If you want to achieve your goals, you must become a master at visualization. Only then can you imagine and achieve your goals! This is backed up by science and research. Hear me out…(or read the transcript below 🙂 )
Reticular Activating System
You see, your brain has a network of neurons that connect the spinal chord with the brain and mediates the consciousness and behaviour. It’s called a Reticular Activating System (RAS). It is essentially a filter system. A system that allows certain information into your brain, and blocks out other information. Who programmed it? WE DID! And also our experiences and people from our past.
If you think you are unloveable, then your RAS will go through the day and point out to you – any evidence that you are unloveable. If you think you are bad at speeches, you probably will be. The RAS will look for information and external factors to confirm this belief to you. Your brain is looking out for it.
It is like a confirmation bias. Just like when you read the news – you notice those news items that agree with your beliefs.
The purpose of the RAS is to not let all information in. If your brain took in everything at equal value, your brain would explode. The RAS protects your brain and only lets in things that we agree with, like or need at that moment in time. For example, the RAS is the reason why we can ignore the sound of the train, or a crowd of people – but instantly snap to attention when someone says your name.
Visualization
As the RAS seeks information that confirms our beliefs, including limiting beliefs, we basically need to reprogramme our RAS in order to achieve our goals. Because once you reconfigure you RAS, you brain spots opportunity or a pathway that you probably didn’t notice before. And visualization is the key strategy.
If your goal is to lose weight – visualize what your life would like and visualize how you feel when you imagine the picture of you. If your goal is to be successful in your online business, then visualize how your life would change from achieving this goal. I follow these two small steps:
Step 1
Close your eyes, and spend 30 seconds building a picture of yourself going to the gym, or smiling when looking at your bank statement, or the relief from leaving bad relationships. Pick one aspect of your life and focus on it for 30 seconds. Be sure to concentrate on all the small details.
Step 2
Consciously feel the emotions you have. This may be feeling grateful, full of confidence, full of energy, happy. Imagine you are watching yourself with those emotions etched on your face. Imagine it, and see it.
By visualizing our goals in the above steps, we are training our brain to have a different filter. Especially if you visualize consistently and intensely. Our brain can’t tell the difference between the bad things that actually happened to you, and the imagined thoughts you are creating by visualizing. Your brain encodes a vision/imagination as a real memory, thus changing your RAS.
The more you visualize things, the greater your confidence as you start acting in the mode of having or nearly achieved that goal. And it only takes 30 seconds a day.
Studies suggest that simply visualizing yourself doing things helps to develop the skills and improves the skills – just as you were actually doing it. Visualization develop skills. The more we visualize, the more we believe it is true, and we sub-consciously just do it. We just grasp the opportunity, we speak up.
Every day for the next 30 days, spend 30 seconds to visualize;
- What it looks like when you achieve your monetary goals
- How does it feel? To see your bank statement, putting a down payment for a house, sacking your boss? It feels great! Savour that feeling!
When you visualize, you are reprogramming your RAS and changing the filter so that it is spotting opportunity, helping you see evidence that you are confident and that you can do this.
My own results from visualization
I have personally used visualization and continue to do every day. My aim is to change my RAS so that I am seeing opportunities and pathways to help achieve the goals I set. In the past, I have used visualization because I wanted a particular job, a girl I liked, investment properties and a higher salaried job. All of these wishes became reality.
Daily, I visualize my ideal day as a result of being successful in my online business. This mindset work is extremely beneficial, but in addition I joined an online community that teaches me to earn while I’m learning digital marketing skills. The information has been valuable, and if you’re someone who is also seeking freedom from the corporate life and wants to start an online business, I encourage you to click on this link and take the same path I am currently on.
Best wishes
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