This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "Energize" by Simon Alexander Ong. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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Do you have a plan for the future? Is being wealthy something you want to achieve?
Without a clear goal in mind to guide you, your energy will be directionless, no matter how well you cultivate it. Simon Alexander Ong says it’s important to clarify your goal, how to turn your dreams into an actionable plan, and how to frame your feelings toward wealth.
Discover how to envision your future with the help of a clear plan.
Have a Long-Term Vision of Your Future
Ong argues that having a specific, long-term vision lets you focus your energy, overcome obstacles, and attract opportunities. He cites many examples from the field of sports, where imagining your goal before achieving it is a standard practice for winning athletes. People who regularly use this practice show that mental imagery can enhance your performance and create a sense that achieving seemingly impossible feats can be done. One way to learn how to envision your future is to imagine meeting an old acquaintance at some date several years in the future and describing to them everything you’ve achieved in the intervening time.
(Shortform note: One athlete who fully embodies Ong’s advice about visualizing your future is Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, in Be Useful, Schwarzenegger points out that the goals you envision will change over time. In his own life, he visualized himself as a bodybuilding champion, which he then saw as a springboard to acting in films. But once he’d made his initial dreams real, Schwarzenegger envisioned using his influence to make a positive impact through a political career. Schwarzenegger argues that while you should create a clear vision for your future, you should never view that goal as a stopping point. Instead, you should think of it as a peak from which you’ll be able to see the next mountain you should climb.)
Though important, having a dream for your future won’t get you far without a plan. Ong relates how a survey of college graduates revealed that thinking through your goals and writing down how you’ll achieve them has a huge impact on long-term success. Therefore, to make your dreams achievable, set aside regular time for self-reflection and strategic planning. If the steps toward your goals aren’t clear at first, Ong offers a variation on brainstorming to guide you—but instead of trying to come up with solutions, think up as many questions as you can, such as “What are your talents? What are your obstacles? What strengths can you develop? Who can help you?” Answering these questions will help you chart your course of action.
(Shortform note: Ong’s ideas offer a place to begin, but to create a more detailed plan of action, consider following the steps outlined by Jack Canfield in The Success Principles. Canfield says that when writing your goals down, you should phrase them in a way that’s quantifiable within a realistic time frame so that you can measure whether you’ve achieved them. You should then do the research to make a reasonable plan, including consulting experts, reading books and articles on your field of interest, and taking formal classes if possible. If needed, you can reverse-engineer your process—visualize your desired end result and work backward to determine the sequence of steps you’ll have to take to achieve it.)
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Like what you just read? Read the rest of the world's best book summary and analysis of Simon Alexander Ong's "Energize" at Shortform.
Here's what you'll find in our full Energize summary:
- How to cultivate and replenish your energy
- Why your personal energy can be infectious
- How money can give you energy and take it away
