Imagine yourself sitting in your favorite cafe. How does it smell? Do you smell coffee? Do you smell cakes baking? That soft aroma of vanilla mixed with a hint of cinnamon and warm chocolate? Now picture yourself ordering your favorite cake and coffee. Imagine the first sip of hot coffee and a small bite of soft cake. Can you visualize the taste? Do you see yourself wanting coffee now? Or perhaps something sweet?
Do you feel like questioning what we are doing and why are we doing this?
The above activity is what we call the imagery visualization technique. It’s a technique of goal setting that many CEO’s and successful athletes swear by. It’s a technique that guides you in visualizing a scenario/goal by involving all five senses. It helps people visualize themselves doing what they will do to succeed by figuring out the minutest of details and thus ensuring the winning the goal in their mind before even the race starts.
WHAT IS VISUALIZATION?
Visualization is a mindfulness exercise where individuals can improve themselves and manifest success in everyday aspects of life.
It is a method in which a person uses their mind, sight, or imagination to build a detailed picture of what they want and how they want it.
When individuals practice visualization, they trick their brain region into believing they are physically performing the task. One can shape one’s brain for success through this practice and exercise. They may use their five senses to create more detailed pictures of how, when, why, and where things happen.
If one constantly and repeatedly thinks and visualizes the thought, the subconscious mind adapts to it, changing an individual’s mindset. It’s a practice that should be performed regularly to see its results. Your ideas, feelings, and behaviors will all be affected by your new mindset. As a result, you will be motivated to achieve your objective or desire.
Our thinking is a vital instrument that can help us attain our goals. Whether we provide it with powerful or restrictive thoughts is up to us.
HOW IS VISUALIZATION HELPFUL?
- Visualization is found to be quite successful in helping you be more focused and motivated towards achieving your dream when done regularly.
- Visualizing your objectives or what you desire might help you gain confidence. Imagining and visualizing yourself succeeding, helping you have belief and faith in yourself.
- When you imagine every detail and step toward achieving your objective, you prepare your mind and body to do so in real life.
HOW TO PRACTICE VISUALIZATION?
You can practice visualization with these five easy steps:
- Write down in detail your goal. Try to include all five senses. What will you see? What you would hear? What would you smell? How does your mouth feel? What would you be doing? How would you do it? Answer the what, why, and how? Create a step-by-step detailed plan of minutest of details.
- Now attach emotions to this goal. How would you feel when you have achieved your goal? Why do you want to accomplish this goal? The more you feel and believe in it, the more likely you will reach that goal.
- Practice every day. Take action every day to achieve your goals. Imagine the hurdles and obstacles that you might face during the process. Visualize how you would deal with them if and when these obstacles arise and keep moving towards achieving your goals.
- Learn more about your goal. Expand your knowledge. More you know, more elaborately you would be able to take it into account the challenges and supports you can get,
- Make time to visualize daily.
WHY VISUALIZE DAILY?
Isn’t it enough to only practice visualizing once? Many of you may be wondering why it should be done on a daily basis.
Here’s the reason why, by practicing daily:
- To train our minds to picture the moment when our goal is realized.
- To set our beliefs, and prepare our minds. Our neurological connections are becoming stronger to help us attain that aim. Our bodies are becoming more strong and more oriented towards our goals.
- Replaying the strategy makes you more confident and focused, and more conscious of what you want. It prepares you for minor blunders that could catch you off guard in the heat of the moment.
For example, no matter how good or confident he is about his chances of winning, a runner may become emotionally overwhelmed when facing such a large audience in his first games. Thus, visualizing the actual race day: being in a crowded stadium, on the racecourse surrounded by other racers, and the abrupt shove of the initiation gun might help him be prepared for external elements while being entirely focused on his race.
Consistency is crucial because regular visualization might persuade your brain that what you imagine is the fact.
The more you visualize something, the stronger that vision becomes – and the higher the likelihood that you’ll get what you want. Why? Because you’ve already done it.
The beauty of visualization is that you can perform it anywhere: on the train to and from work, before going to bed at night, or while sipping your morning coffee.
