Latest / The Growth Project / Episode 359: The Power of Visualization

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Episode 359: The Power of Visualization · The Growth Project

• 0:00
  You.
• 0:03
  Welcome to the growth project. This is doctor Milt Lauter. Join today with Doctor Gabby canvas.
• 0:09
  you know, you've been a wonderful addition to our podcast and the growth project. To our practice. We appreciate your insight, energy, and get some good feedback. You know, the podcast, even for my kids. Yeah. I like a new girl. I'm
• 0:22
  so glad to have you on board. Excited by today's conversation. Before we get too far into specific topics, just to remind our listeners, and if you're new, The Growth Project is a podcast produced by amylose.
• 0:33
  We are a performance psychology practice headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, and we exist to help you be better and pursue better, to optimize who you are and what you do. And so we get inspired by people, by organizations, by cultures who have some level of curiosity. They're interested in growth. They're trying to improve their they understand that better never rest.
• 0:55
  I have a sense of humility that are willing to ask for help and ask questions, and that are passionate about what they do and the people they have in their life. And so this podcast is a way to bring you relevant articles, science, research. Yes, all things related to your growth personally and professionally. And so today's topic is one that we talk a lot about in the performance space, mental performance space visualization.
• 1:20
  And it's maybe one that is sometimes misunderstood. Yeah. And and sometimes kind of understanding what the benefits are or not. So when you when we talk about visualization Gabby what kind of comes to your mind. Yeah. It's you know I think a lot of times, like you said, it gets mistaken for, daydreaming or just, you know, escapism of creating images in your mind to get away from your stress.
• 1:45
  But really, what we're talking about when we talk about visualization is it's a process of deliberate mental rehearsal where you are, envisioning yourself in a certain performance situation or domain, to prepare yourself for it, both mentally and physically. Yeah. It's one of those mental skills. Obviously, we're in the field of mental performance skill and improving the mindset and skill set of those people we work with, and I think visualization is like some of the other skills we teach.
• 2:16
  You got to practice that. You get in the word and it's hard to see the benefit. You know, sometimes the physical preparation, it's like mental health. It's hard to see the disability. You can see a physical disability. It's much more evident than sometimes our mental health challenges were just like the physical preparation. You can see the benefits.
• 2:35
  You can see you're getting stronger. You can see the skill execution, you can see some pounds of talent on display. But visualization is one that, that it's hard to tell if it's really working. Yeah, I relate it back to meditation as well. And typically what I see is when my clients struggle with meditating, they also struggle with visualizing.
• 2:54
  And it's one of those skills where people think, oh, either you have it or you don't. You can either do it or you can't. But like you said, it can be developed and trained and and so there's so many examples of of great performers and, and putting this into practice and seeing it in their mind, I will throw out one huge caveat just to make sure the positive thought and imagery we're talking about discussing do not guarantee positive results.
• 3:22
  Just because I can see it and believe it does not necessarily mean I can achieve it.
• 3:27
  If there's one thing I've learned over my years as a psychologist is your brain will seek to develop wisdom.
• 3:33
  A picture you paint, with which you attach the most emotion. Right. And why? I love your language around deliberate and intentional. If left to my own devices, the strongest emotional experience as human beings is fear. And it's so easy to paint a picture of who we don't want to be or how we don't want to show up and see ourselves making mistakes.
• 3:52
  Yeah. And so from a position of quiet strength, we know the brain's more susceptible to imagery and a quiet place from quiet strength. Visualization about painting an image of how you want to show up, who you want to be, seeing it in your mind. And there's so many benefits of that. But I just want to make sure that just because you see it in dream, it doesn't necessarily mean you can't achieve it.
• 4:15
  Right. But but this is setting your brain up for success and build. There's so many benefits of that. And so what's a good example maybe we can use as an athlete that that is really mastered this you think? I think Michael Phelps is the first that comes to mind. You know, in a lot of his interviews, he actually emphasizes and preaches about imagery or visualization and how when he, drove into the pool, he had already swum that race countless times.
• 4:44
  Yeah. He had really gone in depth with the imagery as to what each stroke looked like and felt like and what the, crowd looked like and sounded like, and really evoking as clear a picture and evoking as many senses as he could to make it as real as he could, so that when he showed up for that event, he had been there already.
• 5:07
  And his mind, you know, he raced right. What I remember what an example is. He also visualized his best race. And mastering each stroke and hitting the water. But he also visualized okay well what if something bad happens. Like what if my goggles fill with water and I can't see okay. What's my timing going to be.
• 5:27
  What happens if I'm on the stage in my cab right. Or getting ready on the, on the blocks. And that happened in a. Really. Yeah. And since he had already prepared for it he wasn't freaking out over the moment. He didn't panic. He knew exactly what to do because he had trained his mind for those moments. Yeah.
• 5:44
  And I think that's where I think visualization is so effective to not only I've always thought about visualizations primary benefits in two ways. One, to prepare you for future opportunities. And to rewrite past experiences. Yeah. And so that visualization preparing you for failure or success. What if this happens. Yeah. Then I have an answer because we know in that moment we're going to tend to make an emotional decision.
• 6:09
  Right. Yeah. And I that's a great point. I think whenever I am teaching visualization to my athletes, I always caution them, I say, you know, visualization is a powerful tool. It can help you prepare if you use positive imagery. Right. And like you said, these what ifs, thinking about what you would do in those situations. However, the caution is you have to actually plan out what comes next in that what ifs scenario, getting caught up on, you know, what?
• 6:41
  If this goes wrong, what if that goes wrong and just spiraling, you know, that's not going to help with the imagery. So keeping the imagery positive, keeping the imagery where you feel like you are in control, I think it's a big piece of it that makes it the more, more effective. The key difference, I think, is asking those questions from a position of strength.
• 7:00
  Yes, of weakness, from a position of weakness. And that creates anxiety. And then fears is the most extreme form of anxiety. Yeah. And that I start being the picture of me making that mistake. If I am asking that from a position of strength. Then I'm going to have an answer for that, opportunity or that challenge or that adversity.
• 7:19
  Right. And it's so useful and so powerful in so many different ways. Yeah. What are some of the science behind visualization. Why does it work? Well, I think the most fascinating to me is the neuroscience basis, where when you engage in mental imagery, you're actually activating the same neural pathways as physical practice. So while you may not be engaging in, you know, fiscal practice, getting your muscles technically activated, the neural pathways that signal for those muscles to activate are still being fired.
• 7:51
  And, that's a very powerful finding. There's a study that I always highlight here where, they looked at athletes who had suffered ACL injuries and they took them through the rehab process, had one group that just said standard rehab protocol, and then another group who did rehab protocol with mental imagery regularly. And the mental imagery was having them envision themselves, practice running through the same drills that their teammates are doing day in and day out at practice.
• 8:24
  And what they found per study was when they returned to play, the group that engaged in imagery had much less, muscle loss, and strength loss than the group that did not engage in imagery. Yeah, yeah. The, one study I remember was a study, pianist. And they were studying and, one group practice, I think for 2 or 3 weeks on the piano.
• 8:48
  And one group visually rehearsed the same, amount of musicians, the same composition, whatever. Visually rehearsed. Yep. And when they perform in a group of judges, there was no structural difference between the group who practiced on the piano and in practice, in their minds. Now, now they had the same level of talent again. That's right.
• 9:11
  I can visualize myself doing something all day. But if I don't have the talent tonight, I haven't put the work. It's going to be a limit on the imagery, but I do believe the brain has a difficult time distinguishing between a real event. An intensely imagined event. Yes. And so that's why it's so powerful. But it also induces the psychological responses.
• 9:31
  And so you see trauma. Yeah. The brain's perceived threat or flashbacks and PTSD, the brain reacts in a certain way. So what are the psychological benefits and science behind visualization? Yeah. Well I think the first is self-efficacy. Your you're putting yourself in this created environment where you're now exposed to maybe the stressors that you might encounter or, you know, different, elements of your environment that could cause pre performance anxiety and you're forcing yourself to become comfortable and not and more confident in that.
• 10:09
  And then, of course, you know, your envisioning yourself going through your performance, whether that be a sports performance or, you know, a work based performance and, and now you feel more confident because you've seen yourself do it, and it just increases that belief in your abilities. Yeah. So when I, when we know dealing with some type of phobia.
• 10:30
  That we teach a stress response a positive stress response. And then we induce the phobia in the person's mind. Yeah. And in that visualization we can teach them to calm themselves. And that's one of the most powerful things you can do to deal with specific phobia, whether it's flying. Yeah. Right. Or other scenarios. And I think the other piece is self-efficacy.
• 10:52
  You know, bandura had is four ways. External self-efficacy. Visualization has now been added as a fifth component of building self-efficacy is I believe I have what it takes. Well that's relationship to imagery. If you can see yourself right. You instill that counts. And that belief that I believe I have what it takes, I believe I can get the job done.
• 11:12
  And that's positive self-talk. Positive imagery continues to build that confidence. And on that, you know, I, I find it fascinating that what I've seen as well is I've had an athlete who could not envision themselves performing this skill. They could not go through an imagery script of seeing themselves do it, but they could go through an imagery script of watching somebody else do it.
• 11:32
  And by beginning there and working through that imagery as they gained more confidence, they were then able to envision themselves doing it. And it's just so fascinating to me how imagery can provide that transgression through building self-efficacy. You see what good looks like against yourself. You see, I'm I've had that happen in my life. I'm not a great golfer, but yeah, some great golfers.
• 11:56
  And so it's amazing. After I watch them on the course, not playing, watching, my next few holes when I go out and swinging the club pretty good. And then I remember it's me, not them wheels maybe come crashing on. Yeah, but but I would challenge our listeners to think about towns in your life where your brain has worked for you, creating that positive image and maybe it where it's worked against you.
• 12:17
  Right. And then as we kind of look into how you win and, and what types of imagery, then you can start thinking, how can I apply these? What? And I think kind of big picture it's worth to my general imagery and specific in my mind, Gabby, I'm thinking, okay, what's the moment call for? What's the situation call for?
• 12:40
  And how do I prepare my mind for that? Well I think that it it's going to depend on what you're wanting to get out of the imagery. Right. And you hit on a couple things there where you have the general or specific, but you also have cognitive or motivational right. So if you're looking to feel more confident in your skill execution, you're wanting to go cognitive specific, where you're really digging into visualizing step by step what it looks like to perform a skill or task, whether that's a diver visualizing themselves getting ready for their approach and performing their task and dive.
• 13:15
  We call that mental reps. Yep. On the SAT in football. Yep. Getting your mental reps. And if you're on the second string right, you may not be running the first stream. You may not get the first string physical rep, but you can always get a mental note. Yeah. Which goes back to your athlete seeing somebody else doing it.
• 13:32
  Right. So you know my mind. I gotta run the play in my mind. I have several examples of that. Very specific, hey, we get to play Run Our Mind, and then we're just free to be in the moment. And what's so cool about this is that, you know, I've had athletes run through, an imagery script of visualizing their skill that they're feeling nervous about.
• 13:53
  what you notice is that as they go through it, the emotions become evoked and they can actually pinpoint what specific step in my routine or my performance is causing me anxiety. Where do I start to feel it? Right here? Okay, so this is where we need to focus our attention on development. So I think that that's another facet of this that can be used to to if you're unsure about why you're feeling anxious, go through this and pinpoint when is it arising.
• 14:21
  Yeah, I love that I did that and just raising that level of awareness and getting them to take ownership and understanding of their game. Right. And, what kind of prevents that? And so we got kind of specific. Yeah. An example of a cognitive general. So cognitive general, this is where you're really focused on visualizing the strategies or the game tactics.
• 14:40
  So seeing more of like the broad picture. What are the the plays you are running. What is our game plan? And visualizing that which is again, broader, but it's still very much so strategy oriented. And so if I'm, if I'm using this and I'm not an athlete. Then kind of specific maybe in your job you know, maybe a certain task, maybe a presentation.
• 15:06
  Maybe you've seen yourself delivering that with confidence or having a courageous conversation with a partner. There's a very specific way you can kind of visualize that, overall kind of general as seeing yourself as you go about your day, right on how you want to show up and visualizing, your level of focus, your model will engage with your level of positive, your attitude, your effort, your energy.
• 15:32
  That's how we apply these differently in different settings. So the motivational piece let's talk about that. Yeah. So the motivational piece breaks down into to three different aspects where you have motivational specific. This is where you're really focused on the outcomes the goals and visualizing what you want that outcome to be. So a tennis player, for example, could be, visualizing themselves lifting up that championship trophy.
• 15:57
  And that's motivating because they're like, wow, I really want to get to that point that, that's what I'm putting in all this work for. And I can see it. And a lot of times when you work with a team, I'm sure you can you can relate. You may have individuals on that team who struggle to believe that they can get to that championship trophy.
• 16:16
  So if we visualize that and we don't believe it, then all we're doing is increasing anxiety, right? Decrease in self-efficacy. Right. So you got to make sure that it is motivating and inspiring to the team. Because if we're painting a picture in our minds that we don't quite believe, right. That creates some of those negative side effects that will avoidance or self-sabotage or negative self-styled.
• 16:37
  Yeah, more of that fear response.
• 16:39
  yeah I remember so my, you know, the legendary snowboarder talking about the the visualizing win in the Olympics and it became so daunting. Yeah. And so challenging that I think for every event you want to color, like for whatever it was that year. And he visualized like how many cars going to win, what kind of car am I going to win?
• 17:02
  Yeah. And that led him to visualize just having joy and what he's doing. Yeah. So make sure that what you're visualizing from a motivational specific that seeing that accomplishment, seeing that feeling of, my favorite thing to do in sports is to watch our players and coaches celebrate. And have great joy. More so than the trophy, the joy that we just finished our, you know, our rivalry game against South Carolina.
• 17:30
  And to watch the joy of those players and especially those coaches. To me that is so motivating and inspiring to me. So it's different for different people. And what you're getting into there is actually the, the next one, which is the motivational general arousal where you're trying to evoke these feelings of joy, happiness more generally and broadly because they motivate you.
• 17:54
  So it ties to maybe an outcome or it ties to the process. But regardless, it's how do you evoke those feelings of joy through imagery? And I think a way to really tap into that motivational piece is back to the awareness, paying attention when you are inspired. Yep. When you are passionate. When are you, fully alive?
• 18:14
  When are you fully present? Yeah. And and then what I do is I recreate that in my mind. Yeah. Of what that's going to feel like. And that's a feeling I want to capture more and more often, because it goes back to why I do what I do. Yeah. And if we can play to each of those factors, then we can start using imagery, in a very intentional, thoughtful way.
• 18:35
  Right. They help me be who I want to be and accomplish what I want to accomplish. Right? Yeah. And I think the last one really goes back to what you were talking about earlier on with the what if scenarios of, now we're looking at motivational general mastery, where if you envision yourself overcoming a challenge or an obstacle, you increase your confidence and you're then more resilient.
• 18:58
  So, it kind of depending on what you're wanting to get out of your imagery. There's these different types that benefit you the most. And there's a great example of I mentioned earlier about rewriting past experiences. I remember one of our basketball players, female, way back when at Clemson. If she missed a layup, to win the game, and ended and about a minute prior miss of about a five footer to win the game.
• 19:23
  And so she had such a negative image in her mind. I was trying to help her rewrite it. Yeah, I didn't believe that was anything different. And so I actually got the film and we watched the film. And what we discovered is the layup. She missed. She created a steal. It was highly contested over two people. She was doing it full speed, well off the rim.
• 19:44
  The five footer she missed again, highly contested. Got the rebound. She was a guard underneath. Had to shoot up over somebody. And she had forgotten the two great plays. She made the game in contention. And so sometimes we can't see it in our mind. Yeah. And so what I'd like to look at the film. Yeah it's a we can rewrite the positive experiences now even in that case if, if the film doesn't provide ultra evidence or sometimes the negative thoughts are true.
• 20:13
  Right. You didn't win the game. You didn't. You didn't make the shot, you didn't deliver, the talk the way you wanted. Right? It's still seeing it in your mind. Jim Furyk, if you watching him play golf, I think he still does this. Whenever he had a bad shot, he would stop and visualize. He would he would make another swing.
• 20:31
  Yep. And that's how the imagery helps us rewrite this past experience is to prepare us for future opportunities with confidence. Yeah. Okay. So so we talked about the science behind it. We talked about a what are the uses of it. You know, how how do we do it. What are some steps to really sort of make sure we just aren't dreaming.
• 20:52
  Right. You know to make sure we're visualizing with a purpose. What would you say the first step would be? Well, the first step is really creating the scene. And I think this this is one of the most important steps where you have to focus and create as much detail as possible. You know, if we're visualizing the tennis courts, I don't want you to just say, okay, I'm at the tennis courts.
• 21:13
  I want you to know, which tennis courts are you at? Who's with you? Who's around you? What color are, the courts? What color are the lines? You know, how high up is the net? And really getting all of the senses to to come to use of. What are you seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, even if maybe there is, you know, you're drinking your Gatorade.
• 21:37
  You know, it's, trying to get as detailed as possible when you create the scene. Yeah. So, so even before creating the scene, maybe I would just alter one. You got to create the right environment. The right mood. To really let your brain be susceptible to the right. We know the brain is more susceptible to imagery and visualization in a relaxed state.
• 22:00
  Yeah, in a calm stay, in a calm place, in a calm environment, trying to do it in the middle of Central Park, is probably not going to be the most ideal setting. And so what we do with our clients is how do we create the right kind of mood. Meditation earlier. Yeah. How do we learn? In my playing free concept of relax, I would be quiet the mind and quiet the bomb so we can really see and tap into all those senses so we can't stress, which shuts down the learning centers in the brain.
• 22:28
  Just. And our ability to be creative. And so let's create the right mood and let's create the right environment. Then you can create the right scene. The brain is going to bring in all those senses. And you could smell those smells and hear those sounds and feel those emotions. Yeah. As if you're fully present in the moment. Absolutely.
• 22:46
  And that's when you get the greatest benefit because the brain, again, doesn't know the difference. Right. That's real. Or is this not real? I'm not quite sure. In that process, I think one thing that really helps too is, if possible, be in the environment that you're envisioning, right? Find it at a quiet time. Like you said, don't go to Central Park, but you know, if it is.
• 23:08
  Again, going back to my tennis example, if you are trying to imagine yourself on the courts, go to the courts when nobody's there, when it's quiet and peaceful and try to engage in imagery, then I would say, yeah, not in the pool, but but again, this goes to perspective. That's what some people struggle with in the first person.
• 23:26
  The first person or 30. But he would watch from the stands and see the phrase. Yeah. So his brain already knows the sights and smells, the sounds. I know every talk I give, if I get there in the day before or if I get there early, I'm going to go see the room. Yeah. And I'm going to visualize the room when I see the setup.
• 23:43
  And so my brain is already accustomed to okay, here's what it's going to feel like. And look like. So I am more prepared for that moment. Right. And so back to the perspective. What what do you recommend. What do you what do you what does the research really say. Yeah. Well I think that there's, you know, research to show that both are valuable, both internal and external or first person and third person perspective.
• 24:05
  Right. And there's again varied uses for both. So first person when you're seeing things from your, from inside your own body. Right. It's the research has shown that it's most effective when you trying to engage in that like cognitive specific where you're trying to focus on skill execution so you can feel the movement, that kinesthetic movement as you're visualizing it.
• 24:31
  Now, third person where you're watching yourself go through it is, again, I've seen research where it's most effective when you're trying to handle those what ifs. So watching yourself see, okay, well, if this goes wrong, then here's what I can do. Different uses. And personally, what I see with my athletes is sometimes they're really good at one and not the other.
• 24:55
  And so when you're trying to adopt the skill and learn the skill of imagery, use what your best at, excuse, I like don't force it. Yeah. Don't force it. Your brain kind of naturally wants to see you in a certain way. Just see you in a certain way. Right. Because I think we get so caught up in maybe doing it the right way.
• 25:12
  You get from a different lens that we lose the benefit. Yeah. They're stressed about how to do it right. And so I love go with your brain kind of see yourself. And I do like the skill acquisition. If you're seeing yourself performing a certain task from that internal lens. But if you have to see it as you're an audience member.
• 25:30
  Yeah. That's okay as well. The research supports you're still going to get a benefit from exactly it. How long how often should our practices? So one of the key aspects of effective imagery is that the timing of your imagery script, it's that it is in line with the amount of time that it typically takes to go through it in real life.
• 25:52
  So if you're swimming a lap in the pool, the timing of your imagery when you're visualizing it should be the same at that, you want it to be as, again, as realistic as it can be. I think that's really how hard it is. I'm just thinking about, visualization is how you speed it up. Yeah, yeah, I know people are shocked.
• 26:12
  Yeah. I lost patience in the world. I'm giving an hour and talk. My visualization visualization probably last about three minutes. Yeah. Four minutes. And, you know, but I don't really ever stop thinking about that toll. Know my front center, but but my client, has probably about five minutes of an hour talk right to where I can run through the script.
• 26:34
  I could see the highlights. I'll write out what I'm going to say. Right. But I get the general flow. Yeah, but the research does strongly suggest, yeah, if you're playing a sport, if you're giving a talk or if you're having a creative conversation, especially that specific. Right, that it mirrors or comes close to matching. Yeah, the amount of time.
• 26:52
  And I agree with you that there are some circumstances where that's just not feasible. I think about my sister who ran the ultramarathon right. Imagery for her leading up to that race. I know played a role, but she did not sit down for. I think it ended up taking her a day and a half to run 100 miles.
• 27:08
  She didn't sit down for a day and a half and go through imagery. Right. So, so for example, like that at all the time allotted to kind of specific is, hey, how does she want to run the person? Right? She want to run the hundred mile, right? They focus on the form back to the general of the self-efficacy and the mastery and, motivation of what it's going to feel like to finish.
• 27:32
  Right. And what's it going to feel like when she really struggles and how she put that one foot in front of the other and maybe can last a day and a half, right. But 10 to 15 minutes of quiet visualization imagery really strengthens her resolve. Her confidence in those moments. Exactly. Yeah. Okay. Awesome. So where do we where do we struggle with this one.
• 27:55
  It seems easy. Yeah. So easy. The but it's really difficult. What are some common mistakes where people kind of struggle with this? I think where I see people struggle the most is they just feel like they can't focus in enough. They can't, create the image. And I think that that comes down to maybe a lack of attentional focus on what to create.
• 28:18
  And this is where, you know, I've mentioned imagery scripts a couple times, and that's really this process of going through and writing out exactly what you want to picture in your mind. So getting very intentional with the image that you're going to be creating. Yeah. And let's like this is so important because of after a while in my mind.
• 28:38
  And now the thoughts coming through my mind today, it's hard to capture those. But if I have that script and I write down, yeah, I don't want this to go, I don't want to show up. How do I time and see what's my activation for the moment? Right. So, you know, you know, for our football team, we show up two hours before the game is going ball to the stadium.
• 28:57
  How do I sequence out those moments? Why? I don't play the game before the game. Activating my mind and leaving my body, feeling that energy and emotion. Yeah. I think that's so important to write it out. Because if you have not mastered this, if you don't know how to do it, you're going to get lost in your thoughts.
• 29:13
  Absolutely. And I again, I think it comes down to, with being read like a story, right? Like you, it's so much easier to create an image in your mind when you're listening to somebody tell you a story, right? Like, okay, yeah, I can visualize that. I can see it because of the details. And I've actually had some athletes who they need somebody to read the script to them in order to be able to see it, if they read it to themselves or just read through it and then try to close their eyes and visualize it, they can't.
• 29:41
  But if you tell them to sit there quietly, close your eyes, and I'm going to read the script to you. Then they're able to do it. And again, it's being able to hone your attentional focus where it needs to be to be able to activate these pathways. Yeah. So so writing out the script and writing down how do I want it to go, what I want to look like, and then what I want to feel like?
• 30:04
  Yeah, sometimes we just visualize. We don't we don't add the emotions. We don't tap into all the senses. And so, yeah, making sure you're writing the script and then as you're visualizing the script, see what it feels like, see what it looks like and experience that emotion. Yeah. With we mentioned another problem earlier is it's so many young and old people do this is just seeing the success.
• 30:27
  Yeah. And they are prepared for the adversity. And so how do I weave that in without damaging my confidence. What what do I do that what would you recommend? Well, the place to start is thinking about past performances. What are obstacles you've encountered in the past and how did you overcome it in that moment? So you're beginning to create those what ifs, but they're not new.
• 30:49
  What if they're old ones that you feel a degree of of confidence and overcoming already? And then you can start to think about, okay, well, let's say hypothetically this goes wrong. Now let me think about the solution to that and start visualizing what that looks like an action. Yeah. Yeah I get excited kind of thinking about this. Yeah.
• 31:09
  And then the other thing that I like, the only other thing we would add is sometimes people try to be so perfect, not only in their life and only in their performance. Yeah, but even in the visualization. Yeah. And they try to visualize perfection, which we know leads to procrastination and anxiety and performance anxiety. And so, allow for my humanity.
• 31:32
  I want to see me at my best. Yeah, but how do I allow myself some grace in the visualization? What does that look like? Keep going. I mean, when when you are visualizing and you make a mistake in your visual imagery, keep playing it through. Don't stop and start over. Because when you're in that moment, in real life, you're not going to be able to stop and start over.
• 31:54
  So play it out. Allow yourself to play it out. You know, if you're thinking in your mind, okay, you've got a play button, erase the pause button. You don't have it. You just have to keep moving. And keeping that mentality with the imagery I think is important. It's like you said, we get into this aspect of trying to over control and it it slows us down.
• 32:14
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was that paradox of performance over control will get you out of control. Yeah, yeah. And the harder we try sometimes the further away we get. I love this idea. So you talk a lot about athletes. What are some other examples. How can people use this. You know we talked to employees. We would have to be better.
• 32:32
  I think there's very specific examples of what that looks like. And they'll be pursued by your whether that's sport, whether that's business, whatever that is in your life. What are some ways of give give people some examples of how maybe they can use visualization. Yeah. Well I mean you've hit on the the piece of preparing for a presentation, really envisioning yourself going through that presentation.
• 32:54
  Prior, you know, just to kind of drive at home every like every talk kind of give, when I wake up, I wake up early in the morning and before I get up to bed, I can I'll run through the day. Yeah. And and so on. Visualizing, talking points. Visualizing audience because my brain is very, very relaxed.
• 33:13
  First thing in the morning. Yeah. And, and then even going into that, you know, I'm still kind of cramming through the content and just kind of making sure I don't forget anything. But when I go get it all been prepared prepared and get to be present. Yeah. And so that's an example. You can use that.
• 33:29
  We have to give it all weather where you have to have a tough conversation. Yeah. And that, that's where I was going next is handling conflict, whether that's at work or in your personal life or, a challenging conversation with your kids. Right. It's being able to envision how you want that conversation to go, how you want to show up in that conversation, how you want to control your emotions during moments where you might get angry or frustrated, and visualizing that.
• 33:58
  I mean, that's a whole nother element that this is beneficial for. Yeah. You know, my daughter Vicki and I did the podcast and we talked about and we've talked a lot about this. How do you want to show up. Right. Those words and and putting them in your heart and putting them in your mind I think that's so important.
• 34:13
  People sometimes think about how I want to show up at work on our show perform, but very seldom do they spend enough time thinking about when I go home at night. Yeah. How do I want to show up? For the people that matter most to me. Right. And I think that's a huge benefit, especially for busy, stressed out people that kind of have that image.
• 34:31
  And I had to have reminders on my back, when my kids are little, because how I was showing up wasn't helpful. Right? It wasn't beneficial.
• 34:38
  Yeah. So hopefully this is giving you some ideas and spaces about whatever role you play, whatever, job you may have, at home or at work or on the athletic field or as a coach.
• 34:49
  I think it's so important as a coach. I don't I don't see enough coaches practicing. I saw somebody sent me a video of Mike Elko, the coach at Texas A&M, that his job was to be opposite of the moment, opposite of the moment. And so think about what your job is, what your team needs to be, what your family needs from you and what he was saying is the emotion of the moment is so great and there's a lot of anxiety is his job is to bring home to win, you know, a lot of energy.
• 35:16
  He has to be calm versus if it's not enough activation, not enough energy, he has to bring that energy. And so I love that idea. But in order to do that, he has to be prepared for the moment. You have to see the moment. He has to see himself showing up after the moment. And so whatever role you may find yourself in, thinking about what the moment calls for.
• 35:36
  And and spend some time I love writing out the script and you said spending your time seeing your family and experiencing it. And so when that job is done and your career is over, your life is finished. You can be proud of how you showed up. Yeah. And you know, you've exhausted every resource mentally and physically to be your best when it matters most for the people.
• 35:58
  That matters most to you. So okay, your final thoughts takeaways around visualization. Yeah, I think my my final thoughts here that, you know, I always emphasize training it just the way you train your physical skills. You're not going to get better at it if you don't continue to practice with it. So encourage our listeners to to pick out one event you have coming up this week, whether that's a tough conversation or a presentation or some form of a performance, and and be intentional with doing some mental rehearsal for it, using imagery to prepare and just see how it benefits you in terms of your your confidence, your self-efficacy, and just overall, you know, feeling
• 36:38
  of preparation. You know, I go you people know I love quotes. And this one came I've taught, a leadership class at Clemson in 2005, and I had, the students submit a favorite quote. And this young woman gave me this quote from Norman Vincent Peale. It says, formulate and stamp indelibly in your mind a picture of yourself succeeding.
• 36:58
  How to it's a necessary and never permitted to fade. And your mind will seek to develop that picture. Yeah. And so whenever thinking about visualization and mental imagery what picture my painting in my mind and what picture is my mind seeking to develop it. Right. And so this is also why I get excited thinking about it. I get excited for our listeners.
• 37:18
  One of the things we want to let you know when it when you've seen this the last couple of episodes, we're starting to provide some worksheets, a game plan, some summary notes. You can find this in the link. You can find this on our website. But hopefully that's helping guide your understanding. And so what I would recommend is maybe print it out as you're listening or as you're through listening, kind of take your notes and write it down
• 37:39
  so you can continue to develop the mindset and skill set as necessary for peak performance in every aspect of your life.
• 37:47
  Please send us any questions, comments. And he thought you may have. Please like us. I think that's right. Or subscribe like and subscribe. Yeah. Yeah. Would really appreciate you passing this information along. And as always, until we see you again, continue to pursue better and be better. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.