Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps was once asked in the interview, “What were you doing differently that your rivals were not?” His answer may surprise you.

“Honestly, what I did was not rocket science. For me as a kid, I had dreams bigger than anybody else could ever dream and I wanted to be the greatest.”

Coupled with diligent practice in the pool, the method he chose for greatness was visualization. Bob Bowman, the legendary swimming coach who has trained Phelps since he was a teenager, explains the concept like this:

“Champions rehearse success on a daily basis… When you set a goal, you’re basically creating a picture of yourself in a different way. It’s a different you.

So if your picture is “I’m not all that good but I’m a pretty good swimmer” that’s the way you’re going to be. If your picture is “I’m an Olympic champion, I will do whatever it takes to get there, I will think about it all the time, I will visualize myself doing and I will see myself doing it” that’s where things start to move.

Visualization is key in any sort of goal-oriented activity. The best person in the world of visualization I promise is Michael Phelps.”