+1 #185: The Angel's Advocate

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Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. Michael Gehl wrote a great book called how to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci. I can still remember reading it shortly after selling my first business over 15 years ago. It was life changing for me. Michael has a bunch of great exercises and distinctions to help us tap into our potential. Here's one of my favorites. Now, we all know about the devil's advocate. The devil's advocate is a very important part of any creative process. When we deliberately look for the things that can go wrong, it's kind of like the obstacles part of Whoop where we rub our dreams up against reality. But here's the deal. We need to start with our vision of what's possible before we look at what might go wrong. Enter the angel's advocate. Your angel's advocate is amazing. She has a magic wand, and when she waves that wand, she can make all your dreams come true. But first, you need to know what your dreams are. So let's put our little angel to work. What's the most important thing in your life right now? What is it?

Got it.

Fantastic. Now imagine that a little angel just floated into your world and is currently hovering right in front of you. She's smiling at you, ready to work her magic. But again, she needs to know what you want. So if everything went perfectly in this most important part of your life, you worked hard, got a little lucky and all that, what would this part of your life look like? Take a moment to hang out with your angels, advocate and capture that vision. Now, my most important thing is everything going awesome would look like what? Fantastic. I call that waving the wand. When I'm strategizing about a creative project, I'll often grab a blank piece of paper and write, wave the wand at the top, and then imagine everything going perfectly. Thank you, angel's advocate. Then. Well, then I invite the devil's advocate in to help me Whoop it. They make a great team. But let's remember to lead with the angel. And let's not forget to let the devil's advocate in to help out the cause. So one more quick check in. Are you stronger with the angel or with the devil? Do you need to dream a little more or do you need to rub that vision up against reality and plan a little more? Let's optimize their relationship just a little more. Plus one. Style today. High fives to you and your advocates.

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