Imagination is a POWERFUL skill!
it can help you create opportunities, change your perspective, and get your thinking on track
In today's edition of Burke's Bits:
Imagination Can Give You The Answers You Seek
Copy Tip
Social Selling Tip
From the Research Files
Pun of the Day
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How Imagination Can Give You The Answers You Seek
Sometimes, when I'm feeling badly about where I am in life, I take a few moments to recall what I felt and believed in June, 2008. That was the day I started my business.
I've done this with other moments in my life to remind myself how far I've come in terms of personal development. This matters because my business can only grow as much as I personally can handle.
Recently I learned a technique to help me get in touch with the vision I have for myself. I didn't realize that I had a vision, to be honest. I never thought past 5 years ahead because I've trained myself to think that because anything can happen, no matter what I plan for the end result will be different. Not in a bad way. But not what I thought it would be.
Anyway, when I used this technique I felt calm and reassured, clear headed and able to see that my current situation is temporary. I also know what I will do as a next step. It's a technique I read in an article by Linda Bloom, LCSW, author, workshop leader, and relationship expert.
Here's what I do:
First, I set aside 20 minutes in the day. Doesn't matter if it's morning, noon, or evening. What matters is I have 20 minutes with no interruptions. I pick a place where I can sit comfortably and quietly. Be it a recliner, on the sofa, on the floor, or in a bean bag chair.
I sit quietly for 10 or 15 minutes to center myself and quiet my mind. Then I travel in my imagination forward in time until I see a very old version of myself. I'm a woman in my 90s.
I see my wrinkled face and slender body leaning on a cane, and my mind is sharp and clear. I have become a wise woman. Because I paid attention to my life experiences. I studied personal development and applied what I learned, when I could.
I have spent decades learning from others and sharing what I learn from them and my own experiences with other women...some in crisis, some struggling with mental or emotional overwhelm.
My present-day self consults with this old wise woman to understand the issue at hand.
This old woman is kind, compassionate, and loving. She's also one tough cookie. She’s a no-bullshit gal. She will not tolerate denial, excuses, justifications, or rationalizations. She’ll call me out if I am in any way dodging responsibility for the situation I am facing.
She admonishes me to get on with it, whatever it is, and to not waste any time. She is keenly aware of how precious time is because she is so close to the time when she will be forced to leave her body.
She gets to the core of the issue and strips away all superficial distractions. She reminds me of challenges in my past that were more severe than the one that has me confused and frightened right now.
That review of the past helps me recall what it was that helped me to be successful back then, which helps me to come through this time. It helps me recall the patience, persistence, commitment, assertiveness, courage, resilience, forgiveness or letting go that helped me in the past. Now it gives me confidence that those qualities will assist me once again.
This old woman communicates her confidence in me - that I have within me what it takes to meet this challenge. Her quiet certainty and belief in me calms me. Because she offers me the wisdom of her old age, I now see from a wider perspective. Today’s challenge is temporary and things will surely look different a month, a year, several years from now.
Having consulted her a few times I see that her advice has been spot-on. I'm growing to trust and admire her.
She reminds me there are people that will help me. That particular reassurance calms me because I have a tendency to think I must do things by myself. She comforts and soothes me. When my fears are calmed I can think clearly and see the possibilities that had been hidden behind the fears.
When she wants to light a fire under my butt to tackle a challenge or wants me to slow down because I’m pushing too hard, she uses the same advice,
“Practice like your hair is on fire, and remember that this is the work of a lifetime.”
I am in charge of deciding where I need to be proactive and which challenges require patience.
She teases me that I worry too much and make a big deal out of trivial things. She does it in a good-natured way so we end up laughing together at my ability to create disasters out of minor inconveniences. We laugh as we acknowledge that it is this same vivid imagination that got me into this mess ... that I used to bring her to me for a visit. I hug her gently and kiss her cheek before I leave. I thank her for her clear perspective.
I travel back to the present time with a clear plan and sincere gratitude.
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If you decide to try this, remember to thank that old wise woman or old wise man for their advice.
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Copy Tip
Always be truthful.
Your reader can detect a lie.
Most prospects today are savvy enough to know that hype sells - so they look past the hype to see if what you're saying is true. So, it's okay to hype something up because you think it's awesome! As long as it really is awesome. You can have fun with exaggeration and if you're entertaining, your reader will enjoy it and forgive you for it.
How do you entertain? Tell or show a story! A fun story. Or a ridiculously farfetched story. A story that is enjoyable to read and leads them to the benefit of the product or service you're selling.
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Social Selling Tip
Don't discuss pricing on a social media platform.
If someone asks you for your price to do something ... ask for their best email address.
Tell them you want to take the discussion off of social media because it will be difficult to find specific chats and conversations next week or next month. It's much easier to lay out details in an email. And it's much easier to save that email to a folder in their hard drive.
In the 14 years I've been using social media to sell my services, I haven't had anyone say No to this request.
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From the Research Files
aka random bits of info you may or may not be able to use in your life
On January 5, 1992, It’s a Wonderful Life was the first American program ever to be broadcast on Russian television. A translated version, courtesy of Stewart and Lomonosov Moscow State University, was broadcast to over 200 million Russians on that day.
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Pun of the Day
Did you hear about that cheese factory that exploded in France?
There was nothing left but de Brie!
With Gratitude,
Charlene Burke
Let's Connect
You need imagination in order to imagine a future that doesn’t exist. ~Azar Nafisi