Poise Under Pressure

Visualization is done to connect with a feeling in order to create the consciousness you desire. When you can visualize the pressure moments and can get the feeling of peace and confidence, even a tingling feeling of excitement, then you are reassociating your beliefs as they relate to your goal. Remember that beliefs can be expanded by repeated feelings of achieving your goal or becoming the person you want to become. You can get those feelings when you see, feel, hear, taste, and smell that image in your mind.

Here are a few visualization techniques to help you get those feelings and develop a consciousness of success under pressure:

Preview
Visualize the events and circumstances that you know will come up in your performance. This is what many professional athletes, singers, and dancers do the night before a big game or performance. They see themselves performing well, doing the things they know they will be called on to do. You can do the same thing before a negotiation, meeting, or presentation.

Recall
See yourself performing amazingly. If you're an athlete, see yourself making a phenomenal play. If you're a musician, see and hear yourself hitting the notes perfectly. If you're a salesperson, imagine making a successful pitch to a challenging prospect.

Scene of success
This visualization captures the scene immediately following a great moment. For example, you've just given an incredible presentation or got the game-winning hit: what happens in the twenty seconds after that? Visualize that scenario—how the audience responds, how your teammates or coworkers react, what you say and do, and so forth.

Relax
There are two types of relaxation visualization. One is relaxing as a way to clear the mind (for example, imagining a peaceful nature scene), and the other is seeing yourself relaxed in pressure situations. (Note that relaxing under pressure means finding your ideal performance state for you and what you're doing; a Navy Seal relaxed under fire may have a different state of relaxation from that of an author with a deadline.)

Reframe
If you are plagued by the memory of a mistake, you can change the memory in order to diminish the negative residual effects. Replay the event in your mind, seeing it the way you wanted it to go. (Refer to Chapter 5 for the reframing sequence.)

Mentors
In this visualization, you imagine that people you highly respect--these can include industry leaders, coaches, even parents—are encouraging and inspiring you and your work or performance.

Before I write, I use a mentor’s visualization. I see myself entering an exclusive, ivy-covered building. I nod to the guard, a U.S. marine, who escorts me to my office, where I know that six or seven people are waiting for me. As we make our way to the office, the marine, in full uniform, walks purposely and, in his professional manner, says how much he respects me and that it's an honor to escort me each day. I arrive in this beautiful office appointed with vaulted ceilings and walls lined with brilliant books.

In the center of the room is a table around which are seated Martin Luther King Jr., John Wooden (legendary basketball coach), Nelson Mandela, and a few other leaders I respect immensely. They are discussing the concepts in this book. The marine pulls my chair out for me, I thank him, and the people around the table take turns asking my opinion on various issues they're facing regarding focus, poise, leadership, and other subjects. After a few minutes of this, they get up to leave and all give me a hug or handshake and their blessing.

I have a song that I listen to as I'm walking down the hallway each time that anchors the visualization. This exercise forms a connection with the writing that enables me to begin each day with a clear mind, poised and ready to create.