07/22/2026
From the desk of our Founder & CEO, Josh Waite:
The Bible states, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Proverbs 29:18
This week I am once again reminded of the power of vision, as many arrived in Milwaukee for Northwestern Mutual’s (NM) Annual Meeting. Attending this meeting has been a tradition since I began my career as an intern with NM 24 years ago.
While each NM Annual Meeting has had its special moments, 22 years ago the meeting took on a special significance. In the months leading up to that July meeting, the company had informed me that I had won a prestigious award, and, as a part of accepting it, I would be given an opportunity to address the audience of over 1,000 individuals. While my speech could have focused on any number of topics, that year I had a vision for ‘something special’.
I have heard it said that in life, we often see things twice. First in our mind, and second, when it happens. Whether we realize it or not, we often imagine an event in our mind before it ever takes place. What we often don’t realize is that, by doing so, our vision is increasingly likely to happen.
Earl Nightingale said it this way in his famous book, The Strangest Secret: “You become what you think about.” What we think about, good or bad, has a greater chance of becoming our reality simply by first visualizing it.
Years after Nightingale’s book was published, researchers began studying this concept, and today, the practice of visualization is well documented, most notably in professional sports. What surprises me is how few of us non-professional athletes use the power of visualization in our daily lives. What a missed opportunity!
How do I incorporate visualization into my personal and professional life?
1. Daily, I visualize myself executing the three most important priorities I have identified for that day as a part of my morning rhythm.
2. Weekly, I read my personal vision statement – visualizing the future as if it has already happened.
3. Quarterly, our Waite Financial Group team gathers offsite and reads our firm’s vision out loud as we imagine how we will bring that vision to reality.
4. Annually, Nikki and I spend time dreaming about what we want our lives to look like in the future.
The importance of vision cannot be overstated – and the practice of visualizing that future state is the secret weapon to bringing a vision to reality.
While I was unaware that I was leveraging this powerful concept at the time, it is clear to me today that ‘visualizing my vision’ was the key to that ‘something special’ 22 years ago.
What was that ‘something special’ back in July 2004? A proposal.
Outside of a few close friends, that night the audience had no idea what I had spent months visualizing. At least once each day I would visualize how the proposal would happen – the words I would say, the song that would play in the background, and the response I would see on Nikki’s face. Therefore, when I stepped to the microphone that day and began my speech, I simply lived out the movie I had already seen – scene by scene – playing it out in real time.
The result – ‘something special’ – a moment that Nikki and I, and likely others in attendance, will never forget.
Many have since asked, “How were you able to do that? You are such an introvert. Weren’t you nervous?” As I reflect on that night, knowing what I now know about the power of visualization, it is clear to me that I overcame my fears that night due in a large part to my using this secret weapon.
Visualizing my vision.
intentional living call to action:
Spend time visualizing your vision. Visualize ‘something special’.
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Live Life Intentionally
Josh
