Einstein said imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions. What are your coming attractions?  I can’t wait to see the trailer….I have the popcorn ready.

The Power of Imagination: Your Preview of What’s Possible

Einstein once said, “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.” I’ve always loved that quote. It makes me picture a cosmic movie theater where our dreams and ideas flicker across the screen, teasing the adventures that could become our real lives. So, what are your coming attractions? Because I’ve got the popcorn ready, and I can’t wait to see your trailer.

I’ve always had a vivid imagination—too vivid, according to some teachers who caught me staring out the window while my mind wrote its own stories. As a kid, I was a Let’s Pretend champion. I could turn a backyard into a kingdom, a cardboard box into a spaceship, or a puddle into an ocean full of sea monsters. That imagination was my superpower, long before I knew what the word “manifestation” even meant.

Then came adulthood, that serious business of paying bills and being “realistic.” Somewhere along the way, people stopped celebrating imagination and started calling it impractical. Dreaming was fine for children, they said, but grown-ups needed to “live in the real world.” Dutifully, I tried. I shoved my imagination into a box labeled someday and focused on being grounded. Spoiler alert: it didn’t go well. Life got dull. I got restless. And I realized something crucial—living only in the here and now, without imagination, feels like watching a movie with no color.

Everything changed the day I stumbled on The Secret. Whatever your take on it, that book reminded me of something I’d known instinctively since childhood: imagination isn’t just mental fluff; it’s creative fuel. When we imagine, we’re not escaping reality—we’re designing it. Our minds are like directors sketching the storyboards for what we want to experience. Visualization helps us aim our energy, emotions, and choices toward what feels most alive.

Think about it. Every invention, every masterpiece, every leap forward started with imagination. The Wright brothers imagined flight before they built a plane. Artists imagine the finished painting before the first brushstroke. Even something as simple as deciding to make a change in your own life begins with that small, defiant thought: what if?

If imagination is the preview of life’s coming attractions, then daydreams are the trailer—the sneak peek of what’s possible when we stop limiting ourselves to logic. The trick is to treat your imagination not as a distraction but as a compass. Let it show you what lights you up, what feels exciting, what your soul is hungry for. That’s your direction.

When I let my imagination lead, I write better, teach better, and even live better. I visualize my classroom buzzing with curious energy. I picture students connecting the dots, realizing they’re capable of more than they believed. I imagine stories unfolding on the page, characters coming to life, and my creative world expanding in ways logic alone could never manage.

Imagination doesn’t ignore reality—it enhances it. It gives us the courage to ask, what if life could be even better than this? And here’s the thing: it can. That’s the quiet magic of being human. We can see things that don’t exist yet and then go out and build them.

When I wrote “You are Unique” back in 2009, I was talking to the teens I teach—those who feel like they must shrink or hide the spark that makes them different. I still believe that today, only now I’m adding a new layer: that same spark of uniqueness is powered by your imagination. Because if your perspective, your quirks, your voice make you wonderfully unique, then the imaginative life you build around them makes you unstoppable. Let your imagination preview your coming attractions, but let your uniqueness be the lead actor.

So maybe, instead of tamping down your daydreams, you could treat them as invitations. When you catch yourself drifting off, don’t scold your mind for wandering. Ask it where it’s trying to go. What are you craving that your current reality doesn’t offer yet? What tiny step could you take to bring that imagined version of life a little closer?

If you want a little extra nudge to explore how powerful imagination can be, check out The Greater Good Science Center’s article on  imagination