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Cassandra Morales Thurswell used her life savings to launch her beauty and haircare brand Kitsch in 2010. She was 25. Today, Kitsch brings in over $300 million in yearly sales, with products in more than 27,000 stores globally.
From a young age, "visualization and mindset" have been central factors in her success, Thurswell told CNBC's Julia Boorstin on the latest episode of the "CNBC Changemakers and Power Players" podcast.
When Thurswell was in middle school, she learned from her basketball coach that professional basketball players were able to increase their free throw success rate by closing their eyes and visualizing themselves making the basket.
That inspired her to incorporate visualization techniques into her own life, she said. While building Kitsch, Thurswell used those tools to maintain a positive outlook.
"I would sit there while I was making my hair elastics, and I would just put in headphones, and I would just visualize … the best life that I could possibly live," she said. Even on bad days, "I was never down and out, because I knew my secret trick of just closing my eyes."
To this day, Thurswell prioritizes taking time to reflect and center herself: She has a thrice-daily phone alarm that reminds her to practice visualization and "micro-manifestation" exercises.
How 'future journaling' helps Thurswell reach her goals
Thurswell also uses the "future journaling" method to help her visualize success: She writes about her major goals as if she had already accomplished them.
"When I write the journal entry, I'm saying all of the different things that I want to be able to have said years later or months later," she said.
For example, Thurswell told Boorstin she wrote a journal entry in 2018 about her goal of getting Kitsch products into Target. "It was like, "We just got into Target. We're one of the fastest-growing brands. Sales are through the roof, but we're able to maintain it," she recalled.
When Kitsch products launched in Target in 2024, the scenario was "almost verbatim the journal entry that I wrote in 2018," Thurswell said.
For Thurswell, future journaling is effective because it "puts you in a mindset of being proactive for your life, rather than reactive," she said.
Writing down your goals can improve your chances of reaching them, according to neuroscientist and author Erin Clabough: It helps you commit them to memory and stay motivated.
Clabough finds it helpful to write messages to her future self, she told CNBC Make It in January: "I have in the past flipped ahead 40 pages [in my journal], and I've written my letter to my future self at that point, so that when I'm writing in my journal, at some point, I'm going to hit it."
Clabough also recommends setting and writing down thoughtful intentions for your future self — it "makes a difference," she said.
Once you have, "Do the best that you can towards that intention, every day," Clabough said. And after you've reached your goal, she recommends taking some time to reflect on the journey.
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