Every year, I get really into the Olympics, and this year was no exception.  I found myself glued to the TV every night cheering on team USA.  I couldn’t help but notice that all of the top athletes, such as Shaun White and Lindsey Vonn, were preparing for their Olympic runs by using visualization exercises.

I found this very interesting because I have been hearing a lot about the power of visualization lately.  I’ve come across a few different books and videos that all seem to have the same message, and it all boils down to visualizing your goals in order to achieve success.

For those who are interested in what books and videos I’m referring to, I will list them here.  The books are Steering by Starlight: The Science and Magic of Finding Your Destiny by Martha Beck, and Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.  The videos are What the Bleep Do We Know!? and The Secret.

I’m a big believer that there are no coincidences in life and everything happens for a reason.  I also like to think that the Universe sends you little signs and messages and it is up to you to pay attention or not.  Well I have to say that these books and videos have come to my attention in very roundabout ways and I feel like I’ve definitely gotten the message loud and clear.

The basic idea is that when you visualize something and see the end result in your mind, you are in essence creating the possibility for that result to occur.  According to the law of attraction, you attract what you put out into the universe.  So by visualizing your goals, you actually attract those goals.

In the same way, if you set about a task with the idea that you may fail, you are actually putting that out into the Universe and creating the possibility of failure.  You will find that you will often fail at a task if you go into it thinking you will fail.  This is why it is so important to visualize yourself reaching your goals and succeeding at whatever it is you set out to do.

Now back to the Olympic athletes.  If you are the kind of person who likes to see proof , there are actually some scientific studies that have verified the power of visualization exercises used by Olympic athletes.

One study recorded the effects of visualization training on four groups of athletes prior to the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics.  The four groups were divided according to how they trained before the Olympics.

Group 1 : 100% physical training

Group 2: 75% physical training and 25% mental training (visualization)

Group 3: 50% physical training and 50% mental training (visualization)

Group 4: 25% physical training and 75% mental training (visualization)

The researchers found that Group 4, the group who had used the most visualization training to prepare for the Olympics, showed the greatest improvement of all the groups!  As you would expect, Group 3 was the next most improved, followed by Group 2, with Group 1 having the least improvement.

Another study showed that basketball players made more free throws when they had imagined themselves sinking the shots compared to a group of players that did not perform the same visualizations.

If visualization exercises can have such a strong effect on Olympic athletes, imagine what kind of power they could have in your daily life if you start using visualization.  You can start small every day in the morning by visualizing yourself achieving whatever small goal you have for the day.  It could be something as simple as landing a new client or making a sale at work.

In order to truly visualize successfully, you need to reach a state of deep relaxation.  This will allow you free your mind of all thoughts and mental clutter so you can focus on visualizing.  The more you are able to focus, the stronger the effect will be.

I have started doing visualization exercises each morning, but I have a hard time focusing sometimes.  I recently found brainwave entrainment recordings for manifestation that really help me clear my mind so I can focus better.  I have been using the Isochronic Tones recordings and it helps me reach a state of deep relaxation really quickly.  In this relaxed state, I am able to focus on my visualizations much more effectively.

You can download the manifestation recordings and many other recordings targeted for different states of consciousness, such as meditation or lucid dreaming, at The Unexplainable Store.