become a researcher of your own life
Last week, daydreaming and visualization were on my mind — the fun (and the challenges) of picturing yourself in a new place or reality.
But this week, a client brought me back to the step before that. They said, “Amy, I can’t even visualize yet, I don’t know what I want!”
It made me think about that in-between space — the step before visualization — where research comes in. Before we can picture the next chapter, we often have to study the one we’re in: noticing what’s working, what isn’t, and what we actually need.
This theme has come up in my sessions again and again:
A high school senior visiting colleges realized she wasn’t just choosing a school, she was researching what kind of environment brings out her best.
An overwhelmed mom began noting what parts of the family load she carries, and what happens when she steps back.
A 28-year-old client decided to treat her social life like an experiment — noticing which connections felt mutual and which didn’t.
Each was doing their own kind of field research — gathering evidence about what helps, what drains, what opens.
For some of us, that kind of investigation comes naturally. For others, it can feel risky. The familiar, even when it isn’t working, feels safer than the unknown.
How many of us have found ourselves telling the same story again and again — about a job we were unhappy with, or a relationship that wasn’t working — but couldn’t quite muster the energy or courage to change the pattern?
What’s encouraging is that research doesn’t require a full leap. It just asks for curiosity. Observation. Small experiments.
So this week, I invite you to conduct your own 48-hour self-study. Choose one small area: how you respond to stress, how you spend the first 10 minutes of your morning, how often you say yes when you mean no. Make one small change, and notice what happens.
You’re not judging or fixing — just gathering data.
Then, when you’re ready to visualize your next step, you’ll have something real to build from.