1. Visualizing activates your reticular activating system (RAS). The RAS is like a filter for the brain. Once you identify a goal or focus on an object, the RAS becomes a heat-seeking missile that finds every instance of that item within your environment. For example, after you purchased your last car, did you not see everyone else who had the same car and the same color, which you did not notice before? That is your RAS in operation. So, the purpose is to visualize our goals in such a way that engages our RAS to identify all the detailed components and elements that we will need to achieve that goal.
2. It builds motivation. Visualizing increases your motivation because as you begin to see the steps to accomplishing your goals, as they become clearer, you will be more excited and motivated to accomplish them. And, as you begin to accomplish the small steps leading to the larger goal, it will create this snowball motivational effect.
3. It provides clarity for your mission, vision, and goals. Because of the RAS and now the new motivation that you have to accomplish your goals, you also begin to see your overall mission and vision for your goals. This is especially true if you spend time daily visualizing the outcomes of achieving your goal and also writing out your goals as affirmations.
4. It enhances possibility thinking. Possibility thinking is enhanced because as you see the completion of action steps toward your goals, you will know that achieving your goal is possible.
5. It improves your recognition of resources. Visualizing your goals and outcomes again activates the RAS, which is the filter by which we see the world that we live in. By activating the RAS toward your specific goals, you will begin to notice resources that are within your reach that you had not seen before because they were being filtered out of your view. You begin to recognize resources such as books that provide information toward achieving your goal. People within your network, and even the financial resources needed to accomplish your goal, will become visible.
6. It improves coordination and concentration. If your goal requires you to become better at a physical activity, you will notice that you will begin to improve dramatically in this area. This will happen because our brains do not know the difference between visualizing an outcome and living an outcome. So, by practicing through visualization, you will begin to strengthen your neural network, which is responsible for coordination and concentration around that physical activity.
7. It enhances your motor skills. The reason that most world-class musicians and athletes use visualization as a part of their regular practice is because it refines their motor skills for the task at hand. I stated earlier your brain does not know the difference between mentally practicing through visualization or practicing through physically performing the activity. Your neural network will be activated and strengthen each time you mentally practice and visualize yourself completing the activity.
8. It improves your brain wiring. Visualization strengthens your brain’s wiring. Just like walking through a field creates a path, visualizing an activity strengthens the neural network and creates a path where signals in the brain can travel faster with more efficiency and a stronger signal.
9. It improves your ability to learn faster. By practicing visualization, which strengthens the wiring in our brain, it facilitates our ability to learn information faster than practicing the material without visualization.
10. It improves your decision-making skills. Because visualization strengthens our brain’s ability to learn information faster and has a better awareness of the information and activates the RAS, it also enhances our ability to make better decisions faster because now we have crystallized the information that we need to make better decisions.