What Is Visualization & Why Can’t I Do It!?!
Not long ago I got a message from one of my Substack followers after I talked about visualization in an earlier blog. I got back to them and also asked if I could share their question because I thought it was both a great question and hopefully, I could help some others at the same time. They kindly said yes and here is part of their original message.
Gregg,I hear people talking about visualization and forgive me for sounding stupid but I’m not sure I know what visualizing is and I definitely don’t know how to do it. Can you help me with this?
(Keep in mind there are no stupid questions! Thank you for wanting to learn and asking the question in the first place. Because of your courage, now you’re helping others!)
So, what’s this whole visualization thing?
First, let’s take a look at what Visualization is not. Visualization is not some mystical practice that only guru’s can accomplish. Visualization is at its most basic, simply a technique or a tool we can use to help make our life better. (There now, that’s not so scary is it?)Also, visualization isn’t something that only an elite few can discover and use. It’s a tool that doctors and nurses, police officers, the ultra rich and the ultra poor, mothers, fathers and children, business men and women and everyone else who wants to, can use in their everyday lives. The one constant to making your visualizations to work for you is ALWAYS MAKE YOUR VISUALIZATIONS POSITIVE! Even those who claim they can’t visualize, actually visualize all the time. The trouble is that most of those are probably negative. We imagine (*another word for visualization*) how nervous we are and are going to be, how bad an interview will be or we visualize that upcoming family gathering and only think about the negative things or people. Remember, in order to make visualization work for you, you MUST visualize the good things that are going to happen. By visualizing success, you are building up your self-confidence, which makes you perform better, which makes you build even more self-confidence and on and on and on! Instead of building a vicious circle of failing, visualizing lets you create an ENLIGHTED CIRCLE OF SUCCESS. As you visualize every successfull step along the way, it’s the same as an Olympic athlete getting their mind and body ready to take those steps in real life. Anyone can benefit from visualization, including you!!!Congratulations!
So how do I do it?
1. What Is The Outcome You Want To Happen?
What do you want to visualize about? Maybe more importantly. Why is it important for you? Have you had bad outcomes before and if so, what went wrong? If you know what the negatives were, you know where and what to Change in your visualization. Feel deep down everything you experience in your visualization.
2. Picture the end result.
What’s the best case outcome of the event or presentation or test or conversation or a date, etc… Feel your successes in your visualization. Once you know what you want…
3. It’s the little things that matter.
It’s important not only to see your success but to allow yourself to take in all of the little things that surround you everyday. They belong in your visualizations too! Hear the sounds of that meeting room, the smell of the beach, the way the pencil in your hand feels or how the coffee they hand you in your interview tastes, etc…
Now, in your mind see every step you’ll take to succeed. Visualize from getting out of bed on that day to you coming back out to your car afterwards filled with happiness because you did it!
So these are what I consider to be the basic of visualization. As with anything, start slowly and move up from there. I’m not only wishing you all the success in the world, I’m Visualizing It!
(Please let me know if you visualize, how you visualize and what has visualization helped you achieve? I’d love to know personally but I’d really love to let others know what’s possible!)
Peace
……Gregg