The Purpose Fuel Negotiator: Power of Visualization in Negotiation
Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it. - Roald Dahl. (British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter pilot)
For eons the power of visualization has been used by highly successful people, to focus on goals, and to create a purposeful flow to achieving otherwise perceived impossibilities.
Whether you are a marathon athlete that envisions finishing at your personal best, a keynote speaker imagining a standing ovation, or a dealmaker focussed on negotiating and closing an impossible deal, visualization is a powerful tool, that sets you on a determined path, fuels action and brings about success.
Often when business professionals contemplate a large goal, it’s instinctual to think of the obstacles in the path to achieve the goal. The danger is these obstacles can become so prominent, that it can be inhibiting. This is where visualization can be powerfully used, to shift to a positive mindset and train ones thoughts to successful outcomes.
By visualizing success over and over, you program and prepare your subconscious, to motivate towards achieving the business goal.
Successful, powerful visualization has to be planned, arranged, refined and meditated on. The practice will bring about results that may seem like super-powers to others, creating incredible outcomes by achieving one goal at a time, with confidence and focus.
How Visualization Works
“Visualize what you want to do before you do it. Visualization is so powerful that when you know what you want, you will get it.” - Audrey Flack (American artist who pioneered the art genre of photorealism)
The practice of visualization is really, quite a simple process.
Find a few moments of quiet time in your day. The best time is often first thing in the morning or the last thing before going to sleep. Imagine, in as much multicolor detail as you can, the experiences you would be going through, as if it was in real life.
Imagine being inside of yourself, looking out through your eyes at the ultimate outcome. Build in the feelings, thoughts and actions you would be experiencing, as you engage in this activity.
A tactic I use a lot is; visualizing my focus areas as a movie scene. I direct the sequence, dialogue and actors in the scene, such that it plays out to a script, that always leads to achieving my goals.
Visualize Your Best Negotiation Outcome, Upfront
“As far as I can tell, it’s just about letting the universe know what you want and then working toward it while letting go of how it comes to pass.”― Jim Carrey (Canadian-American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and artist.)
First, start at the finish. Visualize yourself at the end of the negotiation, closing a highly successful agreement, significantly better than expectations, being lauded and pleased with the outcome. Then visualize the negotiation you are going into, to achieve this ultimate outcome.
Picture the physical (or virtual) space, the people participating, the arguments and counterarguments that will be put forward. Picture taking control of the situation, confidently expressing your stances, steering the negotiation, owning the outcome, and ultimately being highly successful at achieving your negotiation goals.
It’s important to focus and meditate on the ultimate outcome in your negotiations, but also the steps towards achieving your end goal. Not just closing the deal, but all the milestones along the way.
Meditate Daily Around Your End Goal
Imagination is everything, it is the preview of your lifes coming attractions” - Albert Einstein (Theoretical physicist who developed the theory of relativity, one of the pillars of modern physics.)
Leading up to the negotiation, meditate in your preparations. As you think through your arguments, visualize yourself pitching it, and your points being landed successfully. Imagine various counter-arguments, and you responding confidently.
The daily practice of visualizing your negotiation goals as being achieved, will accelerate your achievement of those goals, and ambitions. The mind is designed to filter information, and promote the most prominent thoughts to guide you to achieve what you focus on.
Mentally rehearse your visualizations and affirmations every day as you lead into and drive your negotiations, and they will become a natural and automatic part of your thinking.
If possible, spend time in the physical space, where the negotiation will happen. Visit the boardroom, select and sit in the seat that you feel has the greatest command, and visualize yourself steering the conversations, and landing your asks.
Research the background of your negotiation opponents, their reputations, achievements and failures. Envision the discussions you will be having, with these individuals, and prepare yourself accordingly.
Imagine the sights, sounds, smells, touch, emotions, of the environment - make your visualization as “real” as they can be. Through this, you will focus your attention in the direction of your negotiation goals and get you closer to achieving your ultimate success.
Dr Srini Pillay, (Harvard Medical School, Psychiatrist), talks about the incredible benefits of undertaking focussed sessions of "positive constructive day-dreaming" (PCD). The idea is that through intentional positive daydreaming, the working memory can solve problems more effectively and generate ideas that would not typically be accessible, in a high stress environment.
Once you have visualized each goal as complete, it’s time to release. Let go of your goals, and spend the rest of your day being in the present moment.
Focus on Micro and Macro Cues
“Being selective is the path of the productive. Focus on the important few and ignore the rest.” - Tim Ferriss (American entrepreneur, investor, author, and podcaster.)
Using visualization, focus in on the macro currents and the micro detail and actors, and this will provide a strong way to capture those influences in a usable way, and build focussed and refined responses.
Identify what is happening in the greater environment, and then visualize how these elements work towards your success. Focus on the broader levers at play, such as the overall business environment, the marketplace forces, or the reputations of the individuals you will be engaging with.
Then dive into the detail of the scenes that will play out in the negotiations. The body languages, the physical space, the debate, how people are dressed, the personalities, etc.
There are No Excuses in Visualization
You only have control over three things in your life: the thoughts you think, the images you visualize, and the actions you take - Jack Canfield (American author, motivational speaker, corporate trainer, and entrepreneur.)
Visualization is a positive strategy, that sets you on a path to success. Excuses, obstacles, and why nots don't have a place in the visualization process.
One needs to peel off any lingering thoughts of doubt or failure, and focus on the positive outcomes of the negotiation process. This doesn't mean that you wont need to deal with obstacles as they arise, but it does mean focussing on the positive goals and outcomes of getting past these.
As introduced above, a good technique is starting with envisioning the successful end of the process, where you have achieved your objective, and then work backwards, imagining how you have successfully tackled each obstacle on the path to achieving your goal.
As you go through this, keep reminding yourself, there are no excuses in visualizing a positive outcome
Practice Affirmations to Supercharge Your Visualization
What you think about, you bring about” - Bob Proctor (World-renowned speaker, motivational coach, author of bestselling books, as well as a Law of Attraction teacher.)
Act “as if” it has already happened. That you have succeeded in closing your ultimate negotiation.
A strategy to enhance the power of visualization is to live as if your negotiation goals have already been achieved. Your mind is a powerful force, and through training your mind to believe that your ideal outcome is a reality, your subconscious passionately directs you and works towards achieving your visualizations.
So ensure that the images you have in your mind, of successful negotiation outcomes, are focussed and clear.
Affirmations are strong statements of achievement, that create the essence of having achieved your visualization. They create strong mental images of having achieved success against the goals you have set for yourself.
Examples would include:
Build affirmations into your daily visualization meditations to keep you focused on your objectives, improve your motivation, and directs your subconscious behavior towards successful negotiation outcomes.
Review before you enter the Negotiation Arena
I am cocky in prediction. I am confident in preparation, but I am always humble in victory. - Conor MCGregor (Irish professional mixed martial artist and boxer)
About 30 minutes before going into your negotiation, you should step away from all other elements that are occupying your attention. Change your environment, stand up, walk away from where you have had your focus. Center yourself and relax your body with deep breathing.
Then run through your visualizations, picture how the discussion would go, the physical space, the individuals involved, the potential questions and challenges, and run through what will now be, a well practiced scene.
Feel the positive emotions, create the reality in your mind, and envision a successful outcome. Then head into the negotiation feeling prepared, and confident.
Prompts when in the Negotiation
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been - Wayne Gretzky (Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. Nicknamed The Great One, he has been called the greatest hockey player ever.)
A helpful tactic is to write or capture visualization prompts down on index cards, or on notes on your phone/laptop. The more visual the prompts, the better (e.g. pictures of a boardroom, or images of success). Use these in your preparation by going through them when you meditate, imagining the scene, and the achievement of your goal in its desired state.
Then when in the negotiation in reality, have these prompts at hand, and reference them at opportune moments, to trigger your visualization preparation, approaches, and visions of achievement.
This will help keep you focussed, confident and motivated.
In Closing
Ultimately, visualization is the practice of focused attention—slowing down, so that you evaluate, envision and construct opportunity, becoming fine tuned to the environment and the players within that environment.
Practice this daily, and you will amazed at how much more successful your negotiations become.
Onwards & Upwards!