Top athletes have used many techniques to give them the edge against their competition.
It's the same in other areas of life too.
I can remember Dwight Stones, U.
S.
high jumper, at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.
He would be at the starting line and his head and eyes would go through a routine that I had not seen before.
And after a few moments of this routine, he would take off for his jump.
That summer he won the bronze medal.
During his high jumping career, he had set the world record 10 times and remains the most successful American high jumper of all time.
What was this routine he was doing prior to making his jump? Dwight Stones was visualizing his whole routine.
He was imagining the perfect high jump from the start to the finish.
This created a road map in his mind so his body would follow it.
You can do the same thing.
Earlier this year I was imagining breaking my all-time best in pull-ups.
I imagined going through the whole routine and even added that I was like a machine that couldn't stop.
After I was done, I finished with 56 straight dead hang pull-ups.
My best in the Marines was 47.
And that was over 3 decades ago.
How can you use the same (or even better) routine as Dwight Stones? We visualize all the time.
It's a natural part of our ability.
The difference between Dwight Stones and the average person is that Dwight Stones has trained himself do use visualization effectively.
You can too.
Using all five senses, each one of us can develop effective visualization.
It goes much farther than just seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, and tasting.
Each sense has to be expanded as you go through a routine.
For example, when you see something, make what you see bigger and brighter.
You should make it three dimensional and colorful.
The more submodalities that are brought into the picture, the stronger it becomes.
Each modality or imagined sense has submodalities or qualities involved.
Each modality or quality can be expanded.
Imagine walking on a beach.
I want you to visualize the beach.
See the sand and the waves.
You may even see some kelp on the sand or being washed on the beach by the waves.
Make it brighter and more colorful.
Make it 3-D, like you were in a movie.
Hear the sounds.
Hear the waves; listen to the tonal qualities of the waves as they come splashing in.
Expand on those qualities.
You may even hear some sea gulls overhead.
Make those sounds louder.
Feel the sand as they move from the bottom of your feet and in-between your toes.
Feel the air and heat of the sun against your skin.
Smell and taste the air.
Is it kind of salty? You can go even deeper with each modality, but you see what I'm getting at when visualizing, right? You can use it in business or sales.
You can use it when you want to learn something new.
If you are a performer of any kind, use visualization to bring about your best performance.
As an actor, you can get fully into a character and scene by visualizing it first.
As a salesperson, you can visualize the perfect presentation prior to actually doing the presentation.
Martial artists can visualize doing an exceptional kata prior to testing for their next belt level.
And as Dwight Stones has proven, athletes of all kinds can visualize success in their prospective sport.
Practice the art of visualization for yourself and eventually you'll become successful in whatever endeavor you're pursuing.
It's the same in other areas of life too.
I can remember Dwight Stones, U.
S.
high jumper, at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.
He would be at the starting line and his head and eyes would go through a routine that I had not seen before.
And after a few moments of this routine, he would take off for his jump.
That summer he won the bronze medal.
During his high jumping career, he had set the world record 10 times and remains the most successful American high jumper of all time.
What was this routine he was doing prior to making his jump? Dwight Stones was visualizing his whole routine.
He was imagining the perfect high jump from the start to the finish.
This created a road map in his mind so his body would follow it.
You can do the same thing.
Earlier this year I was imagining breaking my all-time best in pull-ups.
I imagined going through the whole routine and even added that I was like a machine that couldn't stop.
After I was done, I finished with 56 straight dead hang pull-ups.
My best in the Marines was 47.
And that was over 3 decades ago.
How can you use the same (or even better) routine as Dwight Stones? We visualize all the time.
It's a natural part of our ability.
The difference between Dwight Stones and the average person is that Dwight Stones has trained himself do use visualization effectively.
You can too.
Using all five senses, each one of us can develop effective visualization.
It goes much farther than just seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, and tasting.
Each sense has to be expanded as you go through a routine.
For example, when you see something, make what you see bigger and brighter.
You should make it three dimensional and colorful.
The more submodalities that are brought into the picture, the stronger it becomes.
Each modality or imagined sense has submodalities or qualities involved.
Each modality or quality can be expanded.
Imagine walking on a beach.
I want you to visualize the beach.
See the sand and the waves.
You may even see some kelp on the sand or being washed on the beach by the waves.
Make it brighter and more colorful.
Make it 3-D, like you were in a movie.
Hear the sounds.
Hear the waves; listen to the tonal qualities of the waves as they come splashing in.
Expand on those qualities.
You may even hear some sea gulls overhead.
Make those sounds louder.
Feel the sand as they move from the bottom of your feet and in-between your toes.
Feel the air and heat of the sun against your skin.
Smell and taste the air.
Is it kind of salty? You can go even deeper with each modality, but you see what I'm getting at when visualizing, right? You can use it in business or sales.
You can use it when you want to learn something new.
If you are a performer of any kind, use visualization to bring about your best performance.
As an actor, you can get fully into a character and scene by visualizing it first.
As a salesperson, you can visualize the perfect presentation prior to actually doing the presentation.
Martial artists can visualize doing an exceptional kata prior to testing for their next belt level.
And as Dwight Stones has proven, athletes of all kinds can visualize success in their prospective sport.
Practice the art of visualization for yourself and eventually you'll become successful in whatever endeavor you're pursuing.
Source...