I'm very fortunate to work with some incredible individuals all around the world, who are high performer. What do 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.

Let’s face it. We live in a very competitive world. We are now competing on a global scale. The one question you really need to answer is - What is your competitive edge? Think about what makes you unique. What makes you stand out?

We often don’t think about using visualisation as a tool for business and for life. We hear about athletes using this tool to win medals, but we overlook its ability to transform our lives too. 

Now in business and in life, and, you know, as parents and partners, we often don't think about utilising visualisation. It's something that we really should do. I want to encourage you to think about your life. And just ask yourself, where could I harness visualisation? That could be as simple as this, "You know what, I'm a little bit reactive with the people I love. I need to learn to be more patient."

Take a moment when you wake up to close your eyes. Visualise that person winding you up, pushing your buttons, and then visualise yourself taking a breath and responding. See yourself responding with grace and patience. Practice this over and over again, and when you find yourself in a situation where you might be reactive, you might actually surprise yourself and respond as rehearsed. 

Many years ago, I read the following quote, and I will never forget it.

"What you can hold in your head, you can hold in your hand." - Bob Proctor.

That's the power of visualisation. 

Here are the top take-aways for you today :

1. What is your MVP(most valued priority)? What matters most to you? Don’t skip this step. Take some time and really think about your priorities and which of them are currently at the top of the list. Write them down.
2. Close your eyes and visualise them. I want you to visualise your desired outcome coming to life. I want you to take a moment, 30 seconds to visualise how it will feel like the smile on your face when you achieve it, the people around you celebrating you.
3. I want you to associate. While you’re visualising, don’t just watch it happening, I want you to experience it happening. How do you feel when your desired outcome happens? What do you see? What do you smell? What can you hear? Try to really be in the visualisation, not just watching it. 
4. Understand the 10K rule.  The 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 activity. The trick is that you have to really focus and spend time deliberately practising whatever it is you want to be the best at.

Remember, what you can hold in your head, you can hold in your hand.

Listen to the full episode here.

Full Transcription

SPEAKERS 

James Laughlin 

James Laughlin 00:00 

Welcome to lead on purpose. I'm James Laughlin, former seven-time world champion musician, and now an 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 on investing in yourself. Enjoy the show. 

James Laughlin 00:39 

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'm very fortunate to work with some incredible individuals all around the world, who are high performers, what do 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 damn 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. If 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. 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 too 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 fact, they saw a real distracted child who could not focus and 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 do and I want to encourage you to think about your life. And just ask yourself, where could I harness visualization? That 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 I may be 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 can 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 spent 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 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, and 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 a lying-in bed, eyes closed, open your eyes, and take a look around you. Everything that you see on the bed, maybe the steering wheel, or 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. 

James Laughlin 07:03 

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, is 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 want 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, and close your eyes at the start of the day, maybe. But after breakfast, maybe right away when you wake up, you decide to close your eyes. And, you know, ask yourself, What's the most important meeting I have today? What's the most important interaction I have had 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 are inside create that desire to be that person to show up with passion, poise with patience with vision, and you're willing to roll your 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 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 toward that. Let's start crafting and chiseling away weigh your mindset, 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. 

James Laughlin 10:14 

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 at 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 yell, store it in my head. No, get it out of your head and under the pitch. So, write that down. Next, I want you to visualize that close your eyes. Again, if you're driving, pull over, please, 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, practicing 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 in the 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 like 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 are two things here, there's disassociate and there's the 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 shoe 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 lens he would have seen maybe his parents, his coach, right? So, what do you see, when you visualize the successful outcome, whether it's a business deal, whether it's a relationship, a new depth, that relationship, whether it's a conversation that needs to 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 dropping things or somebody clapping, he then would hear the starting gun, then hears the swish 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 nearby? You know, if it's romantic, maybe you smell some fragrance? Maybe you smell beautiful cuisine, you had 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 10 am. Don't forget. So, what would Michael Phelps smell? He would smell chlorine, right? For sure. Or maybe you'll 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 do you get there? When do you get that deal? When that person says yes, when will that thing happen? How will you feel when you publish your first book? How will you feel? Would you feel euphoric? Giddy, excited, grateful, relieved? Get clear on that. And lastly, what might you test? Will there be a taste of success? Will that be food or drink? Will it be a beautiful smell that you can actually taste like roses, that you're going deep, but you're 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 you're hearing your smell. You're feeling 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 asked you to do that is that 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, 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, the chances of that happening are slim. You've got to be deliberate, be precise, and 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 off your visualization. The result is 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 priorities. We lose connection with our vision, stay connected with your vision. If there's one thing from today, I want you to think about if I want a competitive advantage, I need to stay truly aligned and deeply connected with my vision. So, 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. 

James Laughlin 18:08 

Thanks for tuning in today and investing in your own personal leadership. Please hit that subscribe button. And I'd love it 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 to lead your life on purpose.