This visualization thing I’m doing is getting more intriguing! It surprises me how much more consistent work and effort will need to be put into what I am doing now if I really want to be where I would ideally like to be in 5 to 10 years’ time. Realised that to be good at something, everything needs to be paced along and built up over time and will not happen overnight.. Think of this analogy my Finance lecturer likes to use.. ”You can’t eat 5 meals all at one go”.. so true..

This is how I do my Visualization Exercise:

1. I think of all the things I am interested in or have always intended myself to learn and be good at. E.g. oil painting, photography, a particular language (e.g. Bahasa Indonesia), blading, etc…

2. Next, I decide the level of competence/standard I really want to be at to consider myself “good enough”. This will differ from person to person, of course. For Bahasa, for example, it will be good enough for me to be conversationally comfortable. I really don’t need to know how to write an essay in the language! : p For photography, on the other hand, I would want to know also how to handle black & white film expertly..

3. I will then rank myself from 1 to 10 on the level of competence I am at now (relative to where I want to be). For Bahasa, I am probably now only at 1/10 (i.e. know really really basic stuff and cannot really sustain a conversation for more than.. err.. 2 mins?? :p).

4. From this exercise, I will then know

a. The areas of interest I am actually interested in,
b. What else I need to learn and know,
c. How much further I need to go, and
d. Best of all, what I would have accomplished 10 years later if all things really go the way I plan (the hope is quite sustaining..)

I will then realize there is still so much work to be done! Try it!