The Secret Weapon for Achieving Your Goals

All successful people have a secret weapon they use to reach their goals, although many times they are not even conscious of it.

This secret weapon is employed by executives, business owners, athletes, and even students; furthermore, it’s free.

Do you want to know what it is? Keep reading and you will find out.

Imagine it for yourself

This incredibly useful secret weapon for reaching your goals is none other than visualization. It consists of forming a crystal-clear picture in your mind of what specifically it is you want to achieve, of success accomplished.

In order to do this, it is helpful to use images and visual reinforcement to support your vision and remind you of your goal. A photograph, a drawing, a phrase, a famous quote, or even just a simple word: anything is good if it helps you to revive the mental image and vision of your success. We will discuss this in more detail later.

One very clear example of this is seen in athletes. There have been numerous psychological studies of sports that demonstrate how much effective  visualization favors athletic output. In one of those studies, it was found that the mere thought of imagining oneself lifting weights caused some change in muscular activity.

Many elite athletes use visualization to improve their results and reach their goals , but it isn’t necessary to be an elite athlete to benefit from visualization. Another study focused on visualization tactics practiced by beginner golfers, and demonstrated that physical practice, combined with mental imagery, led to the best results, rather than just physical practice.

Visualization works for everyone, and everything 

Visualization used in sports is just one example. Athletes train to get better, and to win. Do you want to improve your life? Do you want to “win” a title, a job, a position, or win over a person?

Practicing visualization will help you reach your goal, whatever that goal may be. Here are some tips in how to do this:

• Practice visualization when you are relaxed. Right after waking up and right before going to sleep are good times to do this.
• Have your desired result very clear in your mind, and image it as reality. Imagine exactly what will happen when you reach your goal, and make sure you include details. Think about how you feel, what you think, how you find yourself – all as if it were really happening, because it is real in your imagination. Try to engage your five senses so it is as realistic as possible.
• Be consistent with your visualization practice. It will get easier with time, and will become your secret weapon in achieving your goals.

Other tools to help you visualize 

Many people use “vision boards”, which are made up of collections of pictures of the result they desire. A vision board can be put together from pictures from magazines, drawings, and/or with words; it doesn’t matter what the form is. The important part is that the image represents your objectives and is located in a place where you will see it on a daily basis. 

Affirmations can also be very powerful and work very well to help you think of the thing you want as a reality. An affirmation is essentially a declaration, a positive statements towards yourself, about your goal.

It is important to write and recite these affirmations in the present tense (that is, “I have reached my goal” or “I am…”, rather than “I will reach it” or “I will…”), and feel and channel the real positive emotion that is behind that declaration.

Visualization, along with these other tools, are easy and free methods that will help you reach your goals. They are not meant to take the place of the necessary measures and steps you have to go through in order to achieve it, but they are techniques that will help motivate you to work hard and to keep moving in the right direction.

Why visualization is such a powerful weapon

Rhonda Byrne, author of books such as The Secret and The Power, among others, is a model of motivation for many, and says the reason that visualization is so powerful is because it creates pictures in your mind in which you see yourself having everything you want. This means that you are also generating thoughts and feelings about what you have in the present moment.

In other words, think positively and imagine how you want your life to be, and by doing that, you will have a real opportunity to achieve whatever it is you want.