Life Lessons

Frame Your Future

Practice # 4 | Invest In Yourself

FRAME YOUR FUTURE. I desire quantum progress in every area of my life in 2023. If you’ve been following me, you know my word for the year is ACCELERATION (formerly excellence).

Since January, I’ve read multiple books and repeatedly listened to multiple teachings and sermons (Practice # 4 | Invest In Yourself). These authors and speakers are my imaginary advisors. I consult their media resources for advice. Another word that keeps catching my attention from these individuals, other than acceleration, is VISION.

Accelerated growth and quantum leaping require a VISION (i.e. destination, target, or desire).

A GPS requires a destination before it can create a route. Once you enter a destination into the GPS, the GPS magically manifests a step-by-step route. This route gets you to where you want to be.

You just need to KNOW where you want to go.

If it’s a place of significance, you’re more than likely going to take a photo.

For instance, when you go on vacation, you take pictures and normally print your trip’s highlights. Put them in picture frames somewhere visible in your homes.

In other words, you frame your past.

Well, vision requires you to FRAME YOUR FUTURE.

It’s having a mental image before you even get to where you are going.

Below are 3 key insights to FRAME YOUR FUTURE (aka VISION) from my IMAGINARY ADVISORS.

  1. CLARITY IN VISION
  2. DREAM BIG, HAIRY, AUDACIOUS DREAMS
  3. CULTIVATE A THINKING ENVIRONMENT

“THE NUMBER ONE REASON MOST PEOPLE DON’T GET WHAT THEY WANT IS THAT THEY DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY WANT.”

T HARV EKER
Dubai & Beyond Trip (March 2023)

CLARITY IN VISION

Each writer and speaker discussed the importance of clarity in vision. In essence, they were saying don’t be vague and general regarding your desire. Instead, be specific. The quote from T. Harv Eker says it all – “The number one reason most people don’t get what they want is that they don’t know what they want.”

One man of God made some valid points about VISION in his sermon:

  1. Something becomes important to you when you decide that it is what you want.
  2. When you decide to focus on it, you’ll find more of it.
  3. The reticular activating system (RAS) gravitates you toward your desire and it happens at a subconscious (part of the mind not fully aware but influences one’s actions and feelings) level.
  4. If you cannot SEE it, you cannot SEIZE it.

Have you ever shopped for a specific car?

The simple fact you decided to purchase a certain car, you begin to see that car everywhere and all the time.

Well, it happened to me when I decided to purchase a Toyota Prius years ago.

That’s our reticular activating system (RAS) at work. It’s a bundle of nerves that filters out unnecessary information so that the important stuff gets through.

RAS is helping you FRAME YOUR FUTURE.

Therefore, the sooner you decide what you want, the sooner the thing you desire will start revealing itself to you.

Now, I wish I would have overcame my limiting beliefs back then and believed God for a royal blue Maserati. 🙂

This leads to the next point made by my Imaginary Advisors, ASK BIG!

“TO HAVE A BIG DREAM REQUIRES THE SAME EFFORT AS HAVING A SMALL DREAM”

JORGE PAULO LEMANN
The Sphinx (1/7 Wonder of the World)

DREAM BIG, HAIRY, AUDACIOUS DREAMS

Chip Ingram, the author of GOOD to GREAT in God’s Eyes, encourages Christians to have a big, hairy, audacious dream.

He writes “[God] wants your heart to be filled with dreams that are far bigger than you are.”

One woman of God offers a different perspective by saying in her teaching, “There is no need to see something bigger than you, nothing is bigger than our God.”

In the Science of Getting Rich book, Wallace D. Wattles tells his readers “You need not hesitate to ask largely. Your part is to focalize and express the desire to God” AND “All that is a possibility is seeking expression through men“.

In other words, FRAME YOUR FUTURE with BIG DREAMS.

Terri Savelle Foy wrote a book titled “IMAGINE BIG“. She advises her readers to

  1. “give yourself permission to let your imagination run wild at any age, and
  2. never let anyone discourage you from believing anything is possible.”

I heard somewhere that dreaming costs you nothing but not dreaming will cost you everything.

So what does your DREAM life look like?

Your DREAM car?

What’s your DREAM job?

Your DREAM vacation?

What’s your life’s purpose?

Your life legacy?

In 2018, it was a big dream for me ( a girl from Tuscaloosa, AL) to move to Dubai. No one in my family lived abroad.

On another note, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr had a dream for civil and economic rights for all Americans and he changed the nation.

Nothing is too big so ASK BIG.

Dr. Cindy Trimm in her book, Commanding Your Morning, calls this “possibility thinking” and it requires cultivating a thinking environment.

“YOU MUST CREATE AN OPULENT THINKING ENVIRONMENT
IN ORDER TO CREATE AN OPULENT LIFE. “

DR. CINDY TRIMM
Jabel Jais in Ras Al Khaimah (UAE)

CULTIVATE A THINKING ENVIRONMENT

One advisor shared the story of Peter Daniel, a third-generation welfare recipient, now an international businessman worth millions. Mr. Daniel attributes his unprecedented success to scheduled thinking. He reserved one day a week on his calendar just to think. Mr. Daniel said his greatest ideas, opportunities, and money-making ventures came from when he took days off to think.

Dr. Trimm advises her readers in Commanding Your Morning to “create an inspirational environment around yourself” that spurs creativity.

Next, she urges her readers to spend blocks of time in their most creative space whether it’s the quietness of nature or a bustling cafe.

Lastly, when you identify that place, practice thinking.

In his book Transform Your Thinking, Transform Your Life, Dr. Bill Winston advises to meditate (think deeply) on God’s Word day and night –“We are to literally live in the Word of God at all times.”

He states meditating on God’s promises stimulates your imagination and renews your mind. You are able to see what God sees, think what God thinks, and do what God does.

One of my nine foundational practices is Time Alone With God | Practice # 1. I designate the first hours of the day to this practice. Multiple prayers have been answered by taking the time to meditate on the promises of God and taking action.

Last but not least, you can FRAME YOUR FUTURE with your thoughts.


Born To T.H.R.I.V.E. | It’s A Lifestyle

  1. Is F.E.A.R. holding you back from living your best life? Download 7 Practical Steps To Overcome F.E.A.R.
  2. Join me in “finding yourself”, and take a leap of faith to think, live and work differently.
  3. You’re invited to the AWAKENED REALM Facebook Group! My goal is for everyone I associate with is thriving, in abundance, and limitless. Taken from the character Kelli in Insecure.
  4. Print the iT.H.R.I.V.E. one-pager and keep it visible next to your bed or workspace for encouragement.
  5. International travel is a proven method to build confidence and conquer fear. Join the Dubai & Beyond or Ghana Crossover Trip.

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