If visualization is one of the key mind management techniques sports people use to perform better and reach their goals, then mentally rehearsing what you want to achieve can do the same for you.

You don’t have to be an elite athlete to experience the benefits of using your imagination to visualize the future you want.

But how to visualize to get what you want?  What’s the best way to do it?

In episode 27 of the Changeability Podcast we take a look at what you can do to get the most out of visualization.

These are the little tricks of the trade of how to visualize for maximum effectiveness – in other words – how to visualize to get what you want.

It’s got a lot to do with rehearsing and making it as real as you can.

Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will. – George Bernard Shaw

In episode 27 you find out:

• The vital link between visualization and rehearsing.
• It’s all about acting – luvvies!
• How Julian’s turning bad
• What Julian’s doing to a song from 'The Pirates of Penzance'
• And other slightly off subject but loosely connected stuff - including how Kathryn and Julian met.
• You’re the actor and director of your own show
• About the power of an emotional punch
• How evocative music is
• What is Julian’s favourite song
• If your subconscious cares about the future

This week we’re talking about a straight up, full on, mind management tool you can use in life and business to help you make changes and achieve your goals - VISUALIZATION.

Visualization uses the power of your imagination to create the life you want, by creating in your mind’s eye what you desire or want to achieve, and repeatedly visualizing it.

Far from being something way out or weird, visualization is natural and we all do it everyday of our lives.

We visualize when we’re being creative or planning something.  We use it in a positive way - like looking forward to our next holiday, or in a negative unhelpful way - like when we unnecessarily imagine things going wrong for us. (We talked about this in episode 20 ‘What is Visualization’ when we first looked at visualization.)

So if visualization is something you do naturally – wouldn’t it be great to take the visualisation you do naturally everyday, enhance it and make it work to your advantage? As a mind management tool - using the power of your mind to do what you want in a deliberate way (we’re all for that at BrilliantLivingHQ).

That’s the theory and In episode 26 of the Changeability Podcast we start looking at how we make it a reality – through using the technique of MENTAL REHEARSAL.

We look at what mental rehearsal is and how to use it to get the most from your visualization.

And if you think you find it difficult to visualize, we talk about different ways people can ‘see’ things in their mind.

What the mind can conceive and believe – it can achieve.  Napoleon Hill

More specifically in episode 25 you find the answers to these questions:

• What is visualization?
• What if you think you can’t visualize?
• Can anyone visualize?
• What is mental rehearsal?
• What is Julian rehearsing?
• Who uses mental rehearsal?
• What exactly should you be mentally rehearsing to get what you want?
• What are process simulation and outcome simulation and why should you care?
• How can mental rehearsal help you resist a cream cake?
• What’s it going to be - fantasy or expectation?
• Can visualization solve your problems and challenges?

If you want to get inside the mind of a successful entrepreneur and businessman, then episode 25 of the Changeability Podcast is your chance.  Because this week we talk with Chris Ducker who takes us on the roller coaster experience of what being an entrepreneur has been and is for him.

Chris shares the highs and lows, fears and rewards of his entrepreneurial journey so far and we chat about the mindset, techniques and tactics, which have made him the success he is today. And it’s not all sweetness and light, as Chris opens up about the challenges he’s faced along the way and how he’s dealt with them.

“Do what you do best – delegate the rest” Chris Ducker

Chris, of ChrisDucker.com – is a serial entrepreneur and accomplished businessman, with a bricks and mortar business in the Philippines employing over 200 staff and an online business helping become people start or improve their own businesses.  He is also a coach, blogger, author of the best selling book Virtual Freedom, sought after speaker and host of the popular New Business Podcast. And as of this week, co-host of the #1 business podcast – 1DayBB alongside his friend Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income fame.

“Time is our most valuable commodity – use it wisely” Chris Ducker

More specifically on episode 25 you will find out about:

• How Chris went from employee to employer at 37,000 feet
• The fears Chris faced and how he dealt with them
• The blessing and curse of the entrepreneurial mindset
• The self-beliefs that get in the way of achieving our best
• The cost of success
• The day Chris couldn’t get out of bed
• What to do when you’re tied to your smart phone
• The biggest fear faced by entrepreneurs
• Superhero syndrome and how to cure it
• The birth of the virtual CEO
• The importance of goals
• Chris’s impersonation of Roger Taylor of Queen
• The power of a Mastermind group and how they helped Chris achieve over and above his expectations
• The challenge of writing a book
• How to pronounce ‘paleo’ in an English accent
• How many hours Chris works in a day and weekWhat success look like

5 words for a great year ahead

The power of words 

There is power in words. We all know the power of words to motivate, educate and communicate.

We use words to communicate with each other and also with ourselves.

Our thoughts are formed in words and we have an inner-voice that commentates on what we do and think, and not always in the most positive of ways!

So why not use your words to your advantage?

One way of doing this is to have a few well-chosen words that sum up the essence of what you want to achieve or experience in the year ahead.

These become your words for the year.

The idea is you write them out and place them where you will see them every day. And you regularly repeat them, think about them, look at them and use them, until they’re impressed onto your subconscious and become part of how you think, act and behave.

In short, these words work as shorthand for your aspirations and as affirmation of the way you want to be. They are a reminder of your goals and reinforcement for your intentions.

Your words for a great year

So what are your 5 words for a great year ahead? Choose between 1 and 5 words to sum up what you what to achieve, experience, be or or have in the year ahead.

Here are 5 suggestions to get you started:

Change

If you want this year to be better than last year, then thinking about what you want to change is a great place to start. Will this be a year of change for you and if so what is it you want to change?

It’s no good doing everything the same as you did it last year and probably the year before that, if you want to have a different outcome.

So think about the word change every day. What is it you're changing this year, what is it you want to do differently? How do you want your year to be different from last year? What is it you want more or less of, what is it you want to improve?

All of these things can be encapsulated in that one little word change - which is why it's so great to have it as one of your words of the year. Write it out and look at it every day and remind yourself every day what it is you’re changing in your life.

And if you want to have the changeability - the ability to change – you might like to start here.

Love

People say money makes the world go round and of course we all need money but what about love? The Beatles sang all you need is love and we know that's not true either. But the truth lies somewhere in between.

The fact is that love is what makes life great. Love is what motivates us to do things and makes us feel good.  This can be love for your family, your spouse or partner, your colleagues and friends and love for yourself.

By having love as one of your words this year it helps to remind you of the driving force of life and the thing that holds us together as families and as communities.

If you'd like a way of reminding yourself about love or want to open yourself up to more opportunities for love in your life - check out these affirmations for love.

Abundance

Abundance is a bit of an old-fashioned word that is also a great word because it captures the essence of so many things. Whatever it is you want more of in your life - the word abundance can capture it all.

Do you want abundance in monetary terms; this is how most people think of the word abundance? It’s a lovely word for it because it gives this beautiful idea of having more than you need. Abundance suggests there is no limit to what you can have.

This is an abundant world we live in with more than enough to go around. There is no limit on money, it’s an energetic exchange of value and a commodity.

So if you want more abundance in your life, if you want money in your life in this coming year, focusing on the idea of abundance is a great way to start thinking positively about what you have and how you can have more of it - what ever that might be.

Growth

The word growth encapsulates the notion of learning or developing or getting better at something. It could be a new skill, or the way we want to act, it might be a characteristic we want to develop like being more attentive - or maybe we want to read more because reading and learning is at the root of development of any type.

Maybe you have a business and want to grow your business - so the word growth is great because it can be whatever you want it to be, personal or business related. But as with all your words – as you write it down, as you say it, as you think it, have an idea in your head about what you mean by it otherwise it’s just a vague concept.

Thank you

Appreciation, gratitude, thank you - they’re all words which bring us back to the here and now and help us be grounded in our everyday experience. In doing so we become aware of all the amazing, fabulous, wonderful, gorgeous, lovely things in our life that are going well.

Having the words thank you or appreciation or gratitude helps to remind us every day of what we already have and how privileged we are to live in this age, in this time of comfort, luxury and modern medicine.

The Changeability Podcast Episode 24 - CA024

You can hear us talking about all of this and more in episode 24 of the Changeability Podcast, where we also share our own words for the coming year.

The first of January was dedicated by the Romans to their God of Gates and Doors - Janus. Janus had a distinctive and unusual look – he had two faces which rather cleverly meant he could look behind him with one face whilst simultaneously looking forward with his other face.

Just as doors and gates look in two directions, this god could look both backward and forward at the same time. This made him not only the guardian of exits, entrances and transitions, but just as you go through a door or gate to enter a new place, Janus was seen as the God of Beginnings.

We of course remember Janus in the name of our first month of the year, January, but he represented beginnings and firsts of all types. This makes Janus a perfect symbol for us at this and any time of the year.

So although we’re doing the two-faced Janus thing of looking back (in last weeks Changeability Podcast - episode 22) and looking forward to new beginnings today at the beginning of January – it doesn’t matter whether you read or listen to this in January or any month or day of the year.

It’s about new beginnings of any type at any time. Indeed Janus was originally honoured on the first day of every month and at other key times in the year and people’s lives such as harvest, birth and marriage.

Whilst the passing of one year into another lays down a useful marker in time to think about our lives, we can take any time as a cut off point to sign off a portion of our lives and start a new segment afresh.  Compartmentalising our thinking into years, months, weeks or even days,  gives us a convenient time span to divide and measure ourselves by.

The great thing is that any moment in our life can be a gateway to a new and different pathway – to new beginnings.

In today’s episode of the Changeability Podcast we’re talking about the concept of looking forward.  And asking you what you’re looking forward to doing, achieving, experiencing and being this year.

Are you approaching this year with excited anticipation and embracing it as something to literally look forward to. Because when we look forward to something – we expect it to happen – we’ve set an intention to do something and are now looking forward to it.  We’re looking at ways of doing this on today’s show.

Specifically in this week’s episodes we look at:

• Your score for last year score out of 10 (and ours)
• A totally insignificant unscientific sample of what people are saying about the new year.
• What is a tabula rasa and what’s on yours (and why does Julian like showing off with Latin)?
• What are you looking forward and expecting to happen this year?
• What will you score for this year be?
• How to reverse engineer this year.
• What do you need to change or do differently to get to your new rating?
• Making happy and energised two important words this year.
• What are your themes for the year?
• The positivity challenge.
• A big warning about what happens if you don’t do this (hint – nothing).
• Are you meandering or living on purpose?
• Who’s setting your agenda?
• What are you literally looking forward to this year?

5 questions to kick-start your year

1. In one year’s time how will your score this year out of 10?
2. What do you need to do and change to reach that score?
3. What are your big themes or goals for the coning year?
4. What is your ‘why’ or purpose behind these (in other words - the reason you have these themes and goals)
5. Are you looking forward to an amazing year?

Here’s to a great year ahead.  We appreciate you being part of ours and hope we continue to be a part of yours. 

For action

1. Answer the 5 questions to kick-start your year
2. Let us know your big themes and goals for the year in the comments below or in our private Changeability FB group – which you can join here