Walk Like a Giant, Sell Like a Madman

2.6. Envisioning Your Future Achievement

Confidence, believing in yourself and your abilities, is one of the most crucial components of success. It derives essentially from your ability to imagine or envision yourself achieving what you desire. Back in 1954, when the world believed that no human being would ever be capable of breaking the 4-minute mile, Roger Bannister proved them wrong by running the mile in 3.59.4 minutes. A mere six weeks later, Australian John Landy became the second man to break the magical 4-minute mark by running the mile in 3.57.9 minutes at a meet in Finland. Soon thereafter, many runners were suddenly able to run a 4-minute mile.

A big part of what was preventing runners from breaking the 4-minute mile was the belief that it couldn't be done. It took someone who believed in himself to break through. Once he accomplished the feat, others found it much easier to envision themselves breaking that mark as well.

After you set your goal, envision yourself accomplishing it. If you have ever watched children at play, you can observe the power of role-playing at work. Kids imagine themselves in a variety of roles: professional athletes, movie stars, superheroes, racecar drivers, doctors, astronauts, and so on. For a short time, they become the person they are pretending to be. As you strive to achieve your goal, you need to relearn how to pretend and play the role. To achieve your goal, what kind of person would you need to be? What would you have to do? This ...