A vision, a goal and some paints

When I was growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio my parents always told me to work hard and you can accomplish anything you put your mind too!  My parents were partial right.  I was working hard, but the part that made my dreams come to fruition sooner wasn’t just my hard work it was a painting.  Sounds funny right?  How can a simple painting make your dreams come true?

You see when I was 14 years old, I decided I was going to play for the US Women’s National Soccer team.  I wanted to be like Mia Hamm and Kristine Lily and make the team when I was still in high school.  This was a great dream for a “young kid”, but how was I going to make it happen? Through hard work, at least that was what I was told.  You see the hard work got me far in life, but it was something that I was doing behind the scenes that made a bigger difference on achieving my goal.

I became obsessed with the US Women’s Soccer Team.  I cut out and tapped to my wall every article, picture, and media guide I could find.  I started to see myself in a national team jersey.  My obsession got the best of me one day and I decided to grab my mom’s craft paints and lock myself in my room.  When I emerged 2 hours later I had painted a 4 foot high and 5 foot long painting of the US soccer logo on my wall next to my bed.  I was driven…..and then I was grounded.  My drive and vision made me decide to skip asking permission from my parents to paint on my wall, but I didn’t care about the punishment I had received.  I was proud of my painting.  I would stare at that painting daily (in the morning when I got ready for school, after school as I got ready for practice, and for hours as I did my homework). That painting became the first thing I saw in the morning and the last thing I saw when I went to bed at night. It became my lighthouse guiding me to my dreams.

My obsession became a reality when I was 15 years old.  I was called into the Full US Women’s National Team and I was pumped. Along with that feeling of excitement came a feeling that I wasn’t used to feeling; fear and doubt.  Why is it that something I wanted so badly could scare the daylights out of me?  I think it’s because once we realize we are accomplishing our goals we aren’t sure where to go next.  You see, that was exactly my problem, I had accomplished my goals of being on the national team when I was still in high school, but I didn’t know I was supposed to set new goals.  Higher goals!

I remember hearing Vishen Lakhiani speak one time about how as a young boy he set a vision of going to the US and fight in the center ring at the a world championship event when he was participating in board breaking for karate. He speaks about his vision of being in the center ring at the event, yet at no time did he picture the outcome of this event.  He later goes on to talk about his center ring experience and how he became the quickest knock out in championship history.

So, how does this relate to you?  I want you to realize that the thoughts you think over and over again drive your results and your actions.  What are your thoughts?  What are your visualizations?  Are you thinking big and dreaming lofty and SPECIFIC dreams?  Make sure you see your dreams through to the outcome.  Control the entire movie in your mind, don’t just watch the previews and think you are truly visualizing.

So I say to you, dream big!