US Navy Captain, Red (Eugene) McDaniel flew 81 combat missions before being shot down over the jungles of Vietnam. Ejecting from the cockpit of his nosediving plane, he landed in a tree, and then fell forty feet to the ground, with a cracked vertebrae and alone. As he tossed aside his parachute and put on his survival pack, he painfully made his way, covered in leaches, through the danger-infested jungle looking for high ground in search of rescuers that would not come. He was captured by Vietnamese soldiers and spent the next six years as a Prisoner Of War.
With years of torture too gruesome to describe, he endured because of his mindset. Before being shot down, he knew the possibility of death during each mission was very real and that if he let that control his thinking it would enhance the odds. In his book "Scars and Stripes" he writes, "The chances of being killed were more real, and for this, I had to prepare my mind every morning."
Prepare your mind every morning in order to respond properly to what you will face every day.
While holed up in the Hanoi Hilton, speaking with other prisoners in a secret code of taps on the cell walls, he would be asked when he thought they were going home. He would always answer "two months". That continued for many years, but Red never stopped visualizing the future, as it gave him the mental ability to endure the present. He said, "That was my livelihood to truly believe that answer. The one thing they could not take was my faith."
"And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. For to me, living means living for Christ and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don't know which is better." (Philippians 1:21-22)
Also writing from prison for much of his ministry, the apostle Paul set his mind on his beautiful future in heaven in order to embolden and encourage him to be of great value to others in the present, even if being tortured in prison.
NCAA men's basketball championship coach, Jim Valvano, would dedicate one practice every year to cutting down the nets. This is a tradition that accompanies winning a championship. He did this to help his team visualize the prize that would come from enduring the process and the sacrifice it would take to get there. He knew the psychology of visualization would ultimately manifest in the result if matched with the discipline, hard work, and commitment required to bring it about.
What result do you need to visualize about tomorrow to do the work required today? What purpose is more powerful than the present pain or difficult process? Set your mind to what is good and worthy so you have the faith and courage to bring it about. Practice cutting down the nets, it may take two months or it may take six years, but if you keep your mind right, have faith, and do the work necessary, you will get there.