Julie Fairhurst - How Your Mind Rehearses Your Future (And How to Take Control)

Your mind is already rehearsing your future, often by accident.

 Your mind is already rehearsing your future—often without you realizing it. In this episode, Julie Fairhurst explains the real science behind visualization and how mental rehearsal shapes identity, behavior, and success. Learn why your brain takes imagined experiences seriously, how worry uses the same mechanism as visualization, and how to consciously use your mind as a tool for leadership, confidence, and purposeful action. 

www.juliefairhurst.com

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Who Is Julie Fairhurst?

Speaker • Author • Business Strategist • Founder of Women Like Me

Julie Fairhurst is a force of nature disguised as a woman with a pen and a business brain built for impact. As the founder of the Women Like Me Book Program, she has opened the door for women around the world to share their truth, heal their past, and rise into their power. Since 2019, she has published more than 30 books and over 350 true-life stories — without charging a single writer a dime! Why? Because women’s stories deserve daylight, not gatekeeping.

With 34 years in sales, marketing, and successful business leadership, Julie knows how to turn storytelling into influence and influence into income.

Her mission is clear and unapologetic: break generational trauma one story at a time and help women elevate both emotionally and financially. She doesn’t just publish books, she builds brands, confidence, and possibility, giving women the tools to rewrite their futures, grow their businesses, and lift their families with them.

Julie's Website

Chapters

• 0:24 Debunking Visualization Myths
• 0:39 Mental Rehearsal And The Brain
• 1:01 Defining Effective Visualization
• 1:28 The Dark Side: Worry As Visualization
• 2:52 Identity, Behavior, And Action
• 3:23 Leading Your Inner Dialogue
• 3:58 Choose Attention With Intention
• 4:30 Mind On Purpose: Closing

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:12

Power of the mind, the science behind visualization. People talk about visualization like it's wishful thinking, like it's sitting around hoping the universe will do the heavy lifting. That's not what this is. Visualization isn't magic, it's mental rehearsal. And your brain takes it very seriously. When you visualize something clearly, your nervous system doesn't fully know the difference between what's imagined and what's experienced. Your brain lights up the same neural pathways as if you were actually doing the thing. That's science, not hype. So let's slow this down and make it usable. What visualization really is, visualization is simply the act of imagining a future moment in enough detail that your mind begins to believe it's possible. Not fantasy, not delusion, preparation. Humans are wired for this. We've been doing it forever. Solving problems, planning journeys, imagining outcomes before we act. If you've ever wanted something so badly you could see it, the room you were standing in, what you were wearing, who was there, how it felt in your body, you were visualizing. Most people do this unconsciously. Picture getting the promotion, winning the award, standing on a stage, starting over. Your brain fills in the details automatically. Sounds, textures, emotions. That's your mind building a map. And maps matter. Here's the part most people miss. Visualization works whether you're aware of it or not. Worry is visualization. Anxiety is visualization. Replaying worst-case scenarios is visualization. You don't need to believe in visualization for it to affect you. You just need to think repeatedly. When you constantly picture things going wrong, your body prepares for danger. Stress hormones rise. Your nervous system tightens. You become reactive instead of intentional. Same mechanism, different direction. Your mind doesn't ask, is this helpful? It asks, is this familiar? So does visualization actually help you reach goals? Yes, but not because it replaces action. It prepares you for action. When you visualize yourself succeeding, you start thinking differently about who you are and what's available to you. You make different choices, you take different risks, you recover faster when things don't go perfectly. Visualization shapes identity, and identity shapes behavior. You still have to show up, you still have to do the work, but the work feels different when your mind isn't fighting you. Think about leadership, including how you lead yourself. Most of us have worked under someone who spoke harshly, criticized constantly, or never believed in us. How did that feel in your body? Now imagine being led with encouragement, clarity, and trust. Your inner dialogue works the same way. You get to decide the tone of the mental environment you live in. Do you motivate yourself through fear or through belief? Visualization thrives in safety, not self-attack. Here's how I want you to think about it. Visualization isn't about pretending everything is perfect. It's about choosing where your attention lives, what you repeatedly picture, your nervous system rehearses. What your nervous system rehearses, your actions follow. So if you're going to visualize anyway, and then you are, you might as well do it consciously, with intention, with kindness, with truth. Because your mind is listening. I'm Julie Fairhurst, and this is the power of using your mind on purpose. Not letting it run you, but learning how to lead it.