The Power of Mental Rehearsal

To start let me define the difference between imagery and mental rehearsal.  Imagery is a mental process or a mode of thought.  Imagery can be defined as a “symbolic sensory experience”.  It is sometimes referred to as “visualisation”, although this term implies that it only involves using the visual (seeing) sensory mode.  In fact imagery can, and indeed should, incorporate all sensory modes – visual (images), auditory (sounds), kinaesthetic (feelings), olfactory (smells) and gustatory (tastes).

Mental rehearsal, on the other hand, is defined the employment of imagery to mentally practise an act or behaviour.  Thus mental rehearsal is a technique as opposed to merely a mental process.

Mental rehearsal is the process of practising mentally.  For example you could imagine in your mind the specific behaviour that you want to rehearse.  Although this sounds very simple, mental rehearsal is a very powerful method of performance enhancement.

Please be assured that using your imagination to rehearse is not some strange or mystical practice!  It is a very common amongst all manner of people especially athletes.

Having conducted an extensive review of the psychological research into mental rehearsal, I can report two robust conclusions:

1. Mental rehearsal is better than no practise at all
   
2. Mental rehearsal combined with physical practise is more effective than either alone

So how can you apply these powerful conclusions to your life? For a start, I am certainly not advocating that you abandon physical practice!  However, there may be times when it may not be possible for you to practise physically.There is a famous story about an American army officer who was held captive for several years during the Vietnam war.  In order to keep himself occupied he would play a game of golf in his imagination every day.  When he was finally released from captivity, he went to play an actual game of golf for the first time in many years.  He played one of the best games of golf in his life - the many years of mental rehearsal had resulted in a huge improvement in his physical golfing performance!

However, the real power of mental rehearsal is when it is combined with physical practice.  As detailed above, psychological research confirms that, mental rehearsal when combined with physical practice is more effective than either alone.

Another way of considering this is that the person who practices physically and rehearses mentally will have a distinct advantage over the person who only practices physically.

Almost 100% of Olympic athletes surveyed by sports psychologist reported the use of mental rehearsal.  Elite athletes use this technique for one reason and one reason only – it works.  Mental rehearsal is a powerful performance enhancement method.

Until next time, yours for Increasing Life!

Simon Hazeldine
Founder
Increasing Life
Dedicated to Your Health, Wealth, Success, Happiness and Freedom

P.S. When you join the "Increasing Life" community newsletter you will receive these 4 powerful free gifts:

1. "How Winners Really Set Goals" e-book
2. "Are you tough enough? How to develop your mental strength" e-book
3.  "The Real Truth About Visualisation" e-book
4. "The 3 Secrets of the Billionaire Brain" video

Sign up details are at the top of the page on the left hand side - we look forward to welcoming you to our community.

Are you a Probability Thinker or a Possibility Thinker?

In my last blog post we explored the concept of “Increasing Life” as being a philosophy and approach of expansion, enlargement and growth in all aspects of our lives, and asked the question: "Have you chosen to adopt an increasing infinite mind-set or a contracting finite mindset?"

These mindsets are often accompanied by their respective styles of thinking: Finite probability thinking, or Infinite possibility thinking.

People with the more rigid finite probability thinking orientation will often have fixed mental models about the ways things are, the ways things must be and therefore have rigid limitations about what they think is possible.

Some amusing historical examples include:

“Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible."

Lord Kelvin, Scientist 1897

“Everything that can be invented has been invented.”

Charles Duell, U.S. Office of Patents 1899

“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”

Ken Olson, Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers”

Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM, 1943 

“We don't like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out”

Decca record executive on the Beatles, 1962

By contrast people with the more fluid infinite possibility mindset will frequently challenge their own and others mental models in order to make improvements, advances and progress. They think in terms of possibility. Many of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs seem to have adopted this thinking style:

“We are going to where no one has gone before.”

Richard Branson

“It's kind of fun to do the impossible.”

Walt Disney

"When you innovate, you've got to be prepared for
people telling you that you are nuts.“

Larry Ellison

"Every time you state what you want or believe, you're the first to hear it. It's a message to both you and others about what you think is possible.
Don't put a ceiling on yourself."

Oprah Winfrey

And before any of us get too amused by some of the probability thinking examples shared earlier – it is important to realise that we are all subject (to some degree or other) to our own personal limitations about what we think is possible or probable.

“In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true either is true or becomes true, within certain limits to be found experientially or experimentally. These limits are further beliefs to be transcended. In the province of the mind there are no limits."

Dr John Lilly

So are you a probability thinker or a possibility thinker?

Until next time, yours for Increasing Life!

Simon Hazeldine
Founder
Increasing Life
Dedicated to Your Health, Wealth, Success, Happiness and Freedom

P.S. When you join the "Increasing Life" community newsletter you will receive these 4 powerful free gifts:
1) "How Winners Really Set Goals" e-book
2) "Are you tough enough? How to develop your mental strength" e-book
3) "The Real Truth About Visualisation" e-book
4) "The 3 Secrets of the Billionaire Brain" video

Sign up details are at the top of the page on the left hand side - we look forward to welcoming you to our community.

What is "Increasing Life"?

In the book "The Science of Getting Rich" the author Wallace D. Wattles states:

"Every living thing must continually seek for the enlargement of its life because life - in the mere act of living - must increase itself."

"Life, by living, multiplies itself. It is forever becoming more; it must do so to continue to exist.""Consciousness is continually expanding. Every fact we learn leads us to the learning of another fact. Knowledge is continually increasing. Every talent we cultivate brings to mind the desire to cultivate a new talent. We are subject to the urge of life."

The concept of “Increasing Life” is one of expansion, enlargement and growth in all aspects of our lives. The Universe’s momentum is one of expansion. As part of that universe we have two basic choices. We can “go with the flow” and expand and become (and have) more. Or we can attempt to fight the inevitable and contract.

Those who choose (and it is a choice) expansion become greater than they were.

Those who choose (and it is a choice) to contract become smaller, less significant and more dependent upon others.

So have you adopted an increasing infinite mind-set or a contracting finite mindset?

Those of us with an infinite mind-set enjoy learning, discovery, experience, innovation, risk and challenge.

Those with a finite mind-set avoid opportunity to diminish the perceived risk. They will often have a very rigid and fixed view of the world and how it is supposed to be. Out of a fear of the infinite mind-set they will often try to impose this rigid world view on the rest of us.

I am sure you can see that many of the world’s current problems have as their root cause a fixed, finite, fundamentalist mind-set.

In my next newsletter I will explore how the infinite and finite mindsets are often accompanied by their respective styles of thinking – possibility thinking or probability thinking.

Until next time, yours for Increasing Life!

Simon Hazeldine
Founder
Increasing Life
Dedicated to Your Health, Wealth, Success, Happiness and Freedom

P.S. When you join the "Increasing Life" community newsletter you will receive these 4 powerful free gifts:
1) "How Winners Really Set Goals" e-book
2) "Are you tough enough? How to develop your mental strength" e-book
3) "The Real Truth About Visualisation" e-book
4) "The 3 Secrets of the Billionaire Brain" video

Sign up details are at the top of the page on the left hand side - we look forward to welcoming you to our community.

How to Use Visualisation to Maximise Your Success!

Would you like to benefit from a mental training technique that is used almost universally by Olympic athletes? A major psychological study reported that 99% of Olympic athletes use imagery as part of their training programme.

In addition, sports psychologists have identified that one of the characteristics of elite athletes is that they are more proficient at imagery than non-elite performers.  The use of imagery is not confined to the sports world.  It has massive power in all walks of life.

Before we look at what imagery is, let me first invite you to participate in an experiment (please do not participate if you have sort of back or neck problem and please consult your doctor before participating if you have any doubt whatsoever) that will demonstrate what it can do for you.

Step 1: Stand up, lift your right arm and point out your index finger.  If you are reading this article in a public place then you may choose to leave this experiment for later - or if you are feeling brave just do it any way!

Step 2:  Keeping your feet pointing straight ahead, turn around clockwise as far as you can comfortably go.  Notice where your index finger is pointing to on the wall behind you.  Then return to the start position.

Step 3: Put your right arm down by your side, close your eyes and in your mind imagine repeating the same movement.  Imagine that as you do it,  that this time you find it much easier than the first time.  Imagine that when you reach the place where you stopped previously that you carry on turning around and notice that you finger is pointing to a place much, further around than before.

Step 4: Open your eyes, lift up your right arm and again point out your index finger.

Step 5: Keeping your feet pointing straight ahead, again turn around clockwise and this time notice how much further you actually turn around than before!

When I ask participants at my motivation and peak performance seminars to try this experiment, I usually hear gasps of astonishment as they discover how much further they turn around the second time!

Based upon the results of our simple experiment, and more importantly on the results of significant psychological research, imagery can be very beneficial as a method of performance enhancement.

So what is imagery? Imagery can be defined as a “symbolic sensory experience” that may occur in any sensory mode. It is sometimes referred to as “visualisation”, although this term implies that it only involves using just the visual sensory mode.  In fact imagery can, and indeed should, incorporate all sensory modes – visual (images), auditory (sound), kinaesthetic (feeling), olfactory (smell) and gustatory (taste). 

Imagery is a mental process or a mode of thought.  Imagery uses all of the sensory modes to re-create or create an experience in the mind.

One of the most fascinating aspects of research into imagery is that when an individual engages in vivid imagery and absorb themselves into it, their brain interprets the imagery as being identical to the actual situation itself.  The brain appears to not be able to distinguish between a vividly imagined situation and a real situation.

With this fact in mind (no pun intended!), in future blog posts we will use what we have learned about imagery and apply it to the powerful performance enhancing technique of mental rehearsal - so please subscribe to this blog to make sure you don't miss out!

If you want to discover more about how to use imagery, mental rehearsal and visualisation please subscribe to the "Increasing Life" newsletter.  As a thank you for joining our community you will receive the fascinating e-book ""The Real Truth About Visualisation" for free plus three other powerful free gifts too! Sign up details are at the top of the page on the left hand side - we look forward to welcoming you to our community.

Until next time, please keep your imagery positive and focussed on the results you want to achieve.  As a wise person once commented, “Be careful what you imagine - it might just come true!”

Simon Hazeldine
Founder
Increasing Life

Dedicated to Your Health, Wealth, Success, Happiness and Freedom

P.S. When you join the "Increasing Life" community newsletter you will receive these 4 powerful free gifts:
1) "How Winners Really Set Goals" e-book
2) "Are you tough enough? How to develop your mental strength" e-book
3) "The Real Truth About Visualisation" e-book
4) "The 3 Secrets of the Billionaire Brain" video
Sign up details are at the top of the page on the left hand side - we look forward to welcoming you to our community.

How Winners Really Set Goals

In our last blog post we looked at the power of goal setting.  Goal setting is a proven method of performance enhancement and is extensively utilised by many high performers ncluding elite athletes.

What follows is a simple step- by step process that you can use to set goals. This is the powerful process employed by elite athletes.  It has been further enhanced by cutting edge techniques from NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) - the psychology of human excellence.

1) Ask yourself the powerful question: What do you want?

Make sure you know exactly what it is you want to achieve.  Although this may seem very simple, in reality very few people are clear about exactly what it is they want to achieve. As a result they may tend to drift and never achieve their potential.

2) You can't do a don't!

Your goal must be stated in a positive manner.  What you do want rather than what you do not want.  Express your goal in a positive, present tense way e.g. "I am a millionaire". 

3) How will you know when you have achieved your goal?

What will it look, sound, feel and even taste and smell like when you achieve your goal?  The more sensory specific data you can include, the more your brain has to lock onto.

4) Is your goal under your control?

Make sure the ability to achieve and maintain your goal is something over which you have control.  If your goal relies on other people acting or behaving in certain way, then this is not under your control.  Your goal must be about what you are going to do.

5) Is there anything that you might lose as a result of achieving your goal?

Achieving your goal may mean you have to put in some additional effort , and may impact, for example, on your free time. Find creative ways to achieve your goal and maintain the current benefits. This will help to prevent the phenomena known as "self-sabotage".

6) Write your goal down.

Write it in a positive, present tense way and use block capitals.  This helps to embed the goal into your unconscious mind.  Writing down the date by which you will achieve your goal creates focus.

7) Read your goal out loud to yourself every day. 

This also helps to embed your goal into your unconscious mind.

8) Put your written goals where you will see them every day.

Put your list of goals on the wall above your desk or bed or bathroom mirror so that you can see them regularly.  Keep your goals front of mind and they will go deep into your mind.

9) Experience your goal as being reality.

Imagine achieving your goal.  This "programmes" the goal into your unconscious mind.  Recent research has revealed that 99% of Olympic athletes use mental imagery or as it is sometimes referred to visualisation as part of their goal setting procedures. 

10) Plan your work and then work your plan.

Olympic Rower James Cracknell told me that he sets short and long term goals.  Combining short and long term goals produces the greatest improvements in performance and achievement.  Set a series of short-term goals along the route to your long -term goals. 

11) Take action now!

The real power of goals is in taking action once you have set them. What is the first action you could take towards achieving this goal? Do it now! If you leave this first vital action until later you may never do it.  An ancient Chinese proverb says:  "The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step".  Take that important first step right now. 

Goal setting is a proven and powerful method for generating performance improvements.  Set you goals and take action towards them now!

If you are looking for further information on goal setting and visualisation you will receive a free copy of "How Winners Really Set Goals" e-book and "The Real Truth About Visualisation" e-book (and 2 further valuable free gifts - details below) when you subscribe to the "Increasing Life" community newsletter. Sign up details at the top of the page on the left hand side!

Simon Hazeldine
Founder
Increasing Life

Dedicated to Your Health, Wealth, Success, Happiness and Freedom

P.S. When you join the "Increasing Life" community newsletter you will receive these 4 powerful free gifts:
1) "How Winners Really Set Goals" e-book
2) "Are you tough enough? How to develop your mental strength" e-book
3) "The Real Truth About Visualisation" e-book
4) "The 3 Secrets of the Billionaire Brain" video
Sign up details are at the top of the page on the left hand side - we look forward to welcoming you to our community.

The Real Truth About The Power of Goal Setting

Have you ever wondered what methods elite athletes use to enhance their performance?   A study of over 200 Olympic athletes concluded that one of their main characterising features was their use of clear goals.

If you want to improve your personal performance in any sphere of your life and be more successful than you are now, then you too need to set goals.

Why set goals?

Goal setting consistently facilitates improved performance.  Goal setting is a powerful technique for enhancing your performance and achievements.

Goal setting as a motivational approach to enhancing performance is one of the most thoroughly researched areas of psychology.  The psychological research on goal setting is impressive in that it has been conducted in a variety of laboratory and field settings, and has used a wide variety of tasks & diverse samples of people including children, managers and unskilled workers.    

A comprehensive review of over 100 psychological studies on goal setting concluded that "the beneficial effect of goal setting on task performance is one of the most robust and replicable findings in the psychological literature".

Goals set specific standards that will motivate you to take direct action by focussing attention, increasing effort and intensity, prompting the development of new problem-solving strategies and encouraging persistence in the face of failure.

Having specific goals will lead you to higher levels of performance than having no goals or "easy" goals or "do your best" goals.

What are goals?

A goal is something that you want to accomplish.  It is the object or aim of an action.  Goals can also be set to achieve a specific standard of proficiency on a task, usually within a specified time limit.

The famous football coach Sven Goran Erikkson has said: "Goals are the things we want to achieve.  It is important to set them".

It is also useful to define the different kinds of goals that you can set:

Outcome Goals 

These focus on achieving specific results.e.g. Winning a particular tournament or getting a new sports car

Performance Goals 
These focus on improvements relative to one's own past performance e.g. Achieving a specific score or grade 

Process Goals 

These focus on the procedures in which you will engage during performance i.e. the actual physical steps necessary to achieve the performance and outcome goal.

What is known as "goal proximity" is a further defining factor.  An individual can set Long Term, and Medium/Short Term goals within the three categories defined above. Research suggests that having a combination of Long and Medium/Short Term goals produces the greatest performance improvements.

The attainment of a series of sub-goals (Short/Medium term) is particularly effective, as this provides indicators of performance improvement that can lead to enhanced confidence and motivation.

How Does Goal Setting Work?
The theoretical explanations for the relationship between goal setting and performance include:

1. Goals direct and focus your attention to important aspects of a specific task.

2. Goals help you to mobilize effort e.g. by setting a series of steps towards a goal you will exhibit greater effort towards achieving your goal.

3. Goals not only increase immediate effort but prolong effort and increase persistence

4. Research has shown that you will often develop and employ new learning strategies through the process of setting and achieving goals.

Therefore we can conclude that goal setting is a very powerful method of performance enhancement and the act of setting goals correctly should be a high priority for us.

If you are looking for further information on goal setting you will receive a free copy of "How Winners Really Set Goals" e-book (and 3 further valuable free gifts - details below) when you subscribe to the "Increasing Life" community newsletter. Sign up details at the top of the page on the left hand side!

Simon Hazeldine
Founder
Increasing Life

Dedicated to Your Health, Wealth, Success, Happiness and Freedom

P.S. When you join the "Increasing Life" community newsletter you will receive these 4 powerful free gifts:
1) "How Winners Really Set Goals" e-book
2) "Are you tough enough? How to develop your mental strength" e-book
3) "The Real Truth About Visualisation" e-book
4) "The 3 Secrets of the Billionaire Brain" video
Sign up details are at the top of the page on the left hand side - we look forward to welcoming you to our community.

3 Common Misconceptions About Self Confidence

A consistent finding in psychological research is a direct correlation between self-confidence and success. Confidence is a major differentiating factor between elite and non-elite performers.
To develop your self confidence it is important to explore how you think and how your mind works.  A useful place to start will be to look at some of the misconceptions or limiting beliefs that people have about confidence.

Misconception Number 1: Either you are confident person or you are not.

Some people believe that confidence is something that comes naturally to some people and not to others.  Confidence is sometimes perceived to be in someway an inherited trait.  This is incorrect.  High levels of self-confidence do not occur randomly.  Self-confidence is the result of thinking positively and constructively on an on-going basis.

People who develop high levels of self-confidence retain the positive benefits from successful experiences and de-emphasise their less successful experiences.  Confidence is gained in exactly the same way as other skills – through practice and repetition of the desired skill.

Misconception Number Two: Confident people are arrogant. 

Whilst we may all be familiar with confident individuals who are outspoken and brash, it is crucial to realise that you can be confident without being conceited or arrogant.  It could be suggested that those who are truly confident would have no need to demonstrate it with brash or arrogant behaviour.

Misconception Number Three: Making mistakes/losing damages confidence.   The truth is that we are only human, and part of being human is making mistakes from time to time!  Some people respond to mistakes by weakening their confidence.  Other people continue to build their confidence despite any failures.  They choose to seek the learning from any mistake and use it to get improvements in their performance.

The truth of the matter is that confidence is the result of how you think, what you choose to focus upon, and how you choose to respond to the events that occur in your life.  The truth is also that confidence can be developed by anyone.

Simon Hazeldine
Founder
Increasing Life

Dedicated to Your Health, Wealth, Success, Happiness and Freedom