Over the past couple of days, I’ve been watching the Olympics with my family. Last night we watched women’s snowboarding. In the midst of all the frontside 1080’s and cab 720’s, I noticed something interesting.

Before each rider took their turn down the pipe, the camera cut to them standing off to the side, doing what looked to be a little dance. Lift one leg up, turn halfway around, put the leg back down, lean back, lean forward, another half turn around. Lift your arms up, set them back down. And then repeat.

My first thought was, “That Chloe Kim is not a very good dancer.”

Then I realized what was going on. Each of these top tier athletes were walking through an exercise we use with many of our clients. They were engaged in a guided visualization. They were slowly and meticulously going through their run in their mind.

And therein lies the trick of guided visualization. Something many of us often miss: Don’t visualize the goal. Visualize the hard work that it takes to get there.

In other words, when these olympic athletes were engaging in this specific form of meditation, they weren’t visualizing themselves on the podium. They weren’t picturing the crowds cheering or their national anthem being played. That’s not guided visualization. That’s daydreaming.

Instead, they were slowly and methodically walking through each step that it would take to get there. They were walking through the perfect run. The initial launch from the gate, that first dip into the pipe, the transition of their weight from their toes to their heels, the perfect twist at just the right moment in the air, the feeling of the board touching back to the ground.

The more we walk through an action in our mind, the more prepared we are to tackle it in real life. But the trick is to visualize the hard work, not the end result.

Don’t waste your time daydreaming about your handshake with the other team after you sign the contract. Instead, focus on the hardest part of the negotiation when they threaten to walk out.  Instead of daydreaming about you and your child having a perfect play date at the park, visualize yourself maintaining a cool head when she starts throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of Target.

And then turn on the Olympics. Because this snowboarding stuff is incredible to watch.

Eric McClerren, LAPC

emcclerren@growcounseling.com