Page 109 - 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself

“Just close your eyes,” said Margie, “and picture yourself on a diving board.

Can you see yourself standing up there?”

“Yes,” said Michelle.

“Okay good!” said Margie. “Now, I want you to get an even better picture.
What kind of bathing suit are you wearing? Can you see it?”

“It’s red, white, and blue,” said Michelle, her eyes still closed. “It’s like an
American flag.”

“Great,” said Margie. “Now picture yourself diving off the board in slow

motion, just like in a dream. Can you see that?”

“Yes I can,” said Michelle.

“That’s great!” shouted Margie. “Now you can do it. Because if you can
dream it, you can do it! Let’s go over here and do it.”

Michelle followed her slowly to the end of the pool. I was looking over the
top of my book but not letting them know I was listening. I was amazed. I had
no idea what would happen next, but I noticed a number of people around the

pool area watching and listening with fascination, while pretending not to.

Michelle walked up to the edge of the water and looked very scared. She
looked at Margie, and Margie said, “Michelle, I want you to keep saying, very
softly, ‘If I can dream it, I can do it’ and then I want to see you dive in.”

Michelle kept repeating “If I can dream it, I can do it,” and all of a sudden,
surprising even herself, she dove—a near-perfect dive into the deep end with
almost no splash!

Margie was jumping up and down and clapping when Michelle came up
from the water. “You did it!” she shouted, and Michelle was grinning as she
climbed up to do it again.

Could it be, I thought to myself, that this system is this simple?

The principle is this: You won’t do anything you can’t picture yourself
doing. Visioneering is just another word for picturing yourself. Once you make
the picturing process conscious and deliberate, you begin to create the self you

want to be. We dive into the pictures we create.