How visualization will lead you to success
Everyday, you are constantly visualizing every thought you have whether you realize it or not. Think about a hamburger and you’ll probably picture a bic mac or for my healthy gang out there, a lettuce wrapped burger with tons of veggies! Thousands of thoughts flood our heads every day, so we need to be actively aware of the content and quality of images we feed our brains.
The kind of visualization I’m talking about today is not about picturing hamburgers and Oreos and drooling over our computers. The visualization I’m talking about is that in which you proactively imagine exactly what it is that you want to achieve, and then you mentally rehearse the steps it will take to get you there. Numerous athletes, celebrities, and highly successful individuals claim that this type of visualization is one of the key factors that contributes to their initial and continuing successes.
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The best of the best use visualization
When you watch professional golfers, you will see the best of the best stand behind the ball with their eyes closed before a shot, creating a crystal clear image in their mind of themselves perfectly executing their swing and hitting the perfect shot. Before they have even stepped up to the ball, they have laser-focused clarity as to how they will feel during their swing and where the ball will land.
Before Michael Phelps jumps into the water, he visualizes having the absolute perfect race from two perspectives, sitting in the stands and being in the water. Then, he visualizes any bad outcomes that might occur during the race, like his suit ripping or goggles malfunctioning – so before the race has even started, he has primed his mind and is mentally prepared to handle whatever situation he may find himself in.
The bottom line here is that if you want to create extraordinary levels of success in your life, you need to be proactively visualizing who you want to be, and rehearsing how you need to behave to get there.
How does visualization work
Visualization works because your subconscious mind cannot tel the difference between fantasy and reality. When you wake up from a nightmare, your heart is pounding, you might be sweating, and you feel stressed out. Why? Because in your mind, it was real. Your body was reacting to what you were thinking.
The old saying, “The body achieves what the mind believes” rings true in its entirety. When we realize this, we realize just how much power we have over our own lives.
Another thing to take into consideration: Let’s say that where you are in life right now is your point A. The happy and successful people all lie at point B. You tell yourself that if you work hard, study hard, and do what your asked, one day you will reach that level of success too. Years and years pass, and you still feel like you are moving nowhere. Why?
You’ve never articulated your point B, the end goal that you should be working towards. What ends up happening is you move in no directions. You are stuck. There is no gps that can take you to an unknown place, no matter how many turns you take or how hard you try. Through visualization, you are clearly defining your point B with a clearly lit path on how to arrive there.
what to visualize and how
Step One: Articulate your point B in writing. What are your biggest goals in life? What do you want to feel like everyday? How would your best version behave throughout the day? What is it than you want from life? Who do you want to be?
Step Two: Get comfortable. Sit in an upright position, play some music if you’d like (with no lyrics to distract you), take a few deep breaths, and close your eyes.
Step Three: Start visualizing. Visualize exactly what you articulated in writing as your point B. Involve all your sense and really feel what it will feel like when you have arrived there. The clearer and more real it feels, the more you will prime your brain to behave in accordance with those feelings throughout the day. After a few minutes of visualizing yourself at that end goal, start looking to the near future. How can you be like that point B person tonight at the dinner table. How would that point B person behave with his/her S.O and children. How would that point B person spend their free time. See yourself engaged in the process of doing what you need to do to achieve your dreams and more importantly, see yourself being happy.
The visualization of my point B consists of me waking up super early, literally leaping out of bed, and smiling as I work on bettering myself and creating my dream life.
Consistency is key
After some time, you will find yourself living in alignment with exactly what you envisioned yourself to be. This is how you will bring success into your life. You start by defining your success, then you visualize it and tell your brain it is real, and all of a sudden, it becomes real. It’s as simple as that!
No matter what your goal is, or what your wildest dream is, or how impossible you think a task is, when you visualize having achieved that in your life, you start to see how these huge impossible tasks can be broken down into hundreds of tiny, very much possible tasks. That is when you take action. That is how you become successful.
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