How important is imagination? You’ll be amazed at what it can do. The way we think determines how we act. It says in the Bible, “For as a man thinks within himself, so is he.” Shakespeare wrote, ” Nothing is but thinking makes it so.” It’s not just an opinion, it’s a fact. When you center your thinking of an idea to the exclusion of everything else, that idea becomes a reality.

It’s a power that works both ways. If you thoughts are filled with fear and worry, your life will be unstable, anxious, and insecure. If you think only of the bad things that can happen, the good things will pass you by. If you think you don’t deserve to win, you’ll never come in better than second. And you won’t enjoy that.

It’s been said many times by many people, which only means that it’s probably true:

Watch your thoughts, they become words.

Watch your words, they become actions.

Watch your actions, they become habits.

Watch your habits, they become character.

Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.

We make our own reality. We make it every day in every way, sometimes when we don’t even realize that’s what we’re doing. The reason I’ve been so insistent that you should imagine your ideal future, envision it in the smallest detail you can think of, is because the more vividly you can see it and the attractive it is to you, the stronger its motivational power will be. You might call it willpower, and that’s OK, but it’s not a force that pushing you; it’s a power that you can control, and if you do, it will lead you in the direction you are aiming. You are in charge.

I’ve learned how effective imagination can be. I use it all the time now, even for things that seem wildly impossible, like finding a home for all the people on the streets in America, or solving the problem of street gangs in the inner city. Sometimes it’s refered to as “Design Thinking“, thinking outside the box. I know that I may not accomplish every single thing I imagine, but listen to this…I find that I come up with some ideas that help significantly. A lot of the work we do with StoreyDreams Foundation and other non-profit organizations came through this kind of dynamic thinking. When we started, we didn’t have any idea that major corporations, star athletes, and celebrities would all come together to help fight drugs, gangs, and other inner-city issues. But they did. So I say, go for it. Go for the gold, and don’t be surprised when you get it.

You may have attempted these exercises and decided that the whole project is hopeless. There are so many things to change and there’s so much work to do that you don’t have a prayer of reversing your behavior. I felt that way too for a while, but as my son learned in the first grade, the way to eat a hippopotamus is one bit at a time. Don’t think you’re going to change everything overnight. One bit at a time.