High-Way 1: Get the Picture

Think It 'Til You Feel It

Defining Get the Picture

We're never given a dream without the power to make it come true.

Richard Bach

Emma's Dream Job

I met Emma at one of my workshops. She sought me out at lunchtime to talk about how unhappy she was at her accounting firm. She didn't feel as if she shared the values of her employers and longed for things to be different.

When I asked what her dream job looked like, she chuckled, as though the concept of finding it was ludicrous, but eventually she not only told me, but also started journaling about it. It was the first step on her road to success.

What would your life be like if you woke up tomorrow with a magic wand?

Imagine that all you had to do was wave your magic wand in a figure eight, say your wish aloud, and it would come true in the next day, week, or month. How would that power change your life? I hear some of you thinking, "I'd win the lottery." Great. Then what? Where would you go? What would you do? Who would you be?

High-Way 1 is a reminder that you do have the power to co-create wealth, health, romance, and the job of your dreams — powers you've forgotten and therefore haven't been using to their full capacity. Your power has nothing to do with your bank account, your job title, your waistline, or your age. Your power lies within.

Spend any time around toddlers and you'll recall that we were all born with the boldness to ask for what we want, but as we grow, the litanies of "life is hard" and "get your head out of the clouds" take their toll. As a result, too many of us abandon our dreams. We start to see ourselves as helpless prey to life's circumstances, unworthy of life's greatest gifts.

The exciting news is that we can release those self-imposed limits by using the first 8 to Great High-Way: Get the Picture.

The Magic "Want"

Instead of a wand, you have a magic want. Every time you Get the Picture and think about something you desire, your thoughts send out energy — like a magnet to attract that very thing to you. The more you think about it, the more real it becomes, until the thought of it feels as real as the chair you're sitting on. The easiest way to move from conceiving (thinking a new thought) to believing (feeling excited) is by using your imagination.

The C-B-A Formula:

If you Conceive it andBelieve it, you willAchieve it.

As children, daydreaming and pretending came naturally and occupied much of our time. Then, as we grew, many of us started to forget the fun and magic of "acting as if." Yet the happiest, healthiest, and most successful adults never stop daydreaming. They understand that their thoughts become their beliefs which then become their future.

Goals vs. Dreams

Part of understanding the power of dreams is to see how they differ from goals. Most books on goal-setting remind us that a goal is a target achieved by following specific steps to a desired outcome. In the Gratitude heartwork at the end of the Foundation chapter, for example, I coached you on how many Gratitudes to do and when to do them. Your goal might be to do them five days this week. Goals are extremely beneficial to a healthy life.

Dreams — the ones you have when you're awake — are very different. Books on dreams are even in a separate section on the bookstore shelves. That's because a dream is bigger — so large in fact, that people are often reluctant to share theirs out loud. If they do, it's only to a select few, because tears can flow when we touch this sacred place within.

Meanwhile, when your big dreams become clear, the steps necessary to achieve them are often hidden from view, which can feel frightening or overwhelming. Following a dream is a leap of faith that can discourage weaker hearts from ever getting started.

A simple way to distinguish between a goal and a dream is as follows:

A Goal is S.M.A.R.T. =

Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Based

When we set a goal, we know Who, What, When, Where, Why, How, and How Long. For example: I will walk for thirty minutes, five days a week, in my neighborhood to get back in shape.

A Dream is B.I.G. =

Bold, Innovative, and Grand

When we allow ourselves to dream, we disregard Who, When, Where, How and How Long. Instead, we focus only on What (we want) and Why (we want it). The other W and H questions are head questions that can take us from fantasizing to fretting, while What and Why are heart questions. They're the "turn-ons" that we can feel in the depths of our being.

"Johnny, Stop Paying Attention and Start Daydreaming!"

Remember the well-meaning teachers in our past who would scold daydreamers during class, telling them to "pay attention" and to "snap out of it?" Some such "challenging" students known for "excessive daydreaming" were Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, J.K. Rowling, Lewis Carroll, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Not a bad gang to be associated with!

So how do you start believing the impossible is possible? I once asked an airline pilot how much his plane weighed. He lit up as he told me, "That's my favorite question! About 266,000 pounds, fully loaded!" That day I realized that if I could believe that a one-hundred-ton metal machine could fly, I could believe anything. So can you. As the White Queen pointed out to Alice in Wonderland, it just takes practice.

Why is this such good news? Because the imagining is almost as much fun as the experiencing, and studies have shown has virtually the same effect on the body. Since the mind can't tell the difference between a thought and a reality, you can feel better instantly by going to that place in your imagination and crafting your ideal scene. Think of it as a free Virtual Reality ride.

Often, we only dream dreams that are similar to our daily experience, but the more we read and listen to the stories of great dreamers, the more we realize that even the sky isn't the limit when our heart is in it.

What can you expect from expecting miracles? Recently, a high school student told me that using Get the Picture to imagine working with his dad to restore an old car helped him stop fighting at school, thereby allowing him to graduate. Imagine that!

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