I was in the storage area and decided to shift some guitars around, take inventory, etc.

I started to dig up cases that were from some of the first guitars that I ever owned. I had a laugh as all the cases already had my name stenciled on them w. spray paint and had numbers from #1 on. If you did not know anything else, you would think I was preparing for a world tour. The truth was however, that by that time, I have maybe played one or two shows ever in my life.

About a year prior to that, while searching through my office, I found lyric sheets from about 1990. On several sheets, I have written my name over and over and over again. I guess I was preparing that one day someone was going to ask me to actually sign something for them.

This became a game.

When I went to concerts, I would close my eyes between songs when people cheered for the band, I imagined myself that I was on that stage, and the loud noise was for me. I took in how metal concerts smelled, how the energy felt, how excited the people were to see the bands.

I would sometimes peek into tour buses and I imagined myself sitting in some of them.

I would make backstage passes for me and my buddies no matter where I played, even if it was a High School cafeteria.

Would my dreams or aspirations come true? It was hard to tell then, but I did not give up. A friend of mine wrote me a check for a million dollars as a joke and later he asked to get it back. Hmm … I took that as a good sign 😉

Now, the honest truth is that this had very little to do with ego, and it really had to do with me visualizing what it would feel if I had a chance to do what I wanted. What I wanted was to play metal guitar for a living, make records and go on tour. I really got into this and while maintaining those mind journeys – I worked hard. Make that very hard. Harder than anyone I knew.

Many people might refer to such visualizing experiments today as the Law Of Attraction. Some popular books and movies such as the “Secret” have shed spotlight to much of this.

Now, while this is all great to think about whatever term you put on it, I must stress that nothing happens without hard work. You can imagine anything you want, but unless the image (let’s call it a dream, or your desire) is put to paper next to a plan of how you are going to achieve it, nothing usually will come of it.

This is where many people get confused as they wait for something great to just appear out of the air just because they really wanted it. While a strong desire or want is essential, the universe, let just call it that, won’t caught it up unless you pay the fee. The fee is planning and diligent work to make it happen.

But, the desires of where you want to be and how it would feel once you get there are great destination markers. They are great beacons of where you could concentrate your energies and efforts to.