Manifesting Destiny
I’ve spent the last week participating in the Oprah and Deepak meditation series on manifestation. This is happening at the same time I’m reading You Are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero and I’m awash in the manifest your destiny concepts. At the same time, I’m working with a new client on strategic planning and it is creating an echo chamber.
Applying what I’m learning about manifestation, to what I know about strategic planning I see the similarities in first creating the vision and the purpose for what you want to change. At work, we call this a mission statement, at home a purpose. Both require a vision of the desired state.
I’m reminded of a young woman I once worked with who rapidly manifested her destiny and took clear steps to make it happen. Just as we set strategic initiatives or objectives in order to meet our vision in strategic planning.
This young woman and I had nothing in common on the surface. I was having my fifth child and she was trying to find a doctor who would honor her request for an IUD as she knew she never wanted children. Yet, we bonded–I shared my doctor with her and she taught me a lot about the internet. This was in the late 90s and she realized the power of the internet before anyone else I knew. She had vision.
My first day at work there was a wedding shower for her. Just a year later her husband woke her up and said he no longer wanted to be married to her. Just. Like. That.
She was devastated but kept moving forward. She adopted a cat, moved to a new apartment and threw herself into her work. On a whim, she utilized her librarian research skills and the still new world wide web to find an old flame who was living in Hawaii. Although he was in a relationship, he invited her for a visit. She went and it changed her life. She came back determined to move to Hawaii in the next six months.
She had clarity of vision. Next, she set goals of:
Getting a second job.
Selling everything she owned as it would be too expensive to send to Hawaii.
Finding a new home for her cat.
FInding a job in Hawaii
She didn’t need to know where she lived or what the job was, she just did the work to get there. Within three months (three months early), she found the job, sold everything, gave away the cat, had the savings she needed and was on her way. A friend of her friend met her at the airport and she was launched.
She learned to ride a bicycle, became part owner of a scuba diving company and made many new friends. She even changed her name. Yes, her first name no longer suited her–it was always a better name for a cheerleader than this driven young woman and the new name suited her better. Oh, and that friend who picked her up at the airport–she ended up marrying him!
We all have this power. Whether we call it alignment with the universe, or a strategic plan. We can have the life we want, the workplace we desire. We have to be clear about the vision, the purpose and what will serve us–and most importantly–what no longer serves us. We need to be able to step out into the unknown, to step into our new life.
For the past several years my closest friends and confidants knew I had a vision of travel, gathering experiences and charting a different course for my life. The vision without the objectives on how I was going to carry it out was useless. It was only this past year that I added the action steps to my vision…and I keep adding.
I’m so glad I was close to this young friend’s process and watched her succeed. It taught me a lot about strategic planning. Things I’ve applied to my work, and now, finally, am applying to my life.
“Necessity of action takes away the fear of the act and makes bold resolution the favor of fortune.” –Francis Quarles
minding the gaps.life 