Imagine this.
You’re wearing an oversized oatmeal-colored sweater and your favorite pair of blue jeans that lift your bum.
What only you know is that you’ve also got on your only pair of matching underthings (a red lacy bra and undies–because black is soooo boring) that you usually reserve for date night with the husband, but you ordered a few more matching sets since wearing them gives you an extra boost of confidence.
And why shouldn’t you wear them just for yourself?
You stroll over to your kitchen and heat up some water in your turquoise kettle.
You pull out a mug with the word ‘boss’ on it and fix a cup of peppermint and licorice tea.
Next stop…the living room.
After fluffling the ears of your terrier, Matilda, you walk over to your laptop with your cup of tea.
You flop onto the couch and Matilda perks up. She stares up at you with those adorable chocolate eyes and you pet the couch beside you, the signal that she can jump up and snuggle into your side which she does immediately.
By the time you get your laptop powered up, Matilda’s soft snore plays like background noise.
You open up the blog post outline you worked on two days ago, because you now appreciate that comfortable feeling an outline gives you unlike the blank page that mocks you in the cruelest of ways.
You take a few sips of your tea which is now the perfect temperature. It slides down your throat, the sweet taste of candy without any calories. Thank you, Tea Pigs!
You set your mug down on top of the latest edition of Mollie Makes, reminding yourself that you are in fact a boss.
Then, you start typing.
You type and type and type and type and type.
You fill in your entire outline within forty minutes. You look up once you’ve finished and realize your tea is cold.
You didn’t stop to take another sip, to check Instagram or email. That’s unheard of for you and you’re so proud of yourself for getting this task done within forty minutes instead of the two hours it normally takes.
Matilda’s still snoring, curled into a little ball at your side.
You read back over your rough draft and you can’t help but laugh, jostling Matilda. She glances up at you with that ‘excuse me but I’m sleeping and the world revolves around me’ look and you laugh again.
You really really really like your rough draft.
Sure, it needs edits.
Every rough draft needs edits.
But, every section is clear. It comes across as witty and it’s already got some funny bits. It sounds like you, not blog robot you. YAY!
For the first time you don’t feel as if you have to rewrite every sentence.
You read it again just to make sure you didn’t lose your mind in the last ten minutes.
Nope. Your rough draft is actually good!
You voice message your only local business friend–the only person who will understand what a big win this is–to let her know. She’s so excited for you that she suggests that you meet up for lunch.
You agree. Why not celebrate writing an incredible rough draft when you’ve been blogging for six months and never had this experience before?
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This is an example of visualization.
I made this blogger up.
I imagined someone who had slogged through writing her rough drafts for her blog posts for the past six months and what she could visualize before writing her next blog post in order to try to make the experience a lot better.
I guarantee it would be more positive if she took five to ten minutes to visualize this type of experience before sitting down to write.
A lot of people write off visualization. They think it’s too out there or “woo woo.”
But, olympic athletes use it all the time. Some swear by it. I used it before every dive when I was on the diving team in high school which helped me place at states.
Visualization isn’t just for sports–it’s an incredible tool for entrepreneurs.
You can use this before a webinar, before writing a blog post, before going live on Instagram, before a product photo session…before almost anything you do in your business.
All you need to do is sit somewhere quiet and walk through the situation in your mind. Try to use all your senses and include as many details as possible.
Even if you only have a couple minutes to do this, you’ll most likely see positive results.
And, the more you practice it, the better you’ll get at it.
At first, this will probably feel weird and foreign. That’s normal. Keep going and it’ll become a natural part of your warm up.
Have you ever tried visualization? Did it help? Do you do it regularly? Share in the comments below!
Oh, I loved the turquoise kettle detail! Yes, I started doing this a year ago as a form of relaxation and it really helps. I imagine being in my personal space ship (sci-fi geek alert) and overlooking different serene nature scenes while sipping a cup of tea and breathing. I live in a busy town centre and this really helps me reconnect with nature. Right now my “spaceship view” is a Canadian forest. The whole thing is basically a form of meditation.
I never thought to go through my work process like that, though. I’ll do it tonight, thanks for the idea, April! 🙂
♥ Lina
Very cool! Thanks for sharing about being in your personal space ship overlooking different nature scenes. Love that idea.
I totally do have a turquoise kettle!! And that peppermint and liquorice tea tastes just as good cold as it does hot, say the girl who has often let it go cold 😉 I LOVE visualisation! I did it on a call with you once, a few days later I got an email asking to work with a planner company and in just a few weeks I’ll be teaching 2 workshops for them in front of 300 people at PlannerCon Europe. On the same freakin stage as Erin Condren (fabulous planner celebrity!) This is exactly what I want to be doing with my business 😀
Hahahahaha…I can picture you with a turquoise kettle! Good luck with the workshops…you’re gonna do great! Do some visualization before the workshops and you’ll do even better.
What an absolute hit post – it so touched a nerve with the visualization part.
When I started corporate language training in Germany I was petrified 🙂 I did my final practicals seated, even though I had sailed through all the course & lesson planning modules.
So visualizing happy participants and seminars was what gave me a successful career all these years since 1999. I once heard Madonna confessing to anxiety on Larry King Live and read a sports coach & psychologist say some anxiety was normal and good but was better when combined with visualization. So I did it and it worked.
Why oh why did I never use it for my embryo business till now?? You know I am cowering under overwhelm 🙁
Thank you April- you’re the best!!
Thanks Renuka! I loved writing this post. It’s probably been my favorite post to write all year. You’re so welcome!
Madonna is human just like us. I imagine a lot of performers get anxiety before their performances. I wonder how many of them use visualization?
I’ve not done the visualization for my life until a good friend made it a challenge as a part of her awesome membership. 😉
I HAVE done storyboarding through school in the past and now in my business. It’s a form of visualization (I suppose), where you think and plan out a photoshoot or a video filming session before you even get started. It’s a great way to make plans before you go into a shoot, so you don’t waste time or money. I think that storyboarding also allows you to envision what you’d like coming out of the shoot, and you can really come up with some great ideas for your business, product, art or whatever it is you’re creating.
After the past few days of visualization, I do think I’ll make it a part of my norm. 🙂 Thanks for showing us this live and in action.
Yes…storyboarding is a sort of visualization. Definitely. You’re envisioning what you want to happen. It might not be exactly what happens once you get out there but at least you’ve got a really good direction. Same sort of thing.
Oh how I loved all the details in this. I now want a fluffy Matilda beside me while I work!! I just recently started doing this visualization exercise — it’s amazing!! Thanks April.
Hahahahahaha…I totally want to name a dog Matilda. 🙂
You’re so welcome!
My first thought was I dunno what new thing she is selling but whatever it is – I want this life lol.
Gonna sit down and write (then record on voice memo so i can listen to) a few visualizations for my business. Thanks for the inspiration April!
Hahahahahahahaha…thanks Rebecca! You’re so very welcome.
I used visualization while playing tennis the other night. I visualized the score and we won! I so need to do this in my business!!
YAY! That’s so cool!
I started reading this and had to look over my shoulder for you April! As I sat there in my oversized oatmeal-colored sweater and favorite pair of jeans…… Thank you for this reminder of the power of our state of mind when it comes to writing!