Visualization is a straightforward and powerful way to grow. Research indicates that just imagining yourself going through the motions of practice can make you stronger. You can apply this to your dreams as well. When you habitually visualize your goals and what it will be like to reach them, you’ll grow more motivated to make them happen.
Visualizing your goals is imagining what it will feel like to work on and achieve them. It takes advantage of the mind’s power to turn thoughts into reality. To make visualizing your goals a habit, simply ask yourself “how will accomplishing this goal improve my life?” and explore all possibilities.
This works with every kind of goal you can set, no matter if it’s spiritual, relationships, financial, or fitness. It’s helped me and many others accomplish massive ambitions over and over again.
How Visualizing Your Goals Works
“The clearer you are when visualizing your dreams, the brighter the spotlight will be to lead you on the right path.” — Gail Lynne Goodwin
A couple of years ago we needed a new car. Our family was growing and the little sedans we’d always had just weren’t big enough anymore. It was time to upgrade to an SUV.
This meant a higher price range, which was intimidating to our young family. But we were excited about the idea of a new car and really wanted one.
Instead of focusing on our fears, we visualized what we wanted. I remember distinctly telling my wife:
“I imagine us having a fully paid-off blue Toyota RAV4 in our driveway in the next couple of weeks.”
Just a few weeks later, after hard work and continuing to visualize how this goal was going to impact our life, we found that exact car and bought it with cash.
The same thing happened with our new house, my businesses, and even our marriage, too. Every good thing that’s come to me happened because I visualized it first.
Every major level-up in your life will come after you envision yourself accomplishing or receiving something greater than what you’ve previously imagined you are capable or worthy of.
Take some time to think back through your last major level-ups in life. Journal about why they happened and you’ll see this is true.
It takes hard work to raise your mind to these new levels of thinking. You have to break yourself and your brain of what you think is possible.
But it works because in the process of doing so, you stir up in your heart the deepest desires you have to become better and have a better life. And that unleashes the creative force inside of you by which goals are accomplished.
The only thing to figure out is how to visualize your goals properly, but I’ve found a trick to make it easier.
The One Question for Visualizing Your Goals
“Visualization is the act of willfully forming mental images. To affect material reality using visualization, form images for your subconscious mind to use as patterns to work from.” — James Gor Jr.
In his book Goals!: How to Get Everything You Want — Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible, Brian Tracy teaches you to ask this question about each of your ambitions to help you make yourself want them enough to make it happen:
“How will accomplishing this goal improve my life?”
It may seem simple, but try it and you’ll see how well it increases your motivation and how much faster you achieve your goals.
I’m working on a goal to increase my family’s income right now so we can take our kids on more fun trips and spend more quality time together that will help us grow closer. As part of this, I’m imagining myself traveling with my family and what that will feel like.
When we reach our income goal, one of our trips will be to England, where I lived as a missionary from 2008 to 2010. I’m constantly asking myself “how will this income, and this specific trip, improve my life?”
I imagine the joy of visiting old friends that I haven’t seen in a while. And all of the places, like the beautiful green hills and gardens of Avenham Park in Preston, that I grew to love so much and have missed. I also think about how good it will feel to taste the delicious chocolate and other foods again.
The imagery, sights, smells, tastes, and all of it comes together to make me want this trip even more. I get excited thinking about it, and that excitement grows each time I ask myself “how will accomplishing this goal improve my life?” of this specific financial goal.
This is making it easier to do the work necessary to see the goal happen. I’m working harder each time after a visualization session. I feel more excited about the work and the end goal I’m seeking.
I’m doing this with every one of my goals, and you should too.
Pick a place to be your “visualization spot.” Set a time at which you’ll go there every day to visualize your goals. Then, ask yourself “how will accomplishing this goal improve my life?” and go through it for each of your goals.
Envision what it will feel like to have more peace, meet your future spouse, double your income, run a marathon, or whatever other goal you have. Really deeply imagine the happiness, love, freedom, and other emotions you’ll have when you reach your goal.
Pretend you already have that thing you seek and imagine how it will positively impact all the other parts of your life. How will your improved financial situation make it easier to be a better parent like you want to? How will being more fit make your relationships better?
Practice this daily until it becomes a habit and soon you’ll find that you’re leveling up in life far more often than ever before.
Wrapping Up
“Close your eyes and imagine your life with everything you ever wished for as if it’s already here.” — Anonymous
Visualization is one of the most powerful techniques I know that will help you achieve your goals. It works because it motivates you by bringing up your strongest desires for awesomeness from deep within your soul.
Practicing visualization is as easy as having a time, spot, and pattern to follow each day. And by asking yourself “how will this goal improve my life?” you make it even easier to take advantage of this incredibly powerful tool for changing your life.
