Eyes on the Prize

Trying your vision on for size

Ever tried on a new suit or dress and something about it made you stand just that little bit taller, hold your head a bit higher, push your shoulders back just that much further? Something about the look and feel of it and how it made you look and feel when you turned to the mirror, well, it might have even made you walk differently. Perhaps you even, dare I say it... strutted?

Imagine now then that your vision is that suit. Whatever your vision is, whether it's signing up your first client for your start-up business, crossing the finishing line of the marathon, or getting into a smaller dress size, you need to both see and feel it.

Ask any athlete and their coach and they'll tell you that visualisation is as important a part of training as running any distance, or jumping any height or kicking any ball.

In the case of, say, a golfer - he will see himself swing the club in the optimum arc to the correct height and then back to the ball which he will then see himself hit at the correct angle, with the right amount of force and follow-through. The act of visualising it involves more than just playing it like a video in his head. While he visualises the movement, his brain is sending messages to his arms, his legs, his knees (whichever part of his body will be involved in the swing) about their correct alignment and position. It's not magic, it's a dress rehearsal. By the time he comes out to the green he's been through the golf swing so many times in his mind, his body is primed to perform the swing just as he visualised it.

Visualisation is not just for athletes. Anyone can apply this visualisation technique to just about anything.

So let's take the example of dropping a dress size. You want to lose 5lbs in 6 weeks. Visualise you - you reaching that goal. How will you look? More importantly, how will you feel? Imagine your body already 5lbs lighter. Act as if you've already achieved it. How do you feel about yourself? Proud, happy, excited... record those feelings and mentally tag them to the goal of losing 5lbs in 6 weeks.

Whenever you feel tempted to cheat on your diet/exercise programme, stop - remember your goal and those happy, proud and excited feelings. Make those feelings as tangible as that suit I described earlier. Which feels better - sticking to your programme or eating that donut?

Experiment a little to find out what works for you - some people find a visualisation exercise once a week is perfect, for others, five minutes of visualising achieving their goal every day keeps them on track.

Anyone for Swingball?

Here's a visualisation exercise for anyone who wants a little extra help sticking to those New Year's Resolutions.

Ever played Swingball? You know, the tennis ball on a piece of string attached to a pole which goes into the ground. You and your opponent bat the ball round and round the pole, one clockwise, the other anti-clockwise. One player is trying to get the rope moving up the central coils all the way to the top of the pole, the other player is trying to move the rope down the central coils to the bottom of the pole. Each swing of the ball moves the rope upwards or downwards depending who hits it.

Imagine your goal is at the top of the Swingball pole. Let's take exercising as a our resolution as it seems to be most common one people make.

So, you've planned out your exercise programme - say, you're going to exercise three times a week for thirty minutes.

Every time you exercise, imagine you are hitting the Swingball and the rope is moving up one coil. At the end of the week you've exercised three times, you've reached the top of the pole. Great. Now repeat the process at the start of the next week, and the week after that and so on.

So, now what generally happens? At around week three or so, we have this habit of veering off track. Say you miss one day of exercise for whatever reason. You may just be busy, it may just be an off day, you might just be feeling uninspired. What tends to happen with New Year's Resolutions is the very moment we "fail" - we miss a run, eat that chocolate muffin, have a cigarette - the psychological impact of failing is enough to send us spiralling downwards. We've set ourselves such a high standard with no wiggle room for the odd slip-up that the guilt and the feeling of failing sabotage our plans. We give up.

So let's stop there for a minute. Retrace our steps - and imagine that Swingball again. So you miss an exercise day - what happens to the Swingball? The rope moves down just one coil - note: it does not automatically go all the way to the bottom. You are still, generally speaking, making upwards progress. Does that make it easier to keep your goals, and your progress towards them, in context?

The key then:

• break your New Year's Resolution into small bite-size chunks. This week I will exercise three times for thirty minutes rather than I am going to exercise every day for the next three months. Or, for today only I'm going to eat healthily rather than I'm never going to eat chocolate again.

• imagine the Swingball - or if you like - upward progress, versus downward progress. Every time you exercise, eat healthily for a day, take vitamins, don't smoke - you move one step upwards. Keep focused on reaching the top of the coil...

• If you slip up, remember keeping the top of the Swingball coil in focus, think: what can i do to keep myself on track?

• give yourself lots of positive feedback - praise yourself - how often do we do that? feel good about every step no matter how small.

• be kind to yourself - New Year's Resolutions are about becoming better people - fitter, healthier, nicer. That in itself is something to feel good about.

Good luck with all your resolutions!

Warmest wishes,

Dawn