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Why I Don’t Visualize Success — And How It’s Helped Me Build Companies Differently
I don’t picture success before it happens — and that’s become a hidden strength in how I build businesses. Here’s why.
The night before the biggest pitch of my startup journey — raising my first round of funding — I texted my best friend: “Big day tmr, wish me luck!!” She replied, “Are you lying awake picturing a thousand things that could go wrong?
I paused, then told I wasn’t picturing anything at all.
Later, she asked me if I ever imagined future scenarios — like walking into a panel, delivering my pitch, or celebrating the win. And I realised I never had. No mental cinema. No vivid play-by-play. Just quiet.
That’s when it hit me, my mind works differently. And it’s quietly shaped the way I build companies.
While most stories about entrepreneurship celebrate imagination and the ability to “see” the future, mine’s been a little different.
I don’t have a mind’s eye.
I have aphantasia, the inability to form mental images. And over the years, I’ve come to see how much that’s shaped not just how I think, but how I lead.
