By: Dr. Donald E. Wetmore
You spend a lot of time reliving memories from the past. Some memories are positive and uplifting and give our days a bounce, enhancing our productivity and results. Other memories are not so bright and bum us out, draining our spirits and motivation and productivity.
Memories are stored in your head after a long journey that begins with a single vision. Visions are the pictures you see in your mind. You can have positive visions or negative visions.
For example, you are going to a party Friday night. This is a party that your brother-in-law always attends and in the past you always got in an argument with him, then left the party in a huff, and generally had a bad time. So you start to visualize going to the party again on Friday and what do you see? You see yourself having a bad time at this party because, after all, you’ve always had a bad time at the party with your brother-in-law.
From those visions, those pictures, you take action. You see a confrontation coming with your brother-in-law and consistent with that image you attend the party waiting for him to trigger the arguments as he has in the past, and sure enough, your body language and words telegraph the message that you are ready for verbal combat and so the process moves forward to conflict and leaving in a huff.
These actions produce results. Your result was, “not having good time at the party.” Those results then become the memories that you re-live over and over again negatively affecting your future productivity.
Your visions direct the actions you take that create the results you realize that form the memories you re-live over and over again,
Now let’s say you would prefer to have a positive memory from this upcoming party in your mind to relive in the future for enhanced productivity. What can you do in advance to change the outcome, the lingering memory? You change the vision.
You stop visualizing having a bad time at the next party. I know, you’ve had a lot of history with bad results, but you put a new picture in your mind this time. You see yourself intentionally avoiding being in the same room with your brother-in-law and if he presses to goad you into argument, you see yourself walking away. You see yourself sitting with Aunt Sarah, whom you spend little time with and talking with her for the evening.
You repeat that vision only, over and over, and if you do enough of that, you find yourself changing your behavior, avoiding your brother-in-law and instead, spending quality time with the other guests. When you leave, you discover you have produced the result called “not having too bad a time at the party.” You recall and remember this now in a positive vein, as an uplifting memory that boosts your attitude and daily productivity in the future.
Does it all happen so easily and quickly? Unlikely. Maybe you create no new results in the near term from this new, more positive way of visioning, but if you are willing to persist and make this healthier way of thinking a consistent habit, then soon you will find it does work. Your visions will be more positive, your actions will follow the visions creating the results that form the positive memories you will re-live over and over.
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Dr. Donald E. Wetmore
Certified Executive Coach, Consultant and Trainer
Author, “Organizing Your Life” and “The Productivity Handbook”
Productivity Institute
Personal Productivity Solutions to Leverage Your Impact
127 Jefferson St.
Stratford, CT 06615
(203) 386-8062
(800) 969-3773
info@balancetime.com
https://www.balancetime.com
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