Creative visualization is key when it comes to overcoming failures and crushing your goals. There are many books written on the subject of visualization, including one of the most famous best sellers of all time, Think & Grow Rich, which talks a lot about the power of thinking positively and visualizing your success.

For those of you who don’t know, the author of Think & Grow Rich spent his entire life studying successful people. Studying some of the most prominent business people of all time like Andrew Carnegie and Thomas Edison. We are not talking about ordinary men. We are talking about geniuses. And one of the common aspects of their success was creative visualization. But the power of using your own mind isn’t only displayed through this one book. There had been scientific studies that prove the power of visualization.

How Mental Training Can Boost Your Performance:

In one study(link), Russian scientists examined the results of four groups of high-level Olympic athletes.

Group one: 100% physical training

Group two: 75% physical training, 25% mental training

Group three: 50% physical training, 50% mental training

Group four: 25% physical training, 75% mental training

Can you guess which group had the best results?

Group four was the one with the best performance outcomes. This is a huge indicator that shows particular sorts of mental training, like conscious visualization and positive thinking, can have significant impacts on physical performance.

Since that study took place, it has been widely accepted in neuroscience and sports psychology that mental training can cause the body to react more favorably to consciously desired results.

Visualization isn’t only used in sports but it’s also one of the most common practices among Buddhists. In Buddhism, they use visualization techniques in order to reach Buddhahood. Moreover, countless celebrities and successful people have admitted that they have used certain visualization techniques. And that it was a significant factor that contributed to their success!

Arnold Schwarzenegger talks a lot about the power of visualization in his book: Education of a Bodybuilder. Arnold tells us that he tried to visualize lifting weights before he actually lifted them physically.

How did this help him?

Arnold had lifted the weight tons of time with his mind. He has seen himself doing it dozens of times. When he needed to do it physically, his mind has already done it. The only thing that was left was to push his body to follow. But he wouldn’t have been able to do it if his stubborn mind didn’t let him.

Also, there is a large number of other successful figures that have taken advantage of the power of visualization including Anthony Robbins, Bill Gates, and Ronnie Bernard. Will Smith has also talked about the power of visualization in a 2008 interview with Tavis Smiley. Mr.Smith said that visualization has helped him to overcome obstacles. The interesting thing is that he visualized his success years before he became successful.

MORE: Attract Women By Using The Law of Attraction

How Creative Visualization Works:

Your mind is split into two different parts. One is the conscious and the other is the subconscious. The conscious mind is what you use to think and take decisions. On the other hand, the subconscious is something you have almost no control over. Scientists haven’t found a way to unlock our subconscious mind yet.

However, there is a trick. A very simple trick that most successful people know. A trick they have used to take advantage of the power of the subconscious mind. And I will share that trick with you right now. The trick is that if you think about some specific information continuously then this information sinks into your subconscious or a creative mind. If you think of something repeatedly then it will become a part of your subconscious.

If you learn to feed your subconscious with the right food you will achieve more success than you have ever imagined.

Think of your subconscious as a computer. It can’t think on its own, it doesn’t differentiate between wrong or right. It just takes whatever you give. Give it the right thing and you will hit a gold mine. That’s why they say that you should think positively. It all goes back to feeding your subconscious with the right food.

If your subconscious is being given the same thoughts over and over again it will start believing in these thoughts. When this happens, your subconscious will work its ass off to bring these thoughts into existence. And you won’t even realize it happening. Everything will come as ideas. If you use these ideas you will have achieved the initial thought that you have fed your subconscious with.

There is a story about how impressive – and even damaging – the power of your subconscious mind can be. There was a father whose daughter had serious arthritis. None of the medications they tried worked on her.

The father was so desperate that he would do anything to help his little daughter. Whenever he would meet someone he would say “If I could cure my princess, I would even give my right arm to treat her”. He told this repeatedly for many months. Again and again.

And here comes the creepy part of the story. A few years later, he was traveling in an automobile and he had a serious accident. His right arm was torn from his body. All of a sudden, his daughter’s arthritis was cured after some days. No, I didn’t make this up. Check it out here. While this might be very excessive you can really understand the power of your mind.

The question is:

Can We Use Visualization To Take Advantage Of Our Subconscious Mind?

Short Version: Yes we can!

In order to understand how to do this, you have to know that the main language of your subconscious pictures. Your subconscious might be able to use words but it’s more easily affected by visual stimuli. And that’s why visualization is so effective.

Because it gives your subconscious the right visual stimuli. And the subconscious delivers whatever you ask for.

Now here is something extremely important:

If you want to take advantage of your subconscious mind you must visualize only the final outcome. Your subconscious mind delivers only what you “wish for”. The procedure doesn’t matter. Visualize only the final outcome and your subconscious will take care of the rest.

But you have to do this repeatedly and over a long timeframe if you want it to work. Don’t expect to visualize your success 4 days per week for a month and then expect to become rich. It might take months or even years depending on the size of your goal.

Visualization is a fantastic tool that you could use to make drastic changes in your life. Your brain is divided into two parts: the logical side(left) and the creative-emotional side(right). We mostly use the left-logical side of our brains. With visualization, you can increase the use of the right-creative side and boost your cognitive abilities.

This boost can have a profound positive impact on your life. What visualization does is supply your mind with powerful positive thoughts. These positive thoughts manifest into positive emotions which turn into physical sensations. In this way, you create a connection between your mind and your body.

The majority of times, our brain uses only the left side in order to make logical decisions and survive. By giving a boost to the right side of your brain you create that mind-body bonding and you create positive emotions instead of negative. It has been proven that negative emotions weaken our immune system and stop us from living a  flourishing life.

For more about how emotions impact our lives, you could check the following article: Effects Of Negative Thinking
Now, with positive – creative visualization you can accomplish exactly the opposite!
PS Check this article to learn more!

But How can you Visualize Your Way to Success?

I am glad you asked. Here is an easy to follow checklist:

1. Find a Calm Place That Nobody Will Disturb You.

2. Define Your Target – What You Want To Accomplish?

3. Think About How This Will Make You Feel – Try To See It Being Accomplished In Front Of Your Eyes

4. Focus On The Sensation – Feeling That You Get.

To make this thing work you must be specific in what you want and what you feel. You can’t just say “oh I want to be rich“. This is not specific. Think about how much money you will have. Then think about how you will use that money and how this money will make you feel.

Napoleon Hill, author of Think & Grow Rich says that adding emotion is the most important part of the creative visualization progress. According to Napoleon, only if you add an emotional feeling you can have access to your subconscious mind.

Conclusion

If you want to create some changes in your life then you have to know that most of these changes will be a result of your mindset.

The way you think and how hard you believe in your abilities will determine if you will make it or not. Don’t become a victim of outside poisonous threats. Don’t let others poison your mind. Center your focus on what you want to achieve. Feed your mind with the right food!

Visualize your success every day, consistently. And you will soon be amazed when the doors of possibility swing open. Your life’s orbit will literally turn by 180 degrees when this will happen. And it’s in your hand to make it happen.

Have you ever used creative visualization? Did it help you to achieve your goals and become more successful? I would love to hear your thoughts and life experience in the comments below!