Twenty-eight-time Olympic medallist, Michael Phelps, opened up about his incredible journey with podcaster Raj Shamani. He shared how a visualisation technique helped him build a dream career and a champion mindset early on. Talking about ‘video-tape visualisation’ method in his just-released podcast with Raj Shamani, Phelps explained how the technique helped him deal with the worst-case scenario and give his best to a situation.
Sharing unknown details about his life like his battle with health condition ADHD to how he considered water as his safe space, the ace swimmer also shared a power visualisation that helped him to come out a winner and can also propel one to success.
Phelps discussed in detail about how his mindset made him unbeatable, helping build an obsession with winning.
Michael Phelps’ ‘video-tape visualisation’ method
Phelps opened up about a daily routine he and his coach followed every day before a world championship, and even before practice routines sometimes. Calling it a ‘form of preparation,’ Phelps explained that visualisation helped ‘control the controllables’ only to deal with the worst-case scenario and actually give your best to the situation.
Phelps explained how it worked in every scenario, from a board meeting to the swimming pool. All you have to do is visualise the perfect and ideal outcome of the situation at hand. He would ask himself, “What would a perfect race look like?” and continue visualising him doing the accurate stroke, timing his headstart, breath work, hitting the wall with the right force, and creating tougher waves for his opponents to cut through, and even breaking the world record.
“The perfect scenario, no matter what it is…the perfect video is your version of it going perfectly, and how you want it to, how you dream it to be,” the Olympian explained.
Winning – No matter what
However, the most important thing came with preparing for failure. Phelps told Shamani how it is important to factor in how the race shouldn’t go. Measuring out all possible scenarios, including the lack of warm-up, a wonky start, and a cap malfunction, he shared, is making sure ‘all your ducks are in line and fit into the right spot.’
In fact, in 2008, Phelps won a gold medal with broken goggles and water filled inside them. It was not only practising without goggles or owning a backup pair, but it was also largely coming from visualising the win – no matter what. “I reverted to what I did in training,” he explained, the stroke-timing which helped him swim without goggles.
“I prepared, and I worked harder than anybody else did,” Phelps recalled, being the obsessive winning mindset behind his success. “If you’re not prepared, somebody else is,” the Olympic gold medallist added. Be it waiting four years for the global championship or a 6-month journey towards an international tournament, Phelps shared that visualising the ‘perfect videotape’ would be a part of his practice routine.
