NLP Course Tips | Visualise Yourself Doing!

Being able to visualise enjoyably doing the activities that will lead to you achieving your goals is a strong predictor of you achieving them.

The following approaches will often help you achieve what you want:

1) Set your outcome or goal. It’s useful if you can imagine having achieved it in at least three senses. What would it look, sound and feel like to achieve it? Would there be any new sounds and smells?

2) Specifically write down some of the benefits of achieving of achieving it

3) Imagine that you’ve achieved it, working back from that position in the future, identify the key milestones between there and your current position. While there is no specific correct number of milestones, from three to six can work well. Write them down. Remember that as you get nearer to your goal you are likely to have more accurate information and it’s likely to be appropriate to change them.

4) If you have strongly supportive colleagues tell them about it. If not it’s probably wiser not to. (Suggestion, if you don’t have strongly supportive colleagues, change at least some of them!)

5) Similarly break the first milestone down to a number of actions or behaviours, that are easy to complete, Imagine yourself completing the first action easily and comfortably at a specific and appropriate time in the future. Notice what you see, hear, feel, and if relevant  what you taste and smell. Imagine it both from your perspective and the perspective of somebody watching you. If it seems difficult in any way break the activity down into a smaller ‘chunk’. For example of you had to phone somebody as well as imagining the whole call, imagine simply dialling the number in a positive state. Repeat that small ‘chunk’ in your mind until you’re genuinely happy doing it. Commit time for the activity in your diary.

When you mentally rehearse the activity in the right way, you’ll find yourself taking the action easily and to the best of your ability at the appropriate time.

6) Celebrate having achieved your first action in any way that doesn’t negatively impact your end goal. Review your plan if necessary and plan, visualise and complete your next action.

Remember that it’s taking enough of the right actions that will lead to you achieving your outcome. Enjoyably imagining that you have reached your outcome is very important as part of the planning process. However other than that it doesn’t help you get there. Imagining taking the required actions makes it more likely that you will take those actions and that that you will perform them to a higher standard.

And this is what will help you achieve what you want to achieve.