THE POWER OF VISUALISATION AND HOW IT HELPS YOU PREPARE
Visualisation is a tool I have used extensively throughout my career, long before I learnt the hard and fast scientific proof behind the theory. I instinctively understood and harnessed its power, and you can too.
This is about imagining yourself in a particular situation, race or other challenge in life, and experiencing yourself successfully completing it. The whole point is to actually feel the feelings and initiate the actual physical responses in your body by doing so. When you do this regularly, your mind thinks it's actually happening.
In these fantasies, you are not limited to being the mortal human being you are in real life. You can be Superman or Superwoman, empowered with super human abilities, strengths and mental toughness. It's your daydream, so to speak, and you can control it and make it as vivid as possible. By doing this, you breathe life into your dreams and goals.
Homework
Try this exercise - Find a quiet spot and lie down. Close your eyes and do some deep breathing exercises. By doing so you are sending signals to the body that you are safe to relax and be calm. Clear your mind and separate yourself from the day-to-day chaos and grind. Try not to think of the dinner that needs cooking or the jobs that need completing. This is your time. You only need ten to fifteen minutes. See this as part of your mind work, your personal development time.
Now I want you to imagine arriving at your race, at your challenge, your project or whatever it is you want to achieve. Now go into details: What do you see? What temperature is it? What are you wearing? What does the start line look like, or the stage, or the boardroom, or the exam room? How many people are there? What do you smell?
Now focus on your feelings: how are you feeling? How strong and confident are you (remember you are in fantasy land, so are you feeling incredibly strong, confident, etc.)?
If it's a sporting challenge you are aiming for, picture heading to the start line, excited and full of expectation and pride at having overcome all the obstacles just to be there. Or if it's a presentation you have to give, see yourself getting up on the stage ready, confident, and strong.
Hear the gun go off, the crowd of runners rush forward, the stadium roar or the audience applaud as you step to the microphone. Feel yourself moving, visualise the path or trail as you imagine it, the wind in your hair, the golf club swing, the feeling of joy, see how fast and strong you feel.
Continue in this vein, going through the entire length of the challenge or job you have ahead of you. Now see yourself reaching the top of the mountain, crossing the finish line, passing that exam or delivering your best performance on stage. See yourself full of joy and strength, with friends and family beaming at you full of pride. The elation!
By doing this exercise over and over you are actually preparing your body for that reality. Even if the challenge itself looks different in real life, it's the inner neural pathways and nerve stimulation that is bringing home the message to your brain.
Imagine That
Have you ever imagined yourself to be superman or Superwoman, able to do great things effortlessly, to be full of charisma, eloquent, articulate, athletic and stylish? If so, then you have already tapped into a key technique that can really benefit you in real life.
Athletes have known this technique for decades. Watch any Olympian high jumper before they make their run up to the bar, and you will know what I mean. You can see them literally taking each step and each movement in their minds before they go. But anyone can use visualisation techniques to prepare for all kinds of situations. From musicians through to executives, from athletes to artists, thousands use this technique every day to help them achieve the difficult to perform at their best.
How and why It Works
Research by scientists show that we experience real-world and visualised actions in similar ways. Whether we are practicing the scales on the piano, or just practicing them in our heads, we will find that when we actually do it on a piano, the mental practice will have improved our performance. When we imagine, we activate many of the same neural networks—paths that link what your body does to the brain impulses that control it.
These imagined scenarios actually cause our heart rate to change, our breathing rhythm to alter, and our blood pressure to increase or decrease. Even though no physical action is taking place, the nervous-system is responding.
With regards to handling complicated or harrowing challenges, having pre-imagined your plan of attack can help you keep calm and focused and help you control your physiology, even stopping stress hormones from being released and helping you stay in control of the situation.
Practicing physical events or cognitive tasks in your mind’s eye will give you a certain familiarity when you are actually in the real-life situation and can help you be more comfortable in the situation. It can also increase your feelings of being in control and confident.
If you want to finally get control in your life, if you want to stop limiting beliefs and unseen forces controlling your behaviour. If you want to develop more mental toughness, more emotional resilience to deal with things that comes your way and you would like to work with Lisa, then you might be a good fit for Lisa's MINDSETU - an online course dedicated to helping you develop more mental toughness, leadership qualities and a never quit mentality. A course that will change your life, your perception of who you are and what you are capable of and will lift your horizon on the goals you have.
Find out more at MindSetU