Treasure Map

Have you created your treasure map yet?

By “treasure map” I mean a sheet of paper with pictures on it representing all your goals, all the things you are aiming for in life, all the achievements which you will regard as a success when you get there.

Many people do not bother with a treasure map.  But remember, many people also never achieve the successes they wish for.  And I can assure you if you do it properly the treasure map really does work.

Why it works is really less important than the fact that it does work.  But for the sceptics among you let me just outline a couple of reasons.

Firstly, the mere act of creating the map crystallises your thinking.  Many people who first create a treasure map only realise as they are doing so what some of their objectives are.  And unless you know what you are aiming for how can you expect to get it?  Also, by putting those objectives on paper you have a chance to look at them carefully and decide do you really want to achieve them.  It is not unusual to find objectives which are out of synch with your own code of morality.  You had a vague idea that this is something you wanted, but when you see it in black and white you realise it is actually something you would not be very comfortable getting.  It is also not unusual to find you have put down two objectives which are completely contrary to each other.  Again, until you actually see them next to each other on your map it is not so obvious that you cannot have both.

Secondly, once you have a properly formed treasure map you have something to focus on to ensure your subconscious mind gets the message that this is what you want to achieve.  Once your subconscious mind really does get that message you can be sure it will be working behind the scenes constantly to ensure you obtain it.

Try to be quite specific.  Think carefully about what you want to achieve and why.  Saying “I am wealthy” is certainly not specific enough.  It would be better to say “I have £1,000,000 in my bank account”.  But personally I would not choose that as my goal even though I do aim to be wealthy.  It is specific, certainly, but it is not my real goal.  It is not the money itself I want, it is the things that money could do for me that I really want.  How I get them, provided it is honestly and ethically, is not really important.  So on my treasure map are the things I want, not the money that I may need in order to get them.

Ideally you should have pictures which tell the story properly.  If you want to live in a lovely little cottage surrounded by woodland, then find a photo of one that looks exactly how you would like your own little cottage to look.  Cut it out and stick it on your map.  Or draw it yourself.  It doesn’t really matter if you are not a brilliant artist.  Your subconscious will be quite forgiving about your lack of artistic skill.

Surround your treasure map with a border.  It may sound odd, but this is important.  It is setting limits.  Preventing a kind of sorcerer’s apprentice mishap where your subconscious keeps getting more and more of something until it is beyond a joke and you wish you had never put that on your map.

Don’t show that map to anyone else.  If you do, they will almost certainly ridicule you, and that will sap power away and make it far less likely you will achieve your dreams.  This is your secret treasure map that nobody but you even knows exists.  Study it daily, and visualise your life as it is with these dreams realised.  Note the use of the present tense here.  Not the future.  You must visualise your dreams as already realised.  And any writing on the map should reflect that.  Don’t write “I want a house by the sea” but rather “I live in a house by the sea”.  Don’t say “I want to speak fluent Italian”, but rather “I speak fluent Italian”.

As your life evolves, you will find you have already achieved some of the goals on your treasure map, no longer wish to achieve others, and have more goals that were not on the map.  So be ready to add to the map, and also sometimes to start afresh and make a new map.

Finally, a warning.  If you do this properly you will find you start to achieve the goals you put on your treasure map.  Make sure they are goals you really want to achieve.  Remember the old fairy tales where a genie granted a number of wishes, but then tricked the wisher by giving him or her exactly what was asked for, but which was not what the wisher really wanted.  There is a real point to those stories.  Be very certain of where you are aiming, what you want to achieve, as you will only have yourself to blame if you realise when you achieve it that it was not what you wanted at all!