Chapter 8: Habits that Optimize Visualization Power
Just like meditation, there are some habits that can help you to get the best experience from visualization. Earlier, we have highlighted some things that can inhibit your ability to use imagery. In this final chapter, we will explore the habits that can increase your ability to leverage imagination to achieve your dreams. Below are some habits you need to inculcate that can optimize your visualization power.
Despite the fact that we face unpleasant situations sometimes, life is also full of beautiful days, people, events, and things. However, you can become so engrossed in anxiety and fears of the future that you’ll stop “living.” In other words, you’ll let moments pass you by without experiencing them. People could be laughing and happy around you, but you’ll not find reasons to smile.
You could even be eating your favorite meal, but it won’t taste as palatable as it used to because your mind is full of fearful and negative thoughts. Even in the midst of a garden full of beautiful flowers, everything will be colorless to you. If you find yourself living your life this way, you need to start practicing mindfulness. This practice will help you focus on the positives and find reasons to be happy in the midst of challenges. If you don’t live in the moment, you cannot leverage the power of visualization.
Expectation of Positive Results
Life is full of sad days that come when you least expect them. Sometimes, you don’t experience a negative situation directly, but you are sad all the same because the people you love are going through hard times. If care isn’t taken, you can become so used to experiencing unpleasant situations that you start expecting them to happen. You shouldn’t get to that point. Don’t in the name of realism become a pessimist.
When you don’t expect good things to happen to you, it will affect your visualization. You’ll not be able to imagine yourself achieving monumental success. Instead, you’ll be afraid that something might go wrong somewhere. Indeed, life can be unpredictable. Nonetheless, there are still many people that are able to achieve their dreams. Who says you can’t achieve similar success? Reconfigure your mind to expect good things. It will affect your drive and motivation to accomplish substantial success.
Your affirmations direct your mind and your actions. Avoid negative thoughts because they have a way of becoming self-fulfilling prophecies. You might end up convincing yourself that you’re not good enough because of your negative thoughts and words. You might ruin your mood and confidence, thereby affecting your performance. Negative thoughts can ruin your relationships because people will not want to be around you when they perceive you as a negative person.
Negative affirmations can also ruin your career because they will make it obvious that you have low self-esteem. Meanwhile, when you are perceived as someone who is low in confidence, you’ll not be trusted to handle things on behalf of others. You need to be deliberate about having positive thoughts about yourself. Positive affirmations help to eradicate and challenge self- sabotaging thoughts and actions. Interestingly, researchers have confirmed that when you spend just a few minutes thinking about your best qualities before a task, it improves your performance. This will come in handy when facing high-pressure interviews.
Gratitude is a culture you need to have, especially for the sake of your mental health. Life won’t always give you what you want. However, you can choose to be happy all the same. In case you don’t know, happiness is a choice. If you choose to look at the bright side of life, you will always find reasons to be happy and grateful. Gratitude is crucial, especially after you have lost something valuable. One of the reasons people are depressed after a setback is that they can’t see any positive from the event.
It’s natural that you won’t be happy if you lose your job or a contract. However, that’s not the end of your life. If you keep worrying about what you have lost, you’ll never be able to take your time to visualize new possibilities. When people can’t find positives after a failure, they lose hope. Meanwhile, hopelessness can be devastating. It’s one of the reasons people take their lives.
It is a good attribute and attitude when you are relentless and will never give excuses for your failure. However, you need to be objective when setting goals and visualizing your future. For example, if your goal is to become the best ever in your field, you need to realize that you aren’t the only person in the world that has such a dream. So, don’t be a bad loser. The spotlight will never be on you all the time because the world doesn’t revolve around you.
There will be days when others will do enough to deserve to win an award ahead of you. Don’t become grumpy and disrespect them because of your obsession with winning. Respect the effort of others when they deserve their success. You shouldn’t become so competitive that you always feel that you are cheated whenever others are honored instead of you. Enjoy the spotlight when it is on you and celebrate others when it’s not your turn. You’ll only lose the respect of others when they realize that you’re sad when they are more successful than you.
Contentment doesn’t mean that you don’t have an intention to improve your current situation. It also doesn’t mean that you aren’t ambitious. In fact, you need to be contented to be able to suppress the overdrive and desperation that comes with being ambitious. Contentment is the feeling of satisfaction you have while working towards achieving your dream. When you are
contented, achieving your dreams will not be what determines your worth. Rather, you’ll have high self-esteem regardless of whether you achieve your targets or not.
You’ll not put yourself under undue pressure. When you aren’t contented, you’ll not be realistic when setting goals. You’ll set targets that aren’t attainable within the timeframe you intend to achieve them. However, you won’t realize that your targets are unrealistic because your desperation and low self-esteem are beclouding your judgment. You will treat anyone who tries to advise you to change your approach as an enemy. You’ll never be able to distinguish between a destructive and constructive critic when you are blindfolded by ambitions.
When you are proactive, you’ll act before something happens. In other words, you’ll be able to identify a potential problem and provide solutions beforehand. Proactive people prioritize preventive measures over curative ones. Therefore, they hardly make mistakes or have issues solving severe problems. Being proactive helps your visualization because you’ll be able to envisage situations before they occur. So, when creating imaginations about an event, you’ll not be oblivious to the potential issues that can make your efforts futile.
Once you can recognize likely pitfalls on your journey, you’ll be able to prepare for them or avoid them. When you need to ask questions from more experienced people, you’ll do so. People who ask questions rarely make mistakes. They learn from others, and that helps them to avoid the same problems others faced because they were naïve and ignorant. Life is full of unprecedented situations that threaten to derail us. However, when you are proactive, you’ll reduce the chances of landing yourself into unforeseen troubles.