VISUALISING A CLEAR GOAL FOR SUCCESS
It's absolutely vital for any kind of success! You must have a
goal, or, to use the scientific term, an objective.
And it is the first step. I've proved it. It's the foundation
upon which all your actions - all your consequent actions - will
be established. It's the first ingredient of a magic formula.
There's no magic about it, of course - it just works like magic.
It's the first step that unleashes - or begins to unleash - a
creative force available to every and any human being.
You've heard of Jesus's words about faith: 'If you have faith
like a grain of mustard seed, nothing shall be impossible to
you!' (Matthew 17:20).
It's absolutely true. Faith is belief, and belief is based on
something concrete - something clearly visualised - like that
mustard seed. This metaphor of a mustard seed implies something
that can be seen and touched and handled.
You must know what you want - and then you must VISUALISE it!
You must identify your goal and see it clearly in your mind - in
your imagination.
I think my acquisition of a Rolls Royce will best illustrate the
power of goal-visualisation. I had heard before about this
power. A member of my local Methodist church, one Sunday
morning, told me about it. 'If you want a Mercedes Benz,' he
said, 'you've not only got to ask the Lord for one; you've got
to ask for a specific model and colour!'
I thought it would be very wrong to ask the Lord for something
so materialistic! 'I hardly think,' I said, 'that that would be
right!'
'Well,' he said, 'it's just to illustrate an important rule when
you pray for something. If a Mercedes is something you really
want, you've a right to pray about it. If it's God's will for
you, he will give it to you. But if you do ask the Lord for a
Mercedes - to come back to my example - you've got to be
specific. You've got to specify the model, the colour, the
horsepower, the upholstery, the steering-wheel padding, and so
on. After all, you wouldn't just walk into a shop and say "I
want a Mercedes", would you? You've got to order a specific
model and specify what you want. It's like going to an estate
agent for a house. You don't just ask for a house. You've got to
describe the house you want - four bedrooms, a study,
air-conditioning, where situated, price range, and so forth.'
It was years later, only after I had become a Professor of
English, that I recalled my friend's words. Only then did I dare
to aspire to something so materialistic as a luxury motorcar!
Well, I didn't want a Mercedes, I thought. As a boy, I had
always been aware of Rolls-Royce cars as fanciful wonders beyond
my wildest dreams. To have and drive a Rolls, I thought, would
really mean something. And I began to cherish a Rolls Royce in
my heart.
Of course, a professor's salary, even then, in 1982, was totally
inadequate for saving up for a Rolls. The whole idea was
madness. Nevertheless, I dared to ask the Lord, subject to his
will!
I read Matthew 7:7 - 'Everyone who asks receives; he who seeks
finds.' I had to ask and, the Bible told me, 'it will be given
to you.'
'Well, Lord,' I prayed, 'I know this sounds ridiculous - but I
know you know what's in my heart. If it's at all compatible with
your will for me, Lord, may I find the means to have a Rolls
Royce?' I must admit, it sounded very foolish and extravagant!
Then I remembered about being specific. So I bought books on
Rolls-Royce cars. I looked at the advertisements in recent
copies of The Times and the Exchange and Mart, and
in motor magazines from England. I was then living in
Pietersburg, in the northern Transvaal of South Africa, where
Rolls-Royce cars were thin on the ground. I took a trip to
Johannesburg where I saw a few second-hand models in a garage
for exotic cars. The prices, even then, were the same as the
prices for expensive houses! But I sat in those cars, smelt the
leather, touched the steering wheels, and looked down the long
tapering bonnets towards the little silver ladies - the Spirits
of Ecstasy - at the end of those bonnets, and I felt what it
must be like to own a Rolls.
Now I was in a position to be specific about what I wanted. I
would have, I decided, a Silver Shadow, long-wheel base, gold in
colour, with a gold-plated Spirit of Ecstasy, and with walnut
picnic tables in the back. It would be a well-maintained
second-hand model, of course - about a 1973 model, or later.
And, half embarrassed by my audacity, I held up this vision to
the Lord in prayer.
Now I would need a strategy. How - and where - would I acquire
the car? The South African prices were ridiculous. The British
prices looked more reasonable, but that would mean importing -
and even then I would have to pay 100% duty on the original
cost. Most people simply dropped the idea of importing a car -
any car, let alone a Rolls - when they were confronted with the
fact of the 100% import duty! In effect you had to pay twice the
British price, as well as the shipping cost over and above that!
So I dropped the idea. But it resurfaced. It had gripped me. It
wouldn't let me go.
So I worked out a strategy. Indeed, the strategy seemed to
present itself as the obvious solution. I was due for my
12-months sabbatical leave. I arranged for my sabbatical leave
in a year's time - in 1984 - and, in the meantime, I had a year
to save up the British price, around