Visualize the Change you Want

Reading Orrin Woodward’s latest book Resolved gave me a new insight into visualization and a different angle on how to use it to effectively change.  We have all heard of the power of visualization.  In Orrin’s book he goes deep into the power of not just visualization but connecting your ant ( conscience ) and your elephant ( sub – conscience ).  If you can figure out how to harness this power you can really accomplish anything.

Author Vince Poscente in The Ant and The Elephant, describes the difference between the conscious and the sub-conscious mind, teaching that the conscious mind in one second of thinking stimulates 2,000 neurons, while the sub-conscious mind in a second imaging stimulates four billion neurons.  That’s 4,000,000,000 neurons to 2,000 neurons ; literally two million times more neurons are stimulated in the sub-conscious than the conscious mind in a second of mental activity.  This is why you will hear every performer at the top of their game talking about using visualization as a powerful weapon to their success.  In “Resolved” Orrin gives 2 examples of this, olympic athletes and Will Smith, and how they used the power of it.

Most of us think about this elephant and mental picturing only from one angle.  That angle is to picture what we want.  Weather that is a material reward, helping some cause, paying off debt or eliminating a job.  I never thought about using this tool to change myself.  To change my attitude, how I react, what I say, or even how I think.  I was trying to do those things but I was using the ant method instead of the elephant method.  I would write down 3 things that I wanted to work on and change about myself.  I would put them on my mirror in my bathroom and my steering wheel so I could see them and read them regularly.  This process did work and it still works but now I have realized that using elephant method is a much more effective way of making the changes that I want to make.

I have tried my new technique and was shocked at how fast the change happened.  What I do now is write down what I want to change but I write down to visualize the change.  This is what I mean.  My first list of items I wanted to change was  smile, book a follow-up meeting, and don’t get defensive when I got questioned about my business.  Now what I would do is write a note to remind myself to visualize me smiling, visualize me booking the follow-up meeting and visualize how I would respond if someone did question me about my business.  Doing this is using the four billion instead of the two thousand and obviously would cause change quicker.

I have recently tried this on a new list of items I am working on and I have seen the change almost immediately! I didn’t believe it so I told my wife and she tried it on something she was working on.  She had the exact same result! Now this doesn’t mean that it is permanently programmed into our brain but the change happened that much faster.  Now we just have to continue doing the visualization to make the movie that we play, in our sub conscious mind,  a permanent movie. Hope this help

God Bless

26 thoughts on “Visualize the Change you Want”

  1. Dear Bill,
    Not long ago I stopped myself from visualizing events and the outcome of things. I told myself that it was not beneficial because when things did not go my way, I would become upset or get my feelings hurt. I realized that my focus was all wrong. I cannot control how others act or react in a situation, but I can control my own actions. Visualizing the goal is what is going to keep me on track and keep me striving for it. For instance, I would visualize making a phone call, and visualize this person being grateful for my call. When it was apparent that the person was not as excited as I had thought they would be, I would get my feelings hurt. I told myself that I’m not going to plan what to say anymore, or plan on them being just excited as I was, so that I wouldn’t be let down. WRONG. ALL WRONG. I NEED to visualize my dream, visualize the goal being reached, visualize overcoming some obstacles. In visualizing these things, I gained confidence, transferred feelings, and was not disappointed if someones reaction was not favorable to me. I was able to take the rejection, but not take it to heart– because my dream was in front of me, and strong within my sub-conscience. I can now SEE the light at the end of the tunnel, I can SEE the finish line, I can SEE the abundant life that I was told I would have. Thanks for the blog! ~ Jessica

  2. That is a phenomenal post Bill! Thank you for such a timely reminder! My wife and I have been doing a 15 minute daily visualization of where we want to go and for what we want! This is fantastic

  3. Awesome post Bill!! This so works!!! When I think about the total number of thoughts that I think during the day and how many are in line with the picture we want I want I am reminded that I still have room to grow. Great post to point out additional ways to get/keep the elephant charging!!

  4. What a great thought! Reading your post, it d seems obvious, but this idea never entered my mind. I am going to put this to use immediately!

  5. Wow Bill, I’m glad you wrote this. I did not think of this at all after reading the book and listening to the cd over and over. This comes at personal change from an angle I didn’t even consider.

    Thanks!

  6. When I was in High School our basketball team went to a team camp and one of the speakers talked about visualization. It was amazing how when I applied what the man had said how much of a difference that it made in my game. Now I’m in the game of LIFE. Love it.

  7. Great post Bill. It works in visualizing dreams and goals so I’m sure it works in personal change as well. But without great leaders like you pointing it out I might never have caught on. thanks

  8. wow! i just keep saying WOW…what a revelation to the use of visualization. I’m really studying Orrin’s book Resolved – but that never crossed my mind!
    You are amazing!
    Thanks,
    Nancy

  9. Bill…

    If you see and believe it, you can achieve it! Thanks for being a leader worth following.

    God bless, Kirk Birtles

  10. Thanks for sharing this post and how you did it to get faster results. This will surely help me in my PDCA process and moving forward in building our business and in my life in general. It was also timely in where I am now in my LIFE journey! Awesome! God bless!

  11. Great post Bill! I’m a true believer that through the visualization process, you really can accomplish anything you set you sights on! Positive change does occur with positive thinking, thanks for sharing.

  12. I wanted to share some success in this same application for those who read your blog. I began picturing what I call my “Ultimate Self” I live with a congenital heart defect so I imagine what I would be like if that limiting label wasn’t placed on me. It is what lead me to TEAM, pursuing becoming that ultimate person. What kind of Father, husband, friend etc. Concept I got from holodynamics a physics study I was doing. Similar results. Even gave the person a different name to truly immerse myself in becoming that person, so in my head I would become that person.

  13. This has been working so well for me and Laura, thank you for this, it has saved us so much time and pain, the changes are almost instant!

  14. This is an area that several people including myself admitted they needed to improve in during our MFC challenge group. Thank you to all the PC for putting the MFC together to help all of us to see our potential.

  15. I love what you have to say on this… It’s great motivation, because I just finished the book “The Ant And The Elephant” and I truly believe it will work! I’m so excited about life and LIFE!

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