John Assaraf explains why clear mental visualization is necessary for the brain to initiate focused action. He links concrete mental images to activation of specific brain regions (visual cortex, left prefrontal cortex, parietal lobe) and gives a short exercise: write a highly detailed vision, review it daily, and use cognitive priming to align thoughts, emotions, and behaviors with the goal.
Chapters
Hey, this John. And many years ago, when I played basketball, my coaches used to have me visualize making free throws or making layups or winning the game. Now, I've always asked myself, how does visualization work? And does visualization really work? And something that you may or may not be aware of is that your brain cannot help you take action unless it has a clear picture of what you want. Sometimes when people are frazzled all over the place, they are working or taking action in a hundred different directions. And so abstract or unclear ideas or goals have to be turned into concrete images that are shaped by a part of your brain called the visual cortex, which is in the back of your brain. And once you clearly see with your mind's eye and visualize your goal as if you were achieving it, information is sent to your idea center, which is where left prefrontal cortex, and to a place in your brain called the parietal lobe, where your sense of self, who you are, is created. And when you take the time to be clear, crystal clear, and you create an image for your brain to focus, focus on, you can turn your ideas into a vision that you can move towards with certainty. And the key here is clarity. So what I would like you to do is a little inner size. Take 10 or 15 minutes and write down your vision for either your life or, if you want to make it simple for one goal that you want to achieve, get as clear as possible so that if somebody was to take that piece of paper and read it, they would know exactly what you meant with exact precision. And so describe every little aspect of the goal that you want to achieve. Then I want you to do something called cognitive priming. You take a look at that image, and you impress the details of everything that you can imagine. What does it feel like, smell like, what does it look like to achieve that goal? And when you do that, and you activate the genius part of your brain, the left prefrontal cortex, again, what you're going to see happening is your thoughts will change, your emotions change, but more importantly, your behaviors will start to be in line with the goal that you have set. So the key is to prime your brain. The next key, or the first key, is to get clear on the goal or the dream, write it down, and then look at it every single day and get yourself totally in the emotional state of having achieved it. And you will start using your visual cortex and your left prefrontal cortex to help you achieve every goal and dream that you set.
