Is Your Imagination the Secret to Success?
According to the dictionary a secret is defined as “something that is or is kept secret, hidden, or concealed”.
So yes your imagination is one of the secrets to success.
Now not sure why they included the word in the definition but nevertheless the point is made. When most people think of success they most likely don’t think about their imagination. This is also a reason why most people are not successful.
From Thomas Edison to Napoleon Hill to Albert Einstein all utilized the power of their imagination to help them achieve the many things that they achieved in their lives.
Now while much new age thought and The Secret type thinking is completely bunk they do get one thing right. Your mind has an affect on your world. Think about it any book you have read, any piece of technology you have used. Where did it originate from?
These things are not found in nature. They do not happen by random chance. No, they were birthed in someones mind. And they were birthed in that persons mind by the use of their imagination.
Your imagination is a valuable tool. Unfortunately most of us lose our imagination before we leave childhood. We are beaten down by adults, public education, and the media until all creativity and original thought is crushed. We are turned from dreamers into sheep who will become good slaves and consumers.
We are constantly told “No” or “It’s impossible” by people who don’t know any better because that is what they’ve been told their entire lives. The human mind is a nearly unlimited thing. No man, no matter how smart or wise, has come even near to fully utilizing the full potential of his mind. Not Ford, not Telsa, not Jobs. And certainly not you.
If everyone began utilizing their minds even ten percent more the entire world would change. But that’s not going to happen. Most people would rather do anything than what feels like might be work. But your not most people. If you were you would be watching CNN, Fox News, or surfing Facebook. Not reading Charles Sledge in the quest to become the best you can be.
Everything you see around you was birthed from imagination. Even nature it could be argued was birthed from the imagination of God. And are we not made in the image of God? The point is our minds create the world around us. And our imaginations are an integral part of our mind.
To utilize our imagination is to create the world we want around us. Not by sitting back of “attracting” it to us. But by envisioning what we want and going after it with everything that we have. Nothing gets done without work. Thoughts won’t do you any good without action.
Ways to Utilize Your Imagination
Now that we know that our imaginations are essential to creating the life that we want. But how do we access them? Some of us probably haven’t thought about our imaginations since we were children. Some of us might not even dream anymore.
No matter how unimaginative you may think you are there is a way to tap back into that power. A powerful technique that is used from inventors all the way to professional athletes is the use of visualization. Whether it is visualizing the perfect tackle or tomorrows revolutionary technological device, visualization is used.
This is something that is best done right before you drift off to sleep. And it is something that must be done consistently to have any effect. So don’t go and do it once then cry “It doesn’t work”. It takes time, effort, and persistence. Like going to the gym.
You should have goals and you should have your goals written out so that you can see them at some point everyday. What we are going to do is take one of those goals and expand it. Make it all encompassing as much as possible. Meaning if you have a goal of being able to not worry about rent change it to becoming a multi millionaire. We’re going to blow your goal out of the water. If it’s to make a thousand dollars a month change it to five thousand and so on and so forth. Now what you are going to do is before bed each night you are going to visualize the acquiring of your new goal
Whether it is making a couple million, becoming the best salesman in the nation, having a happy family, whatever. You are going to spend at least five minutes visualizing every aspect of acquiring it. Think about what it would be like to have already achieved your goal. The feelings you would feel, the things you would do, the mindset you would adapt. Get into this frame of mind every night before falling asleep.
Now your not going to wake up with your dreams accomplished. But you will have a much better mindset to set out and work hard at accomplishing these goals. Instead of having your subconscious mind working against you, you are recruiting it to work for you. Your subconscious mind is a valuable ally. But it cannot do anything on its own.
Another tactic used by famous inventors and businessmen is to write our a particular problem you have before bed.
For example “How to make enough to make rent next month” or “How to make enough to never have to worry about money again”. Write it out, meditate on it for a few minutes before bed then forget it and go to sleep. In the morning immediately when you wake up grab and pen and begin writing below the question you wrote down the night before. Write down anything that comes to mind in regards to solving it. Do this for a couple of weeks and see what you discover.
While you may not have the answer flash into your mind like a bolt of lightning right away, keep at it. You are focusing your mind on a problem. And a focused mind is a powerful tool.
How to Rekindle Your Imagination
Now you may sat “That’s great Charles but I haven’t used my imagination in forever, I have a hard time visualizing things”. That’s fine I would still suggest you try. You won’t get any better by not trying I gurantee you that. However there is something that you can do to help the process of rekindling your imagination.
And it has to do with books.
Now while the vast majority of the time I recommend people stick to non-fiction this is one of the few exceptions where I would say reading fiction would be more beneficial.
I don’t know where to start plus isn’t fiction for kids and vampire loving preteens?
Modern America would lead you to believe that yes but fiction has a rich masculine heritage. Fiction has not always been dominated by preteen fantasies.
Here are some books to get you started.
The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian: The Original Adventures of the Greatest Sword and Sorcery Hero of All Time!
by Robert E. Howard
Starship Troopers
by Robert A. Heinlein
Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West
by Cormac McCarthy
Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories
by Ian Fleming
King Solomon’s Mines: Complete and Unabridged (Puffin Classics)
by H. Rider Haggard
These should be enough to get you started and remember what it’s like to visualize and imagine. Not to mention they are enjoyable to read.
If you have any questions you would like to see answered in a future post send them to me at charlessledge001 (at) gmail (dot) com. If you found value in this post then I would encourage you to share this site with someone who may need it as well as check out my books here. I appreciate it. You can follow me on Twitter here.
-Charles Sledge
