Train your Mind for a Life You choose!

"Imagination is more important than knowledge"

Albert Einstein

You guys now know how much we love our quotes at The Evolution Program, but this one has to be one of my favorite ones. And if it is coming out of the mouth of someone as intelligent as Albert Einstein, then I think we need to dwell on it a little.

Imagination is what gives birth to the work of artists, writers and also scientists from medical or technological background. But imagination is also something we all once had as children and unfortunately, the reality of our busy lives took over  ... or could it be the other way round? What do I mean by that? Well, what if we had been conditioned that we need to focus on our school work, finding a "good" job, a "good" partner, a "good" house, have "good" children, to live a good life, BUT before we know it, because we started to do things that we not necessarily wanted to do, a shift happened and instead of imagining our life, we would just witness it happen to us?

What if we did what Einstein called more important than knowledge and went back to imagine our life before it happened to us so that we could start to live by choice rather than by default?

Today, there is scientific evidence that regular visualization contributes to a fuller life because, when we experience something, whether it is really happening or happening mentally, our mind doesn't perceive the difference and, as a result, neuro-pathways are created or fired, creating a physical change in our brains.

Through visualization we emotionally connect to our goals and the more emotionally connected we are, the more focus we will get and be able to make that goal happen.

There is a serious number of professional people on top earning fields who use visualization daily in order to perform at peak. In fact, there are simply so many benefits to it that ignoring the power of visualization would be harmful to anyone serious about achieving their goals for a better life.

Although visualization still has a strong "new age" connotation, we really owe to look at it as vital mental training.

The Soviets were using visualization and other mental rehearsals techniques, like hypnotism, on their competing athletes since the 70's. Their success was so extraordinary that all serious sports people started to practice it too.

Exercise psychologist Guang Yue (from Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio) studied people working out in the gym versus people doing the same gym routine mentally. People going to the gym predictably increased their muscles by 30%, but what was astonishing is that the ones doing the same routine in their heads only had an unpredictable 13.5% increase in their muscle mass.

"We stimulate the same brain regions when we visualize an action as we do when we actually perform the same action," says Harvard M.D. Srinivasan Pillay.

Muhammad Ali proudly said he was "victorious long before the actual fight". He was a firm believer of that "affirmation, visualization, mental rehearsal, self-confirmation... and ... I am the greatest". This mental attitude together with an incredible self-discipline regarding his work practice made him the heavyweight champion he was famous to be.

Michael Jordan says "I came here with the physical skills ... but the mental part is what separates the good players from the great players". He is renowned for visualizing the last shot in his mind before taking it in real life.

Jack Nicklaus, superstar golfer, said: "I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp in-focus picture of it in my head".

Golfers using visualization tent to set higher targets for themselves and are more disciplined when it comes to their exercise and lifestyle regimen. Tiger Woods has been using mental rehearsal of a golf game from a very young age.

The trick is to use extremely detailed images, going through the entire performance because the more senses are involved in the visualization process, the more it will engage our brain and the closer to the visualized performance the physical will actually be.

Here (link below) is what Connor McGregor, the Irish mixed martial artist has to say about visualization, or LOA as it could also be referred to: Watch Conor's Video

Various studies, including one observing weightlifters in physical action and mental rehearsal, show that their brain patterns were almost identical. Scientists came to the conclusion that visualization or mental practice have attributes that were almost identical to physical practice and that, when merging and doing both, athletes were at their greatest potential.

So, let's look at some practical facts about visualization:

When we think of a new goal, the first usual reaction is to have our brain assessing it in comparison to the experience we have of a similar goal, giving us a lot of comforts if it is something we are familiar with and good at achieving it. On the other hand, it will give us a lot of fear based emotions if the goal is unfamiliar with what we are normally accomplishing. What fear does is, it creates many stressful scenarios that will paralyze us from moving forward if we let them become too big in our minds, thus leading to unrealized dreams and mediocrity.

This is why visualization is so important; the key is to make our vision so intense that it literally dissolves the freezing effect resulting from fear. It does not take away the fear but it gives us the strength to go for it whether we are scared or not, in other words, pushes us out of the comfort zone.

You don't need to spend hours on it; start with 10 to 15 minutes picturing yourself achieving your goal. But get into the habit of doing it EVERY DAY.

Visualization is best practiced in a meditative state with you playing the movie of your attained goal.  Now imagine having achieved it. You are immersed in the satisfaction of having what it is you want. What does it look like? What does it smell like? What does it taste like? And most importantly, how do you feel? Where do you feel that "feel good" sensation? What colors do you see? Who is there with you? What can you hear? How do you celebrate? What does it mean for you to be there and to have achieved that goal?

Get as many details as possible. What will be the difference once your goal is achieved? How will you feel?

Famous actor Jim Carrey is very keen practicing visualization. In fact, he explained to Oprah in a 1997 interview that back to the 80s, when he was completely broke, he used to go to Mulholland Drive every night and visualize living there. He took the game of visualization and controlling his mind as far as signing a $10 millions cheque that he would keep in his wallet, pretending or, as we now know, sending signals to his brain, that Hollywood directors were interested in him and that movies roles were coming his way. He gave himself a deadline, he worked extremely hard and eventually, he was cast for his role in the movie Dumb and the Dumber and has been paid exactly $10 million for it!

He went on and explained to Oprah that visualization together with hard work made him the successful movie star he was then and still is today.

Oprah Winfrey herself tells her fans to "create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life because you become what you believe". Coming from the humblest background, she explains how she used visualization, vision boards filled up with images inspiring her, pulling her to the top, as well as powerful positive affirmations to become the media tycoon and one of the wealthiest women she is today.

Arnold Schwarzenegger used his mind and hard work to give him the strength to transform his body into one of the most iconic bodybuilder that has ever lived.
"I had this fixed idea of growing a body like Reg Park's. The model was there in my mind; I only had to grow enough to fill it... The more I focused on this image and worked and grew, the more I saw it was real and possible for me to be like him."

He used the same technique when becoming a politician and explains "What you do is create a vision, ... and live that picture as if it were already true".

The award winning and Hollywood superstar Will Smith relates to his childhood and says: "We grew up thinking where we almost didn't matter because we were becoming something greater". When reminiscing on the wall his father made him build when he was 12 and his brother 9, he says: "you don't set up to build a wall... you say you lay down this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid and you do that every single day, and soon you'll have a wall". He is a firm believer that: "Greatness is something that truly exists in all of us" and that "to have the level of success you want to have, you really have to focus".

He also thinks that, although we can have a natural ability for something, we develop our skills with hours and hours of putting on the work. He describes himself as having "sickening work ethics" and goes on to say that "when the other guys are sleeping, I am working when the other guys are eating, I am working"...
Take a look: Watch Will's Video

All inventions were created by people who believed it was possible when others thought they were just lunatics; planes, the light bulb, the internet, you just name it. Being a visionary is having a vision in your mind that is so lucid that it will happen, no matter what. And what will happen is that vision will give you the fuel needed for it to happen, that vision will nourish the efforts you will have to put on reaching your goals!

In conclusion, most, if not all top performers, actors, sports people, business people, use some kind of visualization techniques in order to see and feel themselves achieving greatly in their skills. They have learned to develop and master strong mental abilities, but the other key to their success is what Will Smith calls "sickening work ethics"!