The Value of Visualization
Visualization has helped me tremendously in achieving my goals. There are many benefits of visualization, which I will discuss in the following article. As a coach, I often encourage my clients to practice visualization.
One book that I love, which discusses visualization, is “Psycho-Cybernetics.” I highly recommend it, it provides great insights into the importance of visualization.
In the book "Psycho-Cybernetics," Dr. Maltz wrote about the benefits of Visualization and how it affected his clients during his time working as a plastic surgeon. He noted that after surgeries, some patients experienced significant personal transformations in their lives while others did not.
The ones who had personal transformations became more confident and had more success in achieving their goals. He concluded that the difference came from their self-image and how they visualized themselves after their surgery.
Dr. Maltz concluded that the mind can be reprogrammed to improve one's self-image and self-belief by using visualization. He found that visualization helps create neural pathways in the brain that change a person's behavior and daily actions. These actions are the bridge to achieving our ambitious goals.
Every action is a result of a thought from our mind. If we have negative thoughts, our actions will reflect that and yield poor results.
We first need to change how our mind operates. Visualization is a tool that we can use to do that. It can be used to reprogram our minds and change our ingrained core beliefs.
Jim Carrey once testified how visualization was helpful to him.
Before Jim Carrey was a renowned actor, he mentioned that he used to visualize himself landing a splendid role. He wrote himself a $10 million check that he would receive after playing that role. Later on, he played a role in the movie “Dumb and Dumber” and was paid $10 million for that role.
We can find the benefits of visualization in his story:
i) When we visualize ourselves achieving something constantly, we imprint it in our minds. Then our subconscious mind sees that perception as reality. This opens up our mind and it tries to find pathways to make that perception a reality.
ii) Visualization helps us stay motivated in our pursuits. Our brain produces dopamine when we imagine these ideal situations. Dopamine is the “motivation” chemical that makes us take action.
Think back in your life to situations where you imagined something as impossible or extremely difficult to achieve. The result: we feel anxious when we try to pursue these goals, and it can cause us to feel paralyzed, unable to take action, just because we imagine that goal as impossible and extremely difficult to achieve.
How we visualize something has a tremendous impact on us. Elon Musk often talks about his vision of sending people to Mars. This has driven him to run a successful rocket company—a very difficult field, but he still managed to pull it off.
We can see how visualization is an important tool that everyone can use.
Here are some techniques that will help you practice effective visualization:
1: Create detailed imagery
Imagine achieving their end result goal. So, if you can imagine owning a mansion, you should imagine the sight of the rooms, the sounds, the smells, and the physical sensations of being inside that mansion.
2. Visualize the step-by-step process
Visualize the exact steps you need to take to achieve your end goal. You should visualize things like working long hours and doing the hard work while enjoying the process. Imagining this makes the process of doing the tasks much easier.
It is best to visualize the daily steps instead of imagining the final result. Imagining the final result can make us feel overwhelmed and paralyzed, unable to take any action. Hence, focusing on the daily tiny actions is doable and less overwhelming.
Instead of imagining building something as great as the Great Wall of China, it is best to imagine laying one brick after the other and enjoying the process.
In the end, the small daily actions of stacking the bricks will lead to the final result—building the wall.
This makes achieving our ambitious goals much easier without the mental barriers.
Daily practice
It’s important to note that visualization should be done daily to see its outsized returns. In life, we often find ourselves sidetracked from our main daily objectives when our mind is filled with redundant thoughts. So, we need a way to deal with that.
I find it more effective to do visualization in the morning and at night before bed this is when you’re mind is also most vulnerable so it really solidifies.
In the morning, visualization reminds us of our main goals and what we strive to accomplish. It helps us feel energized and motivated to face the daunting tasks we have to complete.
At night, visualization can help us feel less stressed after working hard throughout the day and helps make us feel better. Additionally, doing nighttime visualization is part of the repetition. Repeating something convinces our mind that it is true and programs it as a new belief.
The visualization sessions don't have to be long. Five to ten-minute sessions are enough.
To Wrap Up
Visualization is a very powerful tool that your clients can use. Coaches should provide guidance on how to do visualization properly. Inform them of the benefits of practicing visualization daily and how it can help transform their lives.
