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It's All In The Mind
Martin Avis
How hard do you practice to be good at what you do?
Golfers swing clubs for hours on end. Tennis players
knock endless balls across the nets. Business people
rehearse presentations over and over.
We all take physical action to improve our skills.
Yet there is hard evidence that another kind of
rehearsal can be even more effective.
When Olympic athlete Steve Buckley sprained his ankle,
practicing his javelin throwing skills seemed
impossible. But he put his time to better use. Over the
next few weeks, he imagined himself throwing the
javelin at every major stadium in the world.
He didn't just idly dream. He used the power of his
imagination to actually experience every step he took
in the run up, every heft of the javelin, every muscle
as it smoothly worked to help him perform perfect
throws. In fact, in his mind, he achieved over 1000
perfect throws.
When he returned to real-world practice, when his ankle
was healed, his body remembered the feelings his mind
had created and he promptly beat his own personal best.
Top golfers do the same thing. Before they swing the
club to tee off, they mentally picture the ball arcing
through the air and landing in the precise spot they
want it to.
The better the imaginary rehearsal, the better the
golfer.
A study was done with basketball players a few years
ago. A group of players were split into three. One set
were asked to practice throwing baskets for an hour a
day. The second group were told not to practice at all.
The third group were instructed to keep away from the
court, but to sit quietly for half an hour a day and
imagine themselves throwing perfect baskets.
At the end of two weeks the players were all asked to
shoot baskets in real life. Their abilities had been
measured before the tests began.
The players who had not practiced at all showed a
decline in ability of 10%.
The 'real-life' practice group improved by 25%.
But the group who had throw baskets only in their minds
had improved by an astonishing 20%!
Somehow their minds had taught their bodies how to
score.
Nobody is saying that imaginary practice is the only
way to go. Clearly, the group who had thrown balls had
still improved the most, but combining mental and
physical effort must be the best strategy.
How can we use this phenomenon in out lives?
The first thing to do is to make it a rule that you
should never start something until you've finished it
in your mind first.
A builder wouldn't build a skyscraper unless an
architect had already built it. The architect has
imagined the structure, seen every step of the
construction process, mentally painted the walls and
cleaned the windows.
Without the architect's imagination, the builder would
have trouble constructing a garden shed, let alone a
fifty-story office block.
Imagine a building as beautiful as the Taj Mahal. See
it in your mind's eye and realize that it existed in
the mind of the man who built it long before a single
piece of marble was cut.
Whatever you do, whether it is a book you want to
write, or an presentation you need to give, or a garden
you want to plant, it will be better, happen quicker
and leave a lasting effect on other people for longer
if you have mentally rehearsed.
This article has been running round in my mind for
several days. I had effectively written it long before
I sat down to type. So when I did sit down, it flowed
right out of my fingertips.
Mental rehearsal makes easy tasks a breeze and
difficult tasks easier. Impossible ones just take a bit
more imagination.
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