It’s the final day of the Olympics.  Over these days of competition, we’ve watched exceptional athletes performing at their peak. 

Repeatedly, commentators have told the stories of the athletes.  It’s never a surprise to learn of long and arduous physical training but the story never stops there.  Many commentators go on to tell about another side to training – the athlete’s ability to visualize, to see themselves performing every nanosecond of a winning performance. 

Alongside the physical training, each athlete plays out every moment of a performance in his or her mind’s eye – over and over and over again.  They anticipate every possible challenge to an exceptional performance and then they see in their mind exactly how they will respond to that challenge.    

Olympians do not visualize the gold medal.  They might dream about it but dreaming doesn’t get them to the win.  Instead, athletes visualize every step of the performance that they see as their best.  They see themselves performing at a winning level and they practice their performance at a winning level.  That is what gets them to the gold.

When you visualize a goal in your future, are you visualizing only the outcome or do you see yourself taking the steps necessary to make your goal happen?  Those who reach their goals, see themselves taking all the steps that will get them to their gold.  In your mind’s eye, can you see yourself “in performance”, taking the actions that will lead you to your goal?

Are reality shows a source of philosophy?  In this case, yes! 

On What Not to Wear, co-host Stacy London advised one of her makeovers, Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.  In this instance, a talented young woman learned that her “six-pack of t-shirts” did not dress her for career success.  With gentle prompting and small clothing choice changes, this woman encountered greater recognition – in her career and her social life.

Sometimes we make choices without thought.  Our brain moves to autopilot because our lives are crammed with busyness.  With autopilot, we feel as if we can control the gazillion daily decisions we all face.  Unfortunately, autopilot can also get us into a rut.

Autopilot differs for each of us.  We may use it to choose our clothing, our vacations, our food, even our performance at work. It’s easy to assume your autopilot choices are actually your preferences.  It’s even easy to assume that autopilot choices will always be the right choices.

Consider asking yourself these questions:

• Do I always do this the same way?  Why? 
• Are there other ways?  What are they?
• If I were to make a change, what are the benefits?  What are the drawbacks?
• How would the change feel for me?

Moving beyond your comfort zone may be as simple as setting your alarm fifteen minutes early so you can practice your yoga or work out.  It might mean taking on a new responsibility at work.  It could be deciding to play with your children for thirty minutes every day.  It could be deciding on a weekly date night with your spouse or partner.

Moving beyond your comfort zone does not mean taking irrational risk.  Often, it’s small incremental change that is meaningful.