LIFE S.A.V.E.R.S.
V Is for Visualization
“Ordinary people believe only in the possible. Extraordinary people visualize not what is possible or probable, but rather what is impossible. And by visualizing the impossible, they begin to see it as possible.”
—Chérie Carter-Scott
“See things as you would have them be instead of as they are.”
—Robert Collier
On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister became the first human in recorded history to run a mile in under four minutes, finishing in precisely 3:59.4. Before Bannister’s unprecedented accomplishment, no one had ever run a sub-four-minute mile, and it was widely believed to be beyond a human’s physiological capabilities.
When asked how he accomplished this seemingly impossible feat, he described that, as part of his training, he had relentlessly visualized the achievement to create a sense of certainty in his mind and body. Roger is just one extraordinary example of how we can all use visualization to perform at our best.
Visualization, also known as mental rehearsal, is the process of imagining exactly what you want to achieve or experience, then mentally rehearsing precisely what you need to do to achieve or experience it while generating an optimal emotional state that compels you to do whatever you need to do. It is frequently used by elite athletes and performers to mentally rehearse their work, helping them to prepare and ultimately to perform at peak levels.
Without realizing it, we engage in mental rehearsal almost every day, though often in a way that is detrimental to our success. Every time we think of an unpleasant or difficult task that we don’t particularly want to do, we are rehearsing the feelings of not wanting to do it. If you think to yourself, “I’m supposed to go to the gym today after work, but I really don’t want to go,” then when five o’clock rolls around, the mindset and resulting emotions you unconsciously rehearsed earlier in the day are likely to determine your behavior in the moment. This is how we consistently rehearse not doing what we need to do, and then we often end up not doing it. Thinking ourselves out of doing what we need to do becomes an unconscious habit that robs us of everything we want to create for our lives.
Visualization is our antidote to this unconscious and destructive habit, which can be implemented in just a few minutes each morning. However, much like affirmations, it can be counterproductive when done ineffectively.
The Problems with Visualization and Vision Boards
Ever since the bestselling book and documentary The Secret made its way into pop culture in 2006, a method of visualization has been popularized that can be both ineffective and counterproductive. This method involves visualizing what you want for your life without visualizing yourself engaged in the necessary activities that will get you there. We are taught to cut out and post pictures of the house, the car, the body, and the life of our dreams. We are told that if we do this, we will “attract” everything we want in our lives.
While vision boarding may be a fun weekend craft project to do with your family, and keeping images of things you aspire to be or have or do is certainly not without value, it is hardly the most effective form of visualization. It also gives people a false sense of hope, encouraging them to believe that their ideal outcome is going to magically become a reality just because they put a bunch of pictures on a poster board. No offense, but this is borderline delusional.
The Benefits of Visualization (for the Rest of Us)
Although elite athletes and performers are typically known to use visualization to perform at their best, I’ve discovered another benefit that is even more helpful for those of us who aren’t competing in the Olympics or performing on Broadway. Visualization can help us overcome one of the biggest obstacles standing between us and accomplishing what we want in our lives: getting ourselves to do what we know we need to do when we don’t feel like doing it.
Whether it’s due to a lack of inspiration, motivation, or physical energy, we often don’t feel like doing what we need to do when we need to do it. We allow our feelings to determine our behavior, which causes us to procrastinate since it’s always easier to do nothing or continue doing what we’ve always done. When you discover how to overcome that obstacle and consistently generate the clarity and motivation you need to take the necessary actions you know you should be taking—when you should be taking them—there is very little that can stop you from realizing your full potential and achieving your goals.
Allow me to share a personal story that illustrates precisely how you’ll be able to use visualization to generate the clarity and motivation you need to do what you need to do when you need to do it, whether you feel like it or not.
For most of my life, I hated running. I realize that hate is a strong word, and I rarely use it, but I’ve despised and avoided running for as long as I can remember. I vividly recall dreading having to run the mile in high school PE class. However, in early 2009, after roughly six months of doing the Miracle Morning, I asked myself what a level 10 would be in the category of physical fitness. I decided it would be to run a marathon (26.2 miles). However, I had two friends who had both run ultramarathons (52 miles), and I considered the possibility that if they could do it, maybe I could too. Having never run more than a mile (which was against my will in high school P.E. class), I figured that for me to run 52 consecutive miles, I would have to evolve far beyond who I had ever been, both mentally and physically.
Although the prospect of becoming someone who could run an ultramarathon was somewhat exciting, it was also (mostly) terrifying. It just so happened that a charity I sat on the board of, Front Row Foundation, was hosting its annual fundraising run at the Atlantic City Marathon that October. That gave me six months to train. So, I made a commitment to the foundation and announced publicly that I would train for and complete the ultramarathon to raise money for Front Row Foundation. I immediately began using visualization to help me overcome my resistance to running.
First, I spent roughly 60 seconds visualizing my ideal outcome—crossing the finish line of the Atlantic City Marathon—and imagining what it would feel like. The benefits of this were twofold. One, it helped to generate clarity of outcome and made this seemingly impossible accomplishment feel more and more real every time I visualized it. And two, it helped me to fuel my desire and generate motivation to want to make that vision a reality.
Second (and this is key), I visualized exactly what I needed to do that day to make progress toward my ideal outcome and did so while putting myself in a peak emotional state that would compel me to take the necessary action. I closed my eyes and vividly pictured my iPhone, resting on our living room coffee table, displaying 7 AM and the alarm beeping to let me know it was time to go for my run. I saw myself stand up off the couch, walk into my bedroom, and head into my closet to get dressed. I pictured myself putting on my running clothes, then heading back out to my living room and toward the front door. I saw myself opening the door, looking at the sidewalk, and smiling as I said to myself with conviction and enthusiasm, “I’m excited to go for a run today because it is enabling me to become the best version of myself!” I repeated these sentiments and created congruent physiology as I nodded my head and generated feelings of excitement to go for today’s run.
I didn’t wish or want or hope for the feelings I needed to compel me to go for a run; I generated those feelings. Within a few short minutes, I had rehearsed myself taking the necessary actions I knew I needed to take to reach my goal, while putting myself in an optimal emotional state that would compel me to take those actions at the predetermined time.
The payoff for this method of visualization was that when the alarm on my phone sounded and the display read 7 AM, I didn’t turn it off and think to myself, “Ugh, I hate running. I can just skip today and do it tomorrow.” That didn’t happen because that’s not what I rehearsed. Instead, when my alarm went off, I did exactly what I had visualized that morning, almost automatically and with virtually no resistance. I stood up, went into my closet, got dressed, walked across my living room to the front door, opened the door, and as soon as I saw the sidewalk, I was flooded with the positive emotions that I had generated that morning. Even the same words ran through my head: I’m excited to go for a run today because it is enabling me to become the best version of myself! And off I went, suddenly able and compelled to do the thing that I had despised and avoided for my entire life. That’s the power and primary benefit of visualization.
3 Steps for Your Miracle Morning Visualization
Although you can do the S.A.V.E.R.S. in any order, there is a nice rhythm to placing visualization directly after your affirmations because you can visualize what you affirmed. After reciting your affirmations is the prime time to visualize yourself acting in alignment with your affirmations. Here are three simple, sequential steps to do that.
Step 1: Prepare Your Mindset
Our mindset sets the tone going into any experience. So, remember that the primary objectives and benefits of your visualization include the following:
•See and feel what it will be like to achieve your ideal outcome so you’re able to generate the clarity and motivation that will help fuel your drive to do what’s necessary to achieve it.
•Mentally rehearse yourself taking the necessary actions that you’ve determined you’ll need to take to achieve your ideal outcome.
•Do all the above while getting yourself into a peak emotional state so that you’ll be far more compelled to follow through with the necessary actions at whatever time you’ve determined you’ll need to take them.
The act of visualizing isn’t particularly difficult. Still, some people either overcomplicate it or struggle with it due to their own fears, insecurities, or other mental or emotional obstacles that make visualizing their success uncomfortable. Others may worry what other people will think of them for pursuing their goals or possibly feel guilty that their loved ones will feel left behind.
This famous quote from Marianne Williamson’s book A Return to Love should resonate with anyone who feels mental or emotional obstacles when attempting to visualize:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
Consider that the greatest gift you can give to the people that you love, as well as those that you lead, is to consistently strive to fulfill your potential so that you gain the ability to help them do the same.
It’s time to suspend any fears, insecurities, or concerns with what other people think and get into a mindset of possibility. What do you really want? Forget about any self-imposed limitations you may have clung to. Remember, you can’t go back and change the past, but you can change everything else, starting now. You are just as worthy, deserving, and capable of creating everything you want for your life as any other person on earth. You deserve to be happy, healthy, and financially secure. Now let’s visualize what that looks like for you.
Sit up tall, in a comfortable position. This can be on a chair, couch, floor, or the like. Breathe deeply. Close your eyes, clear your mind, and get ready to visualize.
Step 2: Visualize Your Ideal Outcome
When we visualize ourselves experiencing what we want, we stir up emotions that lift our spirits and pull us toward our vision. The more vividly you see what you want, and the more intensely you allow yourself to experience now the feelings you will feel once you’ve achieved your goal, the more you make the possibility of achieving it feel real.
So, let’s begin with the end in mind. What’s a goal you’d like to achieve? What is an improvement or accomplishment that you would love to see come to fruition?
Your ideal outcome can be a lifelong dream such as writing a book, starting a business, or traveling the world. It can be a short- or long-term goal, such as losing 10 pounds, transforming your marriage, increasing your income, or being happy and enjoying this one life you’ve been blessed to live. Or it can be as simple and immediate as how you want to greet your spouse or your kids for the day. Whatever your desired outcome, visualization will help you rehearse making it happen so that you’re primed to actually make it happen.
Having considered what an ideal outcome would be for you in any area of your life, you’re going to simply close your eyes and imagine what it will look and feel like to achieve it. Vividly imagine the positive feelings that moment will bring. For me, it was crossing the finish line of the Atlantic City Marathon. For you, it might be improving your health, growing your business, or connecting more deeply with someone you love.
As you visualize your ideal outcome, make it as vivid as possible. See, feel, hear, touch, taste, and smell every detail of your vision. Involve more than one of your senses to maximize the effectiveness of your visualization. The point is to see yourself accomplishing what you set out to accomplish and to experience how good it will feel to have followed through and made your vision a reality. The more vivid you make your vision, the more real it will feel and the more compelled you’ll be to take the necessary actions to make it a reality.
Step 3: Visualize Taking the Necessary Actions (While in an Optimal Emotional State)
Once you’ve spent a few minutes visualizing a clear mental picture of your ideal outcome, showing yourself what’s possible and imagining what it will feel like to experience it, the next step is to determine which actions to take to achieve that outcome and then rehearse yourself taking those actions. This step is where you’re going to use visualization to overcome what is arguably the most significant obstacle standing between us and creating the lives we want: getting yourself to do what you need to do, when you need to do it, whether you feel like it or not. Overcoming that obstacle makes you virtually unstoppable.
We often avoid following through with our most important actions because they either are outside of our comfort zone, carry with them significant consequences that cause some level of fear within us, or are simply easier not to do than to do. This method of visualization is a mental rehearsal that prepares you to take action. It is the practice of seeing yourself engaged in your most consequential actions for today while putting yourself into an optimal emotional state that will compel you to take those actions in real time.
Simply close your eyes and see yourself engaged in the activities you’ve decided you need to do today (exercising, working, researching, writing, making phone calls, engaging with other people in a positive way, etc.), and make sure you envision yourself enjoying the process. See yourself smiling as you’re running on that treadmill, filled with a sense of pride for your self-discipline in following through. Picture the look of determination on your face as you make those phone calls, work on that report, or finally take action and make progress on that project you’ve been putting off for far too long. Generate feelings of love and playfulness as you rehearse greeting your family for the day. Visualize yourself in a peak mental and emotional state, doing whatever you need to do today to move in the direction of your ideal outcomes.