I’m sure you’ve heard how a mental technique called visualization can help you “manifest” what you want—whether that be a better job, a hot date, a successful negotiation or to be slim and trim. Is it magic? Nah. People familiar with self-hypnosis techniques, for example, know that when you change your mind—really change the way you think using a technique such as visualization—you change your behavior in subtle and even unconscious ways that steer you toward your goal. Now, a new study shows that a certain type of visualization technique is great for motivating you to exercise. It has something to do with reminding yourself that you’ve done it before and allowing yourself to relive that experience.

JOGGING MEMORIES

Remember the fun you had when biking off to a special place with your best friend when you were a kid? Or how about the fabulous time you had playing volleyball or soccer at the family picnic? What about the anniversary party where you “cut a rug”?

On the other hand, can you stand to recall the stress and embarrassment of dropping a winning catch in a childhood ball game…or the hell you went through running an obstacle course during basic training?

Researchers from the University of New Hampshire studied whether vividly remembering exercising could motivate people to actually exercise. They recruited 186 volunteers, divided them into three groups and had them fill out questionnaires that assessed how they felt about exercise and quizzed them on their exercise habits. Then, depending on their group assignment, the volunteers were asked to describe a positive exercise-related memory (Group 1) or a negative exercise-related memory (Group 2) or were not queried at all about memories (Group 3). Groups 1 and 2 were instructed to be as detailed and specific as possible about their memories and were asked questions intended to really get them to relive the recalled events. Specifically, they were asked…

  • To gauge how vivid their memories were and how intense the positive (or negative) feelings in them were.
  • Whether the recalled events were typical experiences for them, how they felt while recalling the memories and whether looking back at the memories made them feel self-sufficient or competent.

Eight days after completing the questionnaire and memory-recall exercise, the volunteers were asked to describe their exercise activity for the previous week and also mention whether the memories they had drummed up had helped motivate them.

THE MYSTERY OF MOTIVATION

If you’re thinking that the folks in the positive-memory group exercised the most, you’re right—they exercised 17% more intensely than the negative-memory group and 47% more intensely than the no-memory group, which in itself is an interesting look at how the simple act of recalling positive efforts can motivate us to repeat, in some form, those efforts.

But what’s especially interesting is that even people in the negative-memory group exercised more than people in the no-memory group. In fact, volunteers who had been asked to relive painful exercise memories in excruciating detail went right out and exercised 26% more intensely than the group that had not recalled any memories.

Since none of the volunteers reported consciously using a memory that had been thought up the week before as motivation to exercise, the researchers theorized that something more subtle had been going on in the volunteers’ minds. Recalling either a positive or negative memory about exercise may have prompted feelings—even on a subconscious level—about self-worth and encouragement or desire for self-improvement that translated into motivation to exercise.

Hypnotists and hypnotherapists, however, know that when people remember and visualize a practiced activity in detail (be it playing tennis or the trombone or giving a speech), they not only are more likely to do the activity, they’re more likely to do it just as well as if they had been physically practicing it. Pretty amazing…and simple enough.

What’s our takeaway? If, for whatever reason, you aren’t naturally inclined to be physically active—which is vital for good health—you now have a shockingly simple and effective way to change that. You can take a tip from this study and give yourself some quiet time a few days a week to vividly recall a memory—the better, the more motivating—of a time when you were very physically active. Really immerse yourself in the memory. Relive it. What did the event feel like when it was happening, and how do you feel looking back on it? Then let the mysteries of the mind do their magic.

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