How 5 Minutes A Day Can Dramatically Help You Reach Your Goals
Visualization
Before you shake your head and roll your eyes regarding visualization I want to let you know, that I too once was kind of a hater when it came to visualization. But I then began to look into who practiced visualization….Arnold Schwarzenegger, Oprah, Lindsey Vonn (Olympic Gold medalist), I could go on and on.
All those people mentioned above use visualization and give visualization a lot of credit for the success that they’ve had.
In and of itself, visualization is a simple yet powerful technique for growth and self-improvement.
Now that being said, this isn’t like some magic potion.
It’s not, you think it, it happens. And many of you have probably experienced the benefits of visualization you just didn’t realize it.
Has there ever been a time when you dwelt on something you wanted to do or perform and it consumed your mind? You thought about all the steps you would need to take to accomplish to X or Y. You even had an emotional response as if you had accomplished what you were thinking about. Then when you actually did it, it was easier or you did it a lot more efficiently than you thought it would be.
If you answered, “Yes.” Then you practiced visualization.
I accidently started to use visualisation when I played Football in college. Every day leading up to a big game, I would visualize every play and what I needed to do. I would go through each of the steps for each and every play. From the physical steps I would take, to knocking my opponent over. The weeks where I did this faithfully every night, were the times I always played great! I didn’t realize it was called visualization, I just thought it was something weird that I did.
And it’s just not my experience or the experience of those above that testify to the benefits of visualization.
There have been numerous studies that show that visualization literally helps your mind create new neural patterns. Visualization teaches your body how to perform a physical action without actually doing the activity. That is crazy!
My grandfather, who was in the Marines once told me this story and now it makes a lot of sense.
He said, that before he was allowed to shoot a single round through a weapon he had be visualize or think about firing the rifle 500 times. Before any boot (new Marine) was allowed to put a bullet in the barrel they had to mentally go through the motions before even touching a bullet. They had to visualize pulling the trigger, they had to visualize hearing the click, and responding to the recoil of the weapon. He said after doing that, he was able to hit the target every time. I don’t know about you, but I find that pretty compelling.
Two Types of Visualization
One type of visualization focuses on the outcome, the other focuses on the process. However, studies have shown that they’re generally most effective when you do both of them.
So the challenge this week is to come up with a goal that’s super important to you. Then I want you to visualize your success in reaching that goal.
What that means is, I want you to visualize yourself performing every action necessary to reach your goal (the processes) and I want you to visualize accomplishing your goal (the outcome).
- ID your goal
- List the steps
- Think through ALL steps
- What does it look like when you reach your goal?
- What does that feel like?
Here’s an article that you can use to reference. It is a touch new aging for me, but still works.: jackcanfield.com/visualize-and-affirm-your-desired-outcomes-a-step-by-step-guide
Important caveat, visualization does not get rid of, nor does it replace hard work and repeated practice. However, when you combine hard work, practice, and visualization you will dramatically accelerate your growth to your goal.
What you need to do.
I need you to block off at least 5 minutes per day to visualize your success and every step that entails. Remember you need to identify a goal that’s super important to you.
If your goal is truly important to you, visualization can be one of the most important exercises you have ever tried.
Now go be awesome!
KELLEN LAKE – Visualizing your success 🙂
PS – If you have any questions reply and I will do my best to answer them.
