How did visualization turn my year around?
Here’s my story on this game-changing habit
I started practicing visualization a month ago.
I used to think it was cheesy and pointless.
Now it’s one of my go-to habits.
How do you visualize?
The concept of visualization is simple:
imagine you’re in the future as the best possible version of yourself.
A version that brings you the utmost joy, peace, and fulfillment.
Play out a day in the life in this future reality.
Add as much detail as possible:
Who are you with? What are you doing? Where are you located?
And most importantly, what are you feeling?
Imagine as if this future is real
The point is to immerse yourself in your best future so that it feels real — as if you’re already there.
I knew about visualization for a while but thought it was pointless.
I put it off by saying things like:
“I don’t have time for this”
“I’m not a kid anymore”
“I have real responsibilities”
“Dreaming doesn’t pay the bills”
Then one night, I was scrolling through YouTube in bed and a video came up about visualization.
The next day, the same thing happened on my wife’s feed.
Seeing it as a sign from the algorithm gods, I decided to try it out.
A month later, I’m still going strong.
Here’s why.
I was able to slow down and step off the rat wheel.
The last 6 months were especially busy for my wife & I, and my thoughts were solely focused on what I need to do now & next.
I couldn’t remember the last time I carved out time & space to disconnect from the running daily task list.
I was so consumed with optimizing for the now & next, I lost sight of what later version of me I was optimizing for.
The simple act of sitting still and closing my eyes flipped a switch.
I was now in a place where I could slow down, disconnect from the noise of the everyday, and reconnect with my authentic thoughts, curiosities, interests, and desires.
I was able to teleport to different future realities
When I first started visualizing, I was a little lost.
I didn’t know what ideal future to imagine.
I’d been so focused on my career path as a product manager for the last 6 years.
So I had a lot of questions when I had to imagine my best future self living my dream life.
Do I want to keep climbing the product ladder and become head of product somewhere?
Do I want to switch my corporate career completely into another role?
Do I want to pursue a solopreneur journey in a niche I really care about?
Do I ditch it all and hop on the NFT train?
I had a lot of questions, and a lot of potential paths I didn’t take the time to explore.
My default mode was optimizing for the path I’m on now, which is moving up the product career ladder.
But would that bring me the most fulfillment & purpose? I didn’t know.
Visualizing regularly gave me the reps to teleport to different futures and experiment with various potential versions of me.
It would’ve been too much pressure to figure it out in one sitting.
Visualization turned into a home base where I can detach from my current state and play out different realities to find the one that truly resonates with me.
I kind of felt like Doctor Strange in Endgame.
I was able to define my north star & purpose with more clarity
By exploring different potential paths and finding one that truly speaks to me, my vision and purpose became much clearer.
I was able to find the interest I wanted to pursue, the impact I wanted to make, how I wanted to change people’s lives, and what skills I would use to deliver that change.
I was able to articulate my “why”.
And getting a clear picture of my north star allowed me to create a clear plan to start crawling in that direction.
I was able to stick with habits I couldn’t keep up before
Like most people, every new year came with new habits. And after 2 weeks, I’d stop doing most of them.
I realized this was because I didn’t really know why I was doing them.
Aside from them helping me become “better” or “more productive”, it still begged the question “for what?”
I lacked a clear vision of who I wanted to become, so my habits naturally lacked purpose and intention.
So whenever a habit became inconvenient or tiring, it was easy to quit.
I didn’t have any attachment to them.
Now, after visualizing regularly, my north star is more clear.
And my goals and habits have a clear connection to that vision.
So whenever I’m tired or unmotivated, I can go back to my “why” and nudge myself past the sticking point to carry out the habit.
Who would’ve thunk it? Not me!
I wouldn’t have thought visualization could help me like this.
Now I’m starting a new journey in my downtime with a vision of my future that’s much clearer than before.
I’m looking forward to document & share my journey with you.
