Here is an excerpt from my book, SEVEN STEPS TO INNER POWER, where I discuss how to practice creative and focused visualiation:
Creative visualization is much more than dreaming. It is focused imagining, with the power of your will and persistence behind it. It is an immaterial activity that takes form first as a mental image, then as a material image.
When you are practicing disciplined, determined, and creative visualization, you are engaging what I call your “future memory.” Having a future memory of something is more than having a vision or goal. It is holding that vision with unwavering certainty. You are not 100 percent certain but 110 percent certain that your goal will become reality, because you’ve already experienced it as such. You’ve already planned it out and, in your future memory, you’ve already experienced it taking place. Now you are following through on the natural steps that will make this “memory” a reality. You “remember” your goal with the same vivid and sensory detail that you remember your first kiss. It is that real.
Making your goal a reality will take effort and discipline. I like to give the classic example of athletes who are preparing to compete in the Olympics. They have to be disciplined and they have to practice if they want to qualify. Likewise, you won’t reach your goal with the snap of the finger or by ordering it for instant delivery from Amazon or eBay. It will take work and commitment. You have to approach your goals as if reaching them were a life-and-death matter. You have to be honest with yourself, evaluate the effort you are putting forth, and ask yourself, “Did I put in 110 percent effort today or only 30 percent effort?”
One of the things that helps you stay committed is that when something is part of your “future memory,” you have no doubts at all about ultimately achieving it. How many times have you heard athletes say that they knew from the time they were children that they would be top competitors in their sport, whether it’s a great gymnast, a tennis champion, or an Olympic gold medalist swimmer? When they were children, they already knew that they were meant to become and they practiced and perfected their skills to get there.
