How Visualization Boosts Your Motivation
I like to play the piano. Most recently, I’ve been learning the song “100 Years” by Five for Fighting. I’m now at the part just past the bridge, where the music crescendos and becomes livelier. I feel like a real pianist as I experience the robustness of the music and find myself playing at a new skill level.
My youngest daughter has watched me belt out this part of the song. Wanting to experience this same “pianist’s high,” she has proceeded to pretend-play the instrument with all the fervor of an expert musician. Even though she cannot read notes yet and knows only a simple rendition of “Hot Cross Buns,” she closes her eyes and smiles as she imagines herself playing advanced pieces.
She doesn’t know it yet, but her visualization technique is central to health behavior change.
Evidence-based health coaching draws on the principles of visualization. Coaches are trained to help their clients create a vision of themselves in their best state of health. Clients articulate this vision in the present tense, as if they are already living life as the vibrant, healthy person they aim to become. They express how much better they feel and what they can do now that they could not before. As this vision develops, the clients’ motivation blossoms.
Take the hypothetical example of an exhausted client wanting to improve his sleeping habits:
“I have lots more energy. I don’t need to rely on caffeine to keep me awake during the day. I’m in a better mood, and I feel calmer and more relaxed – not so on edge anymore. I feel safer on the road. I’m also making better food choices because my appetite is more regulated. I love that I’m more productive at work, and I feel up to exercising and being more active. I also feel more secure about my long-term health, knowing that my good sleeping habits are helping me to stay healthy over the long haul.” .
The clients’ vision serves as an anchor to cling to when obstacles arise that impede their progress. The sleep-deprived client in the example above may enjoy staying out late with friends. He may have a health condition that causes him to wake up at night. He may recently have taken on a new project at work that requires his attention in the evening hours. Examples of such obstacles are numerous and vary from person to person. One job of the health coach is to rekindle that initial vision within the client when discouragement arises. Clients remember why they started their journey of health behavior change in the first place, which reignites their motivation to continue that journey despite its challenges. They know that the reward is worth the effort.
As a board-certified health coach, I am here to support you in creating and realizing a health vision. Designing and implementing a health vision is an exciting, rewarding process. I invite you to contact me at stephanie@crownwellnesscoaching.com to initiate that process.
As for my youngest daughter – if she keeps up her piano-playing vision, I expect that she’ll master “100 Years” in a small fraction of that time.