What if simply imagining your success could help make it a reality? Visualization is a mental practice of picturing your goals and the steps to reach them, and it has been used by everyone from Olympic athletes to entrepreneurs to boost performance. By vividly envisioning a desired outcome, you prime your mind and body to work toward it. The idea might sound far-fetched, but science backs the power of visualization. Studies have shown that mental rehearsal can produce real results – for example, participants who only visualized exercising their muscles for a few weeks increased their strength by 13–35%, compared to no gain in a control group. The brain has trouble distinguishing between a real action and a deeply imagined one, so when you visualize achieving your goals, you are essentially training your brain for actual success.

It’s often said that gratitude is the key to happiness – and science backs that up. Gratitude is the practice of acknowledging and appreciating the good things in your life, big or small. In positive psychology research, gratitude has been strongly and consistently linked with greater happiness . People who regularly express gratitude tend to feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, deal better with adversity, and even enjoy better health and stronger relationships. The best part is that gratitude isn’t something you either have or you don’t – it’s a skill you can cultivate. By developing a habit of gratitude, you can quite literally train your brain to focus on the positives, leading to a happier, more fulfilling life.