What's Visual is Memorable

The picture by my computer- a reminder to "breathe."

It’s well established that using visual cues is a powerful tool.  People who have the most success achieving a goal, changing a habit or creating a new way of being keep their thoughts focused on that goal. They don’t rely on their memory; they rely on reminders…and lots of them. They use pictures, words, colors or objects that are representative of their goal, and they put them everywhere.

Imagine: wanting to be more patient in your relationship with your kids. You have to visualize it regularly and practice. But life is busy and mostly, you forget. Except when there’s drama and then you feel anxious. Then you practice for a few hours before your brain monkey jumps away to the next topic. Soon enough you feel hopeless and helpless. This is exactly what most people do.

Now imagine: wanting to be more patient in your relationship with your kids, so you pick a picture that reminds you of patience or a color or simply the word “patience.” You copy this 10 times and you put it on your bathroom mirror, your refrigerator, the dashboard of your car, the screen of your iPhone and your computers, your Daytimer(do you still use one?) and on your bed stand. Every time you see it, you’re reminded to visualize your goal. And you see it a lot. You practice a lot. It’s front and center of your psyche a lot. You don’t easily escape it with the monkey jump. It’s in your face all the time.

Before long, your thinking about this even without the visual cues. It becomes engrained in your brain and part of your daily thought process.

Try it! I’ll bet you a shiny quarter it works!