Imagine

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Poem
Youth

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than a body of twenty. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.

Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being's heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing child-like appetite of what's next, and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the Infinite, so long are you young.

When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at twenty, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty.

-Samuel Ullman

Thoughts
Do you remember when you were younger and you used your imagination? How often do you use your imagination now to produce positive results? Or do you often imagine the worst case scenario?

Let me relate a story to you:
When I go to the gym to perform my heaviest lifts I always imagine myself doing the lift the night before and also before I start the exercise. I did the same thing when I fought in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu/Mixed Martial Arts competitions. When I used to run I also used this technique. The other thing is that I don't say things like "I'll try", or "Maybe", or even "I'll do my best". Instead I use "I will".

This allowed me to achieve much greater results than just going and attempting something without thinking about it. I've also used this technique outside of the gym. Before I cold call or just show up to companies, I'll imagine things going great. Without doing this I am sure I would not have even started dropping in on companies.

The point here is that for most people their imagination faculty is rusty. It hasn't been used positively in so long that many have forgotten how to use it. So people just tend to creep through life without ever living. They let things like society, family, friends, or their age tell them what to do.

How can you start to use your imagination more and break this cycle?

Answer this question: What do you want to be, do, or have?

Don't answer that question quickly (unless you already know the answer). Spend some time on it. Really think about it. Don't allow your past results to cloud your thinking.

Of course the next step would be taking action.

Have an excellent week.





Imagination, Part 3

Quote
"Our imagination is the only limit to what we can hope to have in the future."
Charles Kettering

My Thoughts
How do you set your goals? Do you set them using your imagination? Or do you set them using your reason?
Most people start out using imagination, but then they reason themselves out of it.

Here is an example:
Let's suppose someone is earning $30,000 a year.
One day they see something that sparks their imagination, so they start dreaming about earning $500,000 a year.
However, after reasoning this over for a bit, they talk themselves out of this idea.
They end up settling on the idea that they will never earn enough to live the life they truly want to live.

What Charles Kettering is telling us is that we create our own limitations, our own ceilings.
I would encourage all of you to use your imagination when setting goals, don't just settle for what you know you can get. Think bigger.

Until next time....

Imagination Part 2

Here is a great quote:
You see things; and you say, "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say, "Why not?"
-George Bernard Shaw

My thoughts:
Imagine a world where nobody looked around and said "Why not?". It would be a pretty depressing place. We would not have computers, airplanes, lights, internet, etc.... So many of us tend to focus on what we don't want, we all need to start imagining what we do want.
Here is my suggestion: Instead of looking at all the problems that surround a task or goal; Imagine the end, the completion. This will put you in a completely different mindset. You will move from seeing problems to seeing solutions.

Until next time....

Imagination

I would like to talk a little about our intellectual faculty (I will discuss all of our intellectual faculties in detail later) of imagination.  Imagination is our ability to conceive and envision something. I want to share with you two powerful quotes regarding imagination:

1. "Our imagination is the only limit to what we can hope to have in the future" - Charles Kettering, Inventor and holder of over 300 patents.

2. "Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Albert Einstein

You see many people imagine the worst case scenario about anything. For example, lets say someone has worked in their job at the factory for the past twenty years and one day he/she hears that the factory may close. What usually happens? Most people start imagining all the bad things that will happen - How will I afford my house, food, car, kids college etc...? What if he/she  instead imagined themselves, lets say, starting a business they have always wanted?

Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, said that with every seemingly bad situation comes a seed of oppurtunity. You may say well what does he know? Well, during the Great Depression, Hill lost all of his money and had to start over again. He was in his late forties at the time. He perservered and became even more successful. 

I would suggest to all of you that you begin imagining the life you want. Whatever it is that you want, imagine yourself as if you have already attained it. Stop letting your current results control your future. 

Until next time......