Michael Gelb explains the power of visualization and how it relates to innovation and creativity. You can find out more n Michael’s new book: Creativity On Demand: How to Ignite and Sustain the Fire of Genius.
Related Podcast and Transcription: The Power of QiGong
Joe: When you think of it in sports, it’s become accepted through the years and you kind of visualize standing behind a golf ball, your swing, and if you think the water on the right, well guess what, it usually goes in the water on the right. But in business, that’s always been kind of taboo. You never really did that.
Michael: Yes, well you know it’s — how about if I just cut to the chase and say, “That is really stupid!” No, I mean, the detachment, the notion that somehow you are some kind of a disembodied mind. Yes, I mean just take it on this level, forget about performing on a more creative, more intelligent way. Just let’s look at in the context of healthcare. The biggest expense companies have, or one of certainly the biggest expenses they have is the healthcare contributions for their people. And when people actually get sick, obviously that’s not good for anybody and most of the illnesses in our world today are caused by one of the two things; either lifestyle, a lack of exercise, poor diet and fundamentally stress is the greatest contributor to most illnesses that people experience, and then the other big contributor is going to the hospital.
Iatrogenic illness is about 25% of illnesses in the United States, so between lifestyle and then the treatments for the lifestyle illness — you know I just met a guy on a plane, I just did a seminar out in Florida and this guy sitting next to me said he used to be really overweight, and he was out of shape, and he got some kind of sinus infection and he went to his doctor and the doctor put him on really heavy-duty antibiotics for 21 days. The sinus infection went away, and instead he got a yeast infection and that lasted for months and wrecked his life for a while until friends of him said, “If you keep taking drugs, you’re going to keep getting a reaction. You need to change your diet and start exercising.” So the guy lost over 100 pounds and he said it absolutely changed his life and the great thing is that he had no idea that there was a connection between his lack of exercise and his crappy diet and taking antibiotics, and the fact that he was way overweight, out of shape and prone to all these problems.
This is so simple, and yet we keep spending more and more money on various kinds of pharmaceuticals and people want a magic bullet. You’re responsible to a large extent for your health and for your level of energy and here’s the great news, people have been studying how to cultivate more energy for thousands of years, and this is not just anecdotal or superstitious. The Harvard Women’s Health Newsletter recently described this ancient Chinese art and said, “It’s not just meditation in motion, it’s medication in motion.” These are research-validated to help with so many of the common challenges that people face. Especially, this is relevant to you if you’re 20, 30, or 40. But if you’re 50, 60, 70, 80 or 90, the margin for error is less.