The Dirty Truth About Visualization

I often close my eyes, get into a relaxed mood, and think about my goals. And maaaaan, I must say it’s extremely exciting, very refreshing, brightens up my day and it just feels so good to do so – to really visualize what I truly want before I leave this earth!

After one of my most recent visualization sessions, I posted this to Facebook:

Just spent a moment thinking about one of my big dreams (to travel with loved ones to exotic places). It feels so good…

And people resonated with that because they too know how good it feels to hold space in your mind, even if only for a few moments, of something you want to do.

Visualization was used as a tool thousands of years ago by ancient civilizations such as the Egyptians, who created detailed wall paintings to visualize their beliefs and lifestyles.

Today, visualization is still being used by a lot of people including some of the world’s most powerful business people and entrepreneurs. It has greatly evolved to meet the demands of modern society and continues to play an important role in shaping how we see our future selves.

But honestly, there’s a dirty litte truth about visualization that keeps an otherwise useful tactic from being very effective.

The Problem With Visualization

In order to visualize something properly, you’ve got to be able to truly see it – to conjure up a lifelike image in your head. That’s tough especially if you’ve never had it before, which will require a lot of brainpower to draw up an ideal, realistic image.

And even if you do have the realistic image in your brain, it’s a whole new challenge to develop the focus needed to keep the image in your head. Usually, you start to focus on something and it fades.

Or the negativity in your mind hinders it.

Or you get distracted by some other figment of your imagination.

Here’s some good news. This kind of constant focus ISN’T needed for proper visualization.

The idea of holding an image in your head doesn’t need to be perfect either, and it doesn’t need to hang around in your conscious mind every second of the day.

Your subconscious is the part that needs to grab hold of these ideas.

So in order to visualize properly, you’ll need to find the happy balance between imagining something and focusing on it and enjoying the finished results as if you’ve already experienced it!

A Little Brain Experiment

Like I said earlier, visualization isn’t just about grabbing a mental image. The first steps require being evocative, something that has the power to evoke strong emotions, memories, or associations.

Here’s what I mean.

Think about an important or happy event in your past. Don’t just remember it, be evocative. What does it smell like? What sounds do you remember?

The trick is to engage ALL of your senses.

Now try and apply this same level of evocative detail to your visualization of something you desire. Picture yourself in that situation in detail. How does it smell? How does it look? What does it feel like? Who are you with? What’s the weather like? What music playing? Are you laughing? Happy? Ecstatic?

While you do this, pay attention to your body because your brain will send signals to your body as it experiences these details as if you’ve already experienced it. It doesn’t know the difference. It will react as if and that’s what you want.

It’s not enough to just throw out words or give lip service on what you want. You MUST experience it beforehand, visualize it, and THEN take action towards your goal.

Don’t believe me? Look at most winning athletes’ interviews and you’ll hear them mention how they saw themselves throwing the winning shot, or hitting the homerun, or jumping over every hurdle. It STARTS with visualization.

One More Note On Visualization

When should you visualize? Early in the morning? During the day? Before bed? The time can make a difference, and the best time is: *drum roll please* multiple times a day!

The more often you visualize, the more you can pump yourself up into a hyper-charged mental AND emotional state, both of which you absolutely need to succeed.

This process will get your subconscious mind manifesting – which makes it more likely you follow through on bringing your goals to life!

Over to you…

What image(s) do you hold firmly in your subconscious? Tell us in the comments below!