See it. Believe it. Achieve it.
When people say “See it. Believe it. Achieve it.”, THIS is what they mean. This is how you do that.
IMAGERY!
Imagery is definitely one of my favorite mental skills. It’s a skill that is easy to use and can be used in a number of different ways. And, it can be used outside of sport too!
Even though I’m no longer an athlete, I still use Imagery. I use imagery when I want to visualize myself achieving a goal. I visualize who I need to be in order to achieve the goal and how I’ll achieve it. When I use imagery in this way it makes my goals seem less out of reach. It gives me confidence that I can achieve them because I can see myself doing it.
So, what is imagery?
Imagery is a mental skill in which you will visualize success, by using your senses to mentally take yourself through a performance or performance of a skill.
Imagery builds and strengthens the same connections in your brain that it would if you were physically performing the skill. But when you’re using imagery you don’t have to move a muscle.
Imagery has huge benefits!
Imagery helps you to build confidence. When you visualize yourself performing well consistently, it’s a lot easier to believe it’s possible. Plus rather than visualizing worst case scenarios, imagery allows you to train your mind to visualize best case scenarios. You’ll be more confident because you’ve trained your mind to consistently perform at your best.
Imagery allows you to better manage emotions and physiological responses. This is two fold. One, when using imagery you are slowing down your mind, focusing it, and finding a relaxing state as you go through it. Two, when visualizing optimal performance you are able to also visualize handling emotions and responses in an optimal way. This allows you to train yourself to respond in this same way when it’s game time.
Aids in the development of sport skills. When you're learning or working on improving certain skills, imagery should be part of your daily regimen. Visualizing yourself performing the skills you want to learn or improve allows you to build your confidence in your ability to perform the skill and build the muscle memory needed to perform the skill effectively.
Helps in coping with injuries. There is no doubt that suffering from an injury brings on mental setbacks. Whether it’s frustration, fear of returning to sport or reinjury, or even diminished confidence as you take time off the field. Imagery can help you overcome these mental setbacks as you are recovering and returning to sport from injury.
There are many different ways to use imagery, so here are a few you can try out.
Visualize an upcoming performance. Visualize your game plan, your opponent, and how you want to perform.
Visualize a past performance. This is really beneficial if you have a hard time visualizing from scratch. You want to make sure that you are visualizing a past performance where you felt you performed your best.
Visualize yourself learning or improving a new skill. You want to go through the mechanics, how you’ll feel, and what’s needed to perform the skill.
Visualize yourself overcoming an obstacle. This could be an injury or earning a starting spot. Visualize how it would look to overcome it, who you need to be, and how you need to show up in order to overcome your current setback.
Chances are you’ve used some form of imagery and you didn’t even realize it. Now I want to challenge you to be really intentional with using imagery. I’ve created a FREE imagery workbook that’s available to you to begin using imagery to visualize your own success. This workbook will allow you to personalize imagery so it works for you. You’ll also see different ways to use imagery so that you can find what works best for you.
Ready to get yours? Download your FREE copy of the Imagery Mental Reps Workbook here.