Visualisation is a self-reflective technique that’s become increasingly popular in the last few decades. The practice helps people clarify and visualise their goals, making them more visual and attainable.
In this post, we’ll run through visualisation and its benefits. We’ll also offer a guide to starting our own visualisation practice from scratch.
But first, let’s clarify…
What is Visualisation?
As we mentioned in our post on self-reflection, the mind has three functions: thoughts, feelings and images.
Images can be harder to review because they tend to be held deeper in our subconscious. We can use visualisation to transform these mental images.
Visualisation is the practice of using our imagination to develop new behaviour. Having a clear image of what we want makes it easier to work towards our objectives. Visualisation helps us focus on what we can control and ultimately achieve our goals.
At its core, visualisation involves imagining our ideal life. The house we want to live in, the job we want to have and what we do with our time.
By visualising the things that truly matter to us, we can make necessary changes in our lives to achieve them.
A Brief History of Visualisation
Visualisation first appeared as a mental exercise for athletes during 1970’s Soviet Union. Since then it’s been adopted by some of the greatest athletes of the modern era.
Tiger Woods started using the technique in his pre-teen years to get into the zone. Muhammad Ali used a range of techniques including visualisation and affirmation to become the greatest boxer of all time.
The athlete’s visualisation technique involves producing vivid and highly detailed images in the mind. By running through the entire performance in their minds, they would engage all their senses in this rehearsal.
Since its origin in physical performance enhancement, visualisation is now regularly used for non-athletes to achieve their goals.
What are the Benefits of Visualisation?
Imagining our ideal life has many inherent benefits.
First of all, it focuses our energy. When we know where we want to go, it’s easier to make the right decisions everyday to get us there.
Visualisation also builds courage. When we know what we want to achieve, it’s easier to summon the strength and perseverance to get the job done. The obstacle becomes the way.
It also combats negativity. Knowing what we really want in life makes everything else seem trivial. We should focus on what we can control to achieve our goals. Everything else, we should simply embrace as fate.
Creating a visual image of what we want in life can even re-inspire our purpose. Visualising our goals and brainstorming new opportunities may help us understand what truly motivates us.
Similar to affirmations, visualisation helps us create new behavioural patterns by appealing to our senses. By visualising our dreams, we tap into our creative energy and create our best life. After all, we attract what we focus on.
Ultimately, imagining our goals as already complete motivates us to achieve them faster.
A Visualisation Case Study
Visualisation has even been shown to help improve task performance without any physical practice.
For example, research at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation found that people increased finger abduction strength by 40% after four weeks of purely mental exercise. This result compared to a control group who underwent physical exercise and increased strength by 53%.
It goes to show that the mind has a greater impact on our abilities than we might realise.
How to Practice Visualisation
Visualisation can take many forms. Regardless of the exact method, it involves visualising what we want to achieve in life.
Below are some tips and methods to get your visualisation practice up-and-running.
5 Steps to Create & Achieve Your Vision
We can create and achieve our vision by following a five-step process.
Step 1: Know what you want Step 2 : Describe your vision in detail Step 3: Start visualising and create emotions around your visions Step 4: Take daily actions toward your vision Step 5: Keep yourself on track over the long-term
Creating and achieving our vision is easier said than done. Because most people aren’t fully clear on what they want out of life. Even those who know what they want may have a hard time putting in the work to achieve their ideal life.
That’s the beauty of visualisation. It’s a medium for us to visualise our ideal life. Then, this clear image will motivate us to achieve our most important life goals.
The five steps above start with visualising what we really want in life and then working towards these goals everyday over the long-term.
Create Your Own Vision Board
You’ve probably heard of vision boards before. They’re physical representations of your goals. Rather than using mental energy to conjure up images of your goals, you can instead let the vision board do the work for you.
Create a a vision board and add whatever you feel represents yourself. In line with the five steps above, list out whatever is important to you. Remember not to hold back. Start with the goals you really want and your future self will be responsible for achieving them.
Once you have your vision board, you can return to it for clarity whenever you face a dilemma. This board should give an overview of who you are and what you truly want.
In this sense, the vision board becomes a sort of North Star for our ideal lives.
Find Moments of Visualisation
The beauty of most self-reflection techniques is that we can do them pretty much everywhere. And visualisation may be the easiest technique to keep in your mind as you go about your day.
Waking up and getting ready for bed are great times to reflect on what you’re working towards everyday. The Stoics had a similar self-reflective morning and evening routine.
You can even find moments throughout the day where you’re not really thinking about much anyway. So why not indulge in your vision? These moments include showers, the daily commute or even walks.
Visualising our ideal life is an invaluable use of time when it motivates us to take action towards our goals.
Visualisation in a Nutshell
The practice of visualisation is a self-reflective technique that’s become increasingly popular in the last few decades. The practice helps people clarify their ideal life, making it more attainable.
It builds courage, combats negativity and focuses our energy on what’s truly important. Visualisation also allow us to tap into our creative energy to create our best life. After all, we attract what we focus on.
The five-step process starts with knowing what we want and guides us to work everyday towards our long-term vision. We can always find moments throughout the day to instil the vision in our mind and ultimately achieve our goals.
Live your best life with visualisation and Mind & Practice today.