Mental Rehearsal - Can You Ingrain a Skill by Thinking about It?

When I was 17, something weird happened to me.

I wanted very much to go to West Point after high school, but to compete for the appointment, I knew I'd need a good resume. I was vice-president of the student council, first in my class, an Eagle Scout, and captain of the golf team. But I felt I needed another sport. So I decided to go out for the wrestling team. This would help my application, and it would get me in better physical condition.

The good news is that I loved wrestling, and my body was getting stronger by the week. The bad news, if you want to call it that, was that my team-mate in my weight class was the All-Europe champion. I had to wrestle Skip Ledbetter in practice every day. I knew the only way I'd ever wrestle in a match was if he got injured. So I accepted my role as "practice dummy" for him. My ambition was a pragmatic one: I would learn to wrestle well enough that I could at least survive a practice without being pinned....

That was easier said than done. I had a lot of moves to learn, and my body needed to get a lot stronger.

So I became obsessed with becoming a decent wrestler. In idle moments, I would think about what I learned. In my mind, I would imagine myself performing the correct moves on Skip.

One night I lay in bed thinking about a particular escape move. I imagined Skip on top of me, pushing me into the mat. Then I imagined executing this difficult move perfectly, over and over again. After doing this mental exercise for half an hour, I realized that I felt exhausted. And my bed was completely soaked in sweat. I had to change the sheets!

I remember wondering how such a thing was possible. I wasn't moving my body at all. I was just imagining it. Why would this cause me to sweat?

That wasn't the end of the weirdness, however. The next day in practice, Skip took me down and was trying to work me into a position to pin me. Instinctively, I executed the move perfectly. And I found myself facing Skip, free of his grasp. He laughed and said, "Wow, good move!"

I know now that what I was doing is what is called "mental rehearsal." If you do something repeatedly, the brain adjusts to make this make this action easier to perform. It secretes chemicals that cause dendrites on the brain cells related to the skill to grow until they connect with each other in a new network. When this growth is complete, the brain has the most efficient possible wiring to enable the skill. The activity seems comfortable and automatic.

What psychologists have discovered is that simply imagining the activity has almost the same effect. The mind doesn't seem to care if you are physically performing the action or simply imagining it. Today, mental rehearsal is a well-established component of athletic training. In tournament play, nearly all professional golfers mentally rehearse the action of the desired swing and the flight of the ball before they actually execute the shot. Tennis players do the same thing.

Question: Can mental rehearsal help you improve a personal strength behavior pattern? 

Answer: Absolutely.

I encourage you to try it. But I suggest you follow these guidelines...

1. Make sure that what you're imagining is correct. You don't want to rehearse a flawed technique. So before you begin mental rehearsal, review the best practice model.

2. When you imagine yourself doing something, don't see yourself out there doing it. Instead, imagine what it's like to do it. Experience that feeling.

3. Envision the entire process that leads to the desired result. And after imagining what it's like to complete the entire action and result, imagine how good you feel having done it well.

4. Rehearse the action in your imagination many, many times in sequence. Practice makes perfect, even in your mind.

5. Don't rely completely on mental rehearsal. Most of your practice should be physical. You need real in-the-world practice to give your imagination the correct images. Mental rehearsal can speed the learning process, but it can't take the place of actually doing it.

I know mental rehearsal sounds amazing, but it actually works. There, I've just shared one of the most powerful learning strategies known to trainers. Now you can take advantage of it and share it with your friends.