Hey, my friend, what's up, hope that you are doing awesome and I'm so excited to have you here with me today on Do Life Big because today we're gonna be talking about visualization.
And you know, when I think back on my life so far with this concept of visualization, this is something that I started doing actually a long time ago when I was younger, and I didn't even realize that I was doing it and a lot of you probably do it too and you don't even realize that you're doing it. But, I remember when I was younger, you know, I'd be out in my backyard in the house that I grew up in and I'd be playing with my sister and we'd be running around the backyard and like picking up sticks and collecting little insects and putting them into the little insect houses, you know that we had to collect, you know, grasshoppers and beetles and all that kind of fun stuff. And I remember drinking literally puddles of mud, pretending that it was chocolate milk. I mean, come on, doesn't everybody do that when they're a kid?
I remember laying down on our yard to the side of our house and just laying on my back, looking up at the sky, you know, watching the clouds go by. And I remember just kind of thinking about, you know what my life would look like, once I was older. Now, it wasn't like a ton of detail or anything like that, because I was just a kid. But, I remember looking up and I remember seeing, you know, a nice house, a husband and kids like I saw, you know, my future, I knew that that's what I wanted and what I wanted it to look like. And you know, you have just so much imagination when you're younger, right? And all of that I was doing was just my imagination, almost like a dream. But I imagined what it would be like for me and I remember seeing the things going really well for me for my future.
I just remember seeing it going well, I remember seeing everything work out and everything being great with his awesome life. And that was pretty much just in a nutshell.
The thing is, is that your brain doesn't even know the difference between what's real, and imaginative. Now that I'm older, and I've spent years studying growth mindset, I now look back and realize that what I was actually doing was visualizing and it's a really powerful thing. But it can work for you or it can work against you. And so even if you are visualizing how you want tomorrow to go, or you're visualizing a goal that you want to go after, or a dream, or something down the road three to five years from now, or visualizing you doing a great presentation or proposing to someone or whatever it is, the power of visualization is really incredible.
Every single part of my life that I'm living right now has been created through my visualization. And I've been doing this for years, but every single night, before I go to sleep, I spent a few minutes visualizing whatever it is that I want to happen. And I visualize it going well I visualize it working out, I see it just going fantastic and I see it working out in my favor.
And this can be for something big when you visualize or it could be for something smaller. And something more simple. That, like I said earlier, you might know is going to happen tomorrow, right? So it doesn't need to be for these big huge things.
For those bigger, hairy, scary dreams and goals, part of my visualization is also to see what I will do and how I will react if something doesn't go as planned. If it doesn't work out in my way, how am I going to handle it? And then I have to mentally prepare myself for that so I already have a plan in place. And I think that piece is so important. It's even more important than visualizing things go well, you need to have both- visualizing it going well and then also visualizing what were you going to do if it doesn't work out the way that you had hoped it to? Right?
And I think way too many people want and they expect things to go absolutely perfect for them. Like they have this idea. They have this, you know picture in their mind of how they want tomorrow to go when they go out to dinner with a group of friends or when they have to go to do that presentation or when they go for the job interview or whatever it is. They just have it in their mind that it's gonna go perfect. Everything's gonna go great. It's going to work out and they don't put any plan in place for well, what if it doesn't work out?
Because let's just be real.
It doesn't always work out.
Right? Things get thrown in our path all the time to try to make a stumble and fall down. And so you have to mentally prepare yourself.
And if you can do that, you will be so much further ahead of the average Joe. Right? Versus the person who's just seeing it always work out well all the time, like you need to have a plan in place for both.
And, you know, what happens is, is because so many people are wrapped up in everything being perfect and working out perfectly for them, that when something does happen, that they didn't expect, then they just throw in the towel to their idea, their dream, their goal, whatever it is, and then they just wash their hands of it, and they're done with it and I don't want you to do that, right?
I want you to be optimistic for your future, I want you to have goals and dreams and to be able to go after the things that you want in life. I want you to visualize that and make that a part of your day to day routine now before you go to bed at night.
But, I also want you to know how you're going to handle it when things happen that you might not have planned for, and have a plan in place. So that way, when things do get thrown in the middle, then you'll have a plan in place of how to react to it versus just quitting or stopping or being like forget it. I'm not going to do it. I knew that was a stupid idea. Right?
And that's what we want to plan for.
We want to plan to have the visualization piece in, see it going well, but then also, what are you going to do? If something happens to try to derail you?
Are you going to be the person who already has the plan in place? And knows how they're going to handle it and how they're going to react to it?
Or are you going to be the person who just only sees it working out and then if something goes wrong, you just throw in the towel and you stop?
You know, it's kind of like the story, back in the day in 2009, I had this brilliant idea that I wanted to run the Boston Marathon with my husband, my husband had already ran the Boston Marathon with the military prior to that. And it was one of those things that he did. And when he finished it, he was like, I'm never going to do that again. Until… Kathi came along and said, Hey, I really want to run the Boston Marathon. Will you do it with me? Let's do it together. Right?
Well, guess what? I visualized all the training that I had to do to lead up to the race, I saw my long runs that I'd have to go on up in Massachusetts through the rolling hills. You know, I saw all the little energize gummies or whatever it was that we had, I think I packed my little fanny pack with Skittles and like Starburst and all this ridiculous stuff to give me energy, such an amateur when it comes to long distance running. And I saw us practicing… I saw us practicing and doing these long runs together. I saw the starting point, the race. What would happen if I got tired or got a cramp? How I would feel if people started passing me… all those things.
And even though some super old dude with an oxygen tank past me, that's no joke. To the point, my husband was like Kathyi, oh my god, please can we go a little faster? I mean, even he's passing us. I'm like, Well, no kidding. He's passing us he has friggin oxygen. If I had oxygen, I'd be going faster, too.
But anyways, my point is, is that yes, this so what this old guy went by me with an oxygen tank. It's okay. I just had it in my mind that I was going to say to myself, Kathi, you're actually doing this freakin thing and you're just going to keep one foot in front of the other and you are going to keep going and you will finish this race, even if your legs feel like they're going to fall off.
And guess what? I did.
But I had to train my mind to feed it positive thoughts when things were going to hell in a handbasket during that race that I keep going. I had to visualize me making the commitment to running the Boston Marathon. Me, registering. Me practicing going on those long runs race day, during race day, the end, I saw the whole entire thing. I had to really prep my mind because it's a mental game, getting through a marathon.
It is a lot.
But you can do it.
But I had to train my mind to tell myself positive good things so that I wouldn't quit and give up on myself and be like, forget it, just send the ambulance. I'm going home. For example, I was only about I don't know how many miles I was… I was probably only about eight miles in and all of a sudden, my entire left arm started to go numb and have tingles and I couldn't feel it. And it started to turn blue. Right. And I'm like, what is going on? I feel dizzy. I feel like I'm gonna pass out, my arm is so numb. Well, I have had like a little iPod thing wrapped around my bicep asnd I was just so nervous and stressed out the day of the race that I tied it too tight that it was actually cutting off circulation.
So at mile eight, we had to make a little detour to the medical tent, where he then told me to take the thing off my arm, and I had to run with my arm in the air for probably a mile. I can't remember how long it was. But I just remember being like oh my god, Kathi, this is only mile eight and this is what's happening? Like how the heck are you going to finish this is 26.2 miles?
But because I mentally prepared myself. I just said okay, so what? it's a little detour. I'm not in this race to win it. Clearly. I'm in it to just do my best and say that I ran the Boston Marathon and check it off my bucket list. So I'm just going to however long it takes me it's however long it takes me and we're just going to keep on moving.
But, I visualized all of it. I visualized how I'd feel running across the finish line, and then waking up the next day feeling so fulfilled and accomplished for just checking off something major that was on my bucket list.
So, you can't just visualize the win.
This is my point of today's episode. It’s great to visualize a win, but you can't just visualize the win, you've got to visualize the entire process.
You've got to visualize the Pre, the During, and the Post.
Because it all ties together.
So, think about a goal, or maybe an idea that you have, or a dream, and it could be something small, or it could be something huge, like incredibly huge and just walk through it in your mind, from the beginning to the end. And I'm talking, you're gonna walk through it working out the good times the bad, see it all. See all the scenarios, and then have a plan in place for how you're going to handle it all. No matter if it works out in your favor or not.
That is the key to visualization.
And if you can do those things, and you can visualize the whole process the Pre, the During, and the Post, that's how you really become unstoppable.
And that's how you create this life where you just look back on and you're like, damn, I can't believe I did all those things and when people come to you and say, How did you do it? Well, yeah, of course you visualize. But there's several components when it comes to visualization to making it work for you. And you need to have those three things: visualizing the Pre, During, Post.
It working out, and a plan in place for if it doesn't. So think through it, and see what you can see. And don't worry about this being perfect, especially if you're someone new to visualizing, this takes practice.
This takes practice and time and patience, just like everything else in life, that you're new to.
Think of the things that you know, right now that you do well, well, they were new to you at one point too. And you didn't know how to do them. But, you started and you took one step in front of the other, and now you've mastered it.
And that can be exactly the same thing for you practicing visualization. It is definitely something that you should practice and get in as much as you can, specifically before you go to bed at night, because that is when your subconscious is the most receptive to these kinds of things. And just give yourself the opportunity to sit there and think about that.
Don't go to bed, you know, all upset and stressed out and thinking about things that are going to cause you aggravation and frustration and anxiety. Right?
Go to bed. And before you fall asleep for the last five minutes or so and think about what it is that you want in life. Think about tomorrow. And imagine how it's going to go. Put a good plan in place if something doesn't work out the way that you want it to. And try to do that every night before you fall asleep and make this a new habit.
If you can make this a new habit over time, you will just get better and better. And you're going to start to see these things really work out for you in your life and it is going to be because you master this and have incorporated it into your day to day life and it's just a new habit now.
And when you make things a new habit. What's cool about it is that you can't imagine going a day without it.
It's kind of like for me, when I work out, I don't work out to try to get into the best shape of my life. Even though that was a goal this year for me, because I'm 40. That's not really why I do it. I do it because it is a habit. It's a part of my day to day. I do it because I love the way it makes me feel. And it's more of like a mental health kind of thing.
So, I don't lose my mind during the day when my three year old is throwing things at my face and hitting me and I have to do like 1000 timeouts, right, I do it to keep my mind clear, so that I stay positive. And because I've done it now for so long for so many years. I really hate missing a day unless I'm sick or I know my body needs the rest. Because it's just a form of therapy for me.
And the same exact thing will work for you in terms of visualization. And you'll see yourself building this incredible life you might not have thought was possible if you start to do this as often as you can.
So, I hope you enjoyed today's episode and make sure that you go right on Instagram tag me if you liked the episode and tag a friend and I hope you have an awesome day today guys. Thanks for being here. You know I love you and keep crushing it. See yah!
