Picturing What You Really Want4 min read

2022-07-18
Robert Middleton

Article #3 of the 12 Ps Series. Read #2 here.

This weekend I watched the amazing movie, Everything Everywhere, All at Once. Three times! (It’s now on Amazon.)

Yeah, I can be obsessive about some things!

The movie was a perfect illustration of my topic today: Picturing or Visualization to improve your results.

E.E.A.O. is the story of Evelyn Wang (played brilliantly by Michelle Yeoh), an Asian American, mother, wife, and laundromat owner stuck in a dead-end life of sadness, frustration, and meaninglessness.

And then, out of nowhere, during a tax audit, she makes a surprising connection with her many different personalities and abilities in the multiverse. (Crazy, but it works!)

Ultimately, she learns how to tap into those powerful abilities to transform her life into one full of acceptance and happiness.

(Watch a review or two here.)

And you can actually tap into the multiverse as well. In fact, you already do it every single day.

Evelyn’s multiverse is populated with unlimited possibilities.

And so is yours! We all have wellsprings of talents, creative abilities, and possibilities that are mostly underutilized.

And like Evelyn, we can turn them on with the flick of a switch.

That switch is “Imaginative Picturing,” also called Visualization.

And you don’t need virtual reality goggles to get you there.

Every time you think of doing something, a picture pops into your head. You see yourself doing that thing before you take action, right?

This is a natural, normal process that takes no effort.

For instance, when I think of writing an article, the words start to appear in my mind’s eye, as real as words typed into my computer.

So, what’s the big deal? We already picture our lives, our projects, and our goals naturally.

But we may not notice that we also picture failures, not getting things done, and falling short of our goals.

Whether we succeed or fail at something, we always picture it first.

But what sports psychologist, Dr. Judd Biasiotto, of the University of Chicago discovered in the 1980s is that we can also intentionally picture outcomes and improve our results.

He tested if picturing could enhance basketball free throws.

One group practiced actual free throws for an hour a day for a week.

Another group only pictured the free throws in their minds’ eye.

When he measured the actual improvement in free throws, those who only pictured their performance improved almost as much (23%) as those who actually practiced their free throws (24%)!

Ways to use Picturing to Attract Clients

What we can imagine and see in our mind’s eye increases our clarity, intention, confidence…. and results!

And, as the basketball study showed, the more you do it, the better you get.

So, want to attract more clients? Then picture any or all of the following:

Picture who your clients are, what they look like, how they behave, and even their facial expressions.

Picture writing an email asking them for a meeting.

Picture them responding positively to the email.

Picture having great conversations with them.

Picture explaining your services to them.

Picture answering their questions and their reactions to your answers.

Picture you asking if they think your service is right for them.

Picture them smiling and saying, “Yes!”

Do this a little bit every day, and before long, your confidence will increase along with your ability to make it happen.

Look, here’s the funny thing. When I start to work with clients, I notice that their picturing is the complete opposite of this!

They really find it hard to picture their clients, writing an email, getting a positive response, having great conversations, or closing new business.

So, is it any wonder that they struggle with attracting clients?

Learning how to picture desirable outcomes may come naturally for many things in your life, but for things that don’t come so easily, you can start to intentionally and consciously picture the outcomes you desire.

Sorry, but it won’t be as magical as Evelyn Wang downloading astounding martial arts abilities in a nanosecond to defeat her enemies!

That’s a fantasy wrapped up in a wildly entertaining movie.

But this is truly a powerful and magical power that is available to us all.

What do you really want? Picture it first and then watch it come true.

Cheers, Robert

Note: The first three Ps I’ve written about, Passion, Purpose, and Picturing, create a strong foundation for success and fulfillment.

Next week, I’ll write about Presence. For me, this is the most important trait anyone can develop. It’s the most subtle and transformative.