In this e-workshop I am going to introduce you to the powerful tool of visualisation. You can use this tool in any area of your life where you have set yourself a goal. As you will discover, this is very easy to practice and will give you amazing results.

So what is Visualisation?

Well, have you ever heard top sports performers or athletes talking about seeing themselves winning before even taking part in an event? Believe it or not, this is not just their ego talking, this is visualisation. Visualisation is creating a mental picture of something. By seeing yourself achieving your goal enables your brain to believe that reaching the goal is possible. There are many different variations and techniques for visualising, but in essence all of them are designed to achieve the same outcome – success!

Whether you are about to run a marathon, do a presentation, write an exam or attempt any other goal, by playing out in your mind the way you want it to go will improve your performance.

Who uses visualisation?

Visualisation techniques have been used for centuries by numerous famous and successful people. This has been kept relatively quiet for a long time until more recently when top athletes revealed how they visualise themselves succeeding before their event and making the possibility of winning all the more real. Further more, the introduction of many self development books, courses and other media in recent years have brought this extremely effective technique into the public eye. As a result, visualisation is now used more widely than ever in all areas of life.

How do we visualise?

As I mentioned before, there are many different techniques used for visualising. However, I am going to explain how to use a method of visualisation I have used for years as have many successful achievers. Part of this method has also been used by Paul McKenna and taught to millions of people. When following the visualisation technique below, ensure you read through the complete process before beginning.

1) So first of all, find a quite place to sit down and relax with no distractions. Sit comfortably with your whole body relaxed, ensuring your shoulders are resting comfortably and not tensed.

2) Gently close your eyes and think of a time in the past when you successfully achieved a goal or a time that you felt especially proud of something. Play back in your mind how you saw that situation. Ensure you are looking at the situation through your own eyes and not looking at it in the third person.

How were people treating you? What were they saying to you? How did you feel?

Now pay attention to all the colours you can see, the sounds you can hear and the feelings you felt.

Make the colours stronger, the sounds louder and the feelings more intense. Now amplify these feelings to twice as strong.

Take a moment to feel these enhanced feelings and amplify them again.

Feel good?

Now we are going to keep this positive feeling in our body and use it to create energy and positivity as we visualise for our future goal.

3) Start by thinking about each aspect of your goal and all the steps needed to achieve it. For example, if I was visualising winning a tennis match, I would be considering arriving at the tennis court, meeting my opponent, warming up, beginning the game and the winning shots I would be playing in order to succeed. Most importantly I would be thinking about the final winning point and shaking my opponents hand as the winner of the match. You may find it useful to make a list of each one of these steps to refer back to.

Once you have all of the components which make up your goal, you can start to put them all together to create your visualisation.

4) Continue to sit in a relaxed position with your eyes closed. The most effective way of creating this visualisation is to try and create a movie in your mind starring you as the main role. Make the movie a blockbuster and see it in high definition. Remember to be sure you are watching this movie through your own eyes. This is so that your unconscious mind recognises that it is you achieving the goal and not somebody else, therefore making the goal much more realistic and achievable for you.

5) You can begin by physically acting out each of the steps in your mind from the list you created earlier that you need to go through to achieve your goal.

Take time to approach each one of these steps with confidence and positivity seeing your self comfortably achieving each one. As you do this, think about how you will be feeling as you achieve each one of these steps. How are people reacting to you? How are you feeling? Again, pay attention to all the colours you will see and the sounds that you will hear. Ensure you are keeping the positive feelings you created in your body from your past experience.

Really try to have fun with the visualisation, seeing yourself in every one of the stepping stones of your goal as the successful achiever that you are.

6) Once you have physically acted out all the parts of your goal in your mind from start to finish, you may if you wish, repeat the process. The more you practice this visualisation, the more powerful it will become and the more your mind will see it as a reality.

This visualisation technique can be applied to any goal you set yourself in all areas of your life. For maximum impact try to make a point of practising the techniques learnt regularly and success will follow.