High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 642: How to Use Imagery

Episode Date: September 30, 2024

If you are not using imagery consistently, you are missing out on a powerful way to improve your performance. Include imagery as part of your daily routine. It will help you think like the world’s best and accomplish even more than you thought was possible.   Power Phrase this Week: “I imagine success. I create success in my mind first and then I live it.” Quote of the Week: “If you can imagine it, you can achieve it. If you can dream it, you can become it.” — William Arthur Ward

Hi, friends. My name is Dr. Sindra Kampoff, a national leader in the field of sport and performance psychology. Every week, I'm on the local radio sharing my top tips on exactly how to develop the mindset of the world's best so you can accomplish all your dreams. Get ready for a jammed, packed episode focused on practical tips to help you get after your goals and step out of your comfort zone. Let's go. It's time to check in with Cindra Kampoff. We talk about how to use imagery today. Now, Cindra, start us off with one of your quotes. I like this quote by William Arthur Ward. He said, if you can imagine it, you can achieve it. If you can dream it, you can become it.

Well, tell us why you chose that particular quote for today's topic. Well, recently, I've been talking to several us why you chose that particular quote for today's topic. Well, recently, I've been talking to several of the athletic teams that I do mental training with about imagery. And there's some really cool examples of athletes, really great athletes using imagery. For example, Michaela Schifrin, she is a slalom skier. She said she used it in her first Olympics to make sure she didn't feel like a rookie. And like I said, it was her first time at the Olympics and she crushed it. Even Tiger Woods, I don't know if you knew this, but he used imagery as a second grader when he played in his first international tournament. And when his dad asked him, you know, what was he thinking about when he teed off for the first time?

He said, where I wanted the ball to go, daddy. Oh, yeah. So like he envisioned it and he saw it. Well, is that how you would describe what imagery is? Absolutely. It's, you know, involving systematically using your senses to create a past or future event in your mind. And it's not necessarily just daydreaming, but it's really a systematic process of visualizing yourself to improve your performance with the goal of improving performance. And we know the best athletes use it. So think about it as focused preparation. And you can use imagery to learn a new skill or to visualize like a past or future success. And so why should we be using imagery?

Well, it's a really powerful mental tool. And it actually reported by, you know, used by 99% of the world's best athletes. And so powerful because your mind actually doesn't know the difference between something that you vividly imagine and something that's real. And so your brain uses it, you know, the same systems for both real and imagined events. And one study, Lisa showed that visualization can be nearly as effective as improving performance, you know, as actually the real practice. And another found that when practice is combined with imagery, that's when your performance can skyrocket. So bottom line, imagery just increases the probability that you'll experience success. Well, we're not all athletes, so where should we be using imagery in regular life?

Absolutely. So you're right. Imagery is not just used for sports. It can be used to improve your ability and your confidence. Let's say you're doing a speech coming up for a job interview or an important audition. Or just in general, you can use it to create your future success and get clear on exactly what you want in the future. Now, Cinder, you've got an acronym to help guide us when we're using imagery. What is the acronym? The acronym is called VICE, V-I-C-E,

and it stands for what to do when you're using imagery. And V stands for just create a vivid, clear picture in your mind and try to actually use colors and your senses to create kind of the details of it. I stands for intensity, and that just means trying to create the same kind of of it. I stands for intensity. And that just means trying to create the same kind of emotions and intensity

that you might feel. Try to create the same kind of physical sensations in your body that makes it more real. C stands for control. And we want to just control the image and we want to imagine exactly what we want to happen. And the more we use imagery, the easier it gets to control it.

And then E stands for emotions and energy and try to make them feel real in your body. You'll feel the same excitement as you might in the past, accomplishing your task or in the future, imagining your success. So feel the same kind of excitement, happiness, maybe even sense of accomplishment or satisfaction, like you would actually really accomplishing it. Now, how do you recommend that we actually get started using this in our life? I would say you just get started by three minutes a day. And you might do it, even as you lay in bed at night, imagine something in the past or in the future that you want. And

it could be two minutes of just past successes. Imagining those in your mind, maybe two or three examples and one minute of what you really want to happen in the future. And so you could do this as you go to bed at night or maybe during a break during the day. Do you have a final point for us today? Yeah, I would say if you're not using imagery consistently, I think you're missing out on one of the most powerful ways to improve your own performance, no matter how you perform. So include imagery as a part of your daily routine, and I think it will help you think like the world's best and accomplish exactly what you want in the future. So, Sindra, what's our power phrase moving forward for the week?

I imagine success, and I create success in my mind first, and then I live it. And if people have any questions or want to follow along with your work, what's the best place to go? Best place would be Dr. Sindra. So that's drcindra.com. And you can find all about our coaching and my book and the podcast there. Way to go for finishing another episode of the High Performance Mindset. I'm giving you a virtual fist pump. Holy cow, did that go by way too fast for anyone else? If you want more, remember to subscribe. And you can head over to Dr. Sindhra for show notes

and to join my exclusive community for high performers where you get access to videos about mindset each week. So again, you can head over to Dr. Sindhra. That's D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A dot com. See you next week.