Visualization Secrets: A Proven Process for Manifesting Your Dreams with Megan Blacksmith

Dr. Christine Li [00:00:00]:
Welcome back to the Make Time for Success podcast.

Megan Blacksmith [00:00:02]:
This is episode number 266. It is January 2026 and the beginning of the year oftentimes inspires us to think really big about our personal goals, aspirations and dreams. And I thought I would invite my very special guest, Megan Blacksmith, back onto the show so that we could talk about how do we actually get ourselves to our intended destinations when it comes to goals and big dreams and visions for our lives. Megan is a speaker, a neuro linguistic programming expert and trainer, and a mindset ninja. She is the co-founder of Zesty and the Becoming Zesty podcast. She trains coaches, practitioners and leaders with the tools for faster inner transformation without fighting themselves along the way through functional nlp, a combination of the principles of nlp, functional medicine and compassionate coaching. Megan is a wonderful teacher, friend and guide and I think you're going to love the stories she tells and the examples she gives of how you can circumvent and bypass and release all those old stories and and old habits that threaten to block you from achieving your biggest and best goals. Let's celebrate the new year together with Megan in this episode together Now.

Dr. Christine Li [00:01:41]:
Hi, I'm Dr. Christine Li and I'm a psychologist and a procrastination coach. I've helped thousands of people move past procrastination and overwhelm so so they could begin working to their potential. In this podcast, you're going to learn powerful strategies for getting your mind, body and energy to work together so that you can focus on what's really important and accomplish the goals you want to achieve. When you start living within your full power, you're going to see how being productive can be easy and how you can create success on demand. Welcome to the Make Time for Success podcast. Hello my friends.

Megan Blacksmith [00:02:25]:
I'm here today joined by my good friend and colleague, Megan Blacksmith. She is a repeat visitor on the show and I'm really, really excited for this conversation because every conversation with Megan Blacksmith is an exciting one. So Megan, welcome back. Please let us know again who you are, what you're about, and what we're about to experience.

Dr. Christine Li [00:02:48]:
Thank you, Christine for having me. Always good to be back. So I am. Let's see, how do I break it down? I'm an NLP trainer, which means I teach and certify people to understand. So nlp, Neuro Linguistic Programming. Neuro, meaning the mind linguistic for language, all the words we speak and programming, meaning that we are programmed with all of our beliefs, our, our strategies. Everything we do is a program, which means we can change it because a lot of the time those programs were formed under seven years old. I don't know about you Christine, but it wasn't really my choice at seven what I was being installed with.

Megan Blacksmith [00:03:37]:
So some of them are great and some of them are really working against us. So that's very high level what I do and how I help people. I attract people who want to be leaders either in their industry, in their family, in their community and they want to do it faster. That's the kind of people we like to work with.

Dr. Christine Li [00:04:00]:
Okay, beautiful. May I just start right in with questions about all of this? Okay. How did you know that this would be your area?

Dr. Christine Li [00:04:10]:
I didn't know. I am a person who follows my gut on purchases. I don't know how many people here are the type where if they feel it, they buy it. So that's me. And I was in the field of functional medicine, hormone health for women. And one of my lovely friends said hey, I'm going to this NLP training. And I said cool, I'll go with you. I had no idea what I was getting into from the level of.

Dr. Christine Li [00:04:43]:
I didn't know it was an actual certification. I didn't know that there was a test, that there was a book, that there was all this pre work. I kind of just thought I was going to learn some things for a week and I probably would have said no if I had known. So thank goodness that I just go with my gut because once I got there I realized that the things I was learning could actually help the people in my health coaching business. It could help all the people that get stuck that plateau that no matter what they would eat or do, results wouldn't shift. That was the person that I was. So therefore I'm going for these tools for myself. I really was going for personal reasons and then was like, oh wow.

Dr. Christine Li [00:05:26]:
This can completely change somebody's results in health and their level of frustration because I'm watching them do all the things and nothing change.

Dr. Christine Li [00:05:36]:
What were you seeing before you knew about the neuro linguistic programming techniques? How are you seeing the problems and the issues? How are you approaching them? And then how are things different now that you know you have this quickening tool?

Dr. Christine Li [00:05:52]:
So at that point we're using functional lab work so we're looking at urine test and blood work to understand hormones and from a very holistic perspective, changing food, taking a supplement protocol, really working on minimizing stress movement, you know, like a very holistic way of looking at health. The thing is we would attract people who no one else could really help them. The people who had been to the five doctors saying something's not right, but maybe either their blood work said they were fine, or there just wasn't a solution. And so we're usually pretty tricky cases because if it's just so easy as like, here's some birth control and you're fine, then you're not going to find someone like us. And so what we were doing was overall lifestyle rehaul. And that would work for a lot of people. And then there's a 20 or 25% where really, no matter what they seem to do, their actual lab works, their numbers aren't shifting, they don't feel better. Autoimmunity is still, you know, raging, right? They're.

Dr. Christine Li [00:07:04]:
They're not physically changing. And it wouldn't make sense because I'm seeing what they're willing to do. I'm like, if I was willing to be that compliant, I'd feel amazing. So there was a mismatch. So it was the people where there was a mismatch. And this can happen really in any area. Like, not just health, but it could be business, it could be partnership, it could be you're really saying you want something and you're actively pursuing it. You're physically taking action, you're doing the tasks, and yet the results don't add up for maybe your best friend or your neighbor or your colleague who is willing to do that.

Dr. Christine Li [00:07:43]:
People who are those people know. They know. They're like, I am doing plenty. Doing, of course, is not the problem. So in that category, it was usually discovering some significant emotional event in their life. If not many or very strong beliefs or very strong, maybe secondary gain, meaning that they believed if they got better or they believed if they made more money, or they believed if they kind of took on these tasks that they would lose something. Like maybe I'd lose a partner or maybe my parents will no longer like me because they don't. They don't really like rich people, right? So whatever it was, there's some strong reason not to.

Dr. Christine Li [00:08:30]:
But these are hidden. These are hidden from us. Usually the good stuff is hidden from the person pretty well, which is why every coach needs a coach. Because I hide stuff from myself. I am a master at finding things with people really quickly, and yet I've hidden stuff from myself for years, right? So finding that. And then once we did that in the health coaching industry, seeing now people's numbers and things shift without having to do all the things right with or just keep doing what they're doing and stuff would change. So that was when I said, okay, this really is my passion because this allows somebody to get relief from anxiety or a shift in weight or a shift in the amount of money in their bank account without having to do necessarily a whole lot. Now, that doesn't count for someone who's not already doing anything.

Dr. Christine Li [00:09:30]:
Right. It's just not magic. Magic. But it is for most of the people we work with. They're willing to do the things. They're like, okay, they'll take action, and then now their action actually starts to create the results that they want.

Dr. Christine Li [00:09:46]:
Yes. Thank you for that beautiful explanation. An exciting story also in your personal life. And I can't help but be me and think about the topic area of clutter, if I may bring that in. Because as you were talking, I'm thinking, well, that is and was me in terms of working with physical clutter, that if you're not someone who struggles with the topic of clutter and having it, then it's going to be difficult for you to understand the person who feels like they're doing the legwork and yet never really feels the relief or the freedom from that pain of having the physical clutter. And so it's just such a perfect storm for me to help my clients with this situation, because I understand it, I understand the struggle, But I just wanted to bring that in as maybe a topic area that you could use as a demo for, you know, if a person's really stuck, they just can't get past the fact that they're at this level with the clutter and there's no advancement. No matter. You hire a coach, you get a bigger space, you stop buying things, and yet the problem still remains.

Dr. Christine Li [00:11:10]:
And I think that's what you love about working with people and working with NLP is that the problem then dissipates after you do this work.

Dr. Christine Li [00:11:18]:
And so I love that you're saying that, because imagine someone who doesn't have an issue with clutter, they're thinking, I'll come over and I'll go like this with my arm and sweep. Sweep that stuff into a trash can, right? What's the problem? And in nlp, we always say the problem is not the problem. So whatever someone comes to you, whatever the presenting problem air quote seems to be, it's representing a whole bunch of different things underneath. And the thing it's representing underneath can be and is completely different for two different people. Because for me, maybe keeping that clutter on my desk is. Is keeping me. It's just stopping me from really moving forward with the fact that I. I want to write the book.

Dr. Christine Li [00:12:11]:
And as long as I have this pile of to do list and things to do and I have this in my way, then every day I say, oh, I need to do that first. And then I know. So at an unconscious level, I am being protected by myself for doing the thing that has, you know, has a lot of unknowns or a lot of emotions or then I might be very visible or. Right. All these things that could happen. And clutter is just one of the ways because other people have very different habits. Right. So like other people's way of avoiding something big might be just going to the gym a lot.

Dr. Christine Li [00:12:52]:
Right. And you're thinking, oh, but clutter, clutter seemed way worse than over exercising because it looks a certain way. But really we all just have a very different way of keeping ourselves from potential pain. Yeah, but you physically can see it in this scenario.

Dr. Christine Li [00:13:12]:
Yeah. And what, what gets me is that, yes, we're keeping ourselves from potential pain, but then we're also tolerating the current pain and creating.

Dr. Christine Li [00:13:22]:
Creating daily pain.

Dr. Christine Li [00:13:24]:
Creating all sorts of pain.

Dr. Christine Li [00:13:25]:
Yes.

Dr. Christine Li [00:13:26]:
Avoidance pain. Yeah. Which. Which happens to be mind curio area of passion and love.

Dr. Christine Li [00:13:31]:
Yeah. Yes, the avoidance pain. And imagine if we grew up in a house that had a certain kind of pain and that becomes the standard and that just becomes the normal. Then this is going to, at some level be way more comfortable to stick around in a space like this. I mean, the more I work with people and the more I see a lot of people have success. Right. Building a coaching practice or taking the things we learn and adding to their business. It seems like the hardest thing is actually getting it going or doing, you know, doing something well.

Dr. Christine Li [00:14:06]:
But really there's so much that comes with actually then hitting success and things actually working. And there's such a new level there of unknown because especially if you were of the belief that things just never really worked out for you or things are always in chaos, then that can feel quite comfortable. It doesn't seem it and it doesn't look it, and you're saying it's not, but really underneath you're like, you know, I know this, this is familiar. And then you start to move into this area of success or this area of like, you know, now you have this clean slate. And that can be so scary. I remember saying for a really long time that, you know, when I have more time, like my kids were little, I'm driving them a lot. My husband was in the military. He would deploy.

Dr. Christine Li [00:14:58]:
Right. I didn't. The bandwidth. I didn't have a ton of time. I'm like, when I have more time, that's when I'm really going to grow my podcast, my platform, I'm going to write the book. And then my husband retired. He retired from the military. My business was doing well enough that he stays home.

Dr. Christine Li [00:15:13]:
And he's still home. Yeah. And I had so much time for Steam. Like, so much time. He did. He does. He still does it. It's four years later.

Megan Blacksmith [00:15:24]:
And guess what? I still didn't want to do those things, but I really had convinced myself, like, I actually believed it was time 100%. I would have probably fought you on that. No, no, no. I would do them. But then I had the time and I'm like, oh, those things are. Those things actually have a lot. They're a lot scarier than just keeping things the way they are. So we're always encouraging people to just, like, push a little bit outside the comfort, outside the growth zone, like, just a little bit more.

Dr. Christine Li [00:15:55]:
And then we realize, like, okay, we survived that it's not all that scary. And then actually start to lean into it. Because I know and you know that when the brain is actually changing, when we're rewiring into this, like, newer, different identity, it's not going to feel good. Because it felt good. We would be getting what we already had. Right. Pathways we've been running on autopilot, those are just super highway. And those super highways are easy to run.

Dr. Christine Li [00:16:24]:
Right. You do the same thing every day. You brush your teeth with the same hand and you walk in the same direction. So it's the new and a little bit different that's going to feel either confusion. Confusion's a common one people go to or overwhelm. Right. They're going to some kind of pushback. And then, you know, okay, I'm actually changing.

Dr. Christine Li [00:16:45]:
And as we lean into that as a really good sign, like an exciting sign, like, oh, I literally will say to my friend, she'll, you know, I. We're all coaching each other because we're all coaches. And she's asked me a question, and I'll say, gosh, I immediately went blank on the answer. Like, I'm kind of confused and forgetting what you even asked me. So we must be close to, like, something really good. We must be close to something I can't see, I haven't seen before, I haven't understood. And knowing that you can just keep. Just keep uncovering it in a way of, like, okay, I know there's something good on the other side of this.

Dr. Christine Li [00:17:22]:
I love this. And you know, you and I are both ensconced in all of this coaching work and mutual support work and personal development. But this conversation is making me reflect about how many people do not have maybe access connection to awareness of the fact that there are other developmental stages to go through, maybe some uncomfortable challenges to face, some unpacking of the earlier years in life. And we just do this all the time, like it's breakfast, lunch and dinner. But I guess what would you say to the person who does feel like they're of an age where they have some resources, they're frustrated enough with what they've tried and what they've read and experimented with, and they're curious for this next phase, but also a little nervous because. Because it is a brand new landscape where there is no guide necessarily at the same.

Dr. Christine Li [00:18:28]:
Well, it's great to be nervous. It's a healthy thing to be nervous because then you know, you're. You're taking it seriously or you know, you know there's some change coming. I feel that once people get that inkling or calling of there's something else here for me or there's another level open to me, then I say just rip off the band aid and go all in. Whether you're finding community, a coach, a training. Right. Something where you can go. I mean, we do in person trainings a couple times a year.

Dr. Christine Li [00:19:08]:
Just because that immersive effect, like you're there for six days, you're with a group of people that you are now bonded to for life. We have had one of our groups of people came in at the end of training or after training, and they'd all gotten bracelets, matching bracelets. And I was like, oh, that is so cute. It said the circle of possibility. And then they showed me the inside and they had actually engraved the location of the training house. I was like, oh, man. Right. So this bonding of we are in this together and people who are willing to push back on you in a loving way, like if you don't have people like that, then we can all be sitting around being like, yeah.

Dr. Christine Li [00:19:52]:
And then this horrible thing happened. It's so common, right? If people don't know what to talk about, we'll just recap their day of one bad thing after another. And I think having been in the world I'm in so long and my whole. Everyone around me is immersed in it. No one's okay with that anymore. I will get called out so quickly It'll say, oh, really? You know, let's talk about cause and effect. Let's talk about, you know, being a constant victim, not saying that things do happen. And we, we can state that.

Dr. Christine Li [00:20:23]:
And it's pretty immediate of, all right, why is this in my life today? What am I meant to learn from this? Like, clearly this is irritating me way more than the event itself. And anytime something is irritating me way more than the event itself, I know this is tied to an old event. Like, I know this is tied to something in the past. Because the fact that that person, right, like didn't put their mug in the dishwasher, if that's bothering me, that's not about a mug, right? So really quickly I'm asking myself, what is this actual? What is this about? What needs not being met? What do I have a belief about people who don't consider the space or whatever it is? And then in real time can be saying, okay, what can I do to be a person to change that? What can I do? Because I'm not going to control other people, but what can I do? Is it how I react? Is it, am I doing this somewhere else with someone else? Like, am I being that same person but to someone else in a different way? Where am I not putting my metaphorical mug away and really just starting to? Every single thing that happens becomes details into my own brain and into what is left there to clear out. Because I've been in a place a long time ago where I had panic attacks. I had three clients come to me this week in full on panic attacks. And I felt, ugh, I so felt for them because I remember just the horror of feeling that and just feeling like you don't really have control of your body and how horrible it is. And, you know, after a 60 minute session, they all said they felt immediate relief, knew exactly where it's coming from, and doesn't mean they're not going to have to still work on and, you know, dig into this.

Dr. Christine Li [00:22:21]:
It doesn't mean it's just automatically gone. But I'm like, I wish I had had that kind of awareness and tool back then. Because back then all I had was, something's wrong with me. And I went to the doctor and that was when the doctor said, there's nothing wrong with you, your blood works fine. And then I said, okay, well, goodbye. I don't know, it just, it made me feel like there's nothing to do. It made me feel like I was starting to gaslight myself of, is this even a real symptom? I mean, they're saying my blood work is fine. And so now I know what I would have done.

Dr. Christine Li [00:22:59]:
I would have done things so differently. And I don't think I would have dealt with that for the years that I did, because I've seen people come out of that thing really, those kind of things really, really quickly when they're realizing that this is just feedback from their brain and their body that something is not right. And it's not them that's not right, but there's something. And maybe it's a, it's time to have some real boundaries. Maybe it's that it's time to. I'm not sure what it is about changing, but there is something. There's a big sign, blaring sign. And my goal is that people will at least start to say when they have a problem, okay, there's people out there who can help with this kind of thing.

Dr. Christine Li [00:23:44]:
Like, it's not, there's not one answer. I forget because, you know, you and I being in this world, like, I, I have about 20 coaches I could reach out to. I, I, I know, right? For every topic in my life, you know, pet problem, I know a person for that, right? Like, sex problem, I know a person for that, right? So in my world, that's just, that's, that's just normal. And some woman said to me, she said, I, I didn't even know what you do existed. And I've been looking for help for three years. She would freeze when someone would, when she would need to speak in front of a group, just totally freeze. And it, her job was relying on it. And so long, long, long answer to your question.

Dr. Christine Li [00:24:25]:
But I really do want people to know there are lots of resources and when you're ready, you find them and they find you.

Dr. Christine Li [00:24:33]:
Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. That's a great ending to that answer. Through all the coaching that Megan and I have access to and have been through, and do I think what I've learned, which is what Megan's been saying, is that your body and brain are giving you feedback, but you don't have to be alarmed by it. So a panic attack is basically a giant alarm system going off. But the purpose is to support you. And when you understand that anything that can happen within you is your brain and body trying to collaborate with you for your highest aims, you can get rid of things like being blocked, feeling shame, feeling like you need to go to the er, all these things that we make of these physiological events like panic attacks.

Dr. Christine Li [00:25:24]:
And it's just, I mean, I'm formally trained as a psychologist and my very first clinical experience inside a hospital was to be kind of observer trainee inside a panic disorder group. And everything I learned from that group, and it was a very well run group, is very different than how I understand anxiety and symptoms today. But that's just because of years of feedback and information and growth and seeing people and reading and accidental exposure to things.

Megan Blacksmith [00:26:00]:
Right.

Dr. Christine Li [00:26:02]:
So I guess I'm just going to back up Megan and say go get that opportunity and be a little afraid if you need to. It would be, I would say it might be strange if you weren't a little bit skeptical or taking your time with it. But that frustration in you is giving you feedback about the fact that there's more for you in your life, for your development, for your healing of old stuff and yes, you know, a new path for you going forward at any moment. So I'm here to back Megan up in all of this.

Megan Blacksmith [00:26:37]:
We are in agreement. It's just good to know that there's a lot of ways to get to the same thing. Because I personally don't believe like I use NLP and hypnosis and there's lots of other subconscious reprogramming tools. So I try all of them, try any of them, learn something, do something different than you've been doing and know that you can have the tools to empower yourself. Will ripple completely. I mean it's completely changed how I attract my husband. My children say all sorts of stuff that I know most children don't say. Which becomes really clear when some of the neighbors come over and I'm speaking, speaking in a certain way and you could see the look on their face like, huh, I think she just told us we can't do it.

Megan Blacksmith [00:27:29]:
But it was in such a positive way, right? So the language and how we communicate with others, but how we communicate about ourselves, that's one thing I come back to over and over. So speaking what we want into existence. But one of the biggest areas I see is like self deprecating humor. I'm turning everything into oh, I just did that wrong or oh, I'm just not good at blank, or can really start to program ourselves so strongly even when it's a joke, that then, you know, then the people around us are saying it and now it's just like, oh, she's just the messy one, she's just the unorganized one. She's just the one who will, you know, never be successful, whatever it is. And then we live into that even more and it Goes round and round and round to the point where I know someone. I had a friend who jokingly would talk about how her brain was working, how her brain was not working, really over and over and over. And I'm not saying that.

Megan Blacksmith [00:28:37]:
That this caused this, but she did. She ended up. She passed away. She died of a very specific brain thing. And I just could never really separate. I said, oh, my gosh. For years she's been saying, like, this is what it is. And maybe she knew intuitively, or maybe she was feeding into it, but it was so powerful.

Megan Blacksmith [00:28:56]:
It's so powerful what we say. And just really, really watching whatever becomes our identity of, like, you know, I am messy, I am unorganized, I am whatever. I procrastinate is so ingrained. And then what we actually do and how people treat us. Whereas if you go into a new group of people and they don't know you, you have this chance to just be and do whatever, right? And I always think about that when I'm going into a new group of people. I'm like, they don't know the history, right? I might think, oh, no, I messed up a year ago, or business was down, or I am often not blank. They don't know that. And so it's so fascinating.

Megan Blacksmith [00:29:42]:
You go into it as however you want to be, and that's how everyone knows you. And then they're enforcing that. So I'm like, get around people who are willing to just step into that future self and mirror it back to you. Actually, Christine, I did a really cool thing. I do local meetups here. I'm here in Virginia beach and I do local monthly meetups. In December, we did a party. I hosted a party, and it was a future self party.

Megan Blacksmith [00:30:08]:
So everybody came as their future self, and they were only to speak as that version of them that had already the success, the life that they wanted all night. And to the point where one of my amazing friends showed up and she plans on moving to Nicaragua. And she showed up in. She had a towel over her shoulder and she had her little putter with her. And so she's like, living, you know, this feature. And it was really, really cool how quickly you saw people drop into that, because that was the assignment. So it's not weird. You know, someone showed up with their mock book cover, and they were like, yeah, it's already published.

Megan Blacksmith [00:30:47]:
It's already out. And it was so cool to watch, like, the. The looks on everybody's faces, the excitement of, you know, living as if it already happened. And I know For a fact, these things will happen for them. They dropped into it, hopefully. So just the power of watching what. What we say about ourselves and what we say about our future and what we say is possible, even though often it's protective to be like, oh, I'll never be a person who has that. Really have people around you who are willing to call you out on that.

Dr. Christine Li [00:31:23]:
And push you forward. Lovingly speaking of pushing you forward, we were talking about the power of visualization and using visualization to bring your results, the results that you want to see in your life more quickly. And that just piqued my interest. And I was wondering if you could take us through that concept and maybe an exercise of super visualizing.

Megan Blacksmith [00:31:53]:
Yes. Okay. I love this and I'm probably depending on when this episode comes out. I am going to do a workshop soon, so check out Becoming Zesty for when I do that. I want to just share some high level tips though, because I realized that there was something I accidentally did in visualization that was very successful in me ending up with a lake house. So later I was learning why that was so successful, you know, why from a brain perspective that was so successful. And I was blown away because it was something I saw myself having and doing, but it wasn't a real plan. It wasn't like in real regular life, I was setting aside a certain amount of money or looking for properties.

Megan Blacksmith [00:32:41]:
It was just this visualization that I would see in a very specific way. And after one year of doing that, this property fell into our lap. And the way everything happened, this was not a coincidence. There were too many things for me to write them off. I'm like, wow, okay, this actually, this actually worked. So for anybody who has a goal, it can be a goal of any kind that you want to go towards. I just want to share some really, really cool, nuanced tips to visualization. Many people at this point, maybe I'm wrong, but I'm assuming at this point, many people have heard that most athletes visualize.

Megan Blacksmith [00:33:23]:
They sit before the game, they close their eyes or open eyes, but they will see themselves winning. They will see themselves doing the motion exactly the way they need to. They've done studies on this where people will visualize certain things. I think there was one with like playing piano, but they would play it in their mind only, not use their fingers. And then they're measuring the strength of the fingers and then they're playing the piano. And it was. Their change was as if they'd physically done it, you know, super cool. So hopefully everyone at this point is bought into this concept that you can see what you would like to happen, and it is more likely to happen.

Megan Blacksmith [00:34:06]:
So with that, what I suggest is picking whatever you're picking. You want to pick something very specific, something specific that you would like to happen. And now before you just kind of close your eyes and think of it, I'd like you to think a little bit more about how are you going to know. How specifically are you going to know that you have the thing? Like, how will you know you have that goal? Because, for example, some people will say, I really want to go on a trip with my family. Great. How do you know when you have that trip? Because for some people, they'll say, well, as soon as I book the tickets, right? So they'll. They can close their eyes. They can see themselves booking the tickets because that means they have the money to go.

Megan Blacksmith [00:34:48]:
That means they're committing. Other people are like, oh, no, no. When I'm on the airplane, that's when I'm going. And other people are like, oh, no, no. When I'm on that beach sitting with my feet, then I know I'm really there. So each person has a different way of knowing that that thing is successful. So you want to hone in on what specifically is happening when that thing is successful. Now, I'd say most people talk about that in visualization.

Megan Blacksmith [00:35:15]:
That's pretty basic. But where we get a little bit more advanced and nuanced is now what you do with this future memory. So if you think about something that happened in the past, and actually, maybe every. Let's have everybody just do this. Let's think about something that you did today, like something you actually did. Maybe it's like I had oatmeal for breakfast. I'm not sure what it is, but something you did. And when you close your eyes and you think of that thing, it's going to look a certain way in your mind.

Megan Blacksmith [00:35:46]:
So maybe it's really bright. Maybe it's a movie. Maybe it's like a framed picture. Maybe it's panoramic. Maybe it's still. I don't know. There's going to be a certain coloring, a certain style of the thing that actually happened. Most likely, when it actually happened, you will be looking through your own eyes.

Megan Blacksmith [00:36:07]:
There will be emotion and there will be. It'll be bright and colorful. Now, if you think of something you didn't do today, so maybe now if you didn't have eggs, now you think of yourself having eggs today. So now you're thinking Of a memory, air quote. Of something you didn't do. And everyone who wants to do that, who's not driving you could think of something you didn't do, close your eyes and see how is it different? After, people will say, the thing I didn't do will be more of like a still image. Maybe it will have a frame around it. Maybe it will be black and white.

Megan Blacksmith [00:36:43]:
It won't be. And often they can see their body in the picture, so they're not looking through their own eyes. So it's dissociated. And so there's going to be. And it's different for everybody. These are just possibilities. It's going to be different. But you'll notice there's something different between the thing you did do and the thing you didn't do.

Megan Blacksmith [00:37:02]:
Because, I mean, that's. Our brain needs to know, did I do that thing or was I fantasizing? Right? Was I daydreaming or did I actually do that thing? So it knows because it stores it differently. So now the trick, Christine, is we're going to take however we did the thing that we actually did, right? So however that looked for us, if it was through our eyes, if it was bright, if it was a movie like we were in it. And we're going to take that out to this future memory of the thing we want. We want to make sure we're creating all the aspects of it. Like, are we making it very bright? Usually when it's an actual memory, you can look around, you can turn your head left and right and you can see, oh, yeah, the cat was over there next to the sink. So then we can start to go out into the future and practice looking around and practice seeing it in the same way we saw it in the future. And so now this is telling our brain and telling us this thing, this thing has happened.

Megan Blacksmith [00:38:01]:
And now that we know it's happened, we know it's possible we can call it in to our actual reality, call it into the present. And usually when we feel like it's happened, we can tap into the emotion of it really strongly. Now that emotion of it is going to also be what's calling it into our reality. And that's when we happen to stumble upon the property or we happen to have the exact amount of dollars in our 401k that we need. That's when these little synchronicities just line up over and over and over that you no longer can count as random. So I was doing that in my visualization without realizing I was walking out onto a very specific view. A view out over the lake. Now, I couldn't see the house because I didn't know what the house was or how it existed, But I could see the house over my dad's house because that's where I wanted to be in New Hampshire.

Megan Blacksmith [00:39:00]:
And I could see the lake. I would walk out onto the deck, and it would be very bright and vivid. I'd be looking through my own eyes. And then there was another part where I would walk down to the water and get on my paddle board. And I wanted to create in this image that it is safe for money to flow to me while I'm having fun versus, like, it has to be painful. You have to work hard. So as I'm on my paddle board having a great time, I would see a little da, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding on my phone. Notifications of money.

Megan Blacksmith [00:39:30]:
So there were multiple steps to the visualization. And I thought of it before I closed my eyes. Right. I created the image. Like, I thought through, okay, first I'll see this, and then I'll see this, and then I'll see that. So it wasn't. I didn't just wait for it to come to me because some people have said that to me. Like, oh, I thought when I visualized, it just had to, like, happen.

Megan Blacksmith [00:39:50]:
I said, well, it can some people get an image of what it'll be like or. And you can create it. So know, you can sit with your eyes open and think about it. What do I want it to look like? Or what would represent that feeling. And so the second part of, like, the advanced visualization that I was doing without really knowing why is that I had multiple parts to the vision. And so again, if you think about something that actually happened in the past, there was something that happened right before it. Right. Right before I made the oatmeal, I went into the shower.

Megan Blacksmith [00:40:24]:
So there was something before and there was something after, which is also makes it much more real, because I don't know about you. But before I'd really learned this, if I was thinking of something I wanted in the future, I would kind of create a snapshot of, like, there it is. There's the house. Yeah. And so now it was no longer a snapshot. It had a before and after. So hopefully this is getting the ideas turning for people of the thing, Especially if you're the type of person who already is creating a vision board or thinking about what you want. Now we can turn up the fire a little bit on it by checking in what does it look like.

Megan Blacksmith [00:41:03]:
How do you make it really vivid for you? Like it already happened. And then does it have before, during and after? And if it does and you know, I hope that your lake house or whatever it is comes to you because with time and that feeling it every day I've had people have all sorts of fun things come into their life. And the first part of it though is that many people will say I don't even really know what I want. And that's usually what's stopping us. The first place is that I don't even know what to place in my future. So step number one is really thinking about what that is. And step number two is to like follow through with all the advanced visualization and watch it come to you.

Dr. Christine Li [00:41:47]:
I love it.

Dr. Christine Li [00:41:48]:
Thank you again.

Dr. Christine Li [00:41:49]:
And I love the detail. I love the movie version of your vision. I love that it came true. And what I was thinking in the middle there was that you have to let go of the part of you that feels that it's impossible for you.

Megan Blacksmith [00:42:06]:
Oh yeah.

Dr. Christine Li [00:42:08]:
And then you have to really enjoy and live into the fact that there are multiple possibilities for you to get whatever vision you've chosen for yourself. That it's not. It's anything but impossible. And it can be hard to feel that. It could be hard to think that. But that's where my brain went when you were describing the trajectory is that there are people who get stuck because they can't believe that. Right. That they can't make the leap of this is believable for me.

Megan Blacksmith [00:42:40]:
Well, I actually think that's exactly why I got this like so fast is that I wasn't. It was almost more a game and it was almost more for fun to be perfectly honest. I thought maybe like a 10 year goal that we would get a property like this. So I was like, well I feel so good. I'm going to visualize it. Like I didn't see anything wrong with doing it. I really didn't have any plans in real reality to have it. So I don't think that there wasn't much attachment to it.

Megan Blacksmith [00:43:12]:
Whereas there's other things like sometimes business goals or sometimes very specific things that actually make or break whether I pay for my kids tuition where with I can be gripping it tightly and it has to look a certain way and then surprise, surprise, those things don't flow in like magic like this did. So yes, in a way it can be fun to play with something that you don't even really necessarily care when it happens or how it happens and watch and see if that comes to you a lot faster.

Dr. Christine Li [00:43:48]:
I love it. I love it. I love it all. I love seeing pictures on Instagram of you at the house and at the future self party. Really follow Megan because she's really a trailblazer and a creative and an ingenious woman, and her Instagram is becoming zesty. Is that correct?

Megan Blacksmith [00:44:09]:
Yep, becoming zesty.

Dr. Christine Li [00:44:11]:
Okay, terrific. So follow Megan for sure at becoming zesty Z, E, S, T, Y and send her a comment and let her know. What were you inspired to think about? Let go of fix in your house, imagine on your vision board, or dress up as at your next party. Just right away and connect with Megan. And thank you so much, Megan, for sharing this time with us. It was terrific, as I had imagined.

Megan Blacksmith [00:44:43]:
Thank you for having me.

Dr. Christine Li [00:44:44]:
Are there any last words that you would like to share with our audience?

Megan Blacksmith [00:44:50]:
I would just say that I've seen people go from very, very doubtful in a very overwhelmed place or, like I said, you know, panic attack, to a couple months later of doing these kind of processes all fired up and starting their own business or completely revamping a relationship with someone. So I just want to remind people that change can be so fast. It's just the deciding to change and the deciding to reach out for help, the deciding to go to the thing or hire the person. I think what stops a lot of us is that we're thinking it's going to be really, really painful and really, really long.

Dr. Christine Li [00:45:33]:
Yeah, let's not do that.

Megan Blacksmith [00:45:34]:
Let's not do that. Let's not do that. Yeah, so let's go with the idea that it's not for a lot of people as soon as they're ready. So if you feel that readiness and I just say, take that next step. Do that next thing, reach out to me. If you're looking for a coach or if you're looking to become certified as a coach, I'd love to help you.

Dr. Christine Li [00:45:52]:
Okay, terrific. Let's go. Let's go. Nlp. All right, everyone, let's again, connect with Megan and subscribe to the show, of course. Make time for success. And Megan, can you mention your podcast as well so that people can listen to you as well?

Megan Blacksmith [00:46:10]:
Yeah. So our podcast is becoming zesty, and there's many, many seasons. I think 25 now. And I have a personal series shoot. I think it's season 15. It might be 14, but it is Megan's personal series. People have said it's Netflix bingeable, where I really go through, like, my struggles with how I found just how I found all the different things for transformation, development and what brought me to where I am now. That gives people a lot of hope and a lot of ideas and a lot of things to implement.

Megan Blacksmith [00:46:44]:
So I would say I'm a good storyteller. So if you're looking for some good stories and hearing along the way, possibility and change, then I go check that out.

Dr. Christine Li [00:46:54]:
All right, Terrific. Lots to be inspired by. Thank you again and my dear audience. I will see you next Thursday when the next episode drops. Take care. Be well. Bye.

Dr. Christine Li [00:47:05]:
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Make Time for Success podcast. If you enjoyed what you've heard, you can subscribe to make sure you get notified of upcoming episodes. You can also Visit our website maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com for past episodes, show notes, and all the resources we mention on the show. Feel free to connect with me over on Instagram too. You can find me there under the name Procrastination Coach. Send me a DM and let me know what your thoughts are about the episodes you've been listening to. And let me know any topics that you might like me to talk about on the show. I'd love to hear all about how you're making Time for Success.

Dr. Christine Li [00:47:46]:
Talk to you soon.