A couple of weeks ago, my 12 year old had “speed camp” which is a cool sounding name for learning how to get comfortable going really (really) fast on Super G skis.
Most kids are freaked out by speed camp. They go way faster than they’re used to going, and they don’t feel like they have as much control as when they’re skiing the slower GS or Slalom disciplines.
In the weeks leading up to the camp, I could tell my daughter had a cloud hanging over her head when she thought about it.
So, very conversationally one day, I told her about this visualization I’ve been doing lately.
It’s super simple—at the start of the day or before an event or interaction you visualize the feelings that you would like to get out of the situation—things like satisfaction, accomplishment, or joy.
All you do is really feel those feelings deeply, and then you go and do it. Your body and mind carry those feelings into the situation, which transforms how you experience it.
You’re not changing the situation, you’re changing how you interpret it.
In the days leading up to camp, she started to show excitement about the camp. The night before the first day, her excitement was so much higher than I ever thought it would be. And then, the morning of the first day, she was unreasonably stoked to the point I could tell she was manufacturing the excitement.
I dropped her off and left her for the day, curious to what I’d find when I picked her up.
Eight hours later, I was met by the most genuinely happy and excited kid I could imagine.
She had the best day ever.
During dinner I casually asked if she ever tried that visualization technique that I told her about a couple weeks prior. She stopped eating, looked me dead in the eyes, and said, “Duh. That’s why I had such a great day today.”
We humans tend to put a lot of time into trying to change situations. But really, the only thing that we can control is how we interpret those situations.
Then, by consciously deciding how we want to experience situations, we can often change the outcomes:
- By deciding that the hard work we put in is satisfying rather than exhausting, we accomplish more than we thought possible.
- By deciding that solving that daunting problem is achievable rather than unfixable, we figure it out (and sometimes discover it wasn’t that hard).
- By deciding to bring joy into a situation that causes us anxiety, we find the best in the experience and actually enjoy ourselves.
As brand and business leaders, we are always trying to fix something. And there’s a lot that needs to be fixed right now. It can be downright exhausting to feel like there’s always something to solve.
But with this little shift, we can not only change our perspective and outcomes, but we can also be more satisfied and fulfilled doing it.
You can even try this over the holidays with your in-laws 🙂