The Power of Visualization and Guided Imagery

In this episode, we explore how visualization propels us toward success in various domains of life.

Discover the secrets of visualization in sports, where athletes go from good to great by visualizing their triumphs before they happen. Explore the realm of guided imagery and witness how it unlocks mental strength. Learn how engaging your senses amplifies your visualizations and strengthens your connection to your desired outcomes. Lastly, learn to create a clear vision, take inspired action, and step into your ultimate endgame.

Tune in to the Endgame Podcast as we unleash the power of visualization and guided imagery. Don't forget to subscribe and share this episode. Your potential awaits—let's create the roadmap to your success.

Introduction 00:00
Visualization as a Tool For Success 03:37
Visualization and Guided Imagery 05:28 
Interconnectivity of Mind and Body 09:16
Visualization as a Powerful Guide for Entrepreneurs 10:13

Transcript

0:00

So using visualization and guided imagery as a way in which you can see your future or see your future successes, but just keep in mind you have to put action behind it in order to actually get there. And those who can see their future oftentimes are the ones that can achieve it. Hello everyone. Welcome to the Endgame Podcast, where I bet you didn't know what you didn't know. I'm Dr. Ryan Wakim, successful entrepreneur and your endgame coach. I'm here to talk to you today. Dive in a little bit deeper into a topic we touched on briefly in one of our prior podcasts, and that is this concept of the power of visualization through guided imagery and some other techniques. So sit back, relax, buckle up, and we'll take it from here. So first and foremost as you know as being a board certified psychiatrist and being a really big advocate for health and wellness and kind of mind body connection and the idea of health set and having a healthy ecosystem, both physically and then mindset, meaning having a healthy resilient ecosystem for your mind and the interchange of the two, just how important those are. And the idea of visualization and guided imagery and, and how that may work towards betterment. Whether that's from kind of good to great great to impeccable in the world of sports or whether that's in your entrepreneurial business related ventures, or again, as a provider or as a healthcare provider more broadly. The ability to kind of be excellent for your team and your patients. So as we think about the concept of visualization, there's many scenarios that has come up, especially in the sport, the sports world. You, you hear about mentors and coaches and using visual visualization as a, as an important piece of success in kind of elite athletes. A really good example of this hearkening back to my days as a golfer would be, you've heard me talk about Tiger. Even Tiger at his peak was coached and mentored. If you were ever to watch golf which some people can't stand to do, some people love to do, you'll often see someone before they do. Before they putt on the green or before they putt in toward the hole, you often see them stand back behind the ball and just kind of sit and stare for a few seconds. And oftentimes what the golfer has been coached to do is to actually visualize that ball rolling into the hole. You'll see this in other areas of golf too, and practice swings and people are, get up to the ball and then look out out to the fairway or to the green. Oftentimes they are actually visualizing a successful shot. This is seen in football, this is seen in basketball, this is seen in baseball all the major sports. Visualization is very much a part of a success formula and it's often coached on or mentored on as a way that you can achieve high performance before actively going for the live performance itself. So it's a critically important and extremely powerful tool as we think about the mind body connection and how we can visualize ourselves being successful. And then follow the path and, and repeat what we just visualized to get there. And that can be visualization in the moment on a putt or with a you know, throwing of a baseball or day-to-day in your office or in your business. It also applies to visualization of your endpoint or your end game. When you think about having no goal or having no vision towards a final goal or endpoint you know, we call that a dream or hope, right? So you have to be able to visualize what it is you want to go achieve or what success you want to go get in order for you to even have the chance to get there. If you can't dream it, if you can't think it, if you can't see it, you probably can't do it. And that's very much based in both physical health, but more importantly in mental health or in the mindset, so to speak. So we use, we coach this idea of visualization as a tool to help people maybe get uncomfortable, maybe stretch outside their comfort zone think toward the future, think about an audacious endpoint, and then build a path to that endpoint. But we coach on it as a means for success. And, and again. Ways that can look is that could be doing activities to help you kind of build a vision or goals as you've heard me talk about before, that often needs to include writing those down so that it isn't just a dream. I just said it a little bit ago too. And there are other means though, through which visualization or what we would call imagery can be used. I've mentioned this before, but what we know is if we were to do a, what's called a functional MRI, so if we look at someone's brain while they're doing an activity, the reality is the same areas of the brain will light up. Whether they're actually physically doing that activity at that moment, or to a little lesser degree But if they're imagining themselves doing it, so one of the ways in which we can really entrain the brain, so to speak and help build that resilient, very capable mindset is through this idea of guided imagery. So guided imagery is a concept of mental health where you would close your eyes, you would actually put yourself in the scenario. So rather than me crouching behind the golf ball on the green and in the live kind of watching that ball go into the hole, this would be me maybe sitting in this chair, eyes closed. But then using my senses to put myself in that position. So there's actually a kind of another level of imagery or visualization you can use. And again, that's actually been shown to be you also effective in helping people be successful or achieve that goal. So one of the things you can do is you could take moments to yourself. And you know, not everyone has time to to be on the golf course for four hours, but everyone can make time to sit back in their chair, put themselves with their senses in that scenario, and then truly visualize themselves being successful in that moment. And so using guided imagery or visualization techniques, whether it's in the live, in that moment, in a practice scenario, you know, on a court or on a golf course or again, even as distant as in your own chair. In your house, all of those can be impactful and all of those can help in train the brain and create both a health set and mindset and a connection where betterment can occur, greatness can occur, and end points and end games can be achieved. You can also do this. You know, there's obviously we have more than one sense. So visualization, using the eyes is, is a very common way to have a vision. You can actually use your other senses, you can use smell to help in fact, smells the most powerful connection between a memory. In a sense. So using smells that might harken you back to a particular golf course or situation or using smells to move forward. If you've ever walked into a very successful hotel brand, you probably notice they have a smell. Every specific Marriott type has a smell. And so using smell as part of what might guide you towards success is also a possibility. People listen, you know, you're listening to me, hopefully, or maybe you listen to others. Or you could also listen your way through a quote unquote visualization or a, a guidance of, of sorts. So you can use other senses other than your eyeballs or, you know, closed eyes. But obviously the visualization piece by nature tends to be the sense of of sight. There's such an interconnectivity between your mind and your body. And when one is out of alignment, it can absolutely throw the other out of alignment. And so it is important And as you think about guided imagery or as you think about visualization and as you think about that likely as being a more mind, brain, mental activity, again, that also ties into muscle memory. That also ties into physical activity. And so you can use movement of the body or again, visualization of movement of the body as part of how you might train yourself to be successful. So again, I I hearken back to golf as a sport I played and love, and that is so much of golf is muscle memory. And again, that can be done through visualization and guided imagery exercises. Last, but not least, I would just say the visualization is a very powerful tool in helping us stretch outside our comfort zone or see something in the future. You often hear kind of entrepreneurs or CEOs talk about being a visionary, which is really just a real life example of using the The visualization guidelines, right? It's the ability to have some imagination and be able to see into the future a bit. And then frankly, the ones that are actually successful are the ones that can then put that on paper, put an action plan behind it, and not just see something, but also be able to do something. So using visualization and guided imagery as a way in which you can see your future or see your future successes. Just keep in mind, you have to put action behind it in order to actually get there. And those who can see their future oftentimes are the ones that can achieve it. And I'm Dr. Ryan Wakim, successful entrepreneur and your endgame coach. I'm here to teach you how to exist today so that you can expand tomorrow and create the ultimate end game of your wildest desires. If you like what I have to say, do not hesitate to like this podcast, subscribe to this podcast, reach out on social media. I appreciate each and every one of you. I look forward to talking to you soon. And in the meantime, remember that you can see if you can see it. Ultimately, you can do it talk too soon.