It Works for Olympic Athletes - Why Wouldn’t It For You?

Years ago I was living in Dubai and had just launched a health coaching practice. Little by little I learned the sales ropes as I enrolled coaching clients, most of whom were expats like me. 

One day I sat down to do a guided writing exercise, where I projected myself three years into the future. I wrote down every detail of the outcome I desired: what I would be doing, how I would be feeling, what my home would look like, etc. 

I saw myself living in the Bay Area hills. I envisioned what my daily routines would look like. I felt myself opening the door to my home (one I had never lived in before). I saw the six-figure income I aimed to earn (which was exponentially more than I was earning with that fledgling health coaching practice). And I felt the feelings of logging into my growing bank account.

Bear in mind, the reality I envisioned for three years into the future was wildly different from the life I was living at the time. But I knew I didn’t have to worry about the logical path to get there. All I had to do with that writing exercise was imagine, envision, and feel.

Fast forward three years into the future: all of it became a reality - the home, the location, even the almost-exact-dollar income. Everything. As for how I got there: that was way beyond what I could’ve logically planned or predicted.

This is the power of visualization. I’ve experienced and witnessed this power with multiple, significant events in my life. And this power is available to you, too. It’s available to all of us.

When and how to use visualization

You might be wondering if this can work in sales. The answer is yes, absolutely. It can work for health issues, business, relationships - anything. 

Olympic athletes harness the power of visualization all the time. Michael Phelps, Simone Biles, and countless others make visualization a critical part of their routines. It’s just as important as their physical training.

So how does it work? The key to visualization is not only to envision what you want to happen, but to feel every detail of it as much as possible. This includes the tactile feeling (which for Michael Phelps might be how it feels for his hand to cut through the water with each stroke), and the emotional feeling (the elation of victory), and the sounds and sensations (like hearing a crowd cheering). 

For you, what vivid scene can you envision as you exceed your sales target for this quarter? Can you feel yourself texting a friend, telling them you just exceeded your target? Can you see what that text would look like? Can you feel yourself dragging that winning deal into the closed/won column of your CRM? Can you draft a LinkedIn post where you share all the steps you took to exceed your target, as if it has already happened?

Please notice that last phrase: you have to feel and experience your desired outcome as if it has already happened. The realistic detail of the vision, and the feeling of it, are what tell your brain that it will happen.

In fact, there’s a network of neurons in the brain called the reticular activating system. This network will start to recognize opportunities in your environment that will bring about the exact outcome you had envisioned. Without that vision, you might’ve overlooked those opportunities. This is a phenomenal feedback loop.

But you don’t have to worry about how it all works. Just envision what you want, feel it, and describe it in incredible detail. For me, journaling is what works best. But you can also hold your vision in meditation, or even describe it all to a friend.

Also: suspend disbelief as much as you can. Forget about being “realistic” or “logical”. Realism and logic have their place - just not in this exercise.

Is visualization all you need to hit your targets?

No way. I’m not suggesting that visualization is all you need to hit your sales goals. You also need strategy, expertise, preparation, practice, and good ol’ hard work. 

But visualization is a massively powerful tool you can use to tie it all together. It takes very little time, no money, and no effort since it should be enjoyable.

Knowing all this, why wouldn’t you give it a try?

And maybe you have. If so, do you have a visualization story to share? I’d love to hear it below!

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