I know your secret.

I know it because I harbored it too.

I went about my daily life, pretending everything was alright.

Sometimes everything was. Sometimes everything was even better than alright.

But mostly, it was only ok.

I lived a life of pure ok-ness.

I guess there’s nothing wrong with that… if you don’t mind being low-fat vanilla froyo in the land of Cookies N’ Cream ice cream.

But being obsessed with personal development and life-coach training gave me an advantage. At some point, I was able to step into my future and see that…well, the path I was going down would not make me happy.

And, being interested, I talked to others about their paths — I asked them about their lives, and I asked them about their ambitions and dreams.

And that is how I know your secret.

Because everyone I talked to had dreams and ambitions.

But like you and me, nobody was doing anything about it.

And that, I realized, is the American Dream. Get in line and don’t fuss.

We’re low-fat vanilla froyo in the land of Cookies N’ Cream, my friends.

But, here’s the thing — you want to change, don’t you?

You want to pursue your passions, and you want your life to have meaning.

But that can be hard, scary, and uncomfortable. And the timing never seems right.

Sound familiar?

But imagine for a moment a future in which you pursued your dreams and you were successful. What would you be doing? Where are you? Are you happy? Elated, even?

Maybe you started your own business venture, you’re traveling the world as a digital nomad, or you opened up a bed-and-breakfast in the middle of nowhere.

Whatever it is, I bet you are pretty damn happy, aren’t you?

So let me ask you this — why not just go for it? Why not just decide to be happy and live a life of meaning?

You can get everything you want, because, and I say this all the time:

You are capable of so much more than you give yourself credit for.

Read on and I will go through why you should absolutely go for your dreams.

Because I will share with you a superpower that has helped so many accomplish their dreams, and can help you too.

I Want You to Be Happy — Do You?

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

~Howard Thurman

Some time ago, I read an excerpt from a book that discussed the most common regret of people on their deathbeds.

(Sorry to take such a dark turn here, folks.)

Can you guess what it is?

Not pursuing their dreams.

That’s right, when people realize that their life is over, they’re able to look back and see all their unfulfilled dreams that they chose not to pursue.

I’m sure their reasoning seemed valid at the time. But looking back, it filled them with regret.

I had to take a moment there — because that is so damned heartbreaking.

And I don’t want you to go through that. I don’t want you to look back 30, 40, or 50 years from now, with regret because you didn’t go for something.

I want you to look back and smile because you did.

Welcome to The Danger Zone (of Discomfort)

But once you make the choice, it’ll be uncomfortable.

Things will get in the way. Friends, family, society. Strangers, looking at you weirdly from across the street.

But don’t mind them, you have bigger things to worry about.

People are only staring at you because you’re getting out of line. And secretly they want to, but don’t have the courage to do it themselves.

The only thing you should be worried about is, well — you.

Numero uno.

You will procrastinate, get in your own way, prioritize other things, and get overwhelmed. You will tell yourself you’ll fail. And you will want to give up.

Because it’s stressful and it can be scary.

But anything you dream of becoming or achieving will come from this place of discomfort.

Think of anyone successful — and understand that they went through the same thing.

And they know something that you’re about to find out. That this place of discomfort is also where you grow.

Where you can grow to become the future successful you.

So don’t let all of this stuff control you. Make a decision and go for it. Put your head down, move forward, and don’t let the distractions get to you.

Before we get into your superpower, let’s discuss two things that will lead to a lot of these negative emotions and distractions.

There is No Failure — Only Learning

“There are no failures — just experiences and your reactions to them.”

~Tom Krause

Put another way, you either learn something, or you succeed. There is no failure.

All of that past stuff that haunts you, day in and day out — it’s time to face it and let it go.

It’s a foundation you built up of learning experiences throughout your life.

But you carry them with you, regularly bathing in your past mistakes and failures. And then you project them onto your present and future. You see yourself failing because you’ve failed before.

It’s time to take them for what they are. An experience in your past that helped you become who you are today.

Remember, there is no failure. Only learning and success.

Beware The What-If Monster

Whenever we step outside our comfort zone and we go for it, we think ‘What if…’

What if I lose my house? Or all my money? Or what if I can’t do this?

Which are all just a version of what if I fail?

You can’t help but to think of the worst possible outcome — and cower. You get scared of the what if monster.

And it feeds on the fear. It keeps you awake at night, tossing and turning, your mind cycling through a constant barrage of stressful thoughts, and it fills us with anxiety and overwhelm throughout the day.

And you give up or don’t even try because it’s uncomfortable and scary.

You what if yourself right into failure.

It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.

But, there’s a way out of this, because you have this superpower…

The Secret to Getting What You Want in Life

Ok — it’s not Superman level cool, but it’s pretty damn cool!

You have a superpower you’ve probably never tapped into. A superpower that many of the best athletes and most successful people use to their advantage every day.

Michael Jordan, Muhammed Ali, Tiger Woods, Oprah Winfrey, Jim Carrey…just to name a few.

I’m talking about the power of visualization.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the basketball study by Australian psychologist Alan Richardson:

Richardson chose three groups of students at random. None had ever practiced visualization. The first group practiced free throws every day for twentieth days. The second made free throws on the first day and the twentieth day, as did the third group. But members of the third group spent 20 minutes every day visualizing free throws. If they “missed,” they “practiced” getting the next shot right.

On the twentieth day Richardson measured the percentage of improvement in each group. The group that practiced daily improved 24 percent. The second group, unsurprisingly, improved not at all. The third group, which had physically practiced no more than the second, did twenty-three percent better??”almost as well as the first group!

Or maybe you heard of Natan Sharansky? He beat world chess champion Garry Kasparov.

He practiced for nine years — while imprisoned in the USSR for being accused of being an American spy.

Oh, and he had no chessboard or pieces — he played mental chess.

There was another study (complete with brain scans) on playing the piano:

Volunteers were asked to play a simple sequence of piano notes each day for five consecutive days. Their brains were scanned each day in the region connected to the finger muscles. Another set of volunteers were asked to imagine playing the notes instead, also having their brains scanned each day.

You can clearly see that the changes in the brain in those who imaged playing piano are the same as in those who actually played piano. Really, your brain doesn’t distinguish real from imaginary!

Which segues right into my next point, that our imagination is incredibly powerful and can literally create success.

In fact, studies show that our brain can’t tell the difference between visualization and memory. Meaning we can implant our own memories about our future successes.

“Our results offer insight into the fundamental and little-studied capacity of vivid mental projection of oneself in the future.”

These conclusions seem straightforward enough given that overlap in brain activity was observed when people remembered past events or imagined future events. And those conclusions fit nicely with the idea that the ability to project oneself into the past and future reflects a capacity for “mental time travel”

But, while that’s exciting, doesn’t it stand to reason that the opposite could also be true? That you could also implant your own memories of future failures?

Unfortunately, it’s what the vast majority of us do without even realizing it.

The what if monster gets us and we think of all the possibilities of future failures.

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

~Ben Parker

But it’s not what successful people do. They use their superpower for good and focus on success.

And you should too.

Tap Into Your Superpower

So I’m sure you’re wondering how you use this fantastic superpower?

It’s easy enough, the hardest part is consistency. Because doing it once won’t cut it. You have to do this daily until you begin to see and feel the change.

And once you do, you won’t want to stop…

Visualize

• Find a quiet spot where you won’t be bothered.
• Get comfortable and take deep breaths to relax
• Close your eyes and imagine yourself in the future. Successful. Imagine the environment in detail. What you’re doing, what you’re wearing, and everything around you.
• Focus on the detail.

Step into The Future

• And now — become future you. Step into your successful self. See your prosperous new world from your eyes. Let’s take the basketball study above; it wasn’t enough for the players to visualize themselves shooting the basketball. They had to get inside their own head. They felt the basketball, they were standing at the free-throw line. They were actually shooting the ball.
• Experience everything — Everything successful you is doing. Touch, taste, smell, and any sounds that you hear.
• And maybe most importantly, feel what you are feeling. Feel the success and happiness oozing from you.
• Sit in this visualization for 20–30 minutes
• Once you come out of the visualization, allow yourself to continue to feel that same way throughout the day.
• Do this daily — repetition is key.

It will be hard to focus at first. Don’t beat yourself up, just keep going back to the visualization. With time it will get easier and easier.

You are training yourself to have a successful mindset, and that has to take over years and years of a failure mindset.

And you are also implanting successful visions of the future.

Once it starts to take hold, you will begin to notice a positive shift in how you feel every day. You will start to feel successful.

But, You Must Live Here to Succeed

You should carry that feeling of success that you have from your visualization, but you don’t want to stay in the future. Just as you don’t want to live in the past.

You must live in the now. Take that successful feeling and put it towards focusing on the present and your task at hand. Work towards your goal and successes with just today in mind.

But what if…

The What If Monster Strikes Again

We’ve been wired this way for so long that stress, anxiety, fear of failure will creep back in.

And when it does, just take a calm and meditative approach.

Calmly push it out of your mind, close your eyes, and meditate on your successful self for one to five minutes. Step into your future successes and experience it again.

Once you relax and get back to a successful mindset, go forth and enjoy your day.

Now — Go Get Everything You Want

You have a choice.

You can keep your secret, let it consume you as time passes you by, and you live a life of complete ok-ness.

And realize at some point, when it’s too late, that you’re full of regret for the chances you didn’t take and the dreams you didn’t pursue.

Or you can decide to get out of line and start doing something that you want to do. Maybe that you’ve always wanted to do.

Get outside your comfort zone and go for it. Because now you know how to get everything you want.

Pick your ambitious goal or dream and start visualizing your success today.

Imagine, one year from today you’re living your best life. You’ve got your dream job, started the company you’ve always wanted, or you’re sitting on a beach in Spain working as a digital nomad.

Or maybe, just maybe, you’re saving the world.

How awesome is that going to be?

It’s time you bet on yourself.

The world is your oyster, my friends, and you can do anything that you want to. And if people judge you, tell them to get back in the vanilla froyo line.

You’re getting Cookies N’ Cream.