A Visioning Guide

“The hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine”

Ralph Waldo Emmerson

One of the most powerful skills for creating change in our lives, organizations, and society is the ability to visualize and envision what we truly desire. It is not only essential for personal change, it is a key skill for leadership mastery.

🧡 It could be about reshaping your company culture.

✨ Perhaps it’s to envision a year defining event for you in 2025.

🥬 Maybe it’s seeing yourself living in alignment with a new, healthy habit.

🕴‍ Or it could be about stepping into the leader you aspire to be

I’ve recently integrated this practice into my morning routine, inspired by the burgeoning scientific research showing how our brains [and bodies] can’t distinguish between what is real and what we vividly imagine. High performers—like Olympic athletes—have been harnessing this technique for decades to train their minds and push the boundaries of possibility.

Whether you call it visualization, mental imagery, or performance imagery, the principle is the same: when done effectively, it consciously embeds our desires into the subconscious. It trains our brain to recognize these goals as valuable and connects them to our reward system. This alignment redirects our attention and drives us to seek opportunities to make them a reality. The brain’s neuroplasticity plays a role here, strengthening neural connections that support learning, performance, and further visualization—helping us grow and evolve.

January is the perfect time for strategy, redesign, and reinvention. So, I encourage you to explore this Visioning Guide I’ve created, especially if you’re looking to create a shift in your life or enhance your leadership effectiveness.

If you would like a poster size copy of this please email me at david@davidnettleton.com

Some References (I am going to keep adding to this):

Doty, J. (2023). Mind magic: The transformative power of thinking differently. St. Martin’s Press.

B.L. Fredrickson, K.M. Grewen, K.A. Coffey, S.B. Algoe, A.M. Firestine, J.M.G. Arevalo, J. Ma, S.W. Cole, A functional genomic perspective on human well-being, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 110 (33) 13684-13689, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1305419110 (2013).

M Koizumi, H Ito, Y Kaneko, Y Motohashi, Effect of having a sense of purpose in life on the risk of death from cardiovascular diseases. J Epidemiol 18, 191–196 (2008).

Some on visualisation translating to muscle generation:

Ranganathan VK, Siemionow V, Liu JZ, Sahgal V, Yue GH. From mental power to muscle power–gaining strength by using the mind. Neuropsychologia. 2004;42(7):944-56. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2003.11.018. PMID: 14998709.

Hynes, J, Turner, Z, Impulse: Positive Visualization and Its Effects on Strength Training. Impulse: The Premier Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal, 2020