Creating Your Personal Highlight Reel

Now that you know how to visualize, let’s create your personal highlight reel. As you proceed, you may want to review the guidelines for visualization success. Pay special attention to visualizing from only one of the three camera angles, attempting to use the third camera angle whenever possible. Put energy into feeling the visualization both physically and emotionally, and conduct your visualizing at game speed. The personal highlight reel is made up of three parts. The first part emphasizes a successful performance from your past, and the second and third parts address how you want to perform in the future. Part 1: Sixty-Second Mental Video Clip of Excellent Past Performance There are two options to consider when creating the first part of your personal highlight reel. The first option is to identify the best performance or game you have had in the past (the more recent the better). Imagine that the entire performance was videotaped; select three to five personal highlights from the videotaped performance, each lasting from ten to twenty seconds. The second option is to identify a few of your best performances and choose a combination of your best highlights from those performances. Choose the three to five best personal highlights, each lasting between ten to twenty seconds. For either option, make sure you select a performance (or highlights) in which you felt great, played really well, and had a positive outcome. Arrange the highlights sequentially as they occurred and include as your last highlight the single greatest moment you have ever experienced in sport. To give you ideas for your content, the following is a representation of how part one of Scott Spiezio’s personal highlight reel is structured. Spiezio’s Personal Highlight Reel (Part 1) of Successful Past Performance: 2006 NLCS—Game 2 ▶ Game-saving triple to rally the team from behind and tie the game (the entire at bat) ▶ Ninth-inning double to drive in an insurance run (the entire at bat) ▶ Focused and intense in the field (two ground balls) ▶ Three-run home run in Game 6 of 2002 World Series (personal best moment in sport) Notice that Scott chose the first option for part one of his personal highlight reel, recalling one great game from his past. For his single greatest moment in sport, Scott selected a recount of his famous 2002 World Series at bat, where he propelled his team to an eventual world cham-pionship. After Scott mentally recalls the 2002 World Series at bat, he turns his video into a freeze-frame photograph of himself crossing home plate, capturing his single greatest moment in a still frame. As he looks at himself in this mental photo, he turns up the intensity of how it felt and spends about ten seconds experiencing this positive emotion. In doing so, he influences his brain to release endorphins into his bloodstream, which are like powerful vitamins and minerals that enhance mood, motivation, and ability to deal with pain. By visualizing a positive emotional experience from your past, you, too, can learn to release endorphins into your bloodstream on a regular basis, which is very helpful for increasing your confidence and consistency. You can just as easily adapt the imagery for business, personal fitness, or social situations in which you recapture the emotional sensation of giving a knockout presentation, or completing a solid run on a day you didn’t even think you would make it to the gym, or even having the confidence to initiate a conversation with an attractive stranger. List the three to five best performance highlights from your past along with your single greatest moment in sport. Be sure to turn your single greatest moment highlight video into a freeze-frame photo at the exact moment you experienced your greatest emotional rush. As you complete your mental workouts, turn up the intensity and really feel it—let the endorphins flow. Your Successful Past Performance