Mind Tricks
So when you tell most people to do some sort of visualization they roll their eyes and think it is kind of stupid and hokey.
It seems like a stupid mind trick…And most people think it won’t work on them.
I, myself, am not the hugest fan of the close my eyes and picture myself doing something type of visualization even though I do realize it can make a difference.
Visualization CAN and has been proven to help improve performance and adherence to goals.
But most people refuse to use it because they think that visualization only means closing their eyes and picturing themselves performing well or doing the workouts or even simply eating well. It doesn’t have to be picturing yourself once you’ve lost the weight or are able to deadlift 300lbs. 🙂
Visualization can be done in SO many ways.
All you need to do is create a VISUAL of your success or even simply of your adherence to your program.
For me it is posting the numbers I want to hit at the kettlebell competition somewhere where I can see them every day.
Numbers that mark success, even if it is just the success of hitting a short-term goal, can be great motivation.
For some people a great visual is hanging up the skinny jeans they are trying to fit into again in a place where they can see them all the time.
For others it is putting stones or coins in a jar marking how many pounds they want to lose. Each time they lose a pound, they remove a stone or coin from the jar. Seeing that jar become more and more empty is a motivating visual!
I honestly love visuals. I write out diets on calendars that I hang up. That way I know exactly what I should be eating that day. And every day I stick to it perfectly, it is so satisfying to go cross it off!
It is just so motivating when you feel even the slightest bit down or off to be able to SEE something that reminds you of where you want to be and all of the hard work you’ve been putting in to get there.
When you can see the goal, can see your success, you are going to be way less likely to give up or not work as hard as you can to keep the progress going.
Visualization is simply creating a visual of something that keeps you dedicated. Something that helps you SEE SUCCESS.
It may be a mind trick, but trust me…it can really work.
I mean think about it…Wouldn’t seeing your progress and your goal every day make you want to work just a little harder?
Posted on February 1, 2013, in Mindset and tagged mindset, see success, success, visualization, visuals. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
Man Bicep 
Hanging your “skinny jeans” where you can see them all of the time for motivation is not a mind trick. It’s an eating disorder.
I’m sorry you interpreted it that way. I didn’t mean to use it to force yourself to lose unnecessary weight or as a reminder day in and day out NOT to eat. I’ve just found that having clothes that you wore say…pre-pregnancy and knowing that you want to fit back into them and lose the baby weight can be a good visual of where you want to be back to.
Obviously visuals can be used for harm as well as good. You just have to find a visual that motivates you to be healthy. And that doesn’t necessarily mean losing weight. It can mean lifting a ton of weight or just eating whole natural foods. Choosing motivational visuals for you is just a tool to help.
Damn it I hate people who call “eating disorders” anything that has remote connection to thinking about food or weight. This from someone with an eating disorder. Sure, if you actually have an eating disorder, hanging your skinny jeans somewhere you can see them all the time and trigger negative thinking is a bad idea. But if you actually dont, because doing that don’t prove you have an eating disorder goddamn it, then why not? (then again, maybe you don’t know that you have, but the underlying thinking will be different from a person without it, more obsessive, more about rules rules rules)
People, learn what it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_disorder
People trying to diagnose others’ eating disorders based on single ridiculous shit are getting boring, plus it’s dangerous and stereotyping for the persons who have EDs. You’re not anorexic just because you’re skinny, you’re not bulimic just because you eat a lot, or because you count calories, or because you hang your skinny jeans on the wall. It’s a fucking mental illness, and I hate how people strip the words from any meaning all the time to mean “skinny person who count calories” or even use it as an insult, after it all it does not mean anything, it’s not about a person who maybe needs support anymore, it’s just about some stock cartoon thing.
Some anorexics may do that. I didn’t. I was pretty much the opposite of what medias says is an anorexic which made it hard getting help from people I knew. It goes for other EDs too.
Hanging skinny jeans is not an eating disorder. You can have an eating disorder and do that, or not have an eating disorder and do that, because the sole fact of doing that isn’t an eating disorder. Anyway, even if you get the person with an eating disorder to stop hanging the skinny jeans, it will not cure them or even help in any way if you don’t help them with the underlying thinking and feelings… and even after that, there’ll still be a long way to go. You don’t need to hang skinny jeans to have an eating disorder or even “act” upon the disordered thought to have an eating disorder. You can be forced to eat normally, or try to eat normally because you know you have a disorder and want to work on it, and still have it.