Dream Big: How Visualizing Your Ideal Self Helps You Grow Fast

Discover the power of dreaming big and how visualizing your ideal self can motivate personal growth, creativity, and a positive mindset, according to the latest 2023 scientific studies.

Many people believe that they need to focus on improving their current skills to grow fast. But does it really help? Science suggests otherwise. In fact, focusing on your future ideal self can make you more creative and put you a fast growth track.

So, how does it work?

If you want to grow fast, dream big!

A science study in 2023 backs this up. It shows that guiding people to envision their ideal selves and big dreams motivates them to continue learning and evolving. This study is published on Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

When a person imagines their ideal self – who they want to be – and thinking about their big dreams and what their life means, they feel more motivated to keep learning and changing. Understanding what you want to be helps you observe your environment more attentively, notice new trends, and be more open to new ideas. It makes a person feel more positive and motivated from within.

On the other hand, if people focus on who they are today - their “real self“ too early, and reflecting on their strengths and weaknesses from a realistic standpoint, it can suppress their creativity and make them defensive and resistant to change. So, to help people grow, it is more effective to give them space to explore and imagine their future dreams and goals. This works better than listing strengths and weaknesses, and making improvement plans.

Tip #1: You literally “see” yourself and your conflicts

Thinking about ourselves is like a visual simulation, much like we are looking at a real “thing” that has many sides. The brain areas that are activated overlaps with those used for seeing. We might think we can choose freely which part of ourselves we want to focus on and we can switch easily. But the study found that we need to activate parts of the brain that handle attention conflicts when our attention is pulled in different directions.

Tip #2: “Dream big” makes us more creative

Coaching activities that guide people to picture their ideal selves activate the brain areas for global attention, while picturing the real self activates brain areas for local attention. Global attention helps with creativity and big-picture thinking. It helps integrate new or uncertain information into broad, higher-level knowledge structures. Local attention focuses on recognizing details, meaning paying attention to differences and details, and activates narrow cognitive categories, which might make us miss other important things.

Tip #3: Thinking what we should do consumes energy

Focusing too much on our real self can be a problem because many of our goals are forced on us. They form a version of ourselves based on what we think we "should do". These forced goals often conflict with each other, forcing us use our attention to solve the conflicts. Activating the "ought self” can trigger resistance or stubbornness without us realizing it.

Reflection Points:

• Self-awareness: Aren't we usually aware of our own shortcomings? So why do we assume others don’t?

• Intent of Feedback: When pointing out mistakes, consider the balance – is it more for their benefit or to prove our point?

• Authentic Support: True help means trusting in their ability to grow and letting them navigate their growth journey.

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Author: Jie Xu, PhD