You always hear how high performers use visualisation to help them perform at vital moments. It is a huge tool in your arsenal when used correctly, especially in moments when you need peak performance.
As an athlete I use visualisation often; to improve my technique, feel the rhythm of my performance and to place me in the correct frame of mind.
The trick is to use visualisation consistently and regularly to make everyday count and increase your basic level of performance. Correct consistent performance breeds great performance.
The key to visualisation is the detail. To have a true impact you must do more than just see the scenario, what can you also feel, what can you hear, are there any scents or tastes? Use as many of your senses as you can to gain a rich depth.
You can also change the perspective you are visualising from; from the viewpoint through your own two eyes, to the perspective of watching yourself as if watching yourself on tv, even flipping back and forth between each perspective.
Use these perspectives for different scenarios and see which you feel fit best and enable you to gain the greatest intensity of your image.
Is your image still or moving? What happens when you change it to one or the other?
Once you have your visualisation on lock, make it bigger, add more colour, make it brighter and feel the power of it jump. Notice how you feel it so vividly.
Heres an easy way to start getting visualisation into your routine. As you go to bed tonight, just as you get drowsy, think about tomorrow. What have you got planned? What have you got to do? Now see how you would love the day to go, how you would love to feel, your tone of voice, your body language, your smile, your interaction with others. Really see it, hear it, feel it. Remembering the more detail you can use and the more vivid you can make it the better.
Research has shown that your brain and neural pathways will fire during visualisation as if it is real, firing the same sequence and combination of neurons, essentially practicing while you're nice, warm and comfy in your own bed. (Ever kicked out during a dream while sleeping?).
This keys you up and gets you ready for what you would love to achieve.
It creates your positive intentions for the next day, which will in turn make these actions come to you more freely.
This is why high performers use visualisation, they know they can practice a skill thousands of times while expending very little energy and they know they can help create the outcome they desire rather than going in blindly.
Nathan Douglas - Peak Performance and Mind Coach. Double Olympian.
Feel good about sharing the love with others, boosting their performance and mind.