MKE Week 18 – Battleship It!

 

Imagination is such a wonderful thing as I highlighted during last year’s wonderful journey.  And it can be very powerful, particularly when combined with a concept I’ll refer to as battleship.  The result of this combination was a fantastic discovery that was mind-blowing to say the least.

 

Battleship Visualization

 

Back in week 8 we had the opportunity to practice visualization during the daily sit.  Specifically the directions revolve around visualization of a battleship beyond the obvious.  In other words don’t just picture in your mind the things known about a battleship as that requires next to no effort.

 

“But how did the battleship come to be where it is; how did it come into existence in the first place? All of this you want to know if you are a careful observer.”

Charles Haanel, The Master Key System

 

Considering that my Information Technology career has led to working for a shipbuilder this made the exercise much more fun.  This was due in part to having some additional insights into the various stages of construction and design so the visualization process quickly became detailed.  Yet Haanel’s challenge was to ultimately reflect to the fact that the building of any ship is possible for only one reason.

 

“If someone had not discovered the law by which this tremendous mass of steel and iron could be made to float upon the water, instead of immediately to the bottom, the battleship could not have come into existence at all.”

Charles Haanel, The Master Key System

 

So how does this exercise ten weeks prior influence my week 18 discovery?

 

The Battleship Concept At Play

 

One of the weekly exercises at this point is something known as the Franklin Makeover.  This “makeover” involves choosing a virtue each week and focusing on identifying it being exhibited by others.   At times recognizing these virtues can be difficult, so during a webinar a few weeks ago it was shared how Haanel’s exercise of visualizing a battleship can be applied to the makeover exercise.  So I made the decision to give it a try with my week 18 virtue of imagination one day on my drive to work.

My commute when working out of our local office is about 20 minutes.  So as I was driving I identified how imagination was used to construct the vehicle and various components, to install the seats, wheels and so on.  Then I thought of the imagination of the engineers who designed the vehicle, the power components and other aspects of the specific vehicle I was driving.  Soon my thoughts went to the imagination behind the design of the engine, how Henry Ford’s engineers spent over a year actually casting a V-8 engine block.  

Suddenly my thoughts moved to the engineers where I work and how imagination is at play in the design and building of ships.  And that of course resulted in considering how imagination is at play with my favorite vacation option of cruises.  From the design and construction of the cruise ship to the creation of entertainment options and food dishes. 

Had I been in a position to mark down each recognition of imagination at work, I easily would have been putting down over 200 dots.  All from a recognition of the imagination used to construct a vehicle.  More importantly because the virtue of imagination is inside me as it is in you, when the time is taken to slow down and think about it.

 

Week 18 Around the Horn

 

John W shares how the Master Keys training is shaping his future self.  Karin discusses virtues and her experience with self-control. And John H talks about the greatest sale.

Be sure to check these great blogs out.

Fun times and only 7 weeks to go!