IMAGINATION: Your Secret Tool For Resilience

What if I told you that the biggest obstacle standing between you and the life you want isn't your circumstances, your education, or even your bank account. It's the picture you've drawn of yourself in your mind.

Hey, you, No, hey, we find one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A few weeks ago, I, I was sitting with myself and I, I thought, OK, I needed to get a community. OK, I really have a community, but I need to define this community. I know always I'll come on the podcast and say I'm here to transform your identity by refining your mentality, right? And then that would be fine came to my mind. So it's it's stuck out and I decided to call this our community, the refined Gen. That's the refined generation, right? And for each and everyone of us, we are the refined 1, you are the refined one, I'm the refined 1.

And collectively, we are the refined gents. So let's do it again. Hey, refined one. This is the morning gear with Danny and I'm done. Your Gen. Z educator here to transform your identity or by refining your mentality. And I'm seeing a big welcome to our new and returning listeners, right? If you're just joining us for the first time, we talk about a lot of new stuff and the kind of things actually move the needle in your life. We are not about just motivation. We are about actual, We are about refinement.

We want to see you. We want to see you get refined throughout the right mindset. I will talk about honest conversations about becoming the person you are meant to be. And today we're driving into something that honestly changed my entire perspective on life and not being dramatic. I mean it. We're talking about what imagination till we talk about imagination. Your imagination. But not the kind of imagination you know, like the daydreaming about being rich or famous. They still count. I'm talking about the kind of imagination that literally rewires how you show up in the world.

Look, most of us are walking around with an outdated version of ourselves playing on repeat in our heads. And that version? It's holding us hostage. So here's what you're going to get from this episode. You're going to learn why the image you have of yourself is literally running your life behind the scenes, making decisions for you, limiting what you try, limiting what you don't try, and keeping you stalking patterns that you don't even realize you're in.

You are going to understand how your brain doesn't actually know the difference between something you vividly imagine and something that actually happened. Yeah, in his hands were table. Yeah, stick with me. And most importantly, you're going to walk away with the tool, a real practical tool that you can use today and start rewriting the story you have been telling yourself. So whether you're trying to get out of a toxic circle, let me open your career or fix your confidence or just stop feeling stuck, this episode is definitely for you.

Let's get into it, OK? But real quick, before we jump in, can we talk about how exhausting it is to be a young person right now? Like no seriously, we are out here trying to build careers in the in in an economy that's just let's say challenging. We are supposed to have it all figured out by 25, look good doing it, posting about it on Instagram and even have a side. Also go to therapy, drink water, have a money routine, have a gym, go to gym, all those stuff. We we have a lot of expectation. We are supposed to meet.

It's a lot. I know when I what I realized is that a lot of people, including myself, we have internalized this idea that we are just not enough, not so much enough, not talented enough, not connected enough. And we carry that around like a backpack full of bricks. So it's very heavy on us. I remember a lot of I've seen a lot of persons who like watching your friends go for internship, land opportunities and they just feel stuck. Cable reached out OK. I feel I feel stuck in this aspect. And I noticed that is mostly not because they were not capable, but because they had convinced themselves that they were not the kind of persons that do such things.

And they and they saw yourself as someone who struggles for such things and the person who always stayed behind. And because of that mental picturing that mental image, it became a self fulfilling prophecy. So yeah, if you've ever felt like you're fighting against your own self, like there's this invisible force keeping you small, right? I get it. And that's exactly what we are. We are going to talk about today.

So I'm ranting, my rant is over. Let's get into the main topic of the day. Let me start with a question.

What is yourself image? No, really think about it for a second. How do you picture yourself?

When you think about who you are, what words come up?

What do you call yourself? Are you the shy one? The funny friend? The one who is bad with money don't always messes up relationships? The one who cannot pass maths? The one who English is not for? The one who cannot write? The one who cannot just have a normal conversation? The one who is a bad communicator? How do you see yourself?

Because the thing that most people don't realize is that self-image is the key to human personality and human behavior. I'll come again. self-image is the key to human personality and human behavior. So that image of yourself is literally the determining factor of your personality and your behavior. So if you change this self-image, you can automatically or you have automatically changed the personality and the behavior of that person, right? If I have a self-image that, OK, I'm someone who is a bad communicator, right?

That's myself. That's how I see myself. That's my own self. Like I say, self-image, self, not another person, yourself image, That's how you see yourself. That will automatically affect my character, my behavior. But if I change that self-image, that view of myself, that perspective I have of myself too, OK, I'm an excellent conversationalist, like I'm a good communicator. It automatically reflects on my personality and my behavior. And that is why self-image is the key to human personality and human behavior.

Yourself image does that. That meant a picture areas of yourself. It sets the boundaries for what you think you can achieve in life and defines what you believe you can do and what you cannot do. Expand yourself image and you expand the area of your possibilities, but at the same time shrink yourself image and you will increase the area of your limitations.

Let me give you an example that will make this crystal clear. Let's say you want to get it right. I join the gym. I got pumped up. You buy the gear, maybe even a new prep for the first week. But deep down you see yourself as someone who isn't athletic. You see, I'm not the gym type. I'm not. I'm not the gym body type. Yet you've told yourself that story since secondary school PE class.

You have been telling yourself that and suddenly you start going to gym, right? So what happens? You go to gym for a few times, but it feels awkward. You don't even know what you're doing. You feel like everyone is watching. And eventually we stop. We stop going not because you cannot get fit or because the person you see yourself as does not go to the gym. That version of you is not the gym type. And yes, we get interesting. Imagine you started seeing yourself differently. Not as someone not not as someone trying to get fit, but as someone who values their health.

That's it. Just a shift in the identity. Suddenly the actions change. You're not forcing yourself to go to the gym. You're not. You're just dream what people who value their help to do. You start moving more, you start making better food choices, not because you have to, but because that's who you are. Now see the difference? Well, let me give you another example. A lot of young people in Nigeria, honestly everywhere going up, we hear things like money does not go in threes be are not rich. You have to walk yourself up to the bone to make it.

And those messages, they get internalized, they become part of yourself image you starting yourself as someone who will always struggle financially, who always struggle to make money, someone who isn't good with money. So even when an opportunity come, a freelance gig, a business idea, a chance to invest, you do not take them. Or maybe you self sabotage, not because you're inculpable, but because it doesn't match the picture in your head. And believe me, you always have a picture. There is always a picture, there is always a picture.

But when you change that picture, you start seeing yourself as someone who is resourceful, someone who can build wealth, someone who can make smart financial decisions. Even if you were starting from zero, everything would shifts. You start noticing, noticing opportunities. You start taking action. You start making different choices. The thing is that you act and feel not according to what things are really like, but according to the image of your mind holds of what they are like. Let me come again.

You act and feel not according to what things are really like, but according to the image your mind holds of what they are like. I hope you understand and there's a science behind it. Let me break it down. Your nervous system cannot tell the difference between an imagined experience and a view experience.

In either cases, it reacts automatically to the information you give it from your conscious mind. Your nervous system reacts appropriately to what you think or vividly imagined. The keyword is vividly, vividly imagined to be true. This is why athletes visualize their performance before a game. This is why surgeons mentally rehearse complex procedures. This is why public speakers run through their speech in their minds. Like me. Before I came here to do this recording, I had mutually rehearse in my mind differently, different hours of the day.

Rather. Yesterday, the day before, the day after I have done this rehab we did. I've recorded this thing in my mind already, right? Because when you vividly imagine something, when you see it, when you feel, when you experience it, when you leave it in your mind, your brain starts treating it like it's real. It starts building the neural pathways and it start preparing your body to act in alignment with that image. And believe me, your, your, your nervous system does not know whether it's an image or not 'cause it does not differentiate between a real event and an imagined event.

But The thing is that you need to vividly imagine it. You need to feel it right. So if you constantly imagine that your, your, your feeling you're messing up, you're being rejected, guess what your nervous system is preparing for you.

Exactly. There are two type of imaginations, the the creative imagination and the destructive imagination. Now, when we talk about imagination or creative imagination, a lot of people just think it's for the artist, for the writers, the inventors, the broadcasters. But it's me that is a myth. Creating imagination is not something reserved for the poets, for the philosophers, for the inventors. It enters into our every act. Imagination sets the goal picture that our automatic mechanism works on. We act or fail to act, not because of will, as is so commonly believed, but because of imagination.

Think about it. Willpower is limited. You can force yourself to do something for a while, but eventually willpower runs out. You get tired, you slip back into old patterns. But imagination? Imagination runs in the background. It's the operating system. It's what your brain uses to decide what's normal for you, what's possible for you, what's you. So if you're trying to change your life through the sheer willpower, you're going to burn out. When you change that image first, the action follows naturally.

So now you're probably probably wondering, OK, I could I get this so on and so forth. But how? How do I actually do this? How do I actually change myself image? Great question. Let me give you a simple practical process you can start using today. Step one, identify the current image. Hmm, if you don't know the image, what are you change? Identify your current image. First you need to get honest about the picture you're currently having of yourself or you currently have of yourself. Grab your phone, open your notes or get a book.

Get a pen and just try if if I prefer writing, typing is is not natural. I've been writing, so grab a book and a pen and just write. Ask yourself what do you believe about yourself, not what there have been other people believe, what you believe about yourself. How do you describe yourself to others? What do you think but not good at? What opportunities have you avoided or do you avoid because you know they are not for you, right? We know they are not for you. close answer the question, what do I believe about myself?

You're a lot of persons If you've chatted me, if you've had a conversation with me older, younger, if it comes to marital vaccine in my age, I'll tell you that. OK, chronologically I am Susan to age or mentally mentally. I am an adult. I come in fourties, fifties, right? That's what I'll tell you, 'cause that's what I embodied. I embodied that selfie. That's how I see myself. I don't see myself as a young person. Nah, Nah. And I do not act as a young person. Yeah, 'cause when I've established a self-image, you just leave it.

You don't struggle to leave it out. You don't what most of my teenagers or people who are still young adults would do.

I would not do it. I would never dare. I'll see stupidity in it. And I show maturity in the way I dress should, maturity in the way I speak. I show maturity in the way I act because that's how I see myself.

And I would describe you myself to you as somebody who is not

priest, not young. I'm wise, really wise. My name was priest. And by the way, so I'm really wise, right? So that's how I see myself. That's my mental picture. That is myself image, right? You need to understand what yourself image is. That's the first step. So I needed to get a book and answer the questions. Like I said, what do you believe about believe about yourself? How do you describe yourself to others or do you think you're not good at? What opportunities do you avoid because you know they're not for you?

Just get it all out. It's not about joining yourself, it's just about getting self-awareness. Step 2. Design the new image. Now here's where he This is where it gets fun. You get to design who you want to become. Not in a fake manifestation vibes only only way rather, but in a real intentional way.

Ask yourself, if I was living the life I actually want, who would I need to be? How would I carry myself? What would I believe about myself? How would I make decisions? Write it down. Be specific. Don't you say confident. Describe what confidence looks like for you. How do you walk? How do you speak? How do you handle rejection? How do you handle criticism? How do you handle relationship breakups?

Paint the picture in detail. I for a person my aura like ID attain my aura. Do I carry myself? You you call me proud. You call me proud, but then myself image does not allow me to do a lot of as I say yourself is going to limit you and also increase limit the area of your increase the area of your limitations and increase the area of your possibilities, right. So there are things I can do, but there are little things I cannot do. There are some things that people my age should do that I cannot do because that's myself image that's there's a way I picture myself.

So you need to sincerely take your time at what answer this question. Step three, we has it daily. This is the part that most people skip and it is the most important step every single day. I did. In the morning or before bed, spend 5 to 10 minutes vividly imagining yourself as this new version. After you've drafted the new version, take 5 to 10 minutes to vividly imagine yourself as this new version. Not trying to be them. You're not trying to be them. You're not hoping to be them. You are being them in your imagination.

Close your eyes, see yourself moving through your day as this person act the way the person will act. Feel what it feels like in your body. Hear how you would speak. Notice how you respond to challenges, Notice how you now dress. All this should be your imagination. Do it constantly and I promise you soon, if you can do this constantly for about 30 days, your brain would start believing it. And once your brain believes it, it is finished. You actually will follow automatic response, right? That's it.

Four, act as if, right? Act as if you want to be rich. That's yourself. You want to successful, act as somebody. Would that be successful gain the mentality of somebody that's success, the mentality of the successive person? You need to like habit. You need to act that rule. Exactly. Act that rule. Play that rule. Yeah, that's the word.

You need to start acting in alignment with this new image, even if it feels awkward at first. If this you, if this new you is someone who takes care of their health, then make one small choice today that aligns with that. Go for a walk, drink more water, and so on and so forth. Does not have to be huge, it's just you just have to be intentional about it. If the new year is someone who is good with money, then do one thing that makes you that person. Track your spending, save money, learn about investing.

Just act the way that person would act. Small actions repeated consistently reinforced the new image and over time it becomes who you are. Let me give you one more example because I think this one hits home for a lot of us. Let's say you've been through tough relationship, few tough relationships. Maybe you got cheated on, you got ghosted or just felt like you're never enough. And now, without even realizing it, you see yourself as the one who gets caught, or the one who only speaks to wrong person.

So what happens? You need someone new. And even if they're great, even if they're good, you're waiting for the next shoe to drop. You're looking for red flags. You're looking for signs that they might not be good. You're guarded. You might even push them away before they can even hurt you,

not because they had a problem, but because yourself. Image says this is what always happens to me. I remember confirmation biases I had talked about in my previous episode. One of my previous episode. Confirmation bias would actively look for proof, evidence to validate your bias. And this is a negative conventional bias, right? But then if you imagined that you changed that image, imagine if you started seeing yourself as someone who is worthy of love, someone who attracts healthy relationships, someone who knows their worth, someone who knows their value.

You'd show up differently, you'd set boundaries, you'd communicate better, you'd choose differently. It will all align with the self-image because the image has changed. And when the image changes, everything else follows. Look, I'm not saying this is magic. I'm not saying this is magic. I'm not saying you can just close your eyes and imagine yourself into a new life without doing any work. What I'm telling you is that the work you do out there in the gym, in your career, in your relationship, it will only go as far as the image you hold in yourself.

You can have all the strategy or the hustle or the opportunity in the world, but if you don't see yourself as someone who deserves it, someone who is capable, someone who can handle it, someone who is worth it, you self sabotage it. So start with the image, get that right and everything else becomes easier. Or let me bring this together. Let's bring this together. Here's what we've covered today. One, yourself image is the foundation for everything or of everything. It's the mental picture you have of yourself, and it controls your behavior, your choices, and your results.

2 Your brain doesn't know the difference between something you vividly imagine and something that actually happened. So when you repeatedly imagine yourself as a certain type of person, your nervous system starts preparing you to be that person. Three, imagination isn't just for creatives, it's a tool. It's the tool your brain uses to set goals, guide your actions. You act based on the image in your mind, not based on willpower. And finally, you can change yourself image through a simple process which is identifying the old image, designing the new one be asking it daily through the vivid imagination and taking small actions that aligns with it to this consistently.

And you literally rewire who you are. Alright, alright, find one. That's it for today. I think you made it this far. Congratulations. So seriously, I know, I know, that is something. Minutes. Thirty minutes plus is a long time in a world full of 15 second videos. So the fact that you stuck around means a lot, right? I want you to do me a favor before you close this app.

Go guys on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, whatever you're listening, take two minutes grabbing notes or a book or pen or journal. Just write down one thing. Who do you want to become? Not what you want to have, not what you want to achieve, but who you want to be.

Because once you get clear on that, on that, once you get clear on who you want to become, everything else becomes so much easier. And hey, in this episode resonated with you. Do me a favor, do me a solid share with someone who leads, who needs to listen. Send it to that friend who's stalk, who's doubting themselves, who's been playing small. In fact, you need to share to all your friend because you cannot be in a psycho. Where, where, where you are doing 1 Is this intelligent? Because the prizes knowledge you're packing from here is something that you need your friends, your circle, your inner circle is to have right?

So you need to share to your friend. Screenshot like always screenshot this and send it to your WhatsApp status. And at least that one thing you learn from it and invite others that they should actually go and listen. Let's build this community together. Let's build a community of refined ones, right? And if you're not already subscribed, please hit that subscribe button. Hit that follow button. Rate the podcast on Spotify, on Apple Music, subscribe on YouTube, full on tunnel unifications, leave a comment, right?

Follow us on Instagram at the Morning Gear. And yeah, because we have so much more coming your way. Remember, you're not stuck with the version of yourself you've been living with. You get to rewrite that story. You get to redesign that image. So stop waiting for permission. Stop waiting to feel ready, start imagining, start being delusional, start becoming. And as always, I hope I inspired you. Peace.

Field Notes