Wirral transformational mind coach and therapist Alison Blackler of 2MindsNLP explains the powerful mental tool of visualisation and how it can help you reach your goals

What do world class British sporting superstars Andy Murray, Wayne Rooney and Jessica Ennis-Hill have in common?

All three are enthusiastic proponents of visualisation – the idea that you can use powerful mental imagery to help you achieve your goals.

Technique of winners

Murray, the current world tennis number one and three-time grand slam winner, has walked on to an empty centre court at Wimbledon to imagine himself there during a match.

Footballer Rooney always asks the Manchester United kit man what colours the team will wear the day before the game … “you try to put yourself in that moment and imagine yourself doing well”.

And Ennis-Hill, the 2012 Olympic heptathlete gold medallist, says: “I use visualisation to think about the perfect technique. If I can get that perfect image in my head, then hopefully it’ll affect my physical performance.”

Create visions

Visualisation is a powerful technique that we can all use in our personal and professional lives.

It is the use of imagination to create visions of what we want in our lives, along with focus and emotion it becomes a powerful tool to help us achieve.

Used correctly it can bring about self improvement, maintain good health, help you perform well and accomplish your goals in life.

Neural patterns

When you imagine yourself performing perfectly, your brain creates neural patterns just as if you had performed the action. Use visualisation for:

• Success: See yourself performing skills at a high level, achieving your goals, being who you want to be and living the life you want.
• Motivation: Envision yourself achieving your goals vividly to remind yourself of your objective and what you need to do to reach it.
• Familiarisation: Just like Andy Murray at Wimbledon, get to know your surroundings before the event.
• Run-through: Athletes and performers often do a complete mental run through of the key elements of their routines. This helps them to focus and eliminate some performance jitters.

Picture your success

So, to leave a lasting Olympic-style legacy in your own world visualise and imagine succeeding at a life that filled with your wildest dreams.

That’s not quite as simple as just sitting there thinking about it, though. How many times did you hear our successful athletes praise and say thank you to their coaches, their families and friends?

That without them they simply would not have succeeded. So check to see if your life could do with a coach or someone who will hold you accountable to help you succeed.