Use Your Imagination

Visualization can not only improve your life, but it can save your life. It can even enhance your performance without ever physically doing anything. What if I told you that you could improve your shooting skills simply by imagining yourself shooting with a kind of accuracy and confidence like you’ve never known? Would you believe me, does it sound too good to be true? Well, researches at the Netherlands National Police Academy conducted an experiment that demonstrated this speculation to be true; officers who used mental images outperformed those who did not. We’ve known for some time now that mental imagery and visualization improves performance. From athletes to professionals in the business world, those who have achieved greatness admit to using some form of visualization to enhance their performance. Imagination is a powerful tool. Looking around your own environment and community you’ll observe many buildings and other man-made objects that could not have been created without it first having been imagined in someone’s mind. Everyone uses visualizations whether they realize it or not. Making plans, whether they’re about relationships, your job, or travel, we visualize the goal and how we’re going to get there. It’s akin to your heartbeat, it’s so natural that we’re not even aware that it’s beating. But if you channel that imagery and direct your visualization you can improve your performance. So, what does it take to really hone visualization skills? Picturing details. Once you include details in your visualization, goals and performance become more real. In fact, the brain will begin to form neural connections resulting from repeated visual imagery. Guan Yue, an exercise psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation found that people who did a virtual workout over three months in their minds were able to increase their muscle strength by 13.5% versus […]

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