“A vision without a task is but a dream,a task without a vision is drudgery,a vision and a task is the hope of the world.”-From a church in Sussex,England,ca.1730
In one of the development project that I worked with Ashok , a software expert , we were in the middle of a discussion about the Data structure and Class Structure. Suddenly Ashok stopped the discussion (probably in exasperation!) and asked me if I could visualize now on how the Program would work at its full-scale implementation...
In an another discussion that I had with Ramsu (http://celluloidrant.wordpress.com/about/) ,an expert in Machine learning (never figured out what it means !!!) , I was attempting to decipher the reasons for his Professional success. Ramsu informed me that for every project he took up, he would visualize what success looked like and would work backwards to determine the steps needed.
I am beginning to realize that the right-brained thinking of vivid mental imagery should precede our actions which is left-brained and analytical . Richard Feynman, one of the top physicists of the 20th Century tells about he how he uses the power of visualization in his book “Surely you are Joking Mr.Feynman”….
“I had a scheme, which I still use today, when somebody is explaining something that I’m trying to understand: I keep making up examples. For instance, the mathematicians would come in with a terrific theorem, and they’re all excited. As they’re telling me the conditions of the theorem, I construct something in my mind which fits all the conditions. You know, you have a set (one ball), disjoint (two balls). Then the balls turn colors, grow hairs, or whatever, in my head as they put more conditions on. Finally they state the theorem, which is some dumb thing about the ball which isn’t true for my hairy green ball thing, so I say “False!” . . . I guessed right most of the time…”
David Allen in his book “Getting Things Done” calls visualization as “Outcome Focusing”. So the next time you are faced with Things that need your attention ask yourself the following questions
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“What does this mean to me ?”
“Why is it here?”
“What is the successful outcome?”
And if you come up with vivid imagery of the outcome, be it in words or pictures, you can go about deciding the Next actions…”How do I make this happen?” …”What is the next physical action that I need to undertake?”
If you can change the way you work to to these two steps of "Outcome focusing" & "The Next actions" , things would start moving without you feeling the stress...
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