What do high-powered CEO’s, athletes like Michael Jordan and creative types like David Lynch all have in common? It may be hard to imagine that these disparate types could share common ground, but they do: They all use creative visualization. The term creative visualization goes by many names – and includes numerous approaches – but one thing is for sure, it works!
Simply speaking, creative visualization is a sort of meditation technique that can help you achieve more from your next presentation by encouraging you to create better clarity, focus and sense of purpose when it comes to achieving excellence the next time you take the stage. Without getting too complicated, we all want to do well when it comes to presenting, but we simply cannot do well until we actually believe we can.
Presenting is not easy. It pushes all kinds of buttons that we aren’t used to having pushed and it challenges us in ways our day-to-day jobs and lives usually don’t. For most of us, presenting casts us in a situation where we are fish-out-of-water, and like these hapless creatures our first reaction to being hit with a spotlight is to hyperventilate and flop around for a bit. Why? Because we don’t understand where we are and we can’t for the life of us imagine how to deal with the task at hand.
Creative visualization allows you to clarify your goal, imagine your best possible performance, and essentially “walk through it” time and time again before you ever step into that boardroom or walk up on that stage. Most of us allow our lives to be controlled by our unconscious expectations. Why not take control of those expectations and create the outcomes we truly desire?
Here’s how it works:
Set Your Goal
Sure, you think you want the best possible outcome for your presentation, but do you really? Most of our best intentions are also shot through with strong doubts and even self-destructive beliefs. Do you really want to be have a great presentation or do you just want to survive the trauma you fear? Take some time to really work through your goal for your presentation. Acknowledge negative feelings and attitudes but don’t let them stand between you and your best.
Picture Your Best
This can be tough. Once you really know what you want out of your next presentation, you need to create that picture in your mind. See every detail. Hear every sound. What are you wearing? What does the room look like? See the faces in the audience as you deliver your best possible presentation.
Focus Often
Take your visualization practice seriously and make it a priority in your preparations. Take time to be alone, be still and be in the moment with your thoughts as you run through your visualization again and again. As you practice, the image will become clearer and your focus will be easier to achieve.
By using creative visualization you are actually training your subconscious mind for greatness. This is just a basic rundown on the practice. Take the time to investigate creative visualization. You’ll find that there are countless resources to assist you as well as many mainstream research studies that support the effectiveness of this knockout preparation technique.
