You’re in the middle of a perfect meal at your favorite restaurant when the waiter stops by your table to check in. “Don’t forget to save room for dessert,” he chides.
It’s a standard up-sell technique in the food service industry: Remind the customer that there’s more good stuff to come—before they even know they’re hungry for it. But it’s also a key concept in our heartspark practices.
What happens when you allow your imaginings to reach beyond expected and logical outcomes to new possibilities and perspectives? What happens when you embrace the best case scenario—and then ask what could be even better than that?
What “More” Looks Like
Here are some of the things that saving room for more has brought into the lives of past heartspark clients:
- One participant came into heartspark with a goal of patenting one of his inventions. But he saved room for more than just one patent, and now he has an entire business built around his many patented ideas.
- Another felt ambivalent about a job that offered needed flexibility but didn’t fit her interests. A few months into heartspark, her boss redesigned her position to focus on the creative work she enjoyed while maintaining her flexible schedule.
- A 40-something single woman told her heartspark group that she longed for a child. She now has a son—and with him, she has also met the love of her life.
- A would-be author set a goal of finishing a book. Just finishing, he said, would accomplish a dream. But he saved room for more—and “more” turned out to include multiple publishers vying for the manuscript.
Take some time this month to consider what you want, and then push yourself to ask what “more” might mean for you in that context. Dream big. And once you’ve got your dream in mind, give the universe a wink and a smile—and dream bigger.
Keep taking little steps and expecting big results.
Before you know it, you’ll be far beyond where even you thought you were headed in the first place!
Relax. You don’t have to worry about how you are going to do it.
In fact, the hardest part is to not predict the path it will take, but rather to insist on the change you expect to experience. Don’t take no for an answer.
Take action and believe it will happen. Imagine, then let go.
And save room for it be to even better than you thought it could be.
Why is it so hard to remember that when we experience a bump in the road, are thrown a curve-ball or feel that the door has slammed shut in our face, that it’s nearly always a sign that something even better is about to happen?
In fact, one of those curve balls might even be an unrecognized blessing.
Think back, hasn’t that been true for you many times before?
So, what if the bad news is really good news in disguise?
Remember, things aren’t always as they seem.
As important as it is to set goals and to have a clear picture of what it is you want; it’s just as, if not more, important to be open to having what actually comes your way be even better than you have imagined. Many of us aren’t well practiced at dreaming big, so we need to “Save Room for More.”
We all have a multitude of opportunities that arise in our lives; it’s simply a matter of recognizing the beneficial ones, observes psychologist Richard Wiseman in his eight-year Luck Project. By studying “lucky” and “unlucky” people, Wiseman discovered that the lucky people influenced their luck by remaining open to possibilities. “Unlucky people are stuck in routines. When they see something new, they want no part of it,” says Wiseman. “Lucky people (on the other hand) always want something new. They’re prepared to take risks and relaxed enough to see the opportunities in the first place.”
Prepare to be Lucky
Does it sound as if lucky people are never satisfied? Not so. They get clear on what they want and then actively wait – scanning the horizon – ready to jump in when the time is right. They recognize the perfect opportunity and seize the moment. Here are a few things you can do to be similarly prepared:
- Increase your chances. Just as someone might purchase more tickets to a drawing to increase their chances of winning, so you can create promising opportunities by acting on more impulses. Go to that networking event that sounds interesting. Try a new activity. Start a conversation with someone who catches your eye in the grocery aisle. You’ll never know where it might lead until you try it.
- Tune in. Take time each week to imagine the types of opportunities that you want. Where do you want to go? Who might be there? What do you want to happen? The clearer the picture you have in your mind, the easier it will be to recognize opportunities that align with your desires.
- Count your assets. Every time you take advantage of an opportunity, say “thank you” (Success Practice #10!) If it doesn’t turn out quite like you imagined, find at least one good thing that came of it. What did you learn? How might it be more positive than your initial interpretation?
So even though you may have a crystal clear picture of what you want to achieve, remember to “save room for more” and be open to the possibility of it being beyond your imagination.
Remember, it’s all good.
No matter how big your dream, leave a little bit of room to allow it to be even better.
Don’t let your thinking be limited by your past experience or your interpretation of “reality.” Save room for something beyond your wildest imagination.
And look for that.
Like