I Used to Think Visualisation Was Total Nonsense. Then This Happened
Why the Science Behind Future-Self Visualisation Actually Works (Even for Sceptics)
There's a letter I wrote three years ago that nobody's ever seen. Not even my partner.
I wrote it six days before surgery that would change everything.
Some of what I predicted came true exactly as written. Some exceeded my wildest expectations. And some? Well, the universe had its own timeline.
Here's what I used to think about visualisation: complete nonsense.
Too woo (believe it or not I was very ‘anti-woo’ ten years ago, even yoga was too woo for me). Too divorced from the spreadsheets and strategy that actually build businesses.
Then I looked at the research.
Olympic athletes have used visualisation for decades because it works. When you mentally rehearse a performance, your brain activates the same neural pathways as actually doing it. Your neurons can't tell the difference between a vividly imagined experience and a real one.
If it's powerful enough to shave seconds off sprint times, maybe it's worth trying in business.
Lions Gate (8th August) makes a convenient anchor point (yes, yes it’s woo but hear me out), but the practice works any time you're brave enough to get specific about what you actually want.
This season's member tool – The Future-Self Business Ritual – helps you reconnect with your voice and magnetism from this same future-focused place. Join the membership by becoming a paid subscriber today for £10p/m.
8th August 2022. I was single, 37, and six days away from surgery I didn't know would reveal stage 4 endometriosis.
I sat down and wrote to myself one year ahead.
Not from where I was – broken up, uncertain, scared – but from where I wanted to be.
I wrote about my health improving. About hitting six figures. About launching a group programme and securing a book deal. About getting back with my partner and buying a house together.
Buried in there, almost as an afterthought: "There's talk of trying for a family and just seeing what happens."
I had no idea how urgent that timeline would become.
The surgery went well, but the news was brutal. Stage 4 endometriosis. If I wanted a baby, I had maybe six months before the endo grew back and the window of opportunity closed again.
I was single. My boyfriend and I had broken up because I wanted commitment, the possibility of a family, and he didn't.
Here's what happened next.