Visualization is a Life-Changing Tool … Unless You do it Wrong

Have you ever stopped to picture the future you really want?

Maybe you daydreamed about a future where you didn’t have all the problems you face today.  Or you saw yourself overcoming an important obstacle that stands in your way. You might have seen yourself in your mind’s eye swinging a bat and making a home run. Or perhaps after having lunch with the CEO of your company, you pondered whether you could be a CEO like her some day.

These are all different ways of visualizing the future, but it turns out there are critical differences between them.

Positive visualization is a tool I’ve used to achieve some of my greatest successes.  But I’ve done it wrong, too – with cringe-worthy results! In this article I’ll share what I learned when I decided to track down the research and evidence explaining why visualization works sometimes.  And sometimes it doesn’t.

The psychology of positive visualization

Personal development gurus like Norman Vincent Peale (The Power of Positive Thinking, 1952) and Tony Robbins helped make positive visualization mainstream. But there is much more to positive thinking than:

“I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!”

Stuart Smalley, Saturday Night Live

For example, you’ve probably heard of top athletes who use visualization in their training. Sports icons like Tiger Woods and Linsey Vonn have credited mental rehearsal or “psychological imagery” with improving their performance.

A number of studies add to our understanding of why and how visualization works so well in the sports context. One of the mechanisms is when you imagine yourself doing an activity, the same neural pathways in your brain are activated as when you are physically doing the activity.

I’m not an athlete, but I am a scientist who loves some good research. So I wanted to dig deeper to figure out what brain science could tell me about why I’ve had tremendous success using visualization in my own life…sometimes.  What I found was really interesting, but like most things worth understanding, the answer doesn’t fit in a soundbite. 

How to use visualization the wrong way

If visualizing achieving your goal is the only action you’re taking, it probably won’t help you get there.

As we learned from pro athletes, when you think about doing an activity, it creates the same response in your brain as actually doing it.  It’s one of the reasons visualization can be such a powerful tool. But there’s a downside to this mechanism, too.

Other research has concluded that imagining a future where you’ve already achieved your goal can reduce your motivation to complete it. It’s as if your brain thinks you’ve already attained the goal and checks it off your mental to-do list.  As a result, your motivation to actually do what it takes to reach that goal can go down. 

Another thing that can reduce the effectiveness of visualization is picturing an outcome you don’t really believe you can achieve. Research on this topic concluded that picturing attaining a goal we believe we can achieve is motivating.  But when we visualize a goal we don’t really believe we can achieve, it can reduce our motivation to act.

Let me give you a (super embarrassing, I can’t believe I’m writing this) example of how these principles can make visualization backfire.

My epic visualization fail

In my mid-twenties, I decided to go to graduate school.  Looking back, I now realize that I wasn’t very well prepared for this considerable undertaking.  But for some reason, I was accepted to an ecology Ph.D. program in San Diego. After a few years in the program, I hadn’t connected with a mentor, and couldn’t settle on a topic of study.  I was frustrated and it was hard! I was running up student loans and not making meaningful progress towards a degree.

Around that time, I decided I needed to add a less science-y dimension to my life, so I started taking acting lessons.  I loved them! Going to that class, doing scenes with my fellow students, and going to the movies every chance I could to “research”  was much more fun than the hard work of coming up with a research plan for my Ph.D.

I began to visualize moving to Hollywood, joining the acting scene, and quickly getting discovered.  I pictured myself landing roles that would bring in a ton of money.  More than enough to pay off my student loans and allow me to do things I’d always wanted to do like travelling the world.

This fantasy became so real to me that I made the decision to quit grad school and pursue a career as an actress!

Needless to say, I had no idea what was required to actually become an actress and I soon lost hope of reaching that goal.  My student loans did not get paid, and I was in no position to travel further than the local 7-11.

A few years later, after gaining job experience related to the area of science I wanted to study, I made the decision to go back to grad school and finish my degree.

Ready for the most embarrassing part?

When I contacted the program coordinator to ask for readmission, I made up an excuse for my absence that sounded something like, “After taking a hiatus to gain additional experience and refine my research interests, I would like to be reinstated in the program.”

The coordinator responded, “Really? It says here in my notes that you quit to become an actress.”

The story has a happy ending, though, because I did rejoin the program, do the hard work, and finish my graduate degree. And after a period of time I shudder to think about, I paid off my student loans, too!

The hard lesson I learned from this experience, just as the research predicted, is that just fantasizing about a different future is not enough to make it a reality.  

But never fear, there is also plenty of evidence that visualization does work if you do it the right way. And I have a story to tell you about that, too.

How to use visualization the right way

There are many contexts in which positive visualization can be used effectively to increase your chances of achieving an outcome. I’m going to focus on three that have been especially powerful for me.

Try it on in your mind

One of the most straightforward ways visualization can help us succeed is captured in a well-known quote.

If you can imagine it, you can achieve it.  If you can dream it, you can become it.”

William Arthur Ward

Another way of looking at it is, if you can’t picture yourself doing something, you’re not going to work towards making it a reality!

This kind of visualization is almost like mentally “trying on” different futures. You watch a show like The Queen’s Gambit, and suddenly you think, “Maybe I should take up chess!” Just thinking about the possibility of learning chess isn’t going to make you a great chess player, but it’s a necessary first step.

There are other benefits to just musing about potential goals. When you think about something new, your brain begins to notice it more often in your environment.  You know how, when you get a red car, suddenly you see red cars everywhere?  This concept is magnificently called, the “Baader Meinhof Phenomenon” or just frequency bias, and it can lead to noticing opportunities you might have overlooked before.

Motivational role models

Another very powerful visualization practice is looking to role models to help change your mindset about what you are capable of achieving. Earlier, I mentioned that visualizing a future you don’t feel confident you can achieve can reduce your motivation. But a powerful way to change your mindset about your ability is to find a role model. 

A role model in this context has two important qualities: they have achieved the goal you aspire to, and you look at them and think, “I’m like them.”

Research has identified several key functions that role models serve. Perhaps the most important in terms of visualization is that role models represent the possible. But there are other benefits, too.  A good role model can act as a behavioral model, essentially teaching us what to do to succeed.  And when we believe we can succeed and understand the steps needed to do so, role models serve their third important purpose – they inspire us!

Mental contrasting

The last visualization method I’ll mention, and probably my favorite, is called mental contrasting.  This visualization practice might seem counterintuitive, but it’s backed by plenty of research. Mental contrasting visualization incorporates two key features.  One is developing a very clear image of the future or goal you are working towards, and the second is equally clearly imagining the obstacles that could stop you from reaching your goal.

As we learned before, if all you focus on is a future where you have already achieved your goal, your brain might check it off your mental to-do list. This can have the effect of reducing your motivation to actually do the task.  But when you pair your visualization of success with the reality of what could hinder that success, our brains kick into action mode and we become more motivated!

One of the powerful aspects of this type of visualization is that it includes a sharp image of the future you desire. Creating a vision of that future so clear you can practically smell and taste it gives you a very clear understanding of why it is important to you. That WHY helps motivate you to take action and overcome the obstacles you know could get in your way.

Now I want to  give you an example from my own life that illustrates how using visualization the right way worked for me.

My visualization success story

Years ago, a friend and mentor of mine left the company we both worked for to start her own business.  One evening, my sister and I had dinner with my friend, who talked about her plans.  My sister later asked me, “would you ever start your own business?” And I quickly responded, “No way!”

I remember it clearly.  I told her I just wasn’t the kind of person who would ever do something like that.

Over the next few years, as I watched my friend and role model build her business, I began to form an image in my mind of what it looked like to be a person who starts a business.  I thought, “if my friend can take the steps to build a business, maybe I could too.” In other words, I began to think of myself as the kind of person who starts a successful business.

Once I could clearly visualize myself that way, I began to take action to become that person! I worked on identifying the steps I would need to take and I took them. And, of course, it was when I began to take action that the goal became a reality.

I believe there were three keys to my success in this story.  First, I pictured a future for myself that I had never imagined before.  Second, I changed my mindset about the type of person I was.  And finally, I built a detailed vision of my future, and took action to make it a reality.

Three steps to successful visualization

My key takeaway from the research I read about visualization, and my own experience, is that visualization can be a powerful tool if you use it thoughtfully and intentionally. I believe the key is to combine three critical ingredients for success.

The first is the ability to conceive of the future you want. Next, cultivate the mindset that you are the kind of person who can achieve that future. And finally develop a crystal clear vision of the future you are working towards that motivates you to take action.

Daydream about the future you want

We know that thinking about the future without taking action isn’t very effective.  But you have to start by dreaming about what a great future looks like for you. If you don’t, you won’t be able to identify goals, make an action plan, and work towards that future.

Start by dreaming big! It never hurts to consider different possibilities for your life.  And it’s fun! Just remember that it’s only the first step.

Cultivate your mindset

Remember that we are motivated to work towards goals we think we can achieve. If you want to change your mindset about what you are capable of, start hanging out with people who are already doing the thing you aspire to.

Seek out role models, mentors and communities of people who are working towards and achieving the goal you want to attain. Not only will you start to learn the steps necessary to reach your goal, you will begin to teach your own mind that you are the kind of person who does it.

Create a crystal clear vision of the future

Once you have your goals and the future you are working towards in mind, develop a crystal clear vision of what your life will be like when you get there.  Work on seeing that vision clearly, along with all the benefits for yourself and the people you care about.  This vision will become an incredibly powerful WHY that will motivate you to do the hard work to make it a reality.

But don’t stop with visualizing how wonderful this future will be. Think about what could hold you back from getting there. Mental contrasting will stop your mind from checking the goal off your to-do list, and motivate you to take action.

I hope this article has given you some tools to begin using positive visualization to reach your own goals. Or perhaps some insight you can use to fine tune your existing practice. I would love to hear about how visualization works for you.  Leave a comment below or email me at kirstin@youshouldteach.com, to let me know!

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