The Visualization Experiment — 31 Days of Manifesting My Dreams

Trying to think my way to success, 10 minutes at a time

I am inherently impressed with the capabilities of the mind. I’ve seen changes in myself when I started implementing habits such as meditation, journaling, and consistent goal setting. Many individuals make a career of teaching others to be successful. The reason they can make a career in this field is because of people like me. Those that are hungry for progress and growth. In April, I was curious about visualization practices. As someone who has been meditating regularly for years, I wondered if developing a practice in visualization could help me reach my goals faster. The small amount of research I did on the topic showed several studies where visualization was successful. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find solid proof of visualization leading to success as touted in books like “The Secret”.

The Experiment.

Because I couldn’t find the exact study, I was looking for I decided to experiment. After all, some people swear by visualization. There is no other way to know if it would work for me without trying it out for myself. In May, I practiced guided imagery every day for 31 days straight. In my previous visualization focused article, Can You Really Create the Life You Want?, I highlighted several cases of when and where visualization does work.

As a follow up to that piece, I promised to test out the practice myself to see what kind of changes I could create in my own life. My interest in this topic comes from the belief that the mind has untapped potential. I believe that we are capable of great things and as we evolve, we will discover the true powers of the mind. I wanted to know if using guided imagery/visualization could have a positive effect on one’s success. While the term success could be defined in several ways, I used my own definition as the metric. Here are my success metrics for this experiment

1. Did visualization improve the consistency of my habits?
2. Did it alter my mindset and thought patterns positively?
3. Did it lead to more progress and goal achievement?

Methodology

I have had some resemblance to a morning routine for years now. It wasn’t hard for me to change out a few habits to add a morning visualization session. For May, my morning routine went something like this. 6:00 alarm 6:10–7:00 Writing and Editing 7:00–7:30 Breakfast/Shower 7:30–7:45 Coffee and Planning 7:45–8:00 Visualization Video (10 -15 minutes in length) 8:00–8:20 Journal and Set Intentions 8:30 Work I decided to use guided visualization videos instead of closing my eyes and trying to conjure an image. I may research a self-created imagery method in the future. However, for the past 31 days I stuck with several pre-existing guides hoping to find a speaker that could help me create a compelling vision. For consistency purposes, I decided to keep my guided imagery sessions focused on a specific goal. This goal is a measurable income target I set out to accomplish by Dec 31st, 2020. I ended up experimenting with 2 unique guided imagery videos found on YouTube.

The 2 Visualization Guides

“10 Minute Manifestation Meditation (Powerful Visualization)”

This was the video that I started with and stuck with it from day 1- day 15. My goal was to find a video that was under 15 minutes in length and had a pleasant voice to listen to. Not only that, but I wanted to something that would provoke robust visualizations. The thought was that there would be no effect on any of my ‘success’ metrics if the guide didn’t provoke any excitement. Fortunately, this video did a good job with its prompts. The video starts by slowly getting the listener into a calm and present state. Much like meditation it starts with breathing and releasing tension. After that, the video’s creator asks you to see your goal in detail and ‘full color’. From there it builds on its self by asking the listener to imagine more details about the goal. As it continues you are asked to feel the goal, to see it, and to act as if your goal is already accomplished This particular guided imagery video was all about concentrating on the feeling of the goal. After a good session I felt a sense of motivation and clarity about ‘why’ I wanted the goal. However, there were also many days where I didn’t connect with the end vision. For whatever reason, there were mornings where I just wasn’t able to paint that picture. The details were fuzzy and I didn’t get a strong emotional connection to the imagery.

GOAL SETTING Visualization | 3 Step Guided Meditation | Visualize Your Goals!

While randomly browsing Reddit one day, I came across a post in r/Self-Help post talking about visualization. The poster U/MindfulMindsets had described this concept of visualization vs. fantasizing in a powerful way. In his post, seen here, here talks about how many people are only focusing on the end results of their visualizations. Such as accomplishing a goal. The author goes on to say that visualizing only the end result is flawed. Instead, one must also picture some of the boring habits/routines that they will need to go through to reach their goals. This post resonated with me. So much so that I thought should seek out a guided imagery video that also focused on the process and not just the end results. Luckily, I found just the one. The video linked here took a slightly different approach than the previous one. In this 11-minute video, the creator takes the listener through a 3-part visualization. In part one, he guides the listener to visualize and feel the habits and actions of working toward your particular goal. This helped me to start to think about the work I actually needed to do to get where I wanted to go. That includes some of the mundane and boring things that are necessary to achieve. Part two consisted of seeing the goal itself accomplished. He would help you visualize what your life looked like and felt like after the goal was achieved. Perhaps the most powerful part of the video was the third visualization prompt. The speaker called this a rocking chair visualization where the listener would look back at his life after he/she accomplished the particular goal.

This was satisfying because I saw myself years from now looking back on it all. The images I cultivated focused on ‘what’s next’ after I accomplish this hard goal. It gave me confidence that some of those impossible life goals set are within reach. The rest of the month of May was dedicated to this visualization practice. For me, it was helpful to not only think about the end result but the process. This is compelling because some goals are hard to reach.

Actually, most goals are difficult to get to. Creating a goal is fun. Working toward it can be such a grind. Day after day we need consistency. I noticed that after doing these meditations I was more apt to work through some of the tougher tasks that I had.

What were the results?

After 31 days of dedicated visualization did, I notice a change? I’ll admit it’s a bit hard to say because the goal that I imagined is still 6 months into the future. Regardless I definitely feel I’ve made progress toward that big goal. I have to say the most powerful change came from the fact that each day I had to concentrate on what I wanted. It’s so easy to lose sight of our dreams when they are far away. I believe this happens because novelty is much more attractive than execution. You see when we first set a goal. It’s exciting to think about. We picture how good we will feel after we’ve accomplished what we set out to do. What tends to happen though after the goal-setting process is the reality that work needs to be done. The work is the hard part. Especially if progress is slow. I honestly believed that adding this little habit to my routine greatly increased my consistency. Because I had to think about the goal, I wanted every single day, I was more inclined to work for it. It made me realize just a bit more than consistency is key. Let’s answer the success questions for a completely subjective evaluation of a guided imagery practice.

1) Did visualization change the consistency of my habits? -Yes, absolutely. Adding visualization to my morning routine helped me to focus on my why. The act of slowing down and thinking about accomplishing the goal is fulfilling. When those good feelings are captured through imagination, it makes the work that much more meaningful. 2) Did it alter my mindset or thought patterns in a positive way? -Yes, perhaps. This one is harder to measure because of how subtle the shifts have been. I notice that my thoughts have shifted around discipline. I used to avoid the ‘grind’ mentality because I believe that contradicts the good life.

The shift that I’ve made is to cultivate a healthy discipline. Visualizing the positive after-effects of reaching my goal helped me to realize that the work was necessary and that I could do it in a way that wasn’t soul-sucking. 3) Did it lead to more progress toward goal achievement? -Yes, its increased consistency and discipline. Without a doubt, I found myself more prone to work on my project even when I didn’t feel like it. I believe this was a direct result of the visualization practice because I was more connected with the end goal.

Achieving that goal became more real to me which helped me to stay motivated to do the work. I’ve made more progress in the month of May than in any other month this year.

Will I continue?

In the month of June, I will likely continue with visualization, working on the technique so the goals seem more attainable. Having this as a habit is helpful because it puts a particular goal in front of you every day. It recreates that novelty one has when they first set a goal. I’ll continue with the practice while also studying how I can make it more effective. I like to set monthly goals and mini-experiments for myself. In the month of June, I’ll be making some mini adjustments with a focus on efficiency. I hope to share more life lessons in the next thirty days. Thanks for reading 😊