Prioritize and Visualize

If you'd asked me in 2001 what I'd be doing in 2011 I wouldn't have expected life to turn out quite like it has, but at the same time I'm actually on the path I've always wanted to be on. I look back at how I've managed to stay on track and ultimately make my dreams a reality and it seems that two main things have been key - prioritizing and visualizing.

I wrote out goals a number of times between 2001 and 2008 and each time one point remained quite clear - I wanted to be able to be creative for a living and have enough money to get by. I'm doing this. Visualizing has been crucial as it's helped me get focused on exactly what I want. Before I ever played bass and could barely play guitar I used to go and see a certain band play in Perth and would visualize myself playing with them, and in 2001, after 6 years of watching these guys play, I was in the band! I visualized myself playing bass instead of saxophone and studying the contemporary stream at the WA Academy of Performing Arts - next thing you know I was. I have many other examples. The main thing is that the visualization gives you something very clear to focus on. Something to help you really see what you want to achieve.

Prioritizing is the toughest I think as it involves making decisions about your time according to what is going to help you keep on track and reach your goal, and then finding happiness in that, rather than simply doing what you feel that you enjoy most as often as you can do it and saying you're happy as a result, which is quite unlikely in truth. You may love watching television but you can't say that if all you did was watch television that you'd be happy. Few things are more satisfying than setting goals and making them happen so be sure that the right things are at the top of your priority list as you may not even make it past priority 3 or 4.

I've found that with my priorities in the right place not only am I happier and more productive but also more relaxed and laid-back. I stopped wasting time on anything that wasn't directly helping me achieve my goals, or providing some sort of satisfaction that motivated me on my path to those goals.

I fell asleep writing this entry the other day and didn't get as far as my final point: perspective. It's makes the prioritizing and visualizing most effective in getting you where you want to go. I'll post that part of this shpeel sometime soon.