Visualization Is Your Secret Weapon

Picturing progress before it happens encourages healthy habits.

Photo by Luke Porter on Unsplash

What if you were able to see things happening before they actually happen? What if your perception of the future was so powerful, it could direct your actions right now?

Well, you can and it is.

A common idea is that one day we’ll be able to experience the joy of our success. One day we’ll sit back and rest in satisfaction because it’s what we’ve worked for all along.

The problem with that is this: while you wait for future satisfaction, you moan, groan, and complain today. It puts us in a pit of negativity and self-degradation because the grass isn’t as green as we’d like.

Successful people make it a habit of visualizing what they want to see in their future. From athletes to business minds, they take time to take a mental snapshot of specific outcomes.

The results aren’t always immediate. In fact, most of the time it takes a while. But it doesn’t stop them from working towards their goals.

If we don’t have an idea of what we want, the default perception is we’re already failures. We conclude with the notion that life is a soggy bowl of cereal because we have yet to “arrive” (whatever that means).

Knowing What You Want and Why You Want It

Most people go wrong on this particular topic; I know I have! We jump into things because it’s what someone else is doing. We flock to a popular trade because it might bring us more attention, more friends, more money.

But all too often, that mentality ends up biting us back.

There’s so much fog in following someone else’s dream. For one thing, it leaves you feeling empty because it’s not what you really want. The glitter once shiny from afar will become dirt to you.

That’s what happens when we substitute the specific components of our goals with the life of another, leaving behind a trail of vague desires with vague directions.

We then censor our dreams as a way to cope with the pressure of doing something different.