VISUALIZE YOUR FUTURE – ACTIVITY

All students should have an opportunity to dream about their future while they are still preparing for it. This activity can be used with youth of any age, but will need some modification regarding the number of years from now they are to think about for their future.

PROCEDURES:

1. Students will sit with their eyes closed and visualize themselves as a grown person in response to questions asked by the teacher.
2. After visualizing the future students should take 5 - 10 minutes to write down the answers to the "Questions About My Dream". Encourage them to think seriously about their ideas.
3. Now divide the students into groups of about 5 and ask them to compare their ideas about the future. Each group should identify one person to report to the whole class in a summary of what the group as a whole learned in the process of visualizing their futures.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE STUDENTS:

As students will be asked to listen and to dream in the first part of the activity. Then you will write your ideas on a form I will give you that will help you analyze your ideas. Finally, you will get together with a group of students to talk about what you each learned from this activity.

1. You must listen carefully to others and not talk until told to do so later.
2. Your dream can be as big as you wish.
3. Please think about as many details as possible in answer to my questions.

INSTRUCTOR reads the FOLLOWING SCRIPT SLOWLY, ALLOWING TIME FOR THINKING:

"Let us close our eyes and picture a relaxing scene and remain quiet for a few moments."

PAUSE
"Now you will imagine your life as you would like it to be 10 years from now when you are grown up and out of school"

PAUSE
"Now it is morning and you have just awakened. What do you see?

PAUSE
"Now you go to your closet to get dressed. What do you see in your closet? What do you choose to wear to work today?

PAUSE
Now you are eating breakfast. What do you see?

PAUSE
You are now ready to leave for work. Where do you go? How do you get there?

PAUSE
Who do you see in your workplace? What are they doing?

PAUSE
What are your feelings about the work you are doing?

PAUSE
It is now lunchtime. What are you doing? How long do you take for lunch?

PAUSE
You are now at work and it is close to the end of the day. What are you doing? What time is it?

PAUSE
Where are you going now that work is finished? How do you feel about the day?

PAUSE
Now let's take a few minutes to review the day. What were your most important thoughts and ideas during this dream?

QUESTIONS ABOUT MY DREAM

 What were my most important feelings about this day?
 What type of work did I choose for myself? Why?
 Did I work with people, ideas or things?
 Did I use interests/hobbies/skills that I am developing now?
 Did I work for someone else, or was I in charge of the business?
 Was I satisfied with the job I chose? Why or why not?

As the students discuss this activity some of the types of information they will want to include are these questions. How many of them owned their own business? How many drove a fancy car? How many owned their own house or apartment? What does this mean about the amount of money they are earning? How many used skills or aptitudes that they have already started to develop? Were they happy with this life? What did they learn about themselves in this activity?
SOURCE: Risks and Rewards of Entrepreneurship, Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education

The author of this article is Asst. Professor, Pioneer Institute of Professional Studies, Indore.