Animated Goals -Welcome to our HARD Goals series Episode 3 (3/5). Using the well-known work of author Mark Murphys: HARD GOALS, we explore the secrets of successful goals (markers authentically accurate and true for you). If you have dreams you want to incarnate into life, you don’t need difficult or impossible feats; you need HARD Goals. So, let’s get at it!

Animate Your Goals – See Your Goals as Living Possibilities NOW

You may immediately picture “Shrek” or “Finding Nemo” when you read the word “animation,” but don’t limit yourself to the trendy constraints of Hollywood. To animate is far more than a motion picture with famous voices; you do it every day! Animated, by the dictionary definition, means:

the state of being full of life or vigor; liveliness.

When you and I allow our imaginations to take over, and we see ourselves in the future (or the present) acting out or experiencing a scene – we are animating our thoughts. Most of the time, they are negative. We think about how we might lose, possibly fail, suffer embarrassment, etc. We are animating our thoughts and perhaps our beliefs. Our worried anxiety about bills, old age, illness, or loss of employment are often brought to life in our minds’ eyes, giving ourselves permission to see, feel, hear, touch, and taste outcomes we dread.

Let’s Turn the Tables

Before you read one more word, can you imagine yourself in a staff room with several round tables and six chairs placed neatly around them? Great, now slowly walk into the room and note that you are alone. Choose one of the tables and turn it clockwise 180 degrees at your leisure. Can you feel the difficulty? The chairs are fighting back! You can hear them, feel their resistance, and see them fall on their sides to the floor if you are forceful enough.

You have animated an event; you brought it to life without moving a limb. The only muscle needed was your brain!

HARD goals, besides being heartfelt, are animated goals. You live them out daily before you ever live them in your daily schedule.

The Geniuses of All Generations Used Animation

You may think that your education or intelligence is the source of your success but consider the path of the greats.

  • Science: Einstein – used “thought experiments” and spent more time daydreaming than in front of a blackboard writing formulas.
  • Invention: Edison used a toy funnel, a paper man’s motion, and sound vibrations to imagine the invention of the phonograph (record player).
  • Music: Mozart – I will let him speak for himself:

You know that I plunge myself into music, so to speak—that I think about it all day long—that I like experimenting—studying—reflecting.

  • Business: Brian Chesky – founder of Airbnb, pioneered the innovation right in the middle of the Great Recession of 2008 using creative visualization.
  • Sports: Tom Brady – “through visualization Brady sees himself avoiding the grasping hands.” (Source)

This list could include hundreds of names you would recognize. Successful people from all walks of life have learned to use their imaginative ability to create the neuropathways for success. But don’t kid yourself; it’s hard work.

Here are some helpful resources on the how-tos of visualization :

  1. Revolutionary Leaders – Inc. Magazine
  2. Leaders Using Visionary Tools – Leaders.com
  3. The Extraordinary Power of Envisioning Success – Entreprenuer.com
  4. App Tool for Animating Your Dreams – EnVision

Begin with Visualization – Work to Completion

Animating your success story is critical to your outcome; in fact, experts would say essential to your daily practice. However, without good old-fashioned hard work, your dreams remain in the clouds – lovely to look at but most likely never to touch. Even an “animation practice” discipline requires you to “do something” and do it consistently.

There may not be shortcuts to your success, but you have already mastered a key component – to animate your future. So let’s start using it for the future you want, not the future you want to avoid.

“I couldn’t even think about wanting to be something else. I wouldn’t let myself visualize another life.” – Jay-Z, Grammy Award Winning Musician & Entrepreneur.