Laura PoseySo what does being realistic mean? Realistic expectations are based
on past experience. In order to think realistically, you have to look back
into your past and examine what you have accomplished up until now,
th en project that into the future. For example, if your company has
historically grown 10 percent per year, you’re likely to think that 10
percent growth next year is realistic. You might even stretch a bit and
be comfortable with 15 percent. But if you think about 100 percent
growth in one year, part of your brain will think it is unrealistic.
Likewise, if everyone in your family i s overweight, it is easy to think
th at being overweight is a genetic problem and that, realistically, you’ll
never be fit and trim.
This obsession with realism comes from the left side of the brain
where logic and reason rule the day. This side of your brain looks out
through your senses and bases all of its decisions on what it sees, hears,
smells, touches, and tastes. It can only think as big as what it has
experienced in the past.
Luckily , the o ther side o f your brain—the right side—is more
concerned with creativity, pictures, and stories. This side of your brain
can visualize what you want, then tap into your creativity to achieve it.
The right side is unconcerned with what happened in the past; it is
more concerned with what can happen in the future.
If you allow the right side of your brain to dream, to look only
fo rward, it can, and will, find ways to grow your company by 100
percent or help your body weigh whatever you like. If you can let go of
the term “realistic” and allow yourself to visualize and imagine a
di fferent future, you can achieve many times more than you have in the
past.
You know, the vast majority of people aren’t much more successful
th an their parents. That is, they live essentially the same lifesty le their
parents did with only a slight improvement. The reason is that they
lo ok at their parents and measure how realistic their own goals are
compared to their parents’ lives.
Don’t g et caught in this trap. Let go of the way things were in the
past and dream big! Let yourself visualiz e what it would b e like to have,
be, and do all the things you want. Let your mind wander, daydream,