Exhale-22.

…
Once you get to 1, open your eyes. 

Go ahead and try this exercise now.

Did you do it? I trust you did not just keep reading. When it comes to personal development, practice is more important than knowledge. Begin your practice now.

So, how do you feel? Let us try this exercise again and this time at the end of the countdown, imagine yourself five years in the future delivering a motivational speech to others who are now experiencing a similar problem that you conquered five years ago.

Close your eyes …
Imagine the room ….
the people ….
and the top three insights
you will share with the audience.

Let us do it now.

How did that feel?

Your body cannot tell the difference between a real and an imagined event. The more you visualize your success, the more your body will place your mind in a position to attract your success.

The greatest gift you can give yourself is to practice this technique the first thing in the morning and before you retire at night. The benefits are out of this world!