Group No. 1: was the control, so for the next couple of weeks, they didn't do any practice at all. They were not to even go into the gym.
Group No. 2: meanwhile, went to the gym and practiced doing free throws for 20 minutes every day.
Group No. 3: also practiced for 20 minutes every day, but they didn't touch a basketball. Each one of the students was instructed to practice only in their heads. They were to imagine shooting free throws for that 20 minutes, but to engage in no actual hands-on practice at all.
At the end of that couple of weeks,
Group No. 1, which had not done any practice, showed no improvement at all. When re-tested, their scores were identical to their earlier
ones.
Group No. 2, which had practiced in the gym with actual balls, shooting real free throws, tested 20% above their earlier scores.
The big surprise, however, was
Group No. 3, which tested 19% better.
You can actually learn a skill by practicing it in your head.
Is there anything you're not good at, but you want to be?
Just play it over and over in your mind. See yourself doing the new
activity successfully.
It WILL stick with you.
I had a friend years ago who told me that when he was in the Air Force, he learned to pilot a jet fighter by getting layout drawings of all the cockpit instruments and practicing flying in his imagination until he felt confident.
Of course he was already well qualified with other aircraft, but as any pilot who has ever taken the controls of a fighter will tell you, this is a different beast altogether. You don't just jump from a transport to a
fighter. It takes many, many hours of hands-on training.
But my friend, on his first time up, flew the plane well enough not to disgrace (or endanger) himself.
Boxers imagine fighting their opponents over and over for hours before important matches. This has been called shadow boxing.
I had to give my first talk at a conference a few months ago so I asked many speakers how to do it. One speaker I really respect told me that I knew my topic very well so all I needed to do was to get out the first sentence. He said get that down pat and the rest will follow and you
know what? He was right.
I was so nervous when I saw the large crowd that I squinted my eyes and got out the first sentence that I had go over and over till it was second nature and the rest followed.
Salesmen practice answering questions and objections. The more they practice, the better prepared they are when they're finally with a customer. That's the way to build familiarity with any new situation, and familiarity breeds confidence.
Every world-class athlete, every outstanding salesman, every top executive can tell you that the higher up the ladder they go, the more important the mental, imaginary, part of their preparation becomes.
If it's good enough to help them set world records, earn
fortunes and become household names, what can it do for
you?
Just imagine!
About
The Author
Quentin Brown
Quentin Brown has been helping people add audio to their
web sites for the past two years and provides a wealth of
knowledge and expertise for those who are technically
challenged but want to make use of new technology without
spending a fortune. http://www.myaudiosecrets.com
