Jim Carrey once wrote out a check to himself for ten million dollars and dated it Thanksgiving 1995.
That was before he was a famous actor.
Just before Thanksgiving in 1995, he received ten million dollars for his part in Dumb and Dumber.
That is the power of visualization.
You may think, Yeah, well that’s Jim Carrey. Not me.
Well, okay, so Jim Carrey may be larger than life.
But….
He once wasn’t.
He was once somebody’s baby, somebody’s little boy, somebody’s prom date…..Jim Carrey was, at one time, just like you and me. What set him apart from the rest was his drive to succeed.
And one tool he used was visualization.
You can too.
And you should.
Why is visualization so powerful?
Because the neurons in our brain can’t tell the difference between what we visualize and what is real. We are moms – we know this.
That is why we protect our children from TV shows and movies we don’t want them to see. They don’t know the difference between what is real and what isn’t. Their brains have not yet learned that difference.
Dr. Frank Niles states in the Huffington Post, “When we visualize an act, the brain generates an impulse that tells our neurons to ‘perform’ the movement. This creates a new neural pathway — clusters of cells in our brain that work together to create memories or learned behaviors — that primes our body to act in a way consistent to what we imagined.”
It works for athletes.
They visualize themselves performing the action or movement that they need to perfect, over and over again, perfectly. Athletes are, in a sense, priming their bodies to complete that action.
They see it, they feel it and they do it.
So can you.
Here are Five Techniques You Should Use To Visualize Your Goals
1. Picture yourself making it happen
Close your eyes, take a couple of deep breaths, and imagine yourself doing it. See yourself completing the tasks needed to make your goal. What does it look like? Use your five senses. What do you see? What do you hear? Smell? Taste? Can you feel your body going through the motions perfectly? See your success. Make it as vivid and real as possible. Do this at least once a day, if not more.
2. Create a picture or collage of your goal once it is achieved
What does your goal look like after you have achieved it? Find pictures to show this. Cut them out of magazines, print them off of the internet, or take them yourself. You can post them where you can see them, frame them, or create a collage out of them. Maybe you want to create a calendar for 2018 with pictures on each month of what your life would look like if you achieved your goal. Be creative!
3. Use affirmations to support your visualization
Write down a sentence or two describing yourself and your goal. For example, if your goal is to lose weight, you might write “I am strong and beautiful, making better choices for a healthier tomorrow.” Then whenever you say your affirmation out loud (or read it posted somewhere) visualize yourself as strong and beautiful. Visualize yourself making better choices. Visualize yourself walking right past that tempting cupcake!
4. Use a trigger card
This is what Jim Carrey did. He wrote a check out to himself for ten million dollars. Does that mean he magically attracted ten million big fat ones? No! He still had to do the work. What he did do was carry that check around with him in his wallet every day. He used it to aid his visualization. And you can do the same. Maybe it’s a check. Or maybe it’s your goal weight written in bold on an index card. It could be your name and book title superimposed on a copy of the best-seller list. Again, get creative! Create something tangible that you can carry with you.
5. Create a vision board.
This is similar to the photo collage. Find or create tons of pictures of your goal, pictures that represent each step or action that you must take to reach your goal. Paste, draw, or paint them onto a board of some sort. You can use a real board or you can use tag board. You can make this as simple as you want or as extravagant as you want. The idea is to create something visual to help your brain see yourself completing your goal. A vision board is nice, but if you need something a little more private and less noticeable to the rest of your family, you can also create a vision book. Or maybe you want to do both. Have fun with it!
Visualization alone cannot achieve your goals, just as writing them down or simply believing in yourself cannot achieve your goals alone.
You need to use visualization as one tool for achieving your goals.
There is no easy way to making your dreams happen.
It takes work.
Your Home Work:
Choose one of the five techniques listed above to visualize your goal and get started today!