Open The Floodgates

I just finished watching an interview with Tom Watson, one of the greatest golfers of all time, and it got me thinking more on this subject. He talked about playing imaginary matches against his heroes when he was a kid. Every time he would play by himself, he'd pretend to be competing against Jack Nicklaus in the U.S. Open, beating him on the last hole. Later in his career, it actually came true. Tom made a miraculous comeback against Jack, winning the U.S. Open.

Years and years of strong, passionate visualizations manifesting as an adult. Without knowing it, Tom was opening the possibilities of success simply by fearless, no-lose visuals. He wasn't on the course losing in his imaginary matches... yet, we seem to do this to ourselves on a daily basis. Instead of fearless dreaming and goal setting, we tend to stay in the same boring situation for a lifetime.

Thinking more about this, I remembered how this free mindset affected a couple of my students recently. After our very first session, Christopher broke his all time score... so good, it would be considered a professional level. After asking him how he did it, he simply answered, "because I actually thought it was possible for the first time!" After playing at a completely new level for a week or so, he eventually fell back into his old mental habits, and began repeating his "normal scoring." Our goal, then, was to help him figure out how to remain in this new, fearless mindset for the long term. He continued to slip in and out of his belief system, as his old negative habits weren't too happy with saying goodbye. Once he learned to play every game with this fearless, anything is possible mindset, his scores consistently stayed strong. He's now off to college, expecting to become a professional athlete in the future... all because he let go of what he once thought was possible.


The same thing happened with another student of mine. She's a stay at home mom, who's struggled with her weight for years, unable to find a way to keep it off on a consistent basis. After our first session of talking about what will be, the moment she flips her mindset and old belief system, she instantly became a new woman. She had a gleam in her eye that wasn't there before; she allowed herself to stare into the future without the negative what-ifs. We didn't do anything magical... all we talked about was what will absolutely happen when she creates a new way of looking at herself. We didn't mention "hope," "it would be nice if," or "when you try to." We created a definite, long term picture of her new body and lifestyle, making her focus only on a completed path. 


It really is this simple to start the change we want. The tricky part of this equation is the day to day consistency. This is where our passion for the desired goals and the specific plan and action takes over. There must be a plan and massive action... but before any of that can happen, we have to open the floodgates! Think about the possible... how good it WILL feel to accomplish, and the new life that will result from such thinking.

The most difficult decision I face, as I add on to my goals list, is opening those gates of possibility. I instinctively focus on why it may be too tough to accomplish. I have to force myself on a daily basis to let go of all that negative baggage, and concentrate on why it will definitely happen.

Give yourself the "o.k" to look beyond what you think is probable... feel it's instant power and freedom when your mind goes to that place.

Possibility = Probability!