The Power of Creative Visualization

Through the ages of self-expression and experiment, history has taught us that when individuals contemplate an idea with enough depth, they can create ways to actualize it.

Creative visualization is based on the concept of imagining something different — something that you want or desire. When used correctly, it can change your ingrained habits, leading you to greater happiness, contentment, and fulfillment. You can minimize and eliminate troublesome behaviors and develop and maximize positive ones. All of this ultimately leads to more productive and prosperous goal achievement.

The Basics of Creative Visualization

Everyone wants to live their life to the fullest extent possible, and we’ve all had our moments daydreaming or fantasizing about our personal version of the perfect life. Frequently, these mental processes are unfocused and relatively impotent. Yet, did you know that they are the necessary steps on the road to harnessing your goal achievement and how to get there?

Creative Visualization Defined

For ages, humans have existed in a hostile world. One of our ancestors’ goals was certainly to survive long enough to reproduce and create their legacy in the next generation. To do so, they had to be skilled in how to handle the environmental challenges and dangers of their lives effectively.

One of the ways they accomplished this was by reflecting on past experiences and applying memories to imagined future encounters. This ability to simulate possible circumstances in their mind’s eye was the basis of the human act of daydreaming — a way to test options of complex situations without personal risk. The lessons of these mental dry runs could then be utilized when the challenging situation did, in fact, arise in reality.

Daydreaming is a mental state similar to the dream state we experience while sleeping. However, in the former, we’re awake and aware of our surroundings. Also, our daydreams are more lucid and logical than sleeping dreams.

In our modern world, all of us daydream in much the same way. But unfortunately, the process of daydreaming has become much more formless than it was for our ancestors. We imagine the outcomes we’d like to see, but not the situations and actions that lead to those positive results.

For example, have you ever daydreamed about being wealthy, famous, or fit? You probably focused your imagination on the end result, didn’t you? We all dream up these perfect scenarios without imagining the steps we would’ve taken to achieve that goal. For our ancestors, the equivalent would’ve been imagining themselves safe, sheltered, and fed without working through how to accomplish those things. If they had fantasized in such a manner, few of us would likely be here today.

In truth, our softer and more modern world has allowed us to forget how to use our imagination as an essential mental process. We’ve forgotten how to daydream effectively and productively.

Creative visualization is like daydreaming on steroids. It takes a fundamental human process — the imagination — and distills it down to its most essential and robust behaviors. It’s nothing more than putting the missing pieces of effective daydreaming back into place. When these pieces are made part of this ancient process, we can visualize the future as our ancestors did. We can imagine positive outcomes and the ways to make those outcomes reality. This changes the way we approach our goals.

The Importance of Creative Visualization

Despite our modern misuse of it, creative visualization is part of our genetic makeup. It comes as naturally to us as reflexive motion. And once this process is refined and fully developed, our imaginative minds can become powerful tools to mold the nature of reality itself.

With practice, you can fully evaluate any potential situation in your life. When you visualize the circumstances where your ingrained behaviors arise, you can imagine the nexus point of that behavior. Then, when the action raises its ugly head in real life, you’ll recognize it immediately for what it is. That’ll allow you to take the necessary steps to minimize or eliminate that behavior. In doing so, you’ll have worked through all possible outcomes and arrive at the behaviors most advantageous to a positive result.

Leveraging Creative Visualization

The definition of success, in human terms, is purely subjective. But at a fundamental level, all of our ancestors were, in one way or another, people who achieved success. Our existence is proof of their accomplishments.

Maintaining that success is an innate drive within human beings. It’s in our bloodline and part of our survival response. That is why each of us has a desire to improve our circumstances over our lifetime.

As I mentioned previously, the process of creative visualization fosters the growth of positive behaviors through reflection on and subsequent elimination of negative ones. For many of us, it is these negative behaviors that are holding us back. In fact, often, these habits have become so ingrained that we hardly even notice they are at work.

For example, I suffer from procrastination. I may know what needs to be done and when. Yet, time and time again, I’ll back myself into a corner and have to rush to finish a task, often completing it in a less than an ideal manner just before the deadline. Why do I do this?

Using creative visualization to evaluate the situation, I’ve looked at it from all angles, and it’s revealed a startling realization to me. I procrastinate because I’m afraid of goal completion. Once a goal is completed, my inner voice immediately asks, “now what?” That’s a scary, intensive question for me to answer at times. Sometimes it feels more comfortable for me to stagnate in the same life role than to have to move on to the next thing. So, I procrastinate and draw out the steps in goal completion for as long as I can.

Creative visualization has helped me and can help you to look at life and behaviors with an analytical lens. You will see where you are holding back and can assess why. Then you can determine what you need to do to improve your response in these situations. Once you’ve accomplished that, the effect is incredible. You’ll find yourself, like me, at a new level of achievement, meeting and exceeding goals with ease.

Using Creative Visualization

Now that you understand the basis of creative visualization, it’s time to look at the process itself.

Preliminary Considerations

Before you attempt to leverage creative visualization techniques, there are some things for you to consider.

Be Aware of What You Desire. How do you physically get from Point A to Point B? The answer that usually pops into people’s minds is that you move in the direction of Point B. But what if you don’t know where Point B is located?

All journeys (even aspirational ones) require a predetermined path that leads to the goal (Point B).

Before you begin your visualization process, you must be clearly aware of what it is that you desire to achieve. If you don’t have your goal in mind, you will never discover the right path.

This may seem obvious, but many people wish for things without fully thinking about what they’ve asked for. As a result, they end up drifting off course and find themselves lost in their own life path. The universe can’t help you get what you want if you’re not crystal clear about what that is. So take the time for self-reflection to identify your goal.

Have a clearly defined finish line. A big mistake made by many is declaring their goal too early in their soul searching. An example of this is my own experience with money.

There was a time when I set a goal to have $20,000 in the bank. I worked hard for a couple of years to achieve those savings. But when I did, it didn’t last long. I had credit card debt. My car needed repairs. I also became a parent, and my savings goal no longer fit my financial needs. Yes, I had thousands of dollars in the bank for that one moment in time, but within months it was gone to debts and diapers.

Don’t just identify the win. Identify what the environment around you needs to look like in that moment of success. When you’re standing at the finish line, holding your gold medal, what will your related circumstance need to be at that moment? Be specific about your vision of success.

Focus Like a Laser. You don’t want to fragment the power of your creative visualization by seeing several different goals at the same time. Visualization is most effective when one, and only one, desire is the focus of the process. When you decide on one outcome and concentrate on that outcome while visualizing, you are much more likely to be successful in getting what you want.

You certainly can, and will, have more than one objective that you want to achieve through visualization. Just remember that each separate aim is an entirely different visualization process. Don’t muddy the waters by visualizing one thing one day and a wholly different idea the next.

Prioritize your goals. Keep focused. Don’t be greedy. This is not the time for multi-tasking.

Prepare Your Path. To maximize your creative visualization results, you must try to live your life in a manner that is consistent with your objective, whatever that may be. It’s not about wishing for change. In fact, it’s about as far away from wishing as you can possibly get. Wishing is a passive activity. It’s dreaming of an outcome and then doing nothing to make that outcome a reality. Creative visualization, on the other hand, is an assertive activity. It’s about taking affirmative and purposeful action to reach your goal.

You have to have the courage to change the way you approach your life. This means taking a close look at your lifestyle, your actions, and the way you obtain your accomplishments.

Do everything in your power to make it as easy as possible for that achievement to come to you. You cannot sit on the sidelines and wait for it. Remember that the most successful people are usually the hardest working and most focused individuals in the room.

Creative Visualization in Action

Many people use the process of creative visualization for personal ends. Specifically, to achieve material gain. While there’s nothing wrong with this type of objective, creative visualization is capable of manifesting so much more. I’ve used this technique throughout my adult life to broaden my horizons and help me to achieve new career goals.

When I was a sophomore in college, I took a biology class as an elective and fell in love with science. By the end of the school year, I was determined to change my major to a more analytical discipline. This was a huge decision. I was an English major at the time and had entered college intending to achieve a Masters of Fine Arts in Writing.

Five years later, I came out of graduate school, a Microbiologist, and worked in a lab setting for several years. But I was never fulfilled in this role because the lack of creative writing felt like a massive void in my life.

One day I decided that I wanted to leave the laboratory setting for good and attempt a business career in marketing. My hope was that this career shift would afford me more opportunities as a writer. I hadn’t taken a single business course in college, though.

It was ultimately the creative visualization process, combined with a healthy dose of networking within the life sciences community, that got me to where I wanted to be. I found mentors, asked many questions, observed the talents and skills of those I tried to emulate and learned on the job. But I knew to do those things as steps in my journey because of my daily visualization practice.

Visualization didn’t just motivate me to keep my eye on the finish line. It helped identify weaknesses in my skill set and behaviors that I’d have to overcome to meet the challenges of my significant career shift. It helped me to plan my course, determine the next steps in my development, and problem solve potential roadblocks.

Now, fifteen years into my career as a marketing professional and writer, I find myself visualizing the next stage of my development. The one in which I give back all my lessons learned, and wisdom gleaned, hoping to help the next generation of professionals coming up through the ranks. When I started to feel like there was still more to be done in my career, it was creative visualization that helped me identify this next goal. It’s a technique so ingrained in my process at this point that I almost don’t have to think about doing it.

The Process of Creative Visualization

Now that you’ve addressed the preliminary considerations of this technique, it’s time to turn your attention to the process itself. As you go through these steps, it is essential to remember that creative visualization is not a formula or a ritual. It is a highly personalized method.

These steps are merely suggestions to get you started. The process can and should be suited to your own preference and style, which you’ll develop over time.

Relaxation

Tension is the number one enemy of your imagination. Therefore, you must learn how to relax before visualizing.

One of the best ways to unwind is through controlled breathing. Breathing is one of those things that we all know how to do and don’t usually overthink — it’s a natural, reflexive action.

Our respiration is controlled by the autonomic nervous system. This means that we breathe without actively choosing to do so. Survival-­wise, that’s advantageous. But it also means that our emotional state affects how we breathe without us thinking about it. When we are tense, anxious, or worried, our brains interpret this stress as danger. Our fight or flight response kicks in, and our breathing becomes shallow and rapid. This serves to reinforce our physical tension, which, in turn, prevents us from relaxing even further.

The only way to break the cycle is by becoming consciously aware of your respiration, its rate, and its volume.

Before you start a creative visualization session, place yourself in a comfortable position in a quiet location. Close your eyes and shift your focus to your breath. If you are tense and find that your breathing is shallow and rapid, take a few moments to slow it down. Then, take a deep breath, hold it for a second, and then release it slowly. This is called a cleansing breath, and it interrupts the stress response and initiates relaxation. Take a few more cleansing breaths until you start to feel a positive shift in your state of tension.

At this point, you should focus on your body. Which parts of you are still tensed and uncomfortable? Build upon the physical shift in your tension level by curling your fingers and toes in tight. Hold this tension for a few moments, then release and relax your hands and feet thoroughly. Wiggle them around a bit. Now move your attention up your arms and legs, tensing and relaxing different parts of you, one at a time. Once you’ve released the tension in your muscles, take a final, cleansing breath.

Now you are ready to productively visualize.

The Visualization

Picture your desire clearly in your mind. See it in as great of detail as possible. Whatever it is — object, place, or situation — look at it from as many angles as possible.

Concentrate on the smallest characteristics. It can help to make what you want real in your mind by activating your senses. What would your target feel like, sound like, or smell like? If your thoughts begin to wander, gently shift them back to the image of your objective.

Remember that this is not a daydream. The point of visualizing is to make the mind’s eye see the result as real and practical as possible. How would you maintain that objective if it was in front of you? How would you nurture it? What behaviors or habits might injure or damage it?

Also, keep in mind that this is not a meditation session. You don’t have to visualize with your eyes closed, though you can if you want to. Use whatever tools that you need to help you visualize your objective. Some people like to focus on a vision board of images they’ve collected to represent their goal. Others like to journal and reflect back upon their notes.

The only non-negotiable point is concentration. This is the time for you to use your powers of attention to make your objective reality. To this end, you need to banish any random thoughts from your mind and focus exclusively on your target.

While you are visualizing, make sure to note any physical sensations that you experience. Do you feel excited or fearful? Are you apathetic or distracted? These emotions are clues to how you really think about what you are trying to achieve. Negative emotions mean that you need to do more work on the preliminary steps. You need to ask yourself if this is really the right goal for you.

After about 15 minutes of visualizing your objective, it is time to make the conscious decision to stop. Empty your mind of all thoughts. Disengage from the goal. But not before you tell your unconscious mind to keep working on what you’ve visualized. In the hours and days after a deep and successful visualization session, I often find many ideas on the next steps I should take will come to mind. I’ll also think up questions that need to be answered before I can succeed in my objective. Keep your mind open and aware so that you notice these thoughts as they come.

Take a final, cleansing breath, and resume your normal activities. Most people do their visualization sessions twice a day for 15 minutes at a time. If this seems too intense, start with a single, daily session and build up from there. The frequency, time of day, and location for your practice are up to you. Experiment until you find the right combination. But know that to succeed with this technique, you should practice it daily.

Truthfully, there’s nothing unique about my creative visualization practice. Countless people through the ages have harnessed the power of this technique to achieve deeper self-reflection and success in their lives. The key takeaway I hope you’ve gotten out of this article is that the human brain is a fantastic and powerful machine, capable of shifting reality toward new possibilities. All it takes to harness that power is a willingness to believe and the patience to visualization what the future can look like. Endless possibilities await you.

You just need to imagine them.