Kategorie: Change

Ernst Bloch, the German philosopher and social theorist, is known for his philosophy of hope. He emphasized that dreams and desires—our utopias—are the driving force behind our actions and can lead to societal change. Bloch’s ideas have had a lasting impact on culture in the fields of art, literature, and political theory.

The Power of a Vision Board

A practical example of being in love with success is creating a vision board. On a vision board, we visualize our desired utopias—our wishes, dreams, life goals, and yearnings—by creating a collage of images and words. This creative activity helps clarify our goals and activates our subconscious to bring these visions to life.

How a Vision Board Works

A vision board encourages a more conscious and focused perception of our environment. By visualizing our desires, we are quicker to recognize opportunities and more motivated to seize them. This relates to the confirmation bias, which leads us to select information that supports our expectations. If we believe in our failure, we tend to notice only setbacks, negatively impacting our emotions and demeanor.

Conversely, a positive attitude leads to greater self-confidence—manifested in an upright posture, strong voice, and firm handshake. People with a positive outlook tend to attract like-minded individuals, which aligns with the so-called excellence phenomenon: top-notch leaders attract and retain top employees. Those who embody excellence seek inspiration at eye level to further develop themselves, while mediocre leaders often perceive high achievers as a threat.

Conclusion

When we are in love with success, we cultivate the intrinsic motivation to achieve excellence. We naturally attract exceptional people into our lives—a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Question for the Readers: How do you implement utopias in your professional life to achieve your goals? What steps can you take to visualize and realize your visions?

Today’s quote comes from Danny DeVito: ‘The best are not afraid of defeat. It’s part of success.’

That sounds paradoxical when you first read it. Isn’t defeat to be equated with failure?

In fact, many people would think that defeat is a failure. In the short term this may be true, but in the long term I think it’s a fallacy.

Here are my reasons why defeat is the cause of success:

1. Without a defeat, you stick to the old and familiar behaviour. After all, your previous behaviour has proved you right, because it has led to your current success. Defeat gives you the opportunity to rethink your behaviour, to learn and to develop further.

2. Defeats open up the opportunity to discover something unexpected. My great-uncle, for example, was taken prisoner by the French during the Second World War. It was a defeat in the truest sense of the word. During his captivity, he met his future wife and became the owner of a large farm, became mayor of the town and had four children. He died happily in France.

3. Defeats also give you the motivation to improve and not to experience such a similar defeat again.

There are certainly other positive aspects that arise from a defeat. If something positive has come out of a defeat for you, I would be delighted to hear your comments.