I recently found myself working on a ‘homework assignment’ for an online business group I am in that I never thought I’d ever do, something called a mind movie. (Aside: I kept wanting to call this a ‘goals video’ but way more useful stuff comes up if you search the right terms so I’ll do so in this post!)
What’s a mind movie?
A mind movie like a vision board except you make a video. You use inspiring pictures and text and cut it together with your psych up song. Cat Howell’s online group is where I’ve first learned about this but she credits Dr. Joe Deispenza for the concept.
Why do you make a mind movie?
The idea is you’ll watch this video daily as a reminder of what you are working towards. Now other people (like Grant Cardone) have suggested writing your goals every morning and every night so I’m guessing the idea of watching your goal video is a similar check in with yourself.
I think the other thing with goals, whether you make a movie or write them down, is that it forces you to be specific. Very specific in a way I certainly haven’t been before. How much money do I want to make? What kind of clothes do I want in my closet? What kind of qualities do I want in all my personal relationships?
And finally, your mind movie can change as your goals/dreams change or are attained.
What did I learn making my mind movie?
First of all, I am clearly not a filmmaker. The other people in my business course have way better looking movies than I do. But as Ira Glass has famously said (and I am massively paraphrasing here), amateurs are always frustrated when they have a vision but don’t have the skills to execute it but must persist anyway (and I have been blogging about persisting through my medicore video skills for years apparently so there you go!)
Secondly, the stuff I want isn’t nearly as out of reach as I thought. Like the car I love? Costs $40,000. It’s not a Lamborghini (then again, I don’t think we’re in the 80s anymore so maybe no one still wants those?) but a $40,000 car is totally attainable. As I started tallying up all the ‘ridiculous’ things I wanted, I couldn’t even fake spend one million dollars. I think if you go through this exercise, you might be surprised that you can actually have what you want. I know I was.
Thirdly, I got really really picky. So I spent (legit) two hours looking at houses online until I found one I liked. My initial thought at this was, wow, I’m being picky. But then I realized if I am going to spend energy wanting this and working toward it everyday, I should pick out a backyard inground pool I like and the front porch I want and all the other stuff. When you think of someone theoretically gifting you, say, a house, I think most of us would take pretty much anything in good shape that we could maintain (ex: property taxes). But when you think about working toward the exact life you want, suddenly that house gets very very specific. And that’s ok; it’s what’s called clarity.
And finally, I’m excited. I put my movie to ‘Can’t Stop The Feeling’ by good old JT:
Thinking of listening to the same song while watching my movie EVERY DAY felt a little daunting but this one makes me feel both smiley and energized when I listen to it.
My mind movie is turning into a pretty personal project… but perhaps in a few months, I can share the movie and follow up about what watching a movie on repeat can do to your brain. 🙂
Useful Resources
If you’re looking for some free resources related to this, check out: https://www.mindmovies.com/free.php (I haven’t done any of these yet but looks like you’d be in good company if you did!
And if you are totally intimidated by video editing, you can actually make your video with Google Slides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S82OLPtpoUU