A very special party was held on The Queen Mary in Long Beach, California in 1986. Those attending were under strict instructions to come as they would be in 1991, and to remain in character all evening. They were to act as if, dress as if, talk as if and think as if they were already the person they wanted to be. Whatever their most wished for goal was, they were to act as if it had already been achieved.
Some brought along copies of books they were yet to write, others had mocked up awards or pay checks. One man arrived dressed as a beach bum – his vision of retirement! Everyone supported each other in listening to and congratulating the other attendees on their amazing success.
One of the attendees was a relatively unknown man called Jack Canfield. Jack came along and acted as if his dream of becoming a bestselling writer had already happened. Did he go on to achieve his goal? Well, Jack now holds a Guinness World Record for having seven books on The New York Times Best-Seller list at the same time! He co-created the Chicken Soup for the Soul® series of books, which have sold over 500 million copies worldwide!
Other participants also progressed to great acclaim. Susan Jeffers was there too. She went on to publish 17 successful books, including Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, which along with Jack’s The Success Principles, I often recommend to my coaching clients (both are featured in a new article that I’ve written here).
So, how does act as if work to help you achieve your goals?
You will associate achieving your goal with having fun! – had to have this reason first. Fun is so underrated! Being the one having fun while achieving your goal is going to keep you ahead of the pack. The discipline needed to reach any worthwhile destination will be far easier to find if you’re having fun. Moving towards a reward is motivating for the brain.
You will powerfully activate The Law of Attraction or align your energy, as I prefer to think about this. This law states that like attracts like. So, the more you feel, act, dress, speak and think like the person you want to be, the chance are the faster you’ll become that person. Behaviour therapy and later cognitive behavioural therapy, which reflect changing your thinking, feelings – and energy, meaning that e.g. negative habits are modified to positive ones (its techniques are incorporated into coaching) are scientifically proven approaches that generate results.
You will enlist the help of your Reticular Activating System (RAS) on working towards your goal – your RAS (a network of neurons in your brain) decides, in very simple terms, what you pay attention to. By ‘acting as if’ you have achieved something, you are telling your RAS that this is important to you, that it’s part of who you are. You will find yourself seeing opportunities and insights you might otherwise have missed.
You will give your confidence and motivation a major boost – attending an ‘Act As If’ party or creating your own, is akin to supercharging your ambition. You would have lived, felt and experienced what it is like to actually achieve your most wished for goal. As far as your brain is concerned, you have experienced it as your brain doesn’t know the difference between what is real and imagined (a quirk which in this case is helpful).
You think seriously about your goals – and how you direct your attention and action. It’s been said that people think more about what is for dinner than planning what is important to them for their life!
The brain is wired to be social – being part of an ‘in group’ is essential as far as the brain is concerned. Making your goal public and enjoying support and encouragement will help you to achieve your goals (especially when the going gets tough) plus, as humans like to cooperate in groups, helping others to achieve success is gratifying too.
Of course, acting as if is not enough to guarantee your success on its own. You still must take consistent action afterwards.
Here’s an exclusive offer to participate in the UK’s first Act As If event: