If you know me you know that I am a big believer in the power of positive thought. It is a topic that has widely been discussed in recent years. I am thrilled that so many people are seeing that they have a choice about what they think and how they view their lives. All of this ultimately leads to how they live their lives. I find that there is some confusion though. There are some people who think that all you have to do is think positive thoughts and every thing your heart desires will magically show up at your doorstep. I won't lie to you, sometimes that does happen. But more often than not you also need to take action.
Imagine a perfect universe where to learn any skill first you would read 
about the skill or watch an instructional video about it, then you would sit in a quiet place and with your eyes closed visualize yourself actually performing the skill. In your visualization you would be performing the task brilliantly. Then after a period of meditation you would actually physically perform the task. You might have a little bit of a bumpy transition but very quickly you would find yourself performing the skill with ease and competence. Sounds great doesn't it?
Did you know that this is actually how many top athletes train? Olympic Downhill skiers are taught to close their eyes and visualize the entire run before beginning the race. Sports Trainers and success coaches frequently require their clients to do these visualizations. And the athletes report back that it helps them succeed.
Now imagine that the athletes only did the visualization and never actually physically performed the skill, would they have any chance of succeeding? No!
That's ridiculous, right? When we visualize we have to take action as well.
Stay tuned for the next installment in this series where we will talk about how to take action and not get bogged down when you don't get immediate results.
Coco, excellent post, so true.
Duane
Coco, there was an interesting study done a few years ago. The study involved two basketball teams. One team practiced for an hour every day. The other team just visualized practicing for one hour every day. When they played a game, the team that just visualized played as well as the team that practiced, but they didn't win the game. If the team that visualized had also taken action by practicing, they probably would have won the game with little effort. Emphasing your point, you have to take action to succeed.
Looking forward to your next post. Good Post!