A significant and, perhaps, the most powerful aspect of coaching with me is overcoming internal obstacles which preclude success. One of the tools I use is visualization. Simply put, visualization is the practice of creating the future you desire in your mind before it exists in the world. Visualization is a key to overcoming internal obstacles when we "know" what we ought to do. When clients know what to do but don't execute, there is a gap between knowledge and action. Visualization can, and oftentimes does, close that gap and lead to actionable steps for goal achievement and success. A recent client experience provides a solid example as well as a method for you to employ when faced with an obstacle to action which resides in your mind.
My client, "Bernard," is the CEO and founder of an elite personal injury law firm. He recognizes, in order to achieve his goals, he must leverage human capital in the form of a significant new hire. The new hire, a seasoned, experienced, and outrageously excellent attorney will be a significant financial investment for Bernard and his law firm. Thus the tension: Bernard understands the tremendous upside of taking action on this item and, yet, he is not, in his words, "all in on the hiring process."
Harnessing the Power of Visualization: Insights from Elite Athletes and Scientific Research
According to an article in the New York Times: "Visualization has long been part of elite sports." Simply put, athletes use visualization because it improves their performance and likelihood they will achieve their goals. In a 2022 literature view A Voyage into the Visualization of Athletic Performance: A Review, by Stephen, et al. "Visualization, often known as visual imagery, is the technique of creating mental representations of a desired outcome in your mind.... Michael Phelps has employed [visualization] brilliantly." According to the 23-time Olympic gold medalist, "Visualization allows me to see myself achieving greatness in the water.
Lest you doubt Michael Phelps (I'm not sure why you would do that unless you've got 24 gold medals), the research supports what athletes know. According to Stephen, et al., "Visualization can help athletes enhance their motor skills, self-confidence, attention, concentration, and anxiety, as well as their pain management, physical motivation, and performance. It also makes athletes calmer and more adaptable to tough situations."
Engaging All Five Senses: The Key to Effective Visualization for Maximum Impact
Visualization may sound simple, but it is not easy. To do it properly and reap its immense benefits, you've got to lean into including the five major senses (touch, hearing, sight, smell, taste). If you do not, you won't truly place yourself in the future you want to create. Think about it when was the last time you experienced something fully without engaging your five senses. Short-cut this important aspect of visualization at your own risk.
Anchoring Visualization with Past Success: A Client's Holiday Party Triumph
The first part of Bernard's visualization exercise was to pull from a past event involving him and his team. Earlier this year, Bernard had shared with me his tremendous feeling of accomplishment following his firm's holiday party. There were approximately 45 team members and their families gathered to celebrate. When he finished relaying the event, I paused and had him think of what he had accomplished to allow such an event to take place. He became emotional in that moment. This is the perfect anchor event for a visualization exercise because it embodies a past success which can be used to infuse the future visualized with not only the five senses, but with the feelings associated with success.
Visualizing Dual Futures: Embracing Discomfort and Success in a Client's Journey
Although athletes visualize only the success they wish to have, I did something different with Bernard. In taking Bernard through the visualization exercise, I had him envision two different futures, both of which were anchored to his firm's end of year holiday party in the future. One in which he failed to take the action he "knew" he "should" take; the other in which he executed the action by playing full out and acting as his best-CEO self in the best interests of the firm, his team, and the community he serves.
For the alternative scenario in which Bernard failed to take action, the most important thing, from my perspective, was not rushing the process. You've got to lean into the discomfort as much as you would the joy of a success. Although Bernard continued to try to short-circuit this aspect of visualization, it was important for him to stick with it because of the internal obstacle he was facing. That obstacle, fear surround finances, which is a powerful thing.
After spending a sufficient amount of time living into the "failure to act" future, I worked with Bernard to delete that future from his mind before diving head-first into the "positive" future he wanted. Again, I coached Bernard to engage his five senses and live into that positive future. Again, he wanted to rush through this experience and short-circuit certain parts of this work. I held the space for him and kept asking him probing questions to create a full and complete picture of this future.
From Visualization to Action: A Goal-Driven Path to Success
Coaching is a goal-driven process. After visualization, athletes will go and train to enable them to create the future they want. Lawyers like Bernard are no different. At the conclusion of his visualization work, Bernard looked at the goal of hiring a seasoned, experienced, and outrageously excellent attorney and created four action steps to move himself forward and further down the path to the desired future. He's currently executing those action steps. He also set an action step to visualize the future he wants to experience at this year's holiday party for five minutes daily. Why daily? So he can stay connected to the vision in the face of self-doubt. Why only five minute? Because he did the work to create a solid picture of the future using his five senses; he can draw on what we did together.
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