Mind Over Matter: Develop Your Strengths & Achieve New Levels of Success

“A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.”

- Larry Bird, NBA Hall of Fame Athlete

Consider the difficulty of recalling a treasured memory or planning your day without creating a mental image. It's nearly impossible because picturing things is an intrinsic part of how our minds work. Here, I will demystify the art of visualization; an authoritative tool capable of influencing our outcomes. Whether you're focused on personal growth, driven by professional aspirations, or simply wish to unlock the mind's potential, this blog is designed to help you uncover how to leverage visualization to carve a path toward a successful and fulfilling life.

There are several keys to visualizing anything effectively:

1. Your vision must be believable. You can’t visualize yourself playing in the NBA or making a billion dollars in the near term if that is too far off for you.  Your ego won’t believe it.  Visualizations are not effective if they are fantasy or delusion. Your visualizations should be

   related to a goal, and your goal should be both reasonable and a stretch in your belief system.

   
   

2. Your vision must be realistic. Don’t visualize having the body of a 24-year-old Greek god if you’re 87 years old. Avoid visualizing having a stack of dollars equaling $100,000 on your table when it would be best realized in your bank account, arriving by check or wire transfer.

   Believability is about scale and realism is about practicality.

   
   

3. Visualize consistently. Twice a day, at a minimum, will best help you succeed. First thing in the morning and last thing at night works well. It gets your mind in a positive place as you start your day and before you fall asleep.

   
   

4. It takes time.  Visualization as a practice takes time.  You must be patient and see this as a discipline. It’s like gaining or losing weight. You can’t gain or lose 10 lbs. in a day, but the change over time can be impressive. Stay with it.

   
   

5. Expand your big picture. Instead of visualizing only improving your strengths and abilities related to your current job, visualize yourself as a recognized leader in your industry. Visualize yourself speaking at large events.  Visualize yourself reading up on competitors and innovations. You need to see and be comfortable with the whole package, not just a piece of it.

   • As an example, if you are interested in being in excellent shape, you shouldn’t just visualize your great body. You should also visualize being the type of person who eats well, exercises daily, and places a high value on these types of behaviors.

   • Someone interested in improving their financial strength would visualize all the behaviors associated with that result: things like spending money wisely, earning more income, investing wisely, and paying bills on time.

     
     

6. Experience your vision with vivid, sensory details. Don’t just ‘see’ it – think about what you would also hear, smell, and feel. The more complete the experience, the more powerful your visualization will be.   

   
   

7. Use spare moments. We all have moments throughout the day when we’re not doing critical tasks. Maybe you’re waiting in the doctor’s office, scrolling on social media, or waiting for a meeting to start. Whenever you have a couple of minutes, focus your mind on a visualization.

   
   

   REMEMBER:  Anytime your mind wanders off to something other than what you’re doing, you could be visualizing (or being mindful)!

A VISUALIZATION PRACTICE

Now that you have the dos and don’ts, here is a simple process to effectively incorporate visualization into your life:

1. Find a good place. Depending on your ability to concentrate, you need an appropriate location. Quiet is good. Minimal visual distractions are good. The bathroom or stairwell can be a good place at work if you don’t have an office. At home, any quiet spot out of the way of the kids and spouse works well.

   
   

2. Take a few deep, slow breaths. Slow breathing calms the mind. It’s the one part of your physiology over which you have a high level of control. Count your breaths, if that helps you to focus.

   
   

3. Imagine. It’s no different than any other time you daydream, except now you’re choosing the topic of your daydream. Imagine yourself achieving your goal and demonstrating the strength you wish to develop. Remember to include a lot of detail. Get into it and keep the experience 100% positive.

   
   

4. Keep track of negative feelings. Write down any potential issues. For example, if you’re visualizing yourself making an ‘elevator speech’ and notice that you’re uncomfortable having other people around, make a note of it. Perhaps you will need to set a goal to resolve this issue or do some other work on it.

   
   

A big part of achieving your goal is removing the obstacles.

Visualization is a way to convince your subconscious that you’ve already done something that you haven’t.  With a regular practice of intentional, positive, goal-orientated visualization, beliefs that don’t support your visualization will start to fade away and new beliefs will begin to develop.

“Visualization is daydreaming with a purpose.”

- Bo Bennett, Ph.D, Author Year to Success