Success is a mystery, a word of many meanings. Success is multidimensional and different for everyone.
How do you define success?
You might say that success is a certain amount of money, or an ability to live in comfort and luxury. Although these ideas could be a part of your vision of success, it is important to refine this vision, and explore each dimension of what success looks like for you. This article will provide simple guide for refining your vision of success, and taking your first step towards actualizing your most ideal life and inspiring others to do the same.
Refining your Vision
The majority of self-help books of both practical and spiritual nature share all kinds of methods and advice for achieving your dreams and actualizing your most ideal life. Despite their largely accredited successes, even the most famous books such as Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, all have a common denominator.
This common denominator is the vital ingredient for success, and without it, your dreams are like seeds without nutrient-rich-soil. With this properly developed ingredient, your goals and grandest dreams can take root and grow into their physical equivalent.
What is the common denominator?
Before you embark upon your quest for success, you will need to have a clear, high-definition vision of what it is that you want, and where it is that you are going.
Without a crystal clear vision, you are like a sailor without a destination in a vast and stormy sea. You will be blown about by the winds and currents only left to hope of landing somewhere that provides you with contentment. Even if you have the best maps, from the best mapmakers in the world, your voyage is hopeless without a destination.
Refining your vision is the first step on your journey towards success. In this refinement, you are clarifying the image of what success truly means for you. You must make your vision of success so clear that every detail has been accounted for. This will require vast imagination, creativity and determination to forge this vision in your mind- the first step in crystalizing your vision into reality.
Many books share this idea of holding this vision in your mind, but there does not seem to be much advice on HOW to do develop a clear vision. This comes at sort of a surprise, because having a clear vision for your success is the foundational layer of achieving your idea of success. This vision is your destination, and once attained, you will be able to utilize a map to get there.
How to Cultivate Your Vision for Success:
Dream big, but dream responsibly.
Introspection
The first and most important step in cultivating your image of success, is to introspect and truly find out what it is that you desire. This practice is tremendously important as this process also works WITHOUT a clear vision, and you may attain a result that doesn’t satisfy you, or even leads to your destruction.
Society may tell you that you need a Lamborghini and a mansion to be successful, but they don’t tell you about the utility bills of the mansion and the astronomical mechanic costs for the Lamborghini. It is not wrong to desire these things, but it is important to explore every dimension of your vision for success and make sure it is TRULY what you want.
As you introspect, keep your image of success in mind and live there. Explore it, feel it and live it. Imagine yourself in that house, in that town and with that car. Imagine also your family and friends and all who will be interacting with you. You may start realizing that your vision of success is less about you, and more about the impact it will have on others. This is an important realization and one that contains within it a seed for limitless growth.
You may quickly find that your initial vision of success is fuzzy. At this point, you can commence your journey of architecting your vision and refining it into a living masterpiece. Your imagination is your canvas, and a powerful canvas at that BECAUSE all that you imagine has the potential to become reality, whether positive or negative.
You may even be feeling a form of Soul Hunger for your vision, this is a deep yearning towards something better. You may know for sure that you do not belong in your current set of circumstances. If you feel this deep drive for something more, you should utilize this energy in cultivating your vision for success. It is a potent (perhaps the most potent) motivator for actualizing your vision of success.
For more on Soul Hunger and finding your North Star, learn more here.
Faith in a Quantum Leap
And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.
-Jesus
Your vision for success is powerful. It will serve as your destination point on your voyage across the sea. From your vision, everything you need to get there will unravel. Whether this be though SYNCHRONICITIES or tidbits of knowledge that will point you towards your next steps in actualizing your vision.
It is important to replace your fears and doubts with FAITH. Faith is the most critical ingredient for your path towards actualizing your vision. This faith needs to be unwavering, a knowing that will never depart from you. Your faith needs to be in the fact that whatever you imagine is attainable, and can be accomplished no matter your circumstances. You must hang onto this with all your might and never let it go. Accept your vision as a future reality that will surely be yours soon.
This faith will become easier to trust as your plan begins to unravel. Along the way, synchronicities and successes will affirm your path. You can take these gems and add them to your assuredness in your vision. As you get closer toward actualizing your vision, your faith will increase in strength.
Do not be afraid to dream big. From your vision, the pathways and signs will unravel as beacons and pathways guiding you towards the summit. This is not to say there will not be challenges, THERE WILL BE, but from your vision, the knowledge to overcome them will come to you. Take hold of this idea and add it to your mountaineering belt. Stay true to your vision.
Visualization-Meditation
A vital practice in refining your vision is to hold it in a visualization-meditation every morning. This is simply the act of sitting down and giving your undivided attention to your vision. And remember, just like with any masterful piece of art, your vision will take time and must be continuously worked on.
If you are unfamiliar with basic meditation, you can learn it here. After having good understanding of basic meditation, you can modify the practice into vision-meditation.
In order to do this, simply move your attention from your breath and let your imagination awaken and construct your vision of success. Rather than relying upon your breath for carrying you through meditation, step fully into your vision and explore it. Walk around your vision and build it as an architect, constantly adding and subtracting pieces from it until it begins to crystalize into a solid-mental-form.
As you strike the proper notes in this development, the image will begin retaining its shape and detail, and remain in your mind so you can revisit it anytime. The more concretized your image becomes, the more power it will absorb, and the more likely you will be at attaining it exactly how it is.
This practice of attaining your idea of success will still work WITHOUT a concretized vision, but the universe will shade in the details for you. The more you explore and refine your vision, the more accurate and satisfying it should be once you attain it. Be specific with your dream.
Journaling
Journaling is a dear friend in your process of exploring your ideal life, and accomplishing your goals. Journaling is not only a trusted method of getting to know yourself on a deeper level, it can also serve as an aid in refining your vision.
Incorporate a simple practice of journaling into your daily routine, ideally in the morning after your meditation. Use your journaling time to express gratitude for your current circumstances and also use it to project your vision of success in the future. There are many methods for doing these things, but keep it simple.
Here is a basic method of journaling:
- Write a numbered list 1-5, and write down 5 things that you are grateful for. After you write this list, read it out loud 5 times.
- Write 1-2 paragraphs about the person you are and want to become. Really dig into the things that motivate, inspire and propel you. An example could be, “I am driven by my need to help others, and in order to help others, I need to be the best version of myself. In order to be the best version of myself I will need to be physically, mentally and spiritually fit. I will also need to be financially fit so I can use my resources to help others….”
Action, the Bridge Between Imagination and Reality.
With your practice of visualization-meditation and journaling, your vision will begin sprouting roots of action that you will need to take in order to get there. This DOES NOT require detailed planning, it only requires that you continuously explore and revisit your vision for success. As you get intimately familiar with your vision of success, you will begin noticing chances and opportunities to take small steps towards getting there.
As you imagine yourself having already attained your vision, subtle changes may arise in your perspective, personality and physical appearance. These subtle changes are what will open the doors for you to take action towards achieving your vision of success.
When opportunities present themselves through synchronicities or random opportunities, you will already be primed to take the opportunity. This may be an increased fortitude for taking risks you normally wouldn’t have taken: larger investments, an increase in personal confidence, ability to say YES to opportunities and a plethora of motivation in moving forward. This is the magic of this practice.
Without taking action, your vision has no way of moving from imagination into reality. You will need to increase your endurance and attunement with these signs in order to actualize your vision.
In order to increase your ability to take action, it would help to develop a workout routine. This workout routine will not provide you with many benefits, it will help you build your ability for “saying yes” when opportunities present themselves. For example, if you can motivate yourself to run 1 mile every other day right after waking up, you can easily take on smaller challenges as they arise.
Takeaway Formula for Success:
(Refined Vision + Accepting Vision As Reality) + Taking Action = Success
Work backwards from your vision, the pathways of getting there will arise to meet you on your journey.
Conclusion
Refining your vision for success is the vital ingredient for achieving your goals. A well architected and high definition image of what it is that you want, and where you want to go, is the first step in acheiving your version of success.
In order to cultivate a powerful image, there are a variety of methods that will help you refine your vision of success, such as visualization-meditation and journaling.
Once you have achieved a clear vision for your success, the subtle and obvious opportunities for getting there will begin presenting themselves. In order to bridge the gap between imagination and reality, you will need to take action when these opportunities become available.
Which method has helped you refine your vision? Please share below.
This article is heavily based on knowledge gathered from these two highly recommended books (click image to see on Amazon):
