The Power of Imagination

In a previous column I talked about the power of expectation – how what we expect to happen tends to happen.

Now let’s talk about the power of imagination – that what we believe about ourselves, drives our reality. This can help move us forward or hold us back, the key is what we believe.

I remember working with a baseball pitcher who was having a problem pitching under pressure. Although he had great speed and accuracy, what he believed about himself was that because he wasn’t as tall as the other pitchers, he’d never be successful.  His coaches kept telling him that he was a great pitcher and, although part of him wanted to accept it, he just couldn’t – his negative belief was that strong.  What made it even worse was that his negative belief kept being reinforced by his competition.

The important thing to understand is that he had the skills and ability and he pitched great when it really didn’t matter. But in pressure situations, that negative belief in his imagination kicked into high gear and he choked.

Logically, what was happening to him didn’t make sense. Analytically, there is no difference between throwing a baseball at a catcher’s mitt during a practice game and throwing a baseball at that same catcher’s mitt during the bottom of the ninth inning, hoping to save the game.  It’s the same mechanical motion, perfected through repetition.  The only difference is what’s going on between the ears.

Since I know he wasn’t born with that negative belief, that means he’d learned it somewhere.

The key to solving a problem like that is to understand how our brain is wired – there’s an analytical part and an imagination part.

If it was an analytical problem, then he could have fixed it analytically using sports psychology. But it wasn’t, it was a problem with his belief system – and beliefs are stored in the imagination part of the brain.  Trying to change a negative belief analytically is like trying to hit a home run with a flyswatter, you’re not going to get the desired result.

What I did was to help him tap into the imagination part of his brain and, essentially, rewire his belief system.  This let him get the change in perspective he so desperately needed – that, in his situation, speed and accuracy counted more than height and it was OK for him to succeed.  That solved his problem and he was finally free to be the great pitcher that had been inside of him all along.

Stop for a moment and think about what you believe about yourself – about your skills, abilities, what you deserve, what’s holding you back and how much success you are allowed to have.

Realizing that you weren’t born with these beliefs can be the moment of clarity that can be the first step to letting them go and allowing yourself to tap into your awesome potential. Then you can let your imagination help move you forward, instead of holding you back.

And that’s winning the mental game.

About David Kenward