June 5, 2024 Tre Patterson
Visualization is an important part of achieving success in any capacity. If you can’t imagine yourself experiencing success then you are already handicapping yourself before the performance even starts. As we already know, what happens in the mind directly affects how the body performs. Learning how to positively prepare our minds through visualization is the perfect technique to allow us to reach peak performance on game day.
Visualization is simply creating a mental image for a situation that you are going to experience in the future. In the case of an athlete, this can be used in a variety of ways; visualizing the hostile environment before the game against the rivals, visualizing PR’ing on the next rep of power clean, or even visualizing your warm-up routine. So essentially think of visualization just like practice, you’re trying your best to mimic the situation to then be prepared for it, so when it actually comes around you’ll be ready.
Under the general idea of visualization there are two different types that can occur, outcome and process. Outcome visualization is more focused on the end result of the situation. For example, when visualizing a big game someone using this type would visualize winning the game or what it would feel like to celebrate in the locker room after. On the other hand, process visualization is focused on the steps needed to reach a specific outcome. Using the same example above, a person using this type would focus on the individual plays that would need to be made in order to win the game. They would go through what all they need to do in order to put their team in the best position to win. One type isn’t necessarily better than the other but it is important to realize which type you typically use. Overall, it is shown that both types of visualization show the best results when they are used in conjunction with each other.
Now that a basic understanding of visualization is established, we can now discuss 3 easy steps to help guide you through effectively visualizing any situation.
As simple as this sounds, this is essential to depict the picture accurately because this has direct influence on how successful the process is. Try your best to depict with as much detail as possible and as vividly as you can. Use all of your senses to build the scene as well, imagine what the setting will smell like, imagine the sounds you will hear, try to visualize the things you will see, and use everything you can to transport yourself into that space. Even if you’ve never been to that place before, try your best to imagine what you think it would be like.
Once you paint the scene, now place focus on how it makes you feel. If you notice that you start to feel anxiety or nervousness, take note of that and address the problem. Chances are if you feel nervous when just visualizing the environment, those nerves will only be amplified when that time actually arrives. So it’s best to not only prepare to handle those emotions now, but practice it so when they appear you won’t be caught off guard and you’ll be ready to handle them.
This doesn’t just include being realistic with the setting but be realistic with your expectations. A very integral key in this step is not focusing on what may go wrong but focusing on what will go right. For some reason it’s so much easier for us to focus and dwell on the negatives of a uncertain situation and in that it can feel like the negatives are so much more likely to happen than the positives but that just isn’t true. By thinking so hard about the negatives, it consumes our minds to the point where it does become the reality that we expect. One easy activity that I love to do with athletes is listing out the two different scenarios. Verbalizing the worst case scenario can cause you to see how far off it is and unrealistic it can be. Then by verbalizing the best case scenario you are able to list out actual steps and develop a feasible plan that can guide you toward that reality.
Overall visualization is an easy technique that can and should be used daily. Prepping our minds for situations that may be adverse will only enhance our chances of overcoming those challenges and succeeding past expectations.
‘Till Next Time