CHANGE N°18 - TAKE THE TIME TO VISUALIZE EVERY DAY. LET'S TRY A DIFFERENT APPROACH

When it comes to reaching your goals, numerous techniques are proposed to help you move forward and achieve them. For your goal to be clear, it's important to take the time to sit down and actually write what it is you want. You can also let your friends know, which will make you accountable. Another technique that works is to download an app that will help you keep track of your daily achievements.. and you can also visualize. Numerous books and articles have touted the benefits of visualization and so I start by asking myself: what is visualization exactly? According to the dictionary, "to visualize is to form a mental picture of something that is invisible or abstract."

A) VISUALIZATION MADE SIMPLE

Just for a second, close your eyes and visualize a chocolate covered strawberry or any other food. If it’s a strawberry, see it’s beautiful bright red color ! Just look at it for a few moments. Then imagine grabbing this chocolate covered strawberry with your hands and feeling its firmness. Now smell it. Smell the mixture of both smells : the chocolate and the strawberry. Take your time. Feel how your mouth starts to water before finally putting it into your mouth and taking a big bite. Feel the firmness of the strawberry, it’s perfume filling your nose. Feel how the chocolate starts to melt and both flavours blending perfectly in your mouth.

B) ADDING COMPONENTS

This whole process is called visualizing. You might ask, why visualize something to eat? The reason is because it’s simple and easy to do. First start practicing with easy things such as something to eat or an object. What’s really important is to have all your senses participate in the process, in order to make it as real as possible. Once you get used to it, extend the experience to something broader such as sitting on the beach and looking and listening to the waves and everything that surrounds you : feel ing the sand beneath your hands and feet, looking at the waves and hearing them crash in front of you, smelling the salty air and for taste you could imagine yourself drinking a refreshing lemonade. Take the time to savour the moment and to truly live the experience. And then try some other happy, pleasurable, relaxing experiences. Remember to breathe slowly and be totally in the moment.

C) TRYING A DIFFERENT APPROACH: GOING THROUGH THE ENTIRE PROCESS

Once you have mastered the basics of visualization, then you are on your way to creative visualization in other words to visualize something you would like to create in your life, such as reaching your goals or having a dream come true.

I must make a point here that is not in most visualizing books. Usually when you visualize, you are asked to see yourself as already having accomplished what you desire. Most authors will say that the key to success is the « ending » : see yourself slim, see yourself succeed, see yourself rich and you will be slim, successful and rich.

How's that been working for you? I am not saying it doesn't work. What I would like you to do is to question this technique regarding yourself. I can't help but think that we all are different and our needs vary. If visualizing yourself succeeding has not convinced you or has not reaped the results you were expecting, maybe it's worth trying to do it differently.

A few years ago I was reading about visualization and something bothered me, something clicked in my mind and it came in the form of a question. Let me explain how it happened: 

The very first time I looked into visualizing was when I was studying to become a personal trainer. Visualizing was a tool to help athletes reach their goals. However, they were not only asked to simply visualize the end (themselves holding the trophy or jumping up for joy at the moment of victory). No ! Visualizing athletes were asked to view and to analyze every detail of every move. They were required to see the entire process.

For example, if a tennis player wanted to improve his serve then he would visualise each and every step : from the moment he would take the ball in his hand, make it bounce three times on the ground, bend the knees, throw the ball up in the air, swing the racket and hit it. It was important that the athlete actually saw himself playing, kind of like in slow motion, repeating the same movement over and over again in his mind before seeing himself succeed. This method of preparation is known to be highly effective for athletes.

For this reason, I questionned myself: should it be limited to the final destination…would it have been enough for an athlete to simply see himself up on the podium? I pause and wonder. Maybe, I am just saying maybe, a little more action needs to be involved to the equation for it to really work.

a) Example n° 01 : Positive Visualization :My goal is…  to publish my book

Let's take the example of getting my book published. I could see myself signing a contract with a publisher or buying my book in a bookstore and focus only on the end result. Or... I could start by seeing myself working hard and fully concentrated at my desk ; I could see myself typing away and feeling inspired and creative. I could imagine the number of pages increasing, I could envision myself smiling and feeling satisfied with the whole process. And then, I could  visualize myself sending my book to a publisher and succeeding. Just like the athlete had done, I will see myself going through each and every step in slow motion and feel how focused and inspired I am during the whole process.

b) Example n° 02 : Visualise yourself telling your whole story to a crowd of people while being on a stage

Challenges and obstacles are an integral part of any success story. For many, the path to success is a series of trials and errors. For this reason, my favorite visualizing technique is to envision myself on stage in front of a crowd of people, telling them the different challenges I have had to tackle. I let them know how I struggled every day. How I fought to make time to write, how I blamed others and exterior factors for not moving forward, how I had days of doubt and discouragement. But then, still facing the crowd, I continue by telling them how I managed to push past these obstacles, how I learnt to shoulder the responsibility of my life, how it's normal on any path to have ups and downs and that what's important is to hang in there. The path wasn't easy BUT I did it, jumping one hurdle at a time. I explain to them that the path to success is not linear and that that's ok. I finish by showing my book to the crowd and encouraging them to go out there too and make their dreams come true.

Maybe, taking the time to see what type of obstacles lie ahead could allow you to be better prepared and eventually help you manage and overcome them.

The path to success, everyone knows, isn’t always easy but you can succeed and you will ! As the saying goes :

« You must climb before you can enjoy the view. »

What this means is that it’s going to require some work, some action on your behalf. The way I see it : You can’t simply visualize, sit back and expect wonderful things to happen to you. That equation just doesn’t sound right or even fair.

c) Example n° 03 : Seeing the challenges and obstacles

Why not see yourself participating in some sort of race or challenge, such as a marathon, an obstacle course, climbing up a mountain or even a boxing match or any other sport challenge you can picture yourself in. Stay focused on your specific goal but to see yourself getting out there, fighting and succeeding. You could start off by seeing yourself as confident and feeling great. At first this challenge is easy for you. Then progressively, see yourself getting a little discouraged, feeling tired. Other participants are overtaking you. Hear yourself questionning the whole process : why are you doing this anyway ? what have you got to prove ? And then at point say « I’m doing this ! I am succeeding ! I am finishing this challenge ! » Then envision yourself with rage in your heart, your eyes full of determination, you can even yell. See yourself overtaking those participants that had previously overtaken you. See yourself smiling and finally crossing the finish line full of pride !

« Successful people are not gifted, they just work hard, then succeed on purpose. »

d) Example n° 4: 

If your goal is to exercise more frequently at the gym, follow the same idea : imagine you are at the movies and that you have come to see a projection of what you went through : you see yourself walking into the gym enthusiastically, then exercising and feeling strong. After a while, you see yourself a little self-conscious or tired and then discouraged and wanting to quit. Then the images stops and a question appears : « What’s the purpose of all this ? Do I really want this ? » « YES ! I really really want this ! ». Then the images starts again and you can see yourself getting back on track even more determined and smiling with pride, not caring at all about the other people who are training right next to you ! Then, finally, picture yourself pushing the doors of  the gym feeling fantastic and proud. 

To conclude…

If classic visualization works for you, no need to change anything. However if something seems to be missing or if you have tried it in the past and don’t seem to be getting results, it may be time to contest what you have read, to think things through, to try something different, to create your own path, to CHANGE. I was raised to believe that I live in a land of opportunity where anyone can succeed if they work for it. It has always been clear to me never to expect anything to be given to me on a silver platter. Sure, once in a while, it happens : life sends you a present (you find a 50$ bill, you win at a game etc.) but most of the time, success comes from hard work. And when you have received the reward, you feel all the more proud after all the sweat you have put into it because YOU have earned it ! So apply the same principle to visualization : first, acknowledge the effort and then, see yourself succeed !