Visualise Your Way To Success with James Laughlin

I'd like to ship you a free copy of my book, Habits of High Performers. If you come and join the 2026 goal setting workshop, I will ship you one of these today. The link is in the notes. Please come and join me to set up the very best 2026 you could imagine. If you've set up goals in the past or New Year's resolutions and they haven't substantiated, I'm here to help you across all the key pillars of your life nail your goals. I'll see you there. Welcome to Lead On Purpose. I'm James Laughlin, former seven time world champion musician and now executive coach to global leaders and high performers. In every episode, I bring you an inspiring leader or expert to help you lead your life and business on purpose. Thanks for taking the time to connect today and investing in yourself. Enjoy the show.

Most weeks I bring you a CEO of a Fortune 200 company, a former world leader or an absolute game changer in their field. But every now and then I drop you a solo cast. Today's the day I want to drop some of my learnings and lessons and things that I share with my individual coaching clients. So I am very fortunate to work with some incredible individuals all around the world who are high performers. And what high performers want to do, they want to continue to perform at a high level. They want to outperform the competition. But the other thing they want to do is also maintain really amazing relationships and well being. So I want to share with you just one of the concepts that I think might help you if you're looking for that competitive advantage, that unfair advantage. And let's face it, in this then world, it's a competitive place. You know, it's a very global market. Maybe 30, 40, 50 years ago we were competing with the people in our community, in our region, maybe our country. Now we're competing with the world. That's the nature of the way the world works. We're very interconnected, hyper connected. And so we've got to figure out, well, how do we get that competitive advantage? I'm going to ask you right now, what is your competitive advantage? What's your unique selling proposition? If you have a product or a service, if you haven't asked yourself that question and you don't know the answer to that, I urge you before the end of this podcast to figure out what is my uniqueness, because your uniqueness will be part of your competitive advantage. Now I want you to think about this. There's a troublesome young lad in school and he's at the back of the class, he's throwing spitballs and airplanes, and he's disrupting people. And many of the teachers feel like, you know, this kid's probably not going to amount to much. Now, this kid found something and got pretty passionate about it outside of school. And whether you believe it or not, he has come to be the number one athlete in his industry, globally, ever. And many of his teachers thought, you know what? He's never going to amount to anything. Well, he found what he wanted to do, he got the right people around him, and he used some techniques to give him the most incredible advantages, unfair competitive advantages, the ones that I want you to really hone in on. Right now, that individual is Michael Phelps. So his teachers didn't see much in him. In fact, they seen real distracted child who had no ability to focus, really lacked the ability to focus. But as you and I both know, in the pool, that lad could swim. Olympic champion, one of the most decorated, crowned Olympians of all time. Now, how did he get that? Well, that's where the gold is. That's where I want you to be thinking about this. So he had a coach, and his coach said, look, before you go to bed at night, and right away when you wake up in the morning, I want you to play a mental videotape in your head of your swim, of your race, every night and every morning. So Michael started visualizing this, thinking about what it would look like, feel like, sound like the speed at which he would go through the water, the people that he could see around, the noises that he could hear. He brought this image to life, and he put that mental videotape on every night and every morning. He was programming his subconscious mind. Now, in business and in life and, you know, as parents, as partners, we often don't think about utilizing visualization. It's something that we really should. And I want to encourage you to think about your life. Just ask yourself, where could I harness visualization? It could be as simple as this. You know what? I'm a little bit reactive. So you might be thinking, hey, I'm a bit reactive, and maybe I'm a little bit short with someone. I want to be a bit more patient. Well, take a moment when you wake up to close your eyes, visualize that person winding you up, pushing your buttons. And then visualize yourself taking a breath and responding after you've paused. Responding with grace, responding with patience. Right? That's as simple as the visualization could be. If it's, hey, I've got an Important meeting or a proposal. And it's a million dollar proposal I'm putting together. Well spend a month leading up to that, visualizing the conversation, how it's going to unfold. Go through each and every potential objection or obstacle that might come up. Visualize how you might look, how you might breathe, what you might wear, the facial expression that you will achieve, express to that individual that you're meeting with. So when we think of Michael Phelps, obviously it worked, right? This visualization worked incredibly well for him. And you know, they figured out that it was best for him to concentrate on these tiny moments of success, just tiny moments visually, and then build them into mental triggers. And what happened was his habits took over. The actual race was just another step in a pattern that started earlier that day. In his mind, winning literally became a natural extension. I want you to win. I want you, that's taking the time out right now to listen to this show, to win. I want you to win with your health. I want you to have that strong, sexy body that you want. I want you to have that amazing relationship with the person you want to have it with. I want you to win financially. I want you to lead the people around you compassionately and powerfully. And to do that, it all starts in your head. Look around you right now. If you're out for a run, if you're driving right now, if you're maybe laying in bed, eyes closed, open your eyes and take a look around you. Everything that you see, the bed, maybe the steering wheel, the shoes on your feet, if you're running. All of those things once began in someone's head. And here's something I want you to think about. What you can hold in your head, you can hold in your hand. I was told that many years ago, and I'll never forget it. What you can hold in your head, you can hold in your hand. That's the power of visualizing something viscerally. So I want you to be thinking about, what do I really want in life? What depth of connection do I want with the people around me? What legacy am I trying to leave as a leader? And then visualize that, take the time to do that, what visualization really does. It helps eliminate anxieties, fear and unknowns because you get to fill in all the gaps, all the blanks with how you want it to unfold. You also get to play with the different obstacles, challenges and adversity that might come your way. And then you can figure out visually how you might respond best. I remember reading Barack Obama's book when it came out and he talked about in the morning leaving the West Colonnade and walking along to the west wing. He would use that time to visualize the important conversations he needed to have that day with his staff, with people he was meeting with other dignitaries. And he would visualize how he would put that across emotionally, vocally. He would also prepare himself for, worst case scenario, what that might look like. So I'm going to urge you to do the same thing and if you don't already, do daily visualization. Let's start with 30 seconds a day. Close your eyes at the start of the day, maybe after breakfast, maybe right away when you wake up, you decide. But close your eyes and ask yourself, what's the most important meeting I have today? What's the most important interaction I have today? What's the most important project I have today? Close your eyes and see yourself doing it and doing it well, doing it at a world class level. Having a world class conversation is different than picking up the phone and going, hey, how's it going? James here, just checking in. Like, there's no passion, there's no inspiration in that. Why not be the person that brings light to other people? Why not be the person that lifts others up? Why not be that parent that's so deeply engaged with their child? There's so much to be proud of when you do that. That's a life well lived. When you inside create that desire to be that person, to show up with passion, with poise, with patience, with vision, and you're willing to roll the sleeves up and get amongst it. We need more heroes like that. We need more leaders. Be that leader. We need you to be that leader. The world is relying on you to be the best you. You don't need to be the next John Key. You don't need to be the next Serena Williams. You need to be the next you. You are your own hero. And whoever you're going to be in a year, let's work towards that. Let's start crafting and chiseling away at your mindset and your soul set and your physical health. Let's chisel away and let's build each day. So in a year when we're connecting again on the show, you're in a totally different place. Now. I wanted to give you three takeaways here. And these three simple takeaways will help you to make a massive difference in the trajectory of your personal leadership and your life. So first, I want you to do this. I want you to decide what you most Want right now? Yeah. I'm asking you to pick your mvp. What's your most valuable priority right now? Take a moment. What is it? I'm not letting you go till you do it. Don't press pause. Let's figure it out right now. Let's sit in this moment. What do you want most right now? Write it down. Take a moment. Pull over. If you're driving, pull the car over. Write that down. This is essential. Don't skip the step and go. Yeah, I'll store it in my head. No, get it out of your head and onto the page. So write that down. Next, I want you to visualize that. Close your eyes again. If you're driving, pull over. Please don't run or drive with your eyes closed. I do not take responsibility for that, but I want you to visualize your desired outcome coming to life. I remember as a kid sitting in Ireland on the end of my bed with my little drum pad, practising these drums and visualizing me being crowned the world Solo Drumming champion. You know, I was 9 or 10 years old, but that really got me clear on why I was practicing. It helped me to stay motivated when I was, you know, middle of winter and I didn't want to practice and my friends were out playing rugby. But having that visual was so powerful. So I'm urging you to do the same. What is it you want most right now? And I want you to take a moment, 30 seconds, to visualize how it will feel. The smile on your face when you achieve it, the people around you celebrating you. Number two. I want you to associate, right? So there's two things here. There's disassociate and there's associate. So when you disassociate, it's almost like you're a CCTV camera looking down at yourself, watching things unfold. So when you're visualizing, it's like you looking from a higher point, watching what you're doing. But when you associate that that's you in the first person, that's you in your body when you're visualizing looking out from your own eyes, experiencing it. So I want you to be fully associated when you visualize. And here's what I want you to do. I want you to ask yourself, what can I see? So let's take Michael Phelps. He would have seen the starter blocks, he would have seen lots of Speedos. He would have seen the water, he would have seen the lanes. He would have seen maybe his parents, his coach, right? So what do you see when you visualize this successful outcome, whether it's a business deal, whether it's a relationship, new depth of that relationship, whether it's a conversation that needs to have happen next. What do you hear? What do you hear with that outcome when it's at its most optimal? So again, Michael Phelps, he would have heard the water moving. He would have heard people in the crowd chatting. He might have heard people, people dropping things or somebody clapping. He then would hear the starting gun. He then hear the swoosh of the water as he jumps in. His hearing would then change when he's in the water. So I want you to visualize and think about what's the sounds that you hear. What are you hearing as you succeed, as you reach that goal? What is it you hear? What do you smell? What are the smells in the air? You know, if it's, if it's romantic, maybe you smell some fragrance, maybe you smell a beautiful cuisine. You're at a romantic dinner in Bali, you know, if it's in a boardroom and you're doing a million dollar deal, maybe you smell coffee. It's fresh coffee. The best decisions get made before 10am don't forget it. So what would Michael Phelps have smelled? He would have smelled chlorine, right? For sure. Or maybe he would have a nose clip on and there was no smell.

So I want you to ask yourself, what do I smell? What do you feel when you get there, when you get that deal, when that person says yes, when that thing happens? How will you feel when you publish your first book? How will you feel? Will you feel euphoric, Giddy, excited, grateful? Relieved? Get clear on that. And lastly, what might you taste? Will there be a taste of success? Will that be a food, a drink? Will it be a beautiful smell that you can actually taste like roses? That's you going deep. That's you using your modalities. You know all your senses, when you can use those in your visualization, you're doing the 1%. 1% of the world might be doing that, if it is even 1%. So I want to challenge you to get clear on what you want. Set some time aside to visualize every day, use those modalities. So you're using your sight, your hearing, your smell, your feel, your taste. And lastly, last but not least, before I share the last one with you, actually, I'd love you to do me a favor, please. If you've enjoyed the show or you enjoy the show over the last few months, please leave me a rating and review. And the reason I ask you to do that is because it helps me to reach more leaders like you. And that's my passion. I want to transform humanity one leader at a time, one conversation at a time. And to do that, I rely on great people like you to take the time. And I know your time is really precious, really valuable. But if you do get any joy from my show, please take a moment to just leave a rating and review on Apple or Spotify. And it really helps me to reach more people. Now to finish up, the last action step I want you to take if you want to have that massive competitive advantage is this. You need to understand the 10k rule. Do you know what the 10k rule is? The 10,000 hour rule. You've probably heard of that, right? So this 10,000 hour rule was a study that was done that says when you reach 10,000 hours of performing an activity, you'll be at a world class level, you'll be a master of that. Now I'm going to get a bit more specific on that. You can do 10,000 hours of anything and not even be mediocre, never mind a master, right? It's about how you do it. It's about what you're focusing on when you're doing it. It's about being deliberate with your practice. So if you're visualizing, you're closing your eyes and you're visualizing a beach in the Maldives and that's your idea of success? Well, chances of that happening are slim. You've got to be deliberate, be precise, know exactly what your desired outcome is and get those 10,000 reps in. You know, do two a day, do 10 a day, do 20 a day, but get those reps in and that will help you get focused. When you open your eyes after your visualization, the results not going to be waiting for you, but you will have programmed your subconscious mind so that it's motivated to take action. So many of us don't reach our epic outcomes because we lose motivation. Why do we lose motivation? We lose motivation because we lose sight of our priority. We lose connection with our vision. Stay connected with your vision. If there's one thing from today I want you to think about is if I want a competitive advantage, I need to stay truly aligned and deeply connected with my vision. So like, I just want to wish you all the best in getting that competitive advantage in your business, in your family, in your life so that you really lead your life with absolute purpose. So it's that time to get out there and lead your life on purpose.

Thanks for tuning in today. And investing in your own personal leadership. Please hit that subscribe button. And I'd love if you'd leave me a rating and review. I've got some amazing guests lined up for you in the coming weeks. And leaders, it's that time to get out there and lead your life on purpose.

Sam.