How To Visualize What You Want

This is essentially a review / study of, in my view, one of the best books on the topic of personal vision and self motivation. Mach II With Your Hair On Fire by Richard Bliss Brooke, I can honestly say, changed my life. If you want to learn how to visualize what you want, you have come to the right place!

Mach II With Your Hair on Fire

I was at my first ever Network Marketing conference with my husband in a hotel in Falkirk, Scotland, when he won this book in a raffle. It was my very first introduction to personal development. There is a line in the book that says ‘most of us have been asleep at the wheel our whole adult lives’ – I knew he was talking to me and read it from start to finish in one sitting. Richard is a Network Marketer but the book is suitable for anyone who wants to achieve their goals and have fun doing it.

Success Secret One: Self Motivation

In the first chapter, Richard explains the book is not about getting everything you have ever wanted as that is a place you will never get to, nor should you want to, for along with having everything you want comes apathy.

What we are really after here is what he describes as ‘falling in love with the pursuit of your dreams…always stretching…always in momentum…always expecting the best. This IS winning, this IS success, this IS living, this IS happiness and self-motivation IS your key’.

When you get what you want it will take no time at all until you want to get onto your next goal so if you haven’t enjoyed the journey, what is the point? (I mentioned this very recently in Finding Your Purpose in Life.)

Now, before getting into the main part of the content, Richard shares a story about how we are conditioned using a story about training fleas told by Zig Ziglar. I thought it would be more fun to let Zig tell the story in his own inimitable fashion here!

The three great lies of success

1. Desire Creates Success – Richard asks us to consider how many people we know who have a strong desire for a great deal more than they currently have in their lives. And how many of them have had that desire for a long time…and how many are achieving it? No matter who or where we are, we mostly desire health, wealth and happiness but almost no one achieves all three, or even 2!
2. Hard Work Creates Success – How many people do you know who have been working hard? ‘If you worked twice as hard as you do now…if you worked twice as many hours every day…would you be successful? (Or would you be divorced and dead?) Does hard work necessarily have anything to do with success?’
3. Being A Good Person Creates Success – Richard concludes that being a good person has nothing to do with success. After all, how many successful jerks do you know? (Too many!) So is the old adage ‘if you want it badly enough AND you’re willing to work hard for it, AND you’re a swell person, you can get it’ founded in truth in any way? That would be a ‘no’.

The secret to success

It is the combination of self-motivation combined with belief, confidence, positive expectations and creativity that sets you up for success. Add in an abundance of physical, mental and emotional energy and you will be hurtling in the direction of your goals.

So the only thing standing between where you are now and where you want to be is a series of problems to be overcome, such as:

• Not knowing how to do something
• Not having enough time
• Not having enough resources or support
• Not having the money
• Not being able to get people to do what you want them to do

You could add many more to the list, but to help you to move forward, look back to a time when you achieved something. Consider the problems and obstacles you had and how you overcame them. How did you do it? The chances are high that you used your creativity to come up with ideas. When you are motivated enough, your creativity is stimulated and you will naturally come up with ideas to act on.

We ALL have to ability to generate the creative thought on demand! The same is true for our ‘infinite storehouse of physical energy, courage, enthusiasm, persistence and creative genius’!

Success Secret Two: Vision

Richard goes on to say ‘One of the primary unconscious functions of the human mind is releasing, on demand, sufficient levels of self-motivation. Your mind, through your vision, creates and produces enthusiasm, persistence, physical energy and, most importantly, creativity.

This is a natural, ongoing process. You are either aware of the gargantuan power and manage it to produce your intended results, or you allow it to run rampant – amuck and aimless – usually a little more than idle speed, chasing its tail in a vicious circle of mediocrity. Don’t ask me why about all of that; I’m in total wonderment. But the fact is, your mind does produce this effect for you’.

Wow. He then goes on to say, and read this carefully, ‘To the degree that there is a contrast between what we have decided should be happening (visions) and what is happening (current results) motivation naturally, effortlessly, powerfully and infinitely flows. It does this instantly, as soon as it recognizes that a contrast exists.’

He goes on to describe Bob Proctor‘s analogy of motivation being like a thermostat. Much like if your thermostat is set at 70 degrees, when it falls below that the heating kicks in to bring it back up to the correct temperature. So when what’s happening in your life contrasts with what you have decided should be happening, your inner thermostat releases motivation to bring the two together. (Until such times as they drift apart, then fire up again as a consequence.)

Naturally, if there is no difference between what is going on and what you expect to be going on, you have no motivation!

Creating a vision

Richard says: ‘The human mind does not distinguish between our actual experience and the visions we’ve created. A vividly imagined experience has the same programming quality and impact as an actual, ‘real’ experience. To our mind, they are the exact same thing! Even a real experience is only a perception of your mind.’

He goes onto share how, if you are trying to lose weight, your existing vision of yourself often ensures that no matter how much weight you lose, chances are you will put in on again. I wrote about this in The Law Of Attraction and Weight Loss, so do check it out.

So, when you create a vision, you are essentially creating the movie script of your life. The first essential is to write down what that looks like. To create your script, make sure that all phases are positive, all phrases are present tense (as if you have already achieved your goal), write in the first person – I or we, give details of what you can see, smell, hear and taste and detail how you are feeling.

He goes on to describe in details how to get the belief about your future deep down on the inside and says – and this is so important to understand – ‘Remember, you make it all up anyway, so why not make up things that empower you?’ Just do it anyway!

Who is this book for?

This book is for anyone who wants to move forward from where they are, especially if they have been stuck for some time (or indeed if you have just had your eyes opened to the possibilities) and have a lot of fun following the instructions.

Who is this book not for?

Actually, this is a fabulously entertaining book for anyone at all to read at any stage in their life, but those who will make progress will be the ones who follow the instructions to the letter.

I have only scratched the surface with this post – to get the value, you really need to grab a copy for yourself or get yourself an audio version free when you sign up for Audible.

Have your read Mach II With Your Hair On Fire, or any of Richard’s other books such as The Four Year Career? If so, I would love to know your views in the comments below.