On a cold wet day, on May 6th, 1954, in Oxford, a young runner from a regular working class family, made the impossible possible.
Roger Bannister broke the world record by running a mile in under 4 minutes (in 3:59.04 minutes).
He wrote history.
But that was just the beginning of the story:
46 days later, his main rival, John Landy also ran the mile in less than 4 minutes.
Over the next few years, more and more runners broke the four-minute mark– they finally realized that doing so was possible.
Today over 1,400 people have run the one-mile mark in under four minutes.
One of Bannister’s secret weapons was that he was clear about his goal.
Bannister would regularly visualize breaking the world record and running a mile in less than 4 minutes. This is how he developed the conviction that he would be able to picture himself achieving something beyond his current skills.
Tomorrow, I’d like you to do the same.
Hopefully you will already have completed your Thinking Time Session by the time you read this, and have a bit more clarity about what you want to achieve in one key area of your life.
For tomorrow’s challenge, I want you to think of one goal you could have for the next 12 months, and visualize what it would look and feel like, if you would succeed in completing it.
You might still miss some details, but that is OK.
For example, in my case, I still don’t know exactly what I will be doing in a year, so I will visualize adding a lot of value in some form or shape to as many people as I can, feeling the joy and satisfaction from having succeeded in this transition, imagining hugging my wife and kids and hearing them tell me how proud they are that I had the courage to try something completely new.
Visualizations are very powerful, because they help us develop the belief that we can do things that we have never done before. They can program our subconsciousness to seek opportunities, resources, and people that will move us in the right direction, and they give us the courage to take bold action.
Day 11: Visualizing your future self
For tomorrow, I invite you to schedule a time in which you will spend 15 minutes visualizing your future self:
I suggest you choose one goal that is crucial for you at this stage of your life, and which you would like to achieve within the next year.
Once you have defined this goal, imagine yourself overcoming key obstacles you may face, achieving the outcomes you desire and celebrating your successes with your friends and loved ones.
For example, for my sports clients, I recommend them picturing themselves winning a big event, feeling all the joy and relief the second they won, imagining themselves hugging their support team and celebrating with them, and maybe even giving their speech at the prize ceremony…
Let me give you two more tips to make your visualizations as powerful as possible!
First, try and see the images and pictures of your goals as vividly and clearly as possible and with all your senses. For example, for me, it means seeing where I want to achieve professionally in a year from now, who I will be helping, what skills I will have learned and what kind of impact I will be making.
Visualizing all this takes patience and time because initially you might struggle picturing yourself in the future– but it’s definitely worth a try!
Second, experience positive emotions of actually achieving your ambitions while visualizing. For me, this means feeling the emotions of joy and happiness that I would experience if I would achieve my business goals, feeling grateful for doing things I love and where I can make a significant difference in people’s lives, and generating the kind of income that makes me feel appreciated for what I do.
Give it a try, and let me know how it goes!
Warm regards, Allon
You can check all the previous challenges below:
- Day 1: Your 24 hour News Diet
- Day 2: Calming the mind
- Day 3: The Transitional Routine
- Day 4: Start Moving Again!
- Day 5: Prioritize Sleep
- Day 6: Enjoy Your Food (without over-eating)
- Day 7: Deepen your dearest relationships
- Day 8: Reconnect with old friends
- Day 9: Do one act of kindness
- Day 10: Thinking Time
Do you want to become a real force in your industry and take your career and your life to the next level without ruining your health and your closest personal relationships?
Get your free PDF copy of the 26,000 word long Ultimate Guide to High Performance and learn what world class athletes and top performers do to increase their focus, energy levels and mental toughness in order to outperform their competition.
In this Guide, you will learn how you can:
- Become so productive that you will move towards your big goals faster than ever before, even if you feel extremely busy and overwhelmed right now.
- Excel in those big pressure moments that define top performers but make everyone else sweat bullets.
- Develop the mental toughness to bounce back from setbacks and disappointments Swiftly.