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

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali would have been 84 last Saturday (January 17th). He died on June 3rd 2016, aged 74 and he is considered to be one of the greatest sporting figures the world has ever known. Born Cassius Clay, he first tasted success in boxing by winning a gold medal at the 1960 Olympics. He went on to become the world heavyweight champion, winning 56 of his 61 fights. He retired from boxing in 1981.

He was crowned “Sportsman of the Century” by Sports Illustrated and “Sports Personality of the Century” by the BBC. He was renowned for his pre- and post-fight talk and bold fight predictions just as much as his boxing skills inside the ring. I remember as a child watching him being interviewed by Michael Parkinson and being inspired by his oratory. He said that “he floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee.” He also had the greatest affirmation of all, “I am the greatest” (before he was).

I remember smiling at his declaration that he was the greatest. He truly believed it and many people have described him that way subsequently. Perhaps this provides some evidence and validation of the importance of self-belief and how affirmations like this combined with practical action can help dreams to become reality.

One of the reasons for Ali’s success as a boxer was that he was a big exponent of visualisation. He called this “future history.” It’s a mental process that we can all use to programme our minds for success.

Ali used to mentally rehearse every fight he had in his mind many times before stepping into the ring. He would see himself at the end of a fight with his arms aloft with the referee declaring him the winner and the champion. He would imagine hearing the crowd chanting his name and celebrating his victory.

He paid much attention to detail with his visualisation and used to back this up with predictions pre fight. He would tell his opponent when he was going to win the fight and predict which round, he would be declared the winner. He was extremely well prepared when he stepped into the ring both physically and mentally. In his mind he had already won the fight and he would direct all his focus and energy on making this a reality. He would give his sub conscious mind an instruction to find ways to help him to make his visions come true.

Muhammad Ali not only lived his life with a strong sense of vision but also with intention and this led to his success in his career. It may be that you could use the power of visualisation to picture yourself achieving a goal such as realising a successful outcome for a project you are involved with. You might imagine increasing your income, generating higher sales results, losing weight or improving your score at golf. Alternatively, you may like to see yourself running further and faster or improving your performance in a sport or hobby that you are involved with.

If you would like to give future history a go here are a few tips on the steps to take:

  • Consider/think about a goal or outcome that you would like to achieve.
  • Visualise achieving it and have total belief in this happening.
  • Notice in your imagination the sounds you can hear, what you can feel and see around you.
  • Repeat the above as many times as you like. You can make the image brighter, the sounds louder and with more intense feeling.

Once you have concluded your visualisation, you can switch the vision from your imagination and take practical action steps to make it a reality with clear intention and focus.

This week why not take a few moments to think and reflect on how visualisation could help you to create a picture of positive outcomes for a goal you are pursuing or a project that you are involved with.

To arrange a free no obligation consultation, please contact Stephen Pauley via the contact form or by e mail: Stephen@befirstclass.co.uk