A few years ago, I lost my way while sightseeing in an unfamiliar city. Suddenly I was alone, on foot, in a deserted area with no map to guide me. Searching the skyline, I spotted the steeple of a famous church building and kept winding through the back streets toward it. As long as the destination was in my sights, I knew I’d get there eventually.

But what happens if you can’t visualize your goals? Usually, it’s failure—as American swimmer Florence Chadwick once learned the hard way.

Record runs

Born in San Diego in 1918, Florence May Chadwick practically grew up in the water. She began swimming competitively at age six, placed second in the U.S. national championships at 13. Her special talent was endurance swimming in open water.

At 33, she set a record for crossing the English Channel from France to Dover, then became the first woman to swim the more difficult England-to-France route. A year later, she decided to become the first woman to attempt swimming the Catalina Channel off California’s coast.

Chadwick trained diligently for the 22-mile swim. Finally, on the Fourth of July, 1952, she embarked on her journey from Catalina Island to Palos Verde.

Though it was the heart of summer, the ocean was freezing. Sharks followed so closely the support crew trailing Chadwick had to use rifles to drive them away. With her mother and trainer in a support boat urging her on, she swam just shy of 16 hours as Americans followed her journey on television. But determined as she was, she couldn’t overcome not being able to see her goal. The fog in the channel was so thick, she could barely see the support boats. Overwhelmed by her efforts and with no end in sight, she abandoned her swim … only a half mile short of the finish.

Visualized goals

But Chadwick didn’t let the heartbreaking setback deter her from the long-term objective. She scheduled another attempt at the Catalina Channel for two months later. And in the interim, she did more than train her body. She also trained her mind. She memorized the features of the coastline and focused on visualizing herself reaching that distant shore.

Conditions on her next attempt were the same as they had been the first time around: cold and densely foggy. But this time, by visualizing her goal, Chadwick not only became the first woman to reach shore, she broke the existing record for the Catalina swim by more than two hours