What’s the worst that could happen?
We’ve all heard about visualization exercises. People use them in an attempt to boost confidence, preparation, and ultimately, performance. Picture yourself nailing the big pitch. See the ball going through the hoop as the clock winds down. And then of course, there’s our daily affirmations:
But what happens when people don’t like us? When that free throw rims out and we lose by a point? When something—or everything—goes wrong? What then? How do we overcome adversity when all we see in our mind’s eye is success? Instead of visualizing smooth sailing and things going exactly as we plan, what if we imagined stormy seas instead, ones full of challenges and obstacles? What if we prepared for all the things that could go wrong so we knew how to react when they actually did?
What if we practiced negative visualization?
The military practices this religiously (OK, your air support just got shot down and the bridge you’re supposed to cross just blew up. Now what?). Coaches do it on a daily basis (What’s our plan if Jones goes down with an injury in the 1st quarter?). It’s a lot less stressful when things go according to plan; when we’ve trained for the situation and planned for contingencies. We’re prepared. So why do we lean towards preparing for only positive outcomes?
If we only picture good things happening, how can we expect ourselves to respond adeptly when bad things happen? Preparing for success doesn’t mean diluting yourself into thinking you’re invincible. On the contrary. It means knowing—no matter how good you are—that you’re fallible. And that no matter how destined for success you may appear, fate is waiting right around the corner with a devilish grin. So we should prepare for that—visualize it—and focus specifically on what we will do and how we will overcome.
Myron Rolle is a former standout safety for Florida State. He made it to the NFL and had a brief professional career as a defensive back—a position where having a short memory is a prerequisite. If he gets beat by the receiver and gives up a 40-yard pass completion, he better forget it quickly and move on to the next play. DB’s need to know the tendencies of the opponent and anticipate his next move. If they guess wrong, or make one wrong step, odds are they’re going to get beat. So they better prepare for all possible scenarios—good and bad.
When Rolle washed out of the NFL at 26, he had a better backup plan than most: he went to medical school. Today, Dr. Myron Rolle is a senior neurosurgery resident and the global neurosurgery fellow at Harvard-Massachusetts General Hospital. As he details in the July/August 2022 edition of Men’s Health magazine, Dr. Rolle tells how football “has given (him) so much. Friends, fitness, focus, and the intangibles: communication, teamwork, structure, discipline, and overcoming adversity.” Rolle recounts how he uses a similar approach in medicine as the one he used to make him a successful athlete.
“Dr. Rolle deals with the stress of surgery by spending hours rehearsing his hand movements, visualizing the surgery the same way he prepared for a play on the field. ‘Because if A and B fail, based on anatomy that I wasn’t expecting, or there’s a bleed or a leak that happens that I wasn’t aware of, what are options C and D? I need to have other plans so that I’m not flustered and paralyzed in the moment…I anticipate [extra blood] the same way I anticipated a receiver running an in-route but he runs a hitch or a stop-and-go.”
Myron Rolle is extremely talented. He was blessed with genetics (three of his cousins also played in the NFL), intelligence, and work ethic. My NFL prospects are nil, and I don’t see a neurosurgery career in my future at this point. So what can I take away from the negative visualization technique that he practices? Put simply: if I imagine worst-case scenarios unfolding and focus on my response to that, I’m preparing myself to be successful in the face of aversity.
Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.