The Daydreaming Habit Alejandro Betancourt López Credits for His Career

Long before he held stakes in eyewear, ride-hailing and technology, Alejandro Betancourt López was a young man whose constant mental wandering irritated the people around him. He spent hours picturing a bigger life, and most onlookers figured he was wasting his time.

He read it differently. “I always was daydreaming about being somebody more important or achieving higher goals,” he said. To him, the habit was rehearsal, not distraction.

When visualization meets evidence

Research lends the idea some weight. A study by Dr. Gail Matthews at Dominican University found that people who write down and picture their goals are 42% more likely to reach them than those who simply mull things over.

Brain-imaging work points the same way. Vividly picturing an experience fires many of the same neural circuits as living it, which makes a hoped-for outcome feel familiar before it happens.

From picture to plan

Betancourt López is careful to separate useful visualization from empty wishing. The mental image only counts, in his telling, when it pushes a person toward concrete steps and steady effort.

His record at Hawkers shows the split. He could see the eyewear brand growing into a worldwide name, but getting there meant expanding manufacturing, opening retail and sharpening digital marketing. “Once you start believing in it, it becomes reality without you noticing it,” he said.