--- title: "Step 2 of Building Healthy Brain Habits: Plan and Visualize" description: Spring-clean your brain and turn your dreams into reality. Learn practical ways to enhance brain fitness and how to visualize and take actions that count! image: https://blog.heartmanity.com/hubfs/Daydreaming-and-enjoying-the-sunlight-533976746_2125x1416.jpeg --- [![Heartmanity](https://heartmanity.com/wp-content/files/heartmanity-logo-web.png "Heartmanity")](https://heartmanity.com) [Schedule a Conversation](https://heartmanity.as.me/schedule.php?appointmentType=30172362) [Shop](https://heartmanity-services-products.myshopify.com/) [Join the Community](https://heartmanitycommunity.mn.co/) [Get In Touch](https://heartmanity.com/contact/) - [Home](https://heartmanity.com/) - [Our Focus and Expertise](https://heartmanity.com/our-focus-and-expertise/) - [BrainFitness](https://heartmanity.com/brain-fitness/) - [Emotional Intel](https://heartmanity.com/emotional-intel/) - [Habits for Health](https://heartmanity.com/habits-for-health/) - [Relationship Mastery](https://heartmanity.com/relationship-mastery/) - [About](https://heartmanity.com/about/) - [Individuals](https://heartmanity.com/individuals/) - [No-Nonsense Coaching](https://heartmanity.com/no-nonsense-coaching/) - [Return to Serenity](https://heartmanity.com/return-to-serenity/) - [One-Year Makeover](https://heartmanity.com/one-year-makeover/) - Couples - [Drama-Free Marriage](https://heartmanity.com/drama-free-marriage/) - [Marriage Tune-Up](https://heartmanity.com/resources/drama-free-resources/#tune-up) - [Couples Mentoring](https://heartmanity.com/resources/drama-free-resources/#mentoring) - [Premarital Coaching](https://heartmanity.com/resources/drama-free-resources/#coaching) - [Drama-Free Weddings](https://heartmanity.com/resources/drama-free-resources/#weddings) - Parents - [HeartPrints® Parenting](https://heartmanity.com/heartprints-parenting/) - [Parent Coaching](https://heartmanity.com/resources/heartprints-resources/#coaching) - [Family Coaching](https://heartmanity.com/resources/heartprints-resources/#visits) - [WombPrints](https://heartmanity.com/heartprints-parenting/#wombprints) - [Professionals](https://heartmanity.com/professionals/) - [Heartmanity for Business](https://heartmanity.com/business/) - [Heartlead Business](https://heartmanity.com/heartmanity-for-business/) - [MomPreneurs](https://heartmanity.com/mompreneurs/) - [Resources](https://heartmanity.com/resources/) - [Heartlead Resources](https://heartmanity.com/resources/heartlead-resources/) - [Drama-Free Resources](https://heartmanity.com/resources/drama-free-resources/) - [HeartPrints® Resources](https://heartmanity.com/resources/heartprints-resources/) - [Personal Growth Resources](https://heartmanity.com/resources/personal-growth-resources/) - [Blog](https://blog.heartmanity.com/) - [Emotional Intelligence & Fitness](https://blog.heartmanity.com/topic/emotional-intelligence-fitness) - [Leadership and Business](https://blog.heartmanity.com/topic/leadership-and-business) - [Love, Marriage, and Relationships](https://blog.heartmanity.com/topic/love-marriage-and-relationships) - [Parents: Permission to Be Imperfect](https://blog.heartmanity.com/topic/parents-permission-to-be-imperfect) - [Brain Fitness, Mindfulness and Perspective](https://blog.heartmanity.com/topic/brain-fitness-mindfulness-and-perspective) - [Communication & Interpersonal Skills](https://blog.heartmanity.com/topic/communication-interpersonal-skills) - [Habits for Health](https://blog.heartmanity.com/topic/habits-for-health) Heartmanity's Blog Search Search - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. Topics: Select a topic... All Emotional Intelligence & Fitness Leadership and Business Love, Marriage, and Relationships Parents: Permission to Be Imperfect Brain Fitness, Mindfulness and Perspective Communication & Interpersonal Skills Habits for Health Heartmanity Webinars, Classes, and Events Filters # [*Step 2 of Building Healthy Brain Habits: Plan and Visualize*](https://blog.heartmanity.com/step-2-of-building-healthy-brain-habits-plan-and-visualize) Earlier this week, we brought you the first of four steps for re-patterning your brain. Throughout this process of “spring cleaning” your brain, the goal is to use mindfulness and neuroscience to build healthy brain habits. Re-training your brain is vital for achieving goals successfully and transforming your life. Since actions and habits originate in the brain, the brain has to be the source of change too. The first step in re-training your brain was “Dream Big; Start Small.” Now that you have mindfully set a goal and created small steps along the way, it is time to lay the groundwork for achieving every step. It is not enough to know where you are going; you need to know how you are going to get there. Even better, you need to *see* yourself on the journey. #### Make a powerful plan and visualize achieving it. Dwight D. Eisenhower famously said, "in preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." Visualizing your new brain habits is not a replacement for taking action, but it is a helpful way to plan and a strong plan is the first step to consistent action. In a [UCLA study titled *From Thought to Action*](http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0146167299025002010), people who imagined the process of achieving their goals were more likely to take consistent steps toward that goal. As with backtracking from your big dream to little steps, visualizing yourself performing those steps helps solidify your plan and set you up for success. If you'd like a wonderful tool to create a modern-day vision board, Mind Movies is a digital vision board that allows you to create a movie of your ideal life. A powerful use of technology that helps you get clear on your desires and anchors a vision of your future self. Related reading: "[5 Ways Brain Fitness and Behavioral Health Are Optimized by Healthy Habits](https://blog.heartmanity.com/5-ways-brain-fitness-and-behavioral-health-are-optimized-by-healthy-habits)." [![YES, I want to create a life I love!](https://hubspot-no-cache-na2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/default/2012781/52fd618d-46cc-4dc1-a1d6-eaaf431b65ad.png)](https://hubspot-cta-redirect-na2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/redirect/2012781/52fd618d-46cc-4dc1-a1d6-eaaf431b65ad) #### ![Visualize and feel the sensations and emotions as if you have achieved your goal](https://blog.heartmanity.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Daydreaming-and-enjoying-the-sunlight-533976746_2125x1416.jpeg?width=640&name=Daydreaming-and-enjoying-the-sunlight-533976746_2125x1416.jpeg "Visualize and feel the sensations and emotions as if you have achieved your goal") #### Plan Big, then Visualize Once your big plan is in place, visualization can reduce any [anxiety](https://blog.heartmanity.com/7-ways-to-effectively-handle-anxiety) you have about taking those daily steps. Imagine yourself performing each action, however mundane it seems. Feel the sensations this evokes in your body. Make the experience as real as possible. The goal is to feel the enhanced emotions that you would feel if the experience was actually happening. Now your brain is prepped for the actual actions. When planning and visualizing, check that your goal is SMART, [public sociologist Christine Whelan’s acronym for successful life planning](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2015/03/02/expert-ten-super-smart-ways-to-build-good-habits-and-make-them-stick/?utm_term=.c6321102e98d). Any new habit must be: Specific, Measurable, Rewardable, and Trackable. Setting up a SMART plan and visualizing it empowers you to start brain-changing—it’s like buying the closet organizer and painting a mental picture of your newly color-coordinated sock drawer. The goal is now that much more achievable.   ***Next up:*  Build Your Own Momentum** - why repetition is vital for a healthy brain. #### For more information about brain health, enhancing  brain fitness  and for coaching support to achieve your goals, please sign up for our complementary Discovery Session! #### [![Sign me up!](https://hubspot-no-cache-na2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/default/2012781/de061ed0-565d-4ff4-93a6-6bbc57683b44.png)](https://hubspot-cta-redirect-na2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/redirect/2012781/de061ed0-565d-4ff4-93a6-6bbc57683b44) ### Like the article? Help us spread the word and share it! Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn **![Enid R. Spitz / Heartmanity Contributor](https://blog.heartmanity.com/hs-fs/hubfs/EnidRSpitz.jpeg?width=225&name=EnidRSpitz.jpeg)[Enid R. Spitz / Heartmanity Contributor](https://blog.heartmanity.com/author/enid-r-spitz)** Enid Spitz is a writer, yoga instructor, and works at the popular Lululemon. She previously lived in Portland, OR and Seattle, WA, where she was a newspaper editor and researched yoga for Traumatic Brain Injury. Heartmanity combines Enid's passions for social well-being, neuroscience, and yoga. When not writing or on the yoga mat, she is an avid traveller, and loves being outdoors. ### You may also like: ![The Social Brain: Why Deep Human Connection Is the Best Brain Health Practice](https://blog.heartmanity.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Two%20women%20having%20coffee%20at%20a%20coffee%20shop_SM_Compressed.png?width=250&height=150&name=Two%20women%20having%20coffee%20at%20a%20coffee%20shop_SM_Compressed.png) [The Social Brain: Why Deep Human Connection Is the Best Brain Health Practice](https://blog.heartmanity.com/the-social-brain-why-deep-human-connection-is-the-best-brain-health-practice) ![Why You Already Know What to Do—and Still Don't Do It!](https://blog.heartmanity.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Change%20CHANCE%20to%20CHANGE%20with%20tiny%20shifts%20and%20consistent%2c%20small%20actions..jpeg?width=250&height=150&name=Change%20CHANCE%20to%20CHANGE%20with%20tiny%20shifts%20and%20consistent%2c%20small%20actions..jpeg) [Why You Already Know What to Do—and Still Don't Do It!](https://blog.heartmanity.com/why-you-already-know-what-to-do-and-still-dont-do-it) ![Decision Paralysis? A Surprising Link Between Old Regrets and Your Brain’s ‘Stuck’ Mode](https://blog.heartmanity.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Repatterning%20Brain_AdobeStock_407295049_SM%20Compressed.jpeg?width=250&height=150&name=Repatterning%20Brain_AdobeStock_407295049_SM%20Compressed.jpeg) [Decision Paralysis? A Surprising Link Between Old Regrets and Your Brain’s ‘Stuck’ Mode](https://blog.heartmanity.com/decision-paralysis-regrets) ![The Neuroscience of Mindfulness: How 10 Minutes a Day Rewires Your Brain for Calm](https://blog.heartmanity.com/hs-fs/hubfs/AI-Generated%20Media/Remix%20Images/A%20colorful%20illustration%20of%20a%20brain%20sitting%20in%20lotus%20position..jpeg?width=250&height=150&name=A%20colorful%20illustration%20of%20a%20brain%20sitting%20in%20lotus%20position..jpeg) [The Neuroscience of Mindfulness: How 10 Minutes a Day Rewires Your Brain for Calm](https://blog.heartmanity.com/the-neuroscience-of-mindfulness) Posted in [Brain Fitness, Mindfulness and Perspective](https://blog.heartmanity.com/topic/brain-fitness-mindfulness-and-perspective) © Heartmanity 2026 [Back to Blog](https://blog.heartmanity.com) ### Free Newsletter! 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[Sitemap](https://heartmanity.com/sitemap/) | [Privacy Policy](https://info.heartmanity.com/privacy-policy) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "NewsArticle", "author" : [ { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Enid R. Spitz / Heartmanity Contributor", "url" : "https://blog.heartmanity.com/author/enid-r-spitz" } ], "dateModified" : "2024-02-07T22:37:46", "datePublished" : "2017-04-06T17:00:00", "headline" : "Step 2 of Building Healthy Brain Habits: Plan and Visualize", "image" : [ "http://info.heartmanity.com/hubfs/Daydreaming-and-enjoying-the-sunlight-533976746_2125x1416.jpeg" ] } ```