When Lou Holtz coached Notre Dame from 1986 to 1996, he led the 1988 team to a 12-0 record with a victory in the Fiesta Bowl, and a consensus National Championship.

One of the unique practices he would do with the team the Friday night before a big game was visualization. The team would gather for dinner and then meet in a large hotel conference room or on-campus gym. Holtz would have players lay on the floor, with the lights dimmed, and he’d walk them through “in their mind’s eye,” a series of successful, winning scenarios. He challenged his team to visualize jaw-dropping tackles, spectacular runs, diving catches, and successful goal-line stops.

For over a decade now, I’ve practiced visualization for success. It’s not mystical, it’s simply walking through, in my “mind’s eye,” a desired outcome for leadership moments:

I’ve learned that every performance and key leadership moment can be rehearsed and visualized with clarity. Most games are won before the team competes. The question is:

This list of disruptive emotions is long and can sabotage sales professionals and personal leaders. Here are a few examples:

Don’t let disruptive emotions derail key moments, cloud your situational awareness, or cause misjudgments and overconfidence.

The key is practicing positive visualization! Take 5-10 minutes to pre-program your subconscious brain. When you visualize success, you teach your mind to act in a way that is congruent with actualizing that success:

Remember, emotions have power and you can control and manage emotions to serve your desired outcomes! This week, try focusing on the power of visualization as part of your preparation for success.

Here’s to visualizing your new success!

— Steve