As my 20s ticked by and my job became an ever-increasing feature of my life, one thing I noticed was this:

My imagination started to fizzle out.

I was very conscious that as a child I had all sorts of creative ideas about my life, the universe and beyond. Even at uni I was optimistic about the direction my life could take and the possibilities which were waiting for me. There were a good few months, for example, where I seriously considered becoming a professional poker player and daydreamed about travelling the world, betting & bluffing in exotic locations, winning oodles of cold hard cash and generally living a free & happy life.

I’m not saying I would’ve made poker work.

I’m just saying my imagination had a playfulness about it which felt optimistic, vibrant and limitless.

But once I joined the 9 to 5 and work took over, this enthusiasm & energy started to fade.  It really looked like my career would become my life.  And the more work took over, the less there was to be excited about and the more my imagination dried up.

Anyway, this topic of imagination is something I’ve been pondering recently.

It’s interesting looking back with the benefit of studying the human mind, completing a coaching certification and discovering all sorts of fascinating ideas about how we operate. 

Beliefs which once appeared so set in stone now look totally different.

Imagination is a great example.

I really thought my imagination was withering away and work was to blame.

But what I didn’t see then and can see clearly now was this:

Thinking my imagination was shutting down was an undeniable sign my imagination wasn’t just working fine, but was working as perfectly as it ever had done.

You catch my drift right?

I imagined a future revolving around urgent emails, spreadsheets, red tape and daily commutes.

I imagined work was to blame for killing my imagination.

And most imaginary of all, I imagined my imagination was fizzling out.

But none of that was true. I was just using my imagination in a different way.

Let’s face it – work had become my scapegoat.  It was easy to pin the blame on work and whether intentional or not, this belief that work was the culprit became deeper as the years ticked by.

But what I see now is that we can never lose our imagination.

It’s as much a part of us as the blood pumping round our body.

Sure, we can direct our imagination in different ways.  We can even forget or overlook that our imagination is firing on all cylinders.

But it’s always there.

And ultimately anyone who says “I’m losing my imagination” or even “I have no imagination” has straight-up just proven themselves wrong.

Imagine that!

That’s all for today.

 - Tom