Visualisation – Benefits and Practical Applications
Previous Posts in this series:
Visualisation – Introduction
Visualisation – The Core of Visualisation
The beauty of visualisation is that it can be used in so many different contexts, as once you have got to grips with the process, it is a skill that can be deployed at almost any time.
The Positive and the Negative
Visualisation is not a new thing, it has been practiced and promoted for thousands of years. The stoics were great advocates for it, maybe just not in the way you would expect…
Premeditatio Malorum is a stoic daily meditation performed at the start of the day where you play through the events of the day to come and imagine the worst possible outcomes and face in to how you will handle it.
Now, there is a balancing act with this as what we are not trying to do is create a self-fulfilling prophecy where you expect this to happen so subconsciously make it manifest; what we are instead doing is making sure you are prepared psychologically so if the worst does manifest, you are confident you will be able to handle it. Thus, giving you the confidence to push forwards with maximum commitment.
This is all about developing plans to proactively reduce the probability these negative events will happen while also ensuring we are ready if they do.
The visualisation process it just the same, it is just the specific focus differs along with the intent of the action planning.
Here is a link to a post exploring this practice further:
The Double Act
The questions in the getting to the root tool are the perfect partner to visualisation. Getting to the root is all about fleshing out the detail of your goal, and this questioning approach provides the ideal material to help you cultivate a captivating vision at the outset of your endeavour.
The Macro and the Micro
Visualisation is all about getting prepared to face in to a challenge be it arriving at the summit of a mountain, or taking simply your first step. The scale of the challenge does not matter.
It can become a core part of our preparation routine so when you have a tough day ahead, or even just a single challenging conversation you have a tactic to use in advance to get your self in the right frame of mind to be successful.
Building Confidence
To achieve something, you first must believe it is possible. This is where visualisation comes in. Once you have cultivated a vivid image of your success, this will give rise to an increased and deep feeling of confidence in your ability to achieve your goals.
Your subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between your imagined vision (provided it is hyper realistic) and actual experience reality. So, if you have mastered the visualisation process, then as far as your subconscious mind is concerned, when it comes to action time, you are simply repeating what you have already done and achieved. Why then would you not be confident?
Harnessing Motivation
Having motivation to execute action towards achievement of your goals is something the stoics would class as an indifferent. Much better if you have it, but okay if you don’t.
This may sound a bit strange, as there is a commonly accepted view that motivation is required as a precursor to action. In reality though it isn’t. Motivation is trumped my determination.
Determination to face in to the challenge in front of us regardless of how we feel is all that is required to get started. Once we start making a little progress, this sense of achievement will fuel our motivation, which is already driven by our determination, and a positive feedback loop of growing motivation will ensue.
Visualisation though, offers a hack to unlocking motivation.
You see, when we visualise the achievement of our goals, our mind is tricked in to feeling a sense of pride from the achievement. This “closing of the loop” will allow the seeds of motivation to germinate and thus help kick start us towards action without relying solely on determination.
Determination is still key though.
We can never visualise all the challenges on the road ahead so cultivating a strong base of tenacity and determination is still the essential base to underpin your motivation building practice. Think of them as a safety net underneath the high wire of motivation.
Instant Access
Sometimes our goals can feel distant and far off. Unachievable and overwhelming. When we practice visualisation, we make the achievement feel real to us.
A feature of the exercise can often be a realisation that the shift needed in our mental state is just a simple tweak of our perception around our own ability to achieve the goal. The very act of future state visualisation unlocks this mental state and in an act of time travel we bring it back to the present moment.
We also may find that once we have completed our right to left planning, when it comes to left to right, it actually turns our that multiple elements can be developed in parallel and that some elements already exist if we choose to perceive them that way.
Now you didn’t expect I was going to start talking about time travel!
But that is the hidden power of visualisation. It gives you’re the ability to experience the feeling of success, then grab hold of key elements and instantly access them in the present moment.
Making Choices
Nobody likes captain hindsight. But now you have a way to make him your friend.
Let’s say you are faced with a challenge and there are multiple options available to you, none of which you like.
Cultivate your vision of success off in the future where you have already overcome this challenge… soak it in and enjoy it… once you have activated that resourceful future state… Look back to the past and this very moment of challenge… Having been successful, what choice did you make?
You may well find the answer that you are looking for.
Final Thoughts
Visualisation is potent and effective when it comes to effecting change. It is fundamentally a skill though so you need to practice to learn how to do it and improve your abilities. It can start as a something you do from time to time and develop in to an instinctive part of your thinking process.
You have the potential to unlock this power, you just need to put one foot in front of the other and keep pushing forwards.
Enjoy, for now.
Previous Posts – Visualisation – The Core of Visualisation