Creating Success through Visualization

Dare to dream! Dare to create intentional dreams!

Walt Disney said, "If you can dream it, you can do it." I didn't realize how true this was until I learned about visualization. At first, I was skeptical. I considered myself a successful person and didn't think I needed visualization to become more successful. However, I decided to be open-minded and give it a test.

The subject of my test was my desire to sell my house and build my dream home. My house had been for sale for several months, and I had received no offers. I had bought a lot on a beautiful pond, and I needed to sell my house in order to start building. I visualized an immediate sale of my home to cash buyers who wanted to close and move in immediately. (If I was going to dream, I was going to dream big!) The following week, I received a cash offer! The buyers wanted to close in nine days and to move in on the day of closing.

My first thought was that visualization was almost spooky! My second thought was that this episode was probably a fluke and that it would have happened even without the visualization. As a result, I decided to test visualization more by selecting six additional things I would like to create in my life. My dream creations included material possessions, career advancement, more-fulfilling relationships, and increased spirituality. I described each of these in vivid detail before starting the visualization exercises. The visualization then helped to guide my actions. Within three months, all six of these dreams came true!

Ever since this time, I have been a strong believer in the power of visualization and have used it as the first step in creating all the major "wins" in my life. I understand fully what Henry David Thoreau meant when he said, "If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours."

In You'll See It When You Believe It, Dr. Wayne Dyer says, "Your determination to succeed is nothing more than your thought to do so. The idea of success is really the thought of success." In this book, he shared that his thoughts had always created his world. He described his visualization process at age thirteen. He spent many nights watching The Tonight Show on a tiny black-and-white television set. He pictured himself on The Tonight Show and practiced talking with the host, Steve Allen. He would actually work on routines, as he imagined himself being a guest on the show. In his mind's picture, he was an adult appearing on the show and discussing the things he knew to be true. Even then, he visualized himself telling The Tonight Show audience that we are able to choose our own destinies.

Dr. Dyer wrote Your Erroneous Zones while he was teaching at a university. He struggled for almost a year with the thought that he needed to go out on his own and leave the security of a bimonthly paycheck. "I had wonderful pictures in my mind's eye," he said. "I saw myself talking to everyone in America about the ideas I had just finished writing about in Your Erroneous Zones. I could see in my mind that the book was going to be very successful." He left his university position and began working his plan to follow his dreams. As negative people told him that he could not accomplish his vision, he became even more committed.

A year later, his book was on the New York Times bestseller list. His vision had begun to manifest! Within a few months, the book was at the top of the list, where it stayed for almost two years. Then one day, he received the "magic phone call," which was to lead to the fulfillment of the image that he had since he was thirteen years old. He appeared on The Tonight Show three times within an eleven-day period.

Visualization is not new. It has been used since the beginning of time. Aristotle said that the soul cannot think without pictures. "The reasoning mind thinks in the form of images … As the mind determines the objects it should pursue or avoid in terms of these images, even in the absence of sensation, it is stimulated to action when occupied with them."

Many visionaries specialize in teaching the visualization process to others. Depending on the visualization specialist, the steps in the process can vary. Although you will want to use the process that works best for you, it's important to remember that all of the various processes focus on creating mental pictures in the present tense.

The following process has created success for me in business and in life.

Determine what you want to create in your life.
What do you really want in life? What does success mean to you? What will you commit to achieving? When determining this, be sure to think of all aspects of your life. Include relationships, health, career, material wants and needs, spiritual growth, and anything else that is important to you. Make a written list of these things. Be sure to write the result of what you wish to create, not how you plan to get it.

Next, review your list to make sure that it is in the present tense. When you visualize, your subconscious mind will be working in the present tense. Also, make sure that you have written what you want, not what you don't want. When you visualize, you'll need to concentrate on what you want. For example, if you are overweight, don't write that you want to lose weight. Your subconscious mind will focus on the word weight, rather than the fact that you want a thinner, healthier, more-attractive body. In this case, you might want to write, "I am physically healthy and attractive."

Eliminate distractions.
Distractions come in two varieties: Internal and External. You can have control over both. First, you will want to eliminate the external distractions. Go to a quiet place where you will not be interrupted.

The internal distractions are more difficult for most of us to eliminate, but it can be done. We all have so many things on our minds that our thoughts will tend to wander if we do not discipline our minds to stay focused on the task at hand. Close your eyes and give yourself some time to unwind. If your mind wanders onto a trivial matter (or even something that is extremely important), open your eyes and write it down. Then close your eyes again, stay seated, and unwind.

Relax your body and your mind.
Most of us do not realize how much stress and tension is in our body, until we start to relax. If you have a favorite relaxation technique, use it now to relax your body before you start visualizing. If you do not have a favorite technique, you may want to try the one that works best for me. I simply tense and relax each muscle group, starting with my feet and working my way up to my forehead.

Once you are relaxed, you might start by visualizing a quiet green forest or a blue sky with one fluffy white cloud floating above you. You can relax your mind as you direct your attention to the green trees or the fluffy white cloud. As you do this, let all of the stress and tension leave your mind. This has worked very well for me.

Create a mental movie.
You are now ready to start creating your future through visualization and to put yourself on the path to realizing your vision.

At this point, direct your thoughts to the image of that which you want to create in your life. Picture yourself as if you have this in your life. The important word here is picture. Visualization works best in pictures, not paragraphs. In Control Theory, William Glasser said, "Most people do not know that they are motivated by the pictures in their heads and have no idea of how powerful and specific they are… The power of pictures is total … and when we change the important pictures, we change our lives."

Dr. Dennis Deaton advises visualizing these pictures as sensory-rich, emotion-laden images. He says, "The more sensory-rich and emotion-laden the images, the more powerful they are to the subconscious, the more quickly they are absorbed, and the more readily they are acted upon." In your mental movie, envision yourself using all five of your senses.

Reinforce your vision through consistent mental rehearsal.
Your first visualization session might take some time; however, it is time well invested. Future visualization sessions might take anywhere from one to 30 minutes, depending on the circumstances. I recommend that you plan to visualize your goals and dreams at least twice each day and that you keep the end result in your thoughts throughout the day. Through your thoughts, you are creating your life. Your mind will then drive your actions in the direction of your dominant thoughts.

As human beings, not only can we dream, but also we can make our dreams come true. Eleanor Roosevelt said, "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

May you always believe in the beauty of your dreams!