Visualizing Success | DFS 304

Welcome to destined for success. I'm your

host Jennifer Takagi and today I want to talk about

visualization, specifically visualizing the success you want

to have. So visualization is a mental technique where you

literally make a picture in your mind's eye of what you want the

outcome to look like what you want it to be. And the

interesting thing that has been proven over and over again, is

your subconscious mind does not know the difference between a

past event and a future event. It doesn't know the difference,

it can't tell. So if you visualize what you want your

future success to be. And you don't have any blocks, you don't

have anything holding you back from getting there. Your mind

will think it's true. And it comes to you. So some historical

figures that used visualization were Thomas Edison, Arnold

Schwarzenegger, and Oprah. So we'll start with the boys get

them out of the way, Thomas Edison, who was the inventor of

the light bulb, phonograph, and other amazing inventions that we

use today or enhance our lives today, I would visualize what he

wanted his invention to be what he wanted it to do, and spent a

lot of time visualizing it before he ever stepped into the

laboratory to create it. Arnold Schwarzenegger would visualize

his muscle growing so that he could achieve his bodybuilding

goals. And he also used it when he transitioned into acting and

politics like he envisioned what he wanted his life to be. One of

my favorites is Oprah Winfrey. Oprah visualized her goals of

what she wanted to become of who she wanted to become. She did

not come from the greatest background, she didn't have the

best opportunities. She didn't really have, from what I've

read, have that many good role models to know I want to be like

her. She had to create what her was going to look like. So it's

very important that we take time to visualize what we want. Now

I've, I've kind of, I've made stuff told stories, and you

might have kind of all my podcasts in the past, about

wanting to be a cheerleader, it was a really big deal. I never

even thought about being a cheerleader until we moved to

Richardson, Texas, which is a Dallas suburb. And I found out

that being a cheerleader was like a really big deal. And

everybody wanted to be a cheerleader. So I was going to

be a cheerleader, too. And part of my visualization exercise is

to pray. And for me, I'm praying to God, other people, it's to

the universe to their higher self, whatever it is, I don't

care. It all works. But I would pray to God not to take your gun

heaven. Please let me make the cheerleading squad in Jesus

name, Amen. So I had learned from past praying, did you hear

the story about me praying to be run over by best before

kindergarten started because I was scared to go to

kindergarten. I learned from that I wasn't specific enough.

So when I prayed about being a cheerleader, I prayed that if I

didn't make the squad, God would give me a reason to be grateful

that I didn't. The first cold snap came through North Texas,

the wind blows hard. They're just like it does in Oklahoma.

And the cheerleaders were down there freezing their little

butts off. And I was in the stands and a coat and mittens

and I was cold but not freezing like they were. So when you

start visualizing, it is imperative that you have a clear

picture a clear goal, and you truly want it. If you visualize

it, and you have all the caveats of if it doesn't happen, then

this if it doesn't happen that I'm going to do that if it

doesn't happen, please show me how I'm grateful. I'm just

saying you probably don't want it that much. Because I know I

didn't really want it. I thought I wanted it. But deep down I

didn't really want it. So be sure that what you're

visualizing is really what you want. Sometimes we say Oh, I

didn't want that. But we focus so much on what we didn't want

that we got it anyway. The brain can't differentiate between

those negatives. You tell a kid running around a pool, don't run

On don't run, and what is it a little stinker do runs faster.

Tell them what you want them to do walk. So in your brain,

you've got to be very specific. What do you want? What do you

want that outcome to be? What do you want it to look like in your

visualization? And how do you want to feel? How do you want to

feel? Very key very important. There is an anecdote anecdotal

story easy for me to say I'm not a professional speaker. No, I

am, I just can't talk today. There's an anecdotal story in

the bicycling world, that all the cyclists would come to this

one bridge in a race, and their wheels would get stuck in the

gaps between the wooden slats of this bridge. And every cyclist

dreaded it, they dreaded jumping up to that bridge. And they

dreaded their tires getting stuck, their wheels getting

stuck, and then they would wreck and everybody would wreck behind

them. And it was just like a catastrophe. The next year, one

entire team all made it across that bridge, every single one of

them who wish they all got past other teams were crashing and

burning this one team who wish they just made it past. And that

will swooshes my idea of a bicycle going across a wooden

bridge. And the point of the story is, the coach taught his

team to look beyond what was right in front of them to what

they wanted. And what they wanted was to get to the other

side of the bridge. So they were not focused on any of the

obstacles, or anything that would be in their way that could

impair them from reaching their goal, because their goal was to

get across the bridge. What is happening in your life? And what

are you doing where you're focusing on the gap between the

wooden slabs versus the other side? What is holding you back

what's happening? When you visualize, and you have a clear

and concise picture, you know how you're going to look you

know how you're going to act, you know how you're going to

feel, it increases your motivation. Because you want to

get there, you have a clearer picture you want to get there,

your focus is so clear. You know what your goal is, you know what

you want it to, to make it right, like what the bottom is,

I want to go at least as far if not further. And then you can

wipe out any distractions. You can focus on what you want, then

your performance gets better. There are numerous studies, or

they took one group, and they had an visualize the physical

activity, whatever sport it was. And they just focused on it so

many hours a day on what they were going to do, how they're

going to look how they're going to perform, what the team was

going to do. This other group just practiced, and practice and

practice and practice. There was a third group who spent part of

their day visualizing, and part of their day working out. And in

the end, the group that visualized did better than the

group that just worked out. And the group that visualize and

worked out, did substantially better than the ones who only

visualize. So you can go out there and find all the studies,

there's just a ton of research proving this again and again. So

your performance is going to be better. One of the greatest

things you can do is tell yourself before you go to sleep

at night when you lay down and everything's cool, calm and

quiet. And tell yourself what you're going to do the next day

and how that day is going to play out. It's going to change

your life. You also will reduce your stress and anxiety. you've

imagined and rehearsed that outcome over and over again.

When I started seventh grade, there was an orientation and one

of the teachers that was talking to the parents that kids were

there too but the parents were there and they suggested you get

a tape recorder is before the iPhone and smartphones and all

that we actually had tape recorders. Get a tape recorder

and record all your notes and worksheets and listen to him

because then you heard heard it from the teacher, you wrote it

down,

you saw it, you're hitting like all your senses, hitting them

all. Then as you prepare for a test, replay your worksheets and

your notes, I will say I did that all the way through from

seventh grade all the way through college, I did that it

made the world of difference to me, I make that suggestion to

kids I know that are in high school or college, they blow me

off, though it's no big deal. And Jennifer, I don't really

care, I don't need to do that. And let me just tell you, they

would have done way better. If I'm giving a speech that's

really long, and I may or may not have notes, I write out the

whole thing, I record the whole thing. And then I listened to it

in the background, just going time and time again. Then I

don't really need any notes. I've rehearsed it so many times.

In actuality, I rehearsed at once when I read it out loud.

But then the other rehearsal was going on in my brain while I was

listening to myself give that talk, same kind of thing. I

visualized walking out on that stage. I visualized taking the

mic, if you know what your state is going to look like ahead of

time, that's really awesome. And how I was gonna do every time

I'm gonna give a talk, I say it's gonna be amazing. I had

some friends say How can you say that? And I said, Well, I don't

want to say I'm gonna go up there and suck. That's not

really a good idea. I just say it, I own it. When you have a

talk coming up when you have a presentation coming up, when you

have anything big going on. Or you want to create something new

or different or enhance it. Vision, visualize when it's

going to be visualize the positive outcome. Rehearse how

you're going to act and react when you reach that level of

success. You're going to alleviate anxiety and stress.

It's also going to help you build a positive mindset. I hear

people often talk about how terrible everything is. The

other day, a young woman who is just Darlene. But as a very

negative mindset came up and said hello. And I said hello and

somebody else joined in the conversation. There were three

or four or five of us in this one little circle of

conversation. And I realized every single thing that came out

of her mouth was negative. Not one thing was is a beautiful

day, not one thing was how fun to be here with friends and

family. Not one thing that came out of her mouth was positive.

She said all her negative stuff with a smile on her face. But

the universe in your brain do not know what the smile means

that's not registered. The words matter, and the words that come

out of your mouth matter. So if you keep visualizing and

repeating all the negativity, whether it's happened in your

past, or you think it's going to happen in your future, it's

gonna happen. Was that Henry Ford, I think that said, if you

think you can, you can. But if you think you can't, you can't.

I didn't get that quote exactly right. But you know what I'm

saying? You've heard it, I'm sure. You can tell your brain to

do anything to be anything and get the outcomes that you want.

So you can visualize yourself into success. Or you can

visualize yourself into staying where you are or getting worse,

the choice is yours. The choice is yours. So be sure that you

decide what you want. Visualize exactly what it will look like

how you will feel how you will act. And I promise you have a

much better chance of it all coming together for you. It will

all come together for you. But I just want to like put a little

bit of a caveat in there. For those of you who are the

naysayers visualize the life of your dream and make it happen.

If you want some more information on this, go to 12

minute gift.com Grab my three part audio training. Part of it

is visualization and imagination. Grab that it's

free, too. 12 minute gift.com I am Jennifer Takagi and I look

forward to connecting with you soon