Are You Visualizing Where You Want to Be?
Cultivating Obsession
(Apologies for the inconsistencies on the Monday Morning posts. It’s summertime, and I’m taking some much-needed breaks for introspection, reflection, and a writing endeavor I’m exploring. This is also the motivation for today’s post.)
In the recent Netflix docuseries “Arnold,” we get a behind-the-scenes retelling of bodybuilder/world-famous Austrian actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. From a young age, he visualized his goal of becoming a world-famous bodybuilder and persistently pursued it regardless of the cost.
Arnold’s spark came from a movie star in the old classic film Hercules and learning how the actor did to sculpt his body so magnificently. That gave Arnold the vision and direction he needed.
At night Arnold would stare at magazine pictures of his idol that he posted to his bedroom wall and visualize himself in the photos. He found a group of like-minded workout fanatics, attached himself to them, and submitted to their training methods.
When it came time for Arnold to fulfill his military obligations to his country, he regarded it as an obstacle. Military service was not aiding his effort to become a world-class bodybuilder. So he skirted his duties and pushed all his chips in on becoming a world-class bodybuilder.
We look at Arnold Schwarzenegger’s illustrious career today and readily accept that his choices were noble and necessary. But at the moment, we scoff at ourselves and others who vehemently pursue their vision. “How irresponsible it was for that young man to derelict his duties to his home country,” some of us would have probably exclaimed now and back then. We’d probably call Arnold—and other people like him—obsessive as if it’s a negative trance they need to snap out of and instead live in “reality.”
What’s closer to reality is that the rest of us are too scared to pursue our visions. We’re afraid of failure. We’re worried about how we’ll be perceived by society. We’re scared of wasting time. We’re fearful of being labeled as “obsessive.” But no expert or person known for being great at their craft earned their reputation without being obsessive.
Michael Jordan was obsessed with winning. MichaelAngelo was obsessed with sculpting. Steve Jobs was obsessed with crafting great hardware. Arnold was obsessed with sculpting his body into the “Austrian Oak.”
We look back at all their accomplishments and praise their sacrifices because hindsight is 20/20. But we don’t give ourselves or others the freedom to make such sacrifices. We tell graduating seniors yearly to “change the world,” but when they try to do so in unorthodox ways that butt against our traditions, we mock their naïveté. And if you’re like me, often you won’t even allow the thought of taking a risk to linger in your mind too long before you snap yourself back to “reality.”
So if hindsight is 20/20, why can’t we have foresight 20/20 as Arnold did? What if instead of waiting for the present to become a history we can see clearly, we start exploring and envisioning our goals so intensely that we can see ourselves at the pinnacle of our goal now?
In my economics class, I ask my students to use their imaginations as much as possible for various projects throughout the semester. Somewhere along our maturation, we develop an inability to use our imaginations. Maybe it’s seen as immature. But a vision fuels our forward-thinking perspectives to help us envision our goals.
As grown and mature people, I encourage us to imagine more freely. Where do you see yourself in the future? What do you want your future self to be doing weeks, months, or years from now? Maybe you can post photos on your wall like a teenager again and stare at those until you fall asleep. Maybe not. But use your imagination. Perhaps we’ll develop a sense of 20/20 now and see more clearly what we can accomplish today rather than waiting for it to come.