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

I’m a big believer in using visualisation to help achieve goals. As part of the goal setting process, I regularly picture myself having achieved the goal. In the past I’ve also created vision posters so that I have a visual representation of my dreams.

Visualisation is the act of creating compelling and vivid pictures in our mind. It activates the creative powers of our subconscious mind.  It’s a practice used by many people from all walks of life to help them accomplish their goals. Many sports people use the technique as part of their training and preparation.

There is a part of the brain known as the reticular activating system (RAS) that plays a vital part in our ability to achieve goals. Our RAS is the automatic mechanism inside our brain that brings relevant information to our attention.

I have two recent examples from my own life that demonstrate the role that the RAS plays. My wife and I were talking about a make of electric car. Ever since that conversation, I can’t stop seeing that particular model (Tesla) on nearly every single car journey that I make. Last weekend, I saw a tv advert advertising a food company that deliver prepared meals. They have been established for 30 years but I’d never heard of them. The next morning, I saw one of their vans making a delivery near to where I live!

Very helpfully, the RAS will help us spot opportunities that will move us towards our vision.  It acts as a kind of filtering system between our conscious and subconscious minds. It takes instructions from our conscious mind and passes them on to our subconscious.

It focuses our brain to notice available resources that were always present but had previously gone unnoticed. On your next journey try it for yourself by looking out for yellow cars. These cars would have been on your journey but you may not have noticed them if you hadn’t made a point of consciously looking for them.  You may be surprised by how many you spot!

Researchers have found that when you perform a task in life, our brain uses the same processes it would if you were merely visualising the task.  Our brain sees no difference between visualising something and doing it. Our RAS can’t distinguish between ‘real events’ and ‘synthetic’ reality. In other words, it tends to believe whatever messages we give it.

Visualisation actually magnetizes and attracts to us, the people, resources and opportunities that you need to achieve a goal. If you give it images of your dream house, your perfect partner, the career that you would like or the places you want to visit, it will provide ideas and solutions to help you achieve those dreams.

Reflection time

This week, why not pause for a few moments to reflect and consider what resources, people, ideas or information you would like your RAS to spot to help you achieve your personal and professional vision and goals.

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