It’s the fourth quarter and your down by six. It’s match point in the fifth set. It’s two outs in the ninth and you’re down by a run. While most players will crumble under the pressure, YOU won’t. You’ve already seen yourself in these situations in advance and you know what it takes to come out victorious. The script has been written. Now it’s time to just live into your video.
Visualize what it will take to be a champion. 17-year NFL veteran, Jeff Garcia says “to achieve greatness, you have to see greatness in advance.” To win, see yourself winning so that your subconscious knows what it feels like to win. When I played professional tennis I didn’t know how to visualize, so my results were mediocre and sporadic. Later on, once I learned the art of visualizing I became number one within my age group, because I became comfortable winning that title. Don’t wait to become a champion to act and work as a champion. See yourself as a champion now and work everyday as a champion. See it first, and then live into the video you just created.
How do you use visualization to become a champion?
Visualization should be at the forefront of your mental toolbox. Being able to experience situations before they happen is crucial for success. While you have been practicing leading up to competition, practice is just practice. Game situations can change everything for certain athletes. Being able to visualize, can merge the gap between practice and game situations. Visualization can help you go into competition more confident and focused. You already know what it feels like to be in front of a crowd. You already know what it feels like to play at your best. So now when it comes down to it, you just do what you do best: play the game you love, like you know how to do, with no distractions.
Tips for visualization:
• Try to imagine all the aspects of what game day feels like and use all your 5 senses; in other words, what will it feel like?
• See yourself playing confident and focused
• See yourself executing what you have been practicing with perfection
• See yourself performing at your best in a variety of different aspects and situations
• Feel what it feels like after the game, knowing that you left it all on the field and played at your highest level
Two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and 15-time X Games Gold Medalist, Shaun White, says it best, “I would say for me that the idea is to wrap my head so much around the trick that I don’t think about it anymore. I’ve analyzed it so much that I know what the snow’s gonna look like. I know where my body’s gonna be at position wise and I just go. I visualize everything before I drop in…You’ve written the song, now you just play it. ” So go out and do just that, visualize your success in advance.
