Win Harper | Life and Leadership Coach

That is the usual answer to the question “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?”  When I was growing up I was told that the only way to succeed was practice, practice, practice.  And I diligently followed that advice, spending hours at the local outdoor basketball court, day and night.  In the winter, I shoveled snow off the asphalt in order to play.  The skin on my fingers would occasionally split from the cold.  I did get better, but slowly.

In 1976 I read Maxwell Maltz’s, Psycho-Cybernetics” and later I listened to Denis Waitley’s “Psychology of Winning” and I began to understand the power of imagination.  Elizabeth uses the following example in her book, “Wishing”:

Many years ago there was a university study that was performed to assess the power of visualization’s affect on sports performance. There were three groups and each group was assigned the task of shooting a basketball into a hoop. Everyone’s ability was measured initially. The first group shot baskets on a regular schedule. The second group practiced shooting while visualizing each shot as successful and with as much detail as possible. Finally, the third group simply visualized a successful shot. The outcome was as follows:
• The second group improved the most—24 percent better—when they combined actual shooting practice and visualization.
• The third group—that just visualized shooting baskets—followed up second, with a 23 percent improvement.
• The first group that just shot baskets recorded no change.

How does this work.  Well, the body really doesn’t recognize the difference between reality and something vividly imagined.  Think of a time when you were walking around at night and heard a strange rustling noise.  Maybe your first thought was a wild animal, a bear; what did your body do?  Well, probably your heart started pounding, and you went into the flight or fight mode.  How did you feel when you discovered that it was only a squirrel?

In the spring of 1977, I decided to run the Marine Corps Marathon in November. Up till then I was only running 3-5 miles a day.  When I read about training for a Marathon all of the advice said that you needed to run at least 50-75 miles a week; some quick math tells you that translates into 8.3 to 12.5 miles a day if you run 6 days a week.  Moreover, I set the goal of finishing the run in less than 4 hours.  So I began increasing my daily runs and soon was running 8-10 miles a day with ease.  I was 33.  Youth helps.

I would also meditate and visualize the entire Marathon.  I would see myself at the start, loosening up and stretching, then I vividly imagined myself running, 5, 10, 15 20 miles, and finally I saw myself crossing the finish line with a smile on my face, my head up, and still running.  On November 9, 1977, I did just that, and my time was 3 hours 53 minutes and 9 seconds.

Since then I have used this technique in preparation for tough conversations, basketball games, attempting new skills, teaching classes, etc.  Professional and Olympic athletes are the masters of visualization.  When you visualize, your performance is perfect, and as you vividly imagine what you want to do, your body muscles and mind respond as if they were actually doing it.  You learn as you visualize.

What is it that you want to accomplish?  What do you want to do?  Don’t worry about the how; develop a compelling vision of yourself succeeding. Then simply Relax, Visualize, And Succeed!