Visualisation is one of the simplest, most powerful, and most underrated tools you have.

High achievers across every field use it constantly, from athletes to entrepreneurs to creatives.

I want you to imagine walking to your fridge and finding the biggest, brightest lemon. It’s cold and fresh. You take it over to your chopping board and cut it in half. You instantly feel the lemon juice on your fingers and smell the sharp, fresh lemon scent. You pick the lemon up and bring it towards your nose.

I bet your salivary glands came alive.

This is a very common, quick demonstration of how your mind doesn’t know the difference between thoughts and reality. It’s so obvious when you experience it, but we rarely connect the dots and realise we can use the same mechanism for the positive, too.

By visualising your upcoming event, trip, game, or something you’re nervous about, you improve how your brain responds. Here are just a few ways:

  • Brain’s simulation effect: Your brain prepares for what you rehearse. For example, visualising confidence activates many of the same neural pathways as actually being confident.
  • You train your RAS (Reticular Activating System): This is the brain’s filter; it decides what you notice and what you ignore. For example, once you decide to buy a certain car, you suddenly see it everywhere. That’s your RAS at work, and you can programme it intentionally.
  • Emotional regulation: Visualisation isn’t just for motivation; it’s a tool for managing your state. Athletes rehearse pressure moments, so their nervous system doesn’t panic when it really counts.

Here’s how to practise your visualisation:

Make it an intention. Sit in silence. Pick your scenario.

  • Think of every tiny step, every detail.
  • Who can you see and who is there?
  • What can you smell?
  • What do you look like; clothes, shoes, make-up, hair?
  • How are you coming across; confident, bold, calm, grounded?
  • How do you feel? What emotions are coming to the surface, and do you feel present?

When you practise visualisation consistently, you’re not just “imagining” a better outcome; you’re training your brain to recognise it, expect it, and move towards it. High achievers don’t rely on chance or hope. They build their internal world so powerfully that their external world has no choice but to follow.

Your mind is already responding to the pictures you create, just like it did with the lemon. The question is whether those pictures are working for you or against you.

Visualisation is not wishful thinking. It’s mental conditioning. It’s rehearsal. It’s identity building. And it’s one of the fastest ways to shift how you show up in the moments that matter.

Be your own leader.