The Once and Future You

Can the use of visualization techniques really help you achieve your goals in life? Perhaps you know someone who uses mental rehearsal, or visualization, to help them develop the behavior they would like to be a part of them.

There is nothing at all mysterious about how visualization works. It’s not something foreign to the human experience. In fact, we’ve been doing it since we were very young. (Back then, we called it “pretend” and it was perfectly normal.) You see, human beings think in the form of words, which trigger pictures that have emotions attached to them – and our subconscious cannot tell the difference between something we imagine vividly and the real thing.

Whenever you look forward to something and create a picture in your mind of how you want something to be, you are using visualization even though you may not know it. These days, many successful people use visualization to help them improve their performance and develop their skills. In other words, it’s a current reality rehearsal of a future event.

Here is how it works: If you are nervous about making a sales presentation, for example, just relax and see yourself doing it. Picture every little detail, and see yourself speaking confidently, persuasively and smoothly. Picture your manner of dress, your posture, your smile. Hear the words you will say. Feel your body, comfortable and relaxed.

Repeat the process, over and over, as if you were making a movie starring yourself. When it is time to give the actual presentation, your subconscious will kick in to help you do it exactly as you pictured it. It is a lot like actors rehearsing for a play, only you are rehearsing for real life.