Thrive Framework
Values & Visualization
Values are the things that you consider important in your life, whether you recognize them or not. They determine your priorities and guide your decision-making processes by impacting your feelings, thoughts, and actions. Recognizing your values is important in reaching your goals.
If the goals that you pursue and the actions that you do are not aligned with your deep-seated values, you are more likely to feel unhappy, unfulfilled, and stressed out. But if your goals and actions are aligned with your values, you are more likely to feel happier, and experience fulfillment in your life. A study by Clemmons III & Fields (2011) shows that people in positions of leadership are more likely to feel motivated to lead when their goals are aligned with their values.
Visualization is the process of creating visual images in your mind. Your brain is constantly using mental pictures to simulate future experiences and it often happens subconsciously. However, you cannot direct the process when you are not aware of it. Sometimes, your brain might imagine the worst outcome possible, and it unconsciously deters you from taking the steps necessary to get you to where you want to be. Constantly simulating a negative outcome might make you feel overly anxious and hurt your odds of success.
Learning to create simulations of the future can go a long way in helping you realize your goals. You can use visualization to simulate the outcome that you desire. Simulating the outcome in your mind — how you feel, your bodily sensations, and your surroundings when you achieve it— increases your belief in your ability to achieve them (Vilhauer, 2018).
However, don’t stop at visualizing the outcome. To realize your goals, you may want to simulate the process of reaching your goals as well. In a study, a group of students visualized that they received an “A” grade. A second group of students imagined going to the study room, turning off distractions, and studying. The second group that visualized the process performed better than the group that only visualized the outcome (Pham & Taylor, 1999).
Like athletes who visualize their race, we can prime our brains to perform optimally by visualizing the process. By mentally rehearsing our future behaviours and the path that will lead us to the outcome, we are more likely to follow through on that series of actions.
Visualization typically involves the following steps:
- Determine & articulate your objective. Use our goal-setting planner to map out your game plan: your goal, sub-goals, and timeline.
- Visualize achieving the outcome you desire. But don’t stop there. Mentally rehearse the necessary action steps that would lead to attaining your goal.
- Attend to the feelings, sights, and sounds you experience when performing the action.
- Associate the desired action with a cue word. Think of one or two words that would help you perform the way you visualize it. A word that would trigger a sequence of behaviour that you desire.
- Now that you’re armed with a clear vision of your objective and the routine to get there, you’re ready to actualize your goal by executing the action steps you visualize.
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We all know that psychology plays a major role in our success or failure in any endeavour. But how well do we really understand and master our own psychology?
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