I remember my first experience with visualization. I was about 10 years old and pitching an important baseball game the next day.
We were in the front yard practicing my pitching and my Dad told me to close my eyes and just imagine throwing the perfect strike. Straight and fast, and right into the catchers mitt.
And so I did. I would visualize, then throw a pitch, then visualize, then throw, and every time the pitches got better and better. I could barely believe it. Was it really this simple?
The answer was yes.
What I learned that day has served me hundreds if not thousands of times since then.
Why Visualize?
Thoughts become things. If you see it in your mind you will hold it in your hand. -Bob Proctor
Visualization is a powerful tool that’s used by all top performers. To achieve anything you first need to see it in your mind.
Visualize Everything
I’ve used visualization to help me master job interviews, to land airplanes on small runways in bad weather, before giving speeches or presentations, and in my daily life to plan and imagine my future.
Like meditation, visualization doesn’t need to be complicated.
Here’s how to start incorporating the power of visualization into every day life.
1. Accept The Science
Our brains react to imaginary stimulus in a very similar way as they do to real events. This is why when you think about something worrying or uncomfortable you start to get uneasy or tense. It’s the same when you think of something funny and smile or laugh. These events aren’t happening right now, but our brains don’t know that.
You can use this to your advantage, and can either prepare yourself physically, or calm yourself mentally, and positively influence your heart rate and stress levels.
2. Daydream
Take a few minutes and just let yourself daydream. Imagine a vacation, a new car, a new house, or visiting your favourite restaurant. This is the beginning of visualization and an easy step to start becoming clear about what you want, and what it looks like. Feel free to let your mind go and really enjoy imagining. Imagining is visualization.
3. Make A Plan
Write down a few goals you’re working towards or things you’d like to have, see, or do, and then set up time to reflect or imagine life with them. By structuring your daydreaming around something real that you’d like to accomplish you can start to immediately experience the effects which will only help to reinforce its strength.
4. One Minute Twice A Day
Keep visualizing. Try to find a couple different things every day that you can practice visualizing for. It could be preparing for a sales call, or shooting a basketball, it doesn’t matter, the point is to keep practicing your visualization until it gets easier and more enjoyable.
If you can’t think of anything you’re working towards then just spend a minute daydreaming and imagining something exciting, relaxing, or funny.
Visualization is a powerful tool that can help you work towards any goal, and can immediately start to improve the quality and enjoyment of your life.
