Yesterday, my 9-year-old son, Tyler asked me if he could show me something.  Before I could even answer, he broke into a choreographed dance, where he was passing his football from hand to hand, between both legs and then around his back.  It was actually impressive and was obvious that he had practiced this routine for a while.

When he was finished, I gave him the ‘proud father’ clap and asked him what exactly I had just witnessed.  “It’s my Touch Down dance,” he explained.  “You know I’m going to play in the NFL as a wide receiver one day, right?”  “I know that’s the plan,” I responded.  “Well, I thought I should probably work on a Touch Down dance for whenever I score,” he continued in a very logical tone.

My first impulse was to talk to him about not putting the cart before the horse and the importance of practice and learning all the fundamentals of the game.  First, you have to be good.  And I’m not ready to tell him yet that if he inherited any of my raw athleticism, the odds are not in his favor!  Second, I wanted to explain to him how very few young men are gifted enough to play college football.  And how even fewer are gifted enough to play in the NFL.  But the world has enough people who are quick to tell you why you can’t achieve a goal or reach a destination.  I didn’t want to add to that population.  Finally, my third impulse kicked in.  Let him have this moment and enjoy it.

My son was visualizing his perceived future success.  He saw it in his mind and believes it’s going to happen.  That’s one of the keys to success, isn’t it?  Visualizing your achievement and then having faith that you can make it happen.   I began to think of when the last time I actually visualized success before I started a new project.  It has been far too long.  And maybe that’s one (of many) of the reasons my successes to date have been few and far between.  I haven’t seen them happen in my mind before I started them.  The mind is a powerful tool.  Once we see ourselves succeeding and then working toward our goal with the unwavering faith that success is inevitable, I truly believe it is.  I believed and even implemented this philosophy once upon a time, but it took a 9-year-old boy to remind me of how important it is.

So here’s to visualizing myself sitting in a suite at Lucas Oil Stadium (that I paid for with my earnings from being a New York Times Best Selling Author) and watching Tyler perform his Touch Down dance after scoring for the Indianapolis Colts.  What do you visualize yourself doing next?