{"id":102033,"date":"2023-05-14T11:12:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-14T15:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=102033"},"modified":"2023-05-15T13:26:54","modified_gmt":"2023-05-15T17:26:54","slug":"mentally-rehearse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mentally-rehearse\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Mentally Rehearse: Practice Through Imagination"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What if you could practice doing something by just using your imagination? What makes mental rehearsal so effective? What&#8217;s the right way to do it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to get better at something, it makes sense that you need to practice. But Ron Friedman argues that it\u2019s easy to practice incorrectly or inefficiently. So, to avoid wasting your time and effort, he offers several guidelines for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-practice-effectively\/\">effective practice<\/a>. One of these is to mentally rehearse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Continue reading to learn how to use mental rehearsal to improve any performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-mental-rehearsal\">Mental Rehearsal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to physical practice, Friedman recommends that you <strong>mentally rehearse prior to your actual performance<\/strong>. To do so, he suggests imagining your performance as specifically as you can, including the time and place, the sensory details you expect to encounter, and the nuances of the behaviors you\u2019ll need to perform. For example, if you\u2019re about to prepare a complicated meal for guests, you might imagine each step of the cooking process, from gathering your ingredients to chopping vegetables to finishing a sauce and plating each course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Friedman argues that this kind of imagery can improve your actual performance in several ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>It locks down important details<\/strong><strong>,<\/strong> such as the steps you\u2019ll need to perform or the skills you\u2019ll need to employ. For example, it\u2019s a chance to \u201cpractice\u201d that tricky tourn\u00e9e cut one last time before you actually let loose on your potatoes.<\/li><li><strong>It prepares you for the stressors and challenges you\u2019ll likely face<\/strong>. For example, your kitchen will still be too hot and you\u2019ll still be pressed for time, but you might be less stressed because you anticipated these extra challenges.<\/li><li><strong>It helps you strategize<\/strong> because you\u2019ll foresee potential problems and find ways to avoid or compensate for them. If your sauce doesn\u2019t turn out, for instance, you\u2019ll be less likely to panic if you anticipated that possibility and you\u2019re prepared to fix it or modify the dish.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Friedman cautions that, when using this kind of imagery, <strong>it\u2019s important to imagine your <em>performance<\/em>, not your success<\/strong>\u2014in other words, imagine the specific behaviors you\u2019ll perform in the kitchen, not how good the food will taste or how proud you\u2019ll feel when serving your guests. He points to a study showing that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/visualize-success-4\/\">visualizing success<\/a> actually makes your performance <em>worse<\/em>. That\u2019s because when you imagine yourself succeeding, you get an emotional payoff that tricks your brain into thinking you have <em>already<\/em> succeeded. This payoff lowers your motivation and makes you more complacent, which ultimately makes you less effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>The Neuroscience of Mental Rehearsal<\/strong><br><br>Research supports Friedman\u2019s contention that mental rehearsal can improve future performance. But what exactly is going on at a physiological level when you mentally practice a skill? Understanding the answer could help you hone your mental rehearsal technique and make sure you get the benefits Friedman describes.<br><br>Researchers believe that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/brettsteenbarger\/2018\/02\/17\/tapping-the-power-of-mental-rehearsal\/?sh=1341727d66f0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">mental rehearsal takes advantage of two mechanics in your brain<\/a>:&nbsp;<br><br><strong>Motor preparation: <\/strong>When you\u2019re about to make a movement\u2014say, to stand up from your office chair\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-019-10772-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">your brain runs through that movement<\/a>, essentially warming up and instructing the neural network that fires your muscles when you actually stand up.<br><br><strong>State-dependent learning: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/importance-of-memory-in-learning\/\">Memory and learning<\/a> are contextual, which means that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/experience-engineering\/202111\/examples-how-you-can-use-state-dependent-learning\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">you recall information and skills better when you\u2019re in the same situation as when you first learned them<\/a> (this includes factors such as your physical location and mental state). Mental rehearsal takes advantage of the fact that your brain can also tie skills and knowledge to a specific <em>imagined<\/em> state.<br><br>Putting these two phenomena together, mental rehearsal works by \u201cgrooving in\u201d a desired behavior <em>along with<\/em> the context in which it\u2019s desired so that when you encounter that context, you\u2019re more likely to execute the behavior you want in the way you want.&nbsp;<br><br>That\u2019s why Friedman emphasizes specificity: <strong>For mental practice to work, you need to imagine yourself executing a <em>specific physical behavior<\/em> in a <em>specific physical and emotional context<\/em><\/strong>. That way, when you\u2019re actually in that context\u2014standing in a hot, messy kitchen with your stress level spiking because the sauce isn\u2019t coming together\u2014your brain already knows what to do because you\u2019ve already established the neural patterns that cause you to take a deep breath, walk over to the sink to get some water, walk back to the stove, and patiently whisk the sauce together.<br><br>Motor preparation and state-dependent learning also help explain why, as Friedman points out, simply imagining success doesn\u2019t work: When you imagine yourself watching proudly as your guests tuck into a gourmet meal, you\u2019re not preparing the neural networks that you\u2019ll need to <em>make<\/em> that meal.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What if you could practice doing something by just using your imagination? What makes mental rehearsal so effective? What&#8217;s the right way to do it? If you want to get better at something, it makes sense that you need to practice. But Ron Friedman argues that it\u2019s easy to practice incorrectly or inefficiently. So, to avoid wasting your time and effort, he offers several guidelines for effective practice. One of these is to mentally rehearse. Continue reading to learn how to use mental rehearsal to improve any performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":73854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,43,30],"tags":[1018],"class_list":["post-102033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-self-improvement","category-work","tag-decoding-greatness","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Mentally Rehearse: Practice Through Imagination - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You boost your chances of success if you imagine your performance as specifically as you can ahead of time. 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