In his talk “how to live an asymmetric life,” Graham Weaver told Stanford Business School students their gains can radically outpace their losses if they follow four simple principles: (1) Do the Hard Thing; (2) Do Your Thing; (3) Do It for Decades; and (4) Tell Your Story.

In recent posts I’ve talked about the first three steps. In Step 4, Weaver told his audience about an exercise his first executive coach taught him: Tell the story of your company five years from now. Forget about ‘how’ and focus on ‘what.’

create Like an Olympian

Long before every competition, swimmer Michael Phelps would visualize the race. He would focus on what he can hear, see, taste, smell. He would visualize himself from the stands, moving powerfully ahead, besting all competition.

Weaver’s fourth principle operationalizes a well-established tool for success: Creative visualization.

These days, athletes use visualization as routinely as Gatorade. Neuroscience explains why: The brain functions in strikingly similar ways in remembering the past and in visualizing the future, so when we vividly imagine our future, we make our brain believe in it. Before long, we act as if it’s reality — because, for our brain, it already is.

Not only that, but visualizing our future also trains our brain to find the path to where we want to go. In the brain, the reticular activating system (RAS) works like a filter, telling us which of the millions of stimuli in and around us we should focus on. When we see ourselves five years from now, we train our brain to notice the opportunities that will move us toward our goal. Maybe the old saying “You make your own luck” was talking about the RAS.

Telling Your Story for an Asymmetric Life

So the next time you feel stalled on the way to your goals, ask whether you’ve practiced Weaver’s fourth step. Create a clear visual picture of yourself achieving your goal, acting at peak performance level. As you program your brain to believe it, you achieve it.