Diamond Minds

Diamond Minds By Barry Farber Keeping Focused Through Foresight & Faith efore you can take any effective action, you must have a clear idea of where you want to go—and believe that you are going to get there. When visualizing yourself in a successful situation, a positive picture is created in your mind. If that picture is vivid enough, any obstacles can be overcome. It is this, a combination of foresight and faith, that can create miracles. It is what keeps people going when things begin to crumble. What we see of a person is like the tip of an iceberg—their real strength and support, their vision and their belief, lie beneath the surface. B Creating the Vision How do we create a vision? A vision is created out of imagination. But it needs fuel to sustain itself. Left alone, it is likely to disappear, or become so vague that we barely remember what it was originally. The old adage "use it or lose it" definitely applies here. To sustain itself, a vision, once developed, needs to be nurtured and supported. Athletes and artists use visualization all the time. When Ed Hearn, former backup catcher for the 1986 World Champion NY Mets, played ball, he spent time visualizing the opposing pitcher and replaying the types of pitches this man would throw. And many Olympic athletes describe how they mentally run every race or dive long before they hit the track or the pool. Michelangelo studied his stone and long before he began to sculpt, he saw what was hiding beneath the surface. When sculpting his famous David, he said that he looked at the stone and then cut away everything that wasn't David. His vision was that clear. Similarly, the artist Matisse was once photographed in slow motion. The film showed that before every brush stroke, Matisse studied the canvas, and then as his hand approached the easel, he would practice the actual brush stroke in midair and visualize what it would be before putting it on the canvas. Finally, the brush would touch the canvas and paint the vision in Matisse's mind. This visualization instinct was so innate that Matisse himself was not even aware that he did it until he saw the film. Keeping the Faith What is faith anyway? In its simplest form, faith is complete confidence or trust in a person or thing. When we believe in something strongly enough, our minds are directed to an action or goal with tremendous physical and mental Barry Farber support. Many obstacles may come our way, but we don't let them stop us from reaching our goals. Buddy Lazier, the 1996 Indy 500 winner, told me that one year before that victory, he had crashed into a wall during a race in Phoenix, breaking his back in 16 places. That could have ended his dreams. But he had so much faith and commitment to his goals, that two months later, Lazier was back in the driver's seat at the Indy 500. He had a specially designed seat that kept his back and head steady in the turns. For Buddy Lazier, racing in the Indy was a test of his faith. "After I crashed and hit the wall, it was very difficult to get that level of confidence back up," he admitted. But it had always been his biggest dream to win the Indy 500, and he knew that he had his best shot in 1996. "When you're focused on something like that," he told me, "you don't let anything get in your way." Adversity cannot get the better of us when faith is there to hold us up and keep us strong— and our vision stays intact. s Barry Farber consults with businesses to help them break through sales clutter and land more deals. He specializes in developing simple yet creative strategies that get results. He is the best-selling author of 11 books, a black-belt weapons expert, and a regular on QVC marketing innovative products. His latest release is a 6-CD program, Diamond in the Rough (Nightingale Conant Corporation). Contact him at 973-535-9400 or barry@barryfarber.com. 2 SUBURBAN ESSEX / VICINITY Layout Comp February 2010 SuburbanEssex.com 85

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