In this episode of the Pete the Planner® Show, I talk visualization. If you are wandering aimlessly through your financial life, this is the key you are missing. Visualizing the financial life you want is a great tool to get you motivated to achieve it.

You use visualization every single day. For me, it’s usually food. Any given day you can find me visualizing the Fat Havana Burger from Fat Dan’s. Sigh. So good. Every day, my brain is making plans and thinking through ways I can get the sandwich I want.

There is a dark side to visualization though. If you are in a high-pressure situation, you may cycle through the worst possible outcomes.

Visualization can often lead to self-fulfilling prophecy territory, for better or worse.

For our purposes, we’ll go with better. Apply the practice of visualization to your retirement. You probably don’t spend too much time imagining your retirement, but take a minute and imagine complete financial independence. What do you see?

My visualization came to me in full force when I was boarding a flight a few weeks ago. On my way to coach, I passed an elderly couple sitting in first class, passports in hand, and looking as content as could be. I spent the rest of that flight thinking about what it would be like for my wife and me to be in their place, years down the road. I realized, “That’s what I want.” For the first time in my life, I could picture what retirement would look like for me personally. Maybe for you, it’s fishing all day, starting a garden, buying a boat, whatever. Picture your own retirement. Go ahead. Dream big. Let that visualization be the fuel that pushes you toward reaching your retirement goal.