GUEST POST from Robert B. Tucker
Some years back, on a New Year’s morning in the mid-1980s, I poured myself a cup of coffee, sat down with my goal-setting notebook, and visualized living in a house in the hills above Santa Barbara. It would have forever ocean views, gleaming white walls, and blue skies. At the time, I lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Van Nuys that was so small you had to step outside to change your mind.
Today, decades later, my wife Carolyn and I live in the very house that I visualized. On clear days, we can see all the way to the Channel Islands and watch cruise ships in the harbor. Coincidence? Maybe. I’m more inclined to credit the hidden and misunderstood power of visualization.
As a futurist and innovation coach, I help organizations and leaders design and build bigger futures. Individually, creating a vision of your future gives you uncommon power to navigate life’s twists and turns. It’s how we actualize what I like to call a future view. In a world that feels like it’s constantly on overdrive, the ability to visualize your future may be the one skill that keeps you grounded—and going forward.
During those early years living hand-to-mouth as a freelance writer in Los Angeles, I had the good fortune to interview many of the great motivators and thinkers of our time: Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohn, Denis Waitley, Brian Tracy, Earl Nightingale, Og Mandino, and others whose names now sound like characters in a self-improvement Avengers movie. From them, I learned simple but timeless truths: Believe in yourself, your mission, and your potential. Avoid negative people like they carry a contagious brain fog. Visualize where you’re going — and keep moving.
Visualization was a consistent theme with all of them. Earl Nightingale, whose gravelly voice once boomed from over a thousand radio stations daily on his program Our Changing World, told me about growing up in poverty during the Great Depression. “When I was a kid,” he said, “what really bothered me was the idea that I might not have any control over my life.” He scoured books for a sign that he could direct his own fate. One day, he stumbled on a sentence that hit him like lightning: “We become what we think about most often.” Suddenly, everything clicked — from Buddha to the Bible: As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
Nightingale’s moment of illumination gave rise to The Strangest Secret, his legendary recording that became the first spoken-word album to go Gold. His message? You can shape your reality by envisioning your reality.
Scientific research backs this up. Neuroscientists now know that the human brain doesn’t distinguish much between a real event and a vividly imagined one. When athletes mentally rehearse a high-stakes performance, their brain activates the same neural circuits as during the actual event. Lindsey Vonn, one of the greatest female skiers in history, writes in her book, “I always visualize the ski run before I do it. By the time I get to the start gate, I’ve run the race 100 times already in my head.”
That’s a lot of imaginary skiing — and it works.
Pete Carroll, the endlessly upbeat head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders (formerly of the Seattle Seahawks), said, “Once you’ve created that vision, you’re on your way. But the diligence with which you stick to that vision allows you to get there.” Translation: visualizing yourself owning a Ferrari while binging on White Lotus doesn’t count.
Visualization isn’t just for Olympians or football coaches. Hall of Fame speaker Mark Sanborn said he uses it before every keynote speech he delivers. “You memorize words,” he told me, “but you visualize performance. The goal is a presentation that’s not stiff and rehearsed but prepared and conversational.” In other words, if you’re picturing the audience in their underwear, you’re doing it wrong.
Supermarket magnate Ronald Burkle, who orchestrated an $8 billion sale of Fred Meyer to Kroger and the $1.8 billion sale of Dominick’s to Safeway—all in the same week—told Architectural Digest that: “If you can’t visualize the future, you never know what can be possible.” Apparently, imagining billion-dollar deals can be good for business.
And let’s not forget envelope mogul Harvey Mackay, who once visualized his way from peddling paper products to authoring the bestseller Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive. “Don’t be afraid to see your future,” Mackay told me. “Seeing and believing is achieving.”
Of course, visualization alone won’t do your taxes or get you to the gym. But paired with daily effort, it becomes a compass in turbulent times. Harvard psychologist Dr. Shelley Taylor found that people who visualize not just the outcome but the process — imagining the steps and challenges—are more likely to achieve their goals. That’s futurizing with boots on the ground.
Before vision boards were a visualization tool, motivators like Jim Cathcart (The Acorn Principal) suggested cutting pictures out of magazines: the car you want to drive, the house you want to live in. Stick them on your bathroom mirror so your subconscious gets the memo daily.
I did that. And I still do that—minus the magazine clippings. Over the years, I’ve collected quotes, created mind pictures, and rehearsed future scenarios as part of a regular practice. And it’s paid off.
So, what does this mean for you? Take a moment today. Close your eyes. Picture yourself doing the thing you’ve always wanted to do. Writing that book. Starting that business. Landing that big client or life partner. Really see it. Feel the moment. Smell the coffee, hear the applause, cash the check — whatever it takes. Do it often enough, and your brain will start thinking it’s real. And then, with effort, it just might become real.
In a world of constant change, visualization is more than wishful thinking. It’s how we rehearse greatness before we achieve it. Your future view is the future you.
This article originally appeared in Forbes
Image credit: Gemini
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