I’m writing this following my run — a run that I originally was having a bit of trouble getting motivated for (alright, maybe more than a bit), but it ended up being incredible training. As I was out there, I suddenly became aware that I was using a highly effective tool that I’ve used for over a decade. This tool has helped me while training and during many grueling races. So, I realized that it’s probably a good one to share.
Now, when I’m speaking about ‘tools’ I’m not talking about what microspikes you should wear on the bottom of your runners for the snowmobile trails, or trekking poles to bring for rugged climbs to balance your heart rate effort. This tool can be used for anything you\’re facing, whether it\’s a challenge you’ve chosen because it’s close to your heart, or… the challenge has been brought to your doorstep and you have no choice but to deal with it. This is a tool that gets you doing the things that you most likely don’t always ‘feel’ like doing.
You can make ‘deals’ with yourself or ‘sign a contract’, and these are good tools to harness your will, or create a reward system to get you to do things that you might otherwise lack consistent effort in. These are good starters and they have their place, but our ‘will’ can and does run out over time, and contracts get broken… especially around the first of the year.
What you need is a tool that develops strong focus and helps you create an emotional state for yourself that leaves you wanting to give your best effort. What I’m talking about is your ability to visualize.
This isn’t a lesson from eastern mystics, eyes closed, quietly counting from 1 to 10 to themselves (although meditation is an incredible tool, I’m not knocking it). You won’t hear me speak of levitating eight inches off the floor, holding hands, and chanting for hours on end (this is not Whoville). If that’s what you’re looking for…it’s probably time to stop reading. Those are great ways to practice visualization for sure, but sometimes this kind of visualization gets left on the practice mat.
What I’m talking about is a ‘real world application’. Visualization that’s accessible when it’s cold, when you’re hungry, or your get up and go has gotten up and left. It is available when your fear and self-doubt are asking as nicely as possible if you can just skip this practice run, race, job interview, interaction with your kids…just fill in the blank. This visualization technique is about giving you greater energy, focus, and desire to come back to the things that scare you. These are three crucial things you’re going to need if you’re looking to push yourself past your comfort level (or at least you think it’s past your comfort level).
Here’s what I want you to do…
I want you to bring a memory into your mind that has you doing that activity that you’re about to undertake. Truly see yourself doing that activity. If you don\’t have any prior experience with the activity, match it as best you can from experiences you have had. Don’t be afraid to use your imagination. Nobody’s looking. This is all in your head. You can visualize yourself any way you want. Give yourself wings, see yourself in a favorite movie, imagine music that creates incredible emotional drive and set the tempo for you. If you have trouble with visualizing at first don’t worry — use a photograph from something that you’ve done in the past to spark your memory. Listen to a piece of music that’s meaningful for you and that elicits the emotion you would find helpful. Now sign the contract. Punch the clock. (I told you these things would come in handy.) They hold you accountable to you.
Now, roll film.
This means start your visualization process immediately. You are no longer wherever you are. Believe me most of the time we’re not anyway. Our minds stress about the past or our future, we lose our focus whether it’s on our iPhone, something that catches our eye, or a grocery list we’re doing in our heads. Not for this. Remember, you punched the clock. This is a deal that you’re making with yourself and there is no one more important that you can make a deal with than you.
Start out slow, it doesn’t have to be fancy. Try to really see what you are visualizing as you move into the activity you want (or need) to accomplish. Give yourself 10 minutes, work your way up to more time holding your imagery. I promise you can hate the rest of your run, swim, bike, or anything else you do for the rest of the training. That’s fine. Reward yourself with music, a good TV show, something that would make you feel like you’ve actually been rewarded (so not the laundry). Grow this capacity.
This visualization is what Buddhists would call a walking meditation, a technique which allows for meditation and visualization while moving. We’re just bringing it to another level. We are literally bringing our visualization into the present moment where our mindset is all that matters. Stay the course of the time you committed to it. Hold tightly to your practice of visualization every time you go out after whatever difficult challenge you have set for yourself. After a while it won’t matter what the weather is like outside you. It won’t matter if you wanna’ go or not. In fact, you’ll probably want to go because, for that fifteen minutes, hour, or however long you’re going to be out, you are going to feel the emotional state you want to be in. This is the practice of a peaceful warrior, of a real Bodhisattva. This is the way.
Here’s a Simple visualization technique to start with:
One – Decide how you want to feel (confident, strong, capable, seasoned, joyous, happy, etc.)
(ex. – Sitting in the car, I’m feeling unmotivated and tired. I want to feel energetic and confident about the two hours of training I need to do)
Two – Consider using music. It truly doesn’t matter what kind. I would recommend a playlist that is diverse, and check in with yourself as honestly as you can if the music you selected is eliciting the kind of emotion that you are looking for and be sure that it’s the right intensity. If you don’t want to listen to it while you\’re training that’s fine, but it could be helpful while you’re driving to where you’re going to workout.
(ex. – I used “All the Same,” a song by the Sick Puppies, to find the right combination of confidence and intensity of music. It was also attached to a very good memory because it was the song I played before doing my first Ironman in Montreal.)
Three – Focus all your attention on recalling a memory and holding it. This should be a memory that is filled with the emotion at the intensity that you’re looking for. Use your five senses to create very real and rich imagery. If the memory is important to you it will be filled with feelings your five senses provided when it actually happened.
(ex. – I visualized being on my bike doing my laps in the rain at my Ironman in Montreal. The feel of the water, the cold, the splashing sounds of the bike tires cutting through the water, feeling it on my skin; hearing the announcer speaking in French; seeing a team of elite cyclists in white uniforms on the same track just off my left shoulder and feeling like I was keeping the same pace.)
Now that you have that image and all of its incumbent emotions coursing through you, you’re ready to take that step out the door and begin your workout (or start whatever activity you need to do). At first, you may only be able to hold all of those good emotions a few minutes. They may evaporate like morning mist minutes after stepping out of your car. Relax, that’s normal. But, the more you practice, the longer you’ll be able to hold that visualization. You’ll capitalize on those emotions and have them propel you through your workout.
Believe it or not, this same tool works for your job (thinking of a time when you are successful can propel you to success in a current project where you have felt stuck!), your relationships (you can carry happy feelings into your connection with your family at the end of a long day by taking a few minutes before you enter the house to do some visualization), or any activity where you need a little motivation or support.
As I finished my run, I felt confidence and satisfaction coursing through my body. I could feel the cold now as well (better now than while training). I heated up the car, changed clothes, and got on my way. I played “It’s all the Same” on my iphone, and pumped it through the car speakers. I felt like keeping those feelings I had from that visualization of pedaling through that rain in Montreal more than a decade ago for just a little while longer.
