Who Do I Want to Be? (an exercise in visualization)

I was at my sister-in-law’s house over the weekend and happened to spy on her shelf a copy of The Start Your Day Journal created by Rachel Hollis. I was a little excited to see it. My sister-in-law hesitantly admitted that she hadn’t started using it yet. She confessed that she was a little intimidated by the first step–creating a vision of your future self. (If you want to learn more about Rachel Hollis’ Start Today Journals and her process of visualizing check out this VIDEO or this PODCAST.)

I agreed with her. The idea can be a little abstract. In fact, after hearing the how-to process on a recent podcast, I wrote down all the steps, but didn’t fill in the specifics. I was in the same boat as my sister-in-law.

Don’t get me wrong. I love this concept. Visualizing what you want in life is powerful. I get the science behind it. I’ve seen it work for people. I’ve just never taken the time to do it myself. I’ve never applied the principles and action steps consistently in my own life. But, I really wanted to change that. I wanted to include some kind of visualization and affirmations in my day.

While scrolling through Instagram, I came across a post from a favorite podcaster of mine, Jody Moore. What she said opened my eyes and I saw the way for me to create a vision of my future self. She says that when setting goals and planning a new year, she always starts from the end. She pictures herself on December 31^st and asks a bunch of questions to help her define that picture. It was the questions that really helped me.

Who am I?

What will I look like?

What will I think about that I don’t think about now?

What do I think about now that won’t be on my radar?

What will my bank account look like? What is my lifestyle?

What will the scale say? What will my health be?

What will my marriage be like?

How will I feel on a regular basis?

What kind of spiritual life will I have?

How will my relationship look with my kids? My friends? My family?

What words describe the best you?

I decided to take my time answering the questions. Each night, I took one question and wrote down who I wanted to be in each area. One of the things Rachel teaches as you create the best version of you is to think BIG, not realistic. She wants you to go into detail and create a visual image of you at your best. I thought about all the things I wanted in each area, I visualized myself feeling that way or acting that way, and wrote it down.

All of my answers were written in the present tense—as if they had already happened. The premise behind this theory is that you behave like the person you want to become. Your brain doesn’t know the difference between what is real and what is imagined, so by beginning at the end and visualizing who you want to be, you trick your brain. It thinks that you are those things and helps you take steps to make them happen.

The next step for me was to actually do the visualizations and say the affirmations. I wasn’t sure of the best way to do this. Recently, I started watching Mel Robbins’ Mindset Reset video series. Pretty early on in the series she talks about starting your day right in order to set the best intention for your day. She has a whole list of things to do in the morning including no snooze and no outside stimuli until you have spent at least 10 minutes on your dreams. She says your dreams deserve at least 10 minutes. I modified the principles she taught and created my own morning routine where I take 10 minutes to assess my mood, give gratitude, and visualize my future self.

I feel pretty good about getting my affirmations written. I’ve included them in my morning routine for the past couple of weeks and like the way it kicks off my day.

How do you visualize? What methods have worked for you?