Why Visualization Works (And Is the Best Tool for Success!)

If you haven’t figured it out already, I’m super-passionate about helping others live out their biggest vision and dreams for their lives and my favorite tool to use is visualization! This mental practice prepares you for what’s to come and allows you to tap into the power of your brain — something kids understand thanks to playing “make believe.”

Think about it. Have you ever watched kids play? Through the power of their own minds, they dream up big worlds for themselves and their friends. Somehow, even though there isn’t a moat actually protecting them or a giant gorilla actually chasing them, they see it as real. 

(It’s probably why they have such vivid dreams, too! Trying to get a kid back to sleep after a nightmare wherein they’re being chased is next to impossible — all you parents reading this know what I mean!!)

And, here’s what I always find so fascinating: Even though they’re all seeing this in their own, separate minds, they can agree that the contrived scenario is “real” enough that many different kids can get together and play in this shared, imaginary world that’s only visible in their mind . So even though Sally can’t see inside Susie’s head, they both can share this dreamed up, visualized experience as if they see this tangible, real thing right before them.

That’s how powerful visualization is!

Obviously, I believe vision boards are the best roadmap for success. They help you see your cloudy dreams and ideas more clearly and as a reality. Because of this, your brain has clarity and begins to think your vision is real, so it behaves in ways to make it possible.

Here’s how visualization works and why it’s such a powerful tool to use in your everyday life to help you achieve all the dreams you have for yourself.

How Visualization Works in the Brain

Visualization works because the brain, while being a very sophisticated organ, can’t tell the difference between what you’re picturing in your mind and what you’re seeing as “cold hard truth” in front of you. That’s why kids can create fanciful worlds and stay in them for hours — their brains are displaying as reality what they’re picturing in their heads.

The neurons in our brain transmit information whether it’s tangibly here or not. So, when we picture something happening, our brains fire up as if we’re doing it (even though we’re just “playing make believe” at the moment). Creating a vivid mental picture is basically the same as having it in real life.

Using Visualization as Mental Rehearsal

I love using visualization as a way to prepare the people I coach (and also myself!) for what we’re doing before we actually do it.

When we use this form of “mental practice,” we can walk through what we’re doing and prepare ourselves. Let’s say you’re starting a new morning routine and you’re mentally rehearsing (or visualizing) your steps the night before.

You see yourself waking up before your alarm even rings or turning the alarm off instead of snoozing. You get out of bed feeling refreshed and immediately put on workout clothes. You see yourself taking the dog out and stretching for a few minutes while she’s in the yard. Then, you go into the kitchen for a glass of water before you hop onto the treadmill. You see yourself running and you feel strong, empowered, and resilient.

Isn’t that a much better story than dragging yourself out of bed after hitting snooze too many times, then feeling rushed and counting down the seconds until you have to get off the treadmill and get onto a client call without so much as a cup of tea or shower?

When you visualize, you can “lock in” the steps of what you’re doing so they become a habit in record time. Pretty soon, it’ll be natural to do all of that because you’ve seen yourself do it over and over, even if you’ve just started this new routine a few days ago. 

(If you’re interested in learning more about visualization from the angle of mental rehearsal and preparation, Psychology Today has a great article on the subject!)

In Summary: The Power of Visualization

And that is why visualization works in the brain and is a powerful tool for achievement and manifestation. Not only does it prime our bodies for what’s coming by creating new neural pathways — routes in our brains that are short-cuts for learned behavior — visualization allows us to “practice” how we want to show up and what it’ll feel like when we reach our goals.

Visualization will help you tap into your deepest desires (maybe even things you didn’t know you consciously wanted!) and see what you’re truly meant to do, be, and have in your life. Because of this, your brain will be open and tuned to the vibration of possibility so you can create from a space that believes you already have what you see in your visualization.

I like to double-up my visualization power by also creating a vision board to represent what I’m picturing and feeling in my brain. That’s actually why I created the Vision of You Vision Board in a Box Kit — to give you a simple way to tap into visualization and then also create a physical representation of that which you can use to visualize and lock in those neural pathways many times a day.

When you combine powerful visualization with a physical representation of those visions in the form of a vision board you see many times a day, it supports the belief that dreams and ideas are actually here in realtime. Your brain not only thinks it’s real, it behaves in ways to make your vision possible.

You can learn more and get your own Vision of You Vision Board in a Box Kit right here!

As long as you’re willing to trust the vision and put the action behind it, the success of the vision is inevitable. (Oh, yeah, the next step is actually getting into motion and doing it, but that’s a blog post for another day!)