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STRETCH YOUR IMAGINATION
One of the coolest gifts we have to help us on our road to riches is our
imagination. Imagination is the mental kitchen where we cook up two types
of make-believe:
1. The kind where we take ingredients from our surroundings and experiences and mold
them to our liking: I see myself living in a house just like the Nelsons’ next door, I see
myself showing my kids what’s possible by creating my dream life, I see myself buying
drinks for everyone down at the Drunken Tomato, etc.
2. The kind where we take ingredients from the spirit realm and bring them to life: the
invention of space travel, the idea for the first skyscrapers, the creation of the electric
can opener, etc.
Imagination is awesome because it doesn’t rely on physical
circumstances, our five senses, or anything our parents told us about how
important it is to have fresh breath if you want to succeed in life, for
validation. It’s through our imagination, not our current version of the
“truth,” that we’re able to play with the infinite possibilities that are
available to us. Anything goes when our hearts and our imaginations are at
the helm.
Stretching your imagination is critical if you want to radically change
your life, because we’re asking ourselves to picture our dream lives from
the “realities” we currently exist in. Well, I’m fifty-eight, I work in a shoe
store and support my wife and two kids, and you’re telling me I could own
the hotel of my dreams on Lake Tahoe and teach people how to fish all day?
There is no way I can see that happening. Ever. We don’t dare think too big
because it seems ridiculous—I mean, we can talk all day long about how
making a few million a year would be awesome, but to actually set about
making that amount with the unwavering knowledge that it is happening
dammit and not stopping until we get there is a whole other banana. It takes
some serious noive to even allow yourself to entertain the idea, let alone go
for it with the conviction that it’s going to happen. When something seems
so big, so magnificent, so out of reach, it requires you to believe it’s
possible before you’ve got any proof that you could ever pull it off. In fact,
it usually requires you to ignore a lifetime of proof that you probably can’t
pull it off. It’s much easier, and more “realistic,” to pare down the dream,
shoot for what’s reasonable, ask for less.
Riches come to those who believe anything is possible even when all
signs point to No Way in Hell.
When I was toiling away back in the day, making about thirty grand a
year, it occurred to me that after spending four decades trying, and failing,
to become financially successful on my own, perhaps it would be wise to
get some help. This is when I decided to hire my first coach, who is the one
I mentioned in the beginning of this chapter. At the time I was freelance
writing, knitting, etc., but I was also facilitating/coaching groups of women
entrepreneurs on getting their businesses off the ground (ironically, I was
great at helping other people figure out their lives). I met my coach through
this entrepreneurial group, and she charged me seven thousand dollars to
work with her privately. Which, if you’re math oriented, feel free, otherwise
I’m just gonna go ahead and say that this was a terrifying percentage of my
annual income. It was also twice what I paid for my car, cost more than all
my furniture, clothes, and frozen burrito purchases put together, and it was
more than the amount I still had left to pay on my student loans. In our
culture, there are a few words to describe this kind of behavior:
Irresponsible. Delusional. Full-goose bozo. Because what I also did was go
even deeper into debt by maxing out the credit cards I had, as well as the
new one I somehow miraculously applied for and got.
If you want to change your life, you must be more available for the
ridiculous than your reality.
For me, making money was about freedom and options. Getting my ass
out of debt, traveling the world, moving to a house where I could entertain
more than two people at a time were all great incentives, but what really got
me rolling up my sleeves every morning was my determination to become a
different person. I wanted to be someone who created whatever I set my
mind to instead of someone who settled for what I could get. If I got an idea
about a trip I wanted to take, a cause I wanted to invest in, or a giant hat
covered in fur and feathers that I wanted to buy, I wanted the feeling of
freedom that came along with knowing I could do it or have it. I wanted to
be in control, not at the mercy of, the circumstances in my life.
Regardless of where you presently find yourself, if you spend time
hanging out in that imaginary space of big possibility, relishing the details
of your dream life, where riches flow to you no problemo, you can start to
embody what success feels like and connect to the meaning that making
money has for you. By imagining and envisioning yourself where you want
to be, you start to get excited, you start to develop belief, faith, and hell-
bent-for-glory purposefulness. These feelings are key to getting yourself to
do what it takes to make your dreams manifest in physical form. These
thoughts also inform Universal Intelligence that you are not screwing
around, and it sets about the process of flinging everything you need to
manifest your dream in your direction—including such incredulities as
coincidences, intuitive hits, and opportunities straight out of the clear blue
sky. Your role is to keep your mindset strong, open, and ready to receive.
And to do a whole lotta stuff you’ve never done before. Especially stuff that
scares the living crap out of you and hurls you outside your comfort zone.
When it comes to changing your life, if you’re not scared, you’re doing
something wrong.
When I decided I definitely wanted to work with this coach, my desire to
change and to no longer be a victim of my rickety “reality” inspired me to
switch my thinking from I ain’t got the seven grand to pay her to I will find
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