It's not just
mumbo-jumbo: visualize your positive future and you'll have an easier time reaching that peak performance.
There's a science to visualization that runs
much deeper than reading a copy of The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.
How?
Studies
have shown that concentrated visualization efforts work because your
subconscious mind does not like the conflict that exists between your current
situation and what you're visualizing. It will try to resolve that conflict
and move toward your visualized reality. Your subconscious is like the
mediator, trying to arbitrate for a way to get to what you're
seeing.
Your
subconscious programs your brain to start opening your awareness to resources
that are already around you to resolve the conflict. It does this through the
RAS section of your brain (short for reticular activating system). The RAS
section acts like a giant filter that basically chooses which stimuli you
notice and which stimuli you don't.
Have
you ever learned a new word and then all the sudden you hear that word three or
four times throughout the day? That's your subconscious
and RAS allowing the new word to now filter through.
This
new allowance filtering means your subconscious mind actively starts to use
resources to create solutions to resolve the conflict. You're
seeing opportunities all around you now because you have a focused vision about
where you want to go and your subconscious wants to get you there ASAP. All of
a sudden, you start remembering old contacts and overhearing ideal
conversations you need. Just like that.
With
the awareness and solutions starting to marinate and little accomplishments and
synchronicities popping up all over the place, your subconscious starts
creating new levels of motivation. The first little step of conflict resolution
felt so good, it wants another one! And then another, and another, and ... you
get the big picture.
By
now you should be perking up and paying close attention. However, you're
an entrepreneur, you're smart, you want some case studies, right?
Ever
hear of Natan Sharansky? He was a U.S. computer specialist who spent almost 10
years in prison in the USSR after being accused of spying. As you can imagine,
there isn’t much to do for nine years in a USSR solitary
confinement cell, so he decided he had to focus on something to keep himself
sane. In an interview after his release, he said he decided to start playing
chess against himself in his own mind. If that’s
not brilliant enough, he focused all his energy into believing he could be the
best. He said,“I might as well use the opportunity to become the
world champion!”Remarkably, in 1996, a free Sharansky beat world
champion chess player Garry Kasparov.
Pro-athletes
are also famous for visualizing success. Golfers are particularly apt to do it,
which makes sense given the highly mental nature of the strategic game they
play. Tiger Woods claims to have been using it since his pre-teen years. So
does world champion golfer Jack Nicklaus, who has said,“I
never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp in-focus
picture of it in my head.”
Maybe
it works for prisoners and pro-golfers, but what about entrepreneurs like you
and I?
Sara
Blakely, the billionaire entrepreneur and founder of Spanx, is a fan of visualization.“I believe you can take mental snapshots of your future
and what success looks like to you," she has said. "If you mentally
see yourself in a scenario, you'll start to make
decisions in your life that get you there.”
Of
course, it takes action to back up your visualization, but if you know where
you want to go, it's very likely you can trick your subconscious into
getting you there.
From
Entrepreneur
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