Maybe it’s the extra time you can afford to spend in the shower, or the quieter nights spent at home, meditatively doing the dishes. Or perhaps it’s a couple extra mornings uninterrupted by early alarms, the chance to reconnect and virtually chat with close friends and family, and the extra cognitive space made by a less demanding schedule.
It’s possible, too, that watershed events — a global pandemic, a rise in unemployment, health concerns regarding ourselves and our loved ones — have a tendency to shift things into perspective. Maybe something about these COVID-19 restrictions, whether it’s the freedom to relocate due to a shift in remote working, or the cancellation of one or more aspects of your routine, served as the straw that broke the camel’s back. Or perhaps it’s just the sense we all have that life is short and precious.
Whatever you’d name as the catalyst, you’ve arrived at the notion that a re-imagination of reality is in order. It’s time to reinvent things, professionally or personally. Oftentimes, large-scale change requires both.
If you’ve been blessed with such an entrepreneurial instinct or insight, the best way to honor it is to begin with small, concrete steps that can add up to larger change. And if you’re committed to making that personal change, starting that home business, or just doing things differently, here are a couple of ways you can begin.
More Than Imagination
You’ve heard all the experts talk about it: the importance of visualization. And though it’s easy to dismiss, a strong visualization practice is a very important place to begin. Change is uncomfortable, and unless we rehearse our re-imagined futures in our brains, we won’t know what they look like when they arrive.
There’s a lot of talk about the power of visualization. But the task doesn’t need to be as daunting or as mystical as it may sound. A great way to visualize is to surround yourself with concrete visual cues. Maybe it’s a dream home, or the logo of a company that doesn’t yet exist. You can pin it on your fridge, make it your laptop screensaver, or tape it to your ceiling, making it the last place you look before you fall asleep. These subtle reminders work their way into your subconscious, and if seeing is believing, the power of this practice is hard to understate.
It’s also a great idea to incorporate visualization into your meditation practice. Watch any athlete speak to their game time preparation and you’ll hear the same equation. Settling your brain into a meditative state, and then seeing in your mind’s eye the outcomes you’re hoping for, is a great way to train your brain for both success and the pressures that come with it. In this practice, detail is key. If you’re aiming for a revenue target, visualize the way you might learn about a sale. If it’s on a call with a client, how are you sitting? What room are you in? What time of day might it be? If you’re hoping to adopt a new hobby, what does it feel like when the learning sets in? Call to mind the absolute best version of your desired scenario, and replay it over and over again in your head until it feels real.
Step By Step, Toe By Toe
Of course, there comes a time to put the imagined into action. But a word of caution: this is where many people get stuck. It’s not because they’ve aimed for anything impossible, it’s just because action is daunting if it’s not separated into small and manageable tasks.
Let’s use the example of a home business. The steps that lie in front of someone between an idea and a first customer seem endless. To sell a product, you might need a website. To have a website, you might need a brand design and photos of the product. To have photos of the product, you need to have sourced your product materials. To source your materials, you need to decide on a pricing structure. To decide on a pricing structure, you’d need to see how many products you can sell. To see how many products you can sell… the cycle continues.
But behind these daunting decisions, there are a number of baby steps that are easily doable. Maybe one day’s task is just to decide on one brand color, or to look at the portfolios of people who offer logo design services online. When you set achievable goals, and prove to yourself you can achieve them, you begin to make real progress. Soon, you’ve manifested this dream as a real part of your reality, without getting thrown off track by the magnitude of it all.
Practice Makes Possible
When you’ve broken the barrier of baby steps, it’s time to really commit to the path you’ve chosen for yourself. New steps in our careers and our personal lives almost always require that we learn a new kind of acumen. It might be learning a new coding language, or training the soft skills that make for a successful sales call. Whatever the task, one thing is true: help exists somewhere online.
The proliferation of virtual learning means the world is literally at your finger tips. Workshops, seminars, classes, or long-term courses are available in nearly any subject you can imagine. And because it’s all online, location and schedule are flexible — you can mold the course to fit your life exactly as you’d like it. Many courses offer certification for free or at a small additional charge. Whether you’re preparing for a career change or just trying to learn something new, virtual learning can be life changing for anyone. This article by ZipRecruiter explains the way employers and professionals regard open online courses (MOOCs).
If you’re daring to dream bigger, and remaining open to the possibility of taking your personal or professional life back to the drawing board, congratulations. It’s an exploration that requires humility and courage in equal measures. Beginning with a visualization practice, engaging in small steps forward, and taking advantage of the vast offerings of online learning are three ways to cement this commitment you’ve made to yourself. And while it may not be a linear path that delivers you to your next destination, it’s sure to be an enriching journey, one you won’t forget.
