The Impact of Mental Rehearsal

The positive impact of mental rehearsal on performance is well-documented. Mental rehearsal is a technique used in many fields of psychology and coaching. It is based on the idea that if we imagine ourselves performing a task well, we will perform better when actually doing it. This is because our brains are hardwired to respond to images rather than words. Successful people in sports, business, education, and personal development use mental rehearsal to achieve their goals.

One of the most powerful neurolinguistic programming (NLP) techniques for creating the future you want is called mental rehearsal, visualisation, or imaging. NLP Mental Rehearsal involves a highly detailed process of building up a representation of who and where you want to be. The impact of mental rehearsal is profound.

Experience The Impact Of Mental Rehearsal

If you take a moment to notice now, a time in the past you experienced what felt like a crisis. As this happened, you discovered in you, a strength, power, and wisdom that you didn’t know you had, didn’t you? Actually, you took action. In fact, you found a path through the challenge, and came out on the other side with more awareness and confidence. Interestingly enough, we only seem to find our courage when there is a challenge to overcome.

As you remember this time, I invite you to notice that you are greater than anything that can happen to you. Inside you exists the solution to any problem you face. You may choose to give credit to a power outside of you, and that’s your choice. The fact remains that you can resolve any situation, one way or another.

Now, remind yourself that you already had all the resources inside you needed. Use that awareness to build a detailed image or movie of you managing a future challenge in the same way, with the same resources you already have. How does it feel?

When you can envisage what you want, with such intricate detail that it feels REAL, you can manifest it into reality.

Mental Rehearsal Is Easy To Learn

Visualisation is a powerful tool that can help you achieve your goals. It allows you to see yourself doing things you would like to do. You can use visualisation to rehearse any skills you need to learn. This methodology is appealing to performers on stage, business leaders, and sports people because it is executed individually and can be enacted at anytime and anywhere.

NLP Mental Rehearsal Techniques have so many applications. The process involves creating or recreating experiences in one’s mind. Most importantly, create a highly detailed scene of yourself performing an action successfully. The basic premise is that the mind cannot tell the difference between reality and imagination, hence whatever you can imagine your mind believes is the TRUTH.

To visualise effectively we want to have a strong spatial and kinaesthetic (feeling) awareness. If our mental rehearsal is dominated by sounds, external voices, or internal self-talk, the impact of mental rehearsal can reduce.

The NLP goal-setting process involves visualising a mental image of your desired future state. In Time Line Therapy®, we use the technique of mental rehearsal to help people create a timeline of events leading up to their desired future state.We now know how to refine the approach to the SUBMODALITIES or finer elements of the mental representation. We understand the difference that makes the difference.

The Positive Impact of Mental Rehearsal Is Proven In Sports

Mental Rehearsal is especially well studied in many different sports, and research in this area supports the claim that imagery improves a wide range of positive outcomes such as objective performance, exercise frequency, extreme focus, performance tension, and confidence, and a quicker recovery from injury.

PETTLEP is a specific visualisation and imagery technique. It’s highly effective and very popular, especially in tennis. The acronym represents physical, environment, test or task, timing, learning, emotional, and perspective. All elements want to be aligned with the aspects of the actual activity.

In 2001 Holmes and Collins published the PETTLEP model as a framework to improve the delivery and outcome of motor imagery (MI) interventions, involving the systematic and repeated imagination of visual and kinaesthetic components of movements, as a tool for enhancing sports performance.

The model outlined seven principles to be considered when designing effective visualisation interventions and these are shown in the image below.

The Power of PETTLEP

When you understand each element of the PETTLEP Technique, you can use it to create the bridge between impact and no impact in performance.

The PHYSICAL aspect requires us to pay attention to what our body is doing when we’re successful. How are we standing, breathing, and holding our muscles? What sensations do we have in our bodies? What is our energy level?

Understanding the ENVIRONMENT element involves clearly knowing where we are when we want to achieve heightened performance. We want to create a detailed image of the environment, from the colours to the weather, to the outfit we’re wearing, and beyond.

TEST represents the specifics of the task required and focuses in on the important details to create impact.

TIMING awareness invites us to understand the pace of the situation. Is there a requirement to speed up the representation or slow it down? What reaction speed is optimum?

LEARNING ISSUES represent the cues or triggers in our internal and external environment that impact our success. Are we using self-talk with purpose? What do we want others to say to us? Do we want to block out sounds? What visual triggers have impact on our reaction to a situation and what feeling states do we want to get into?

EMOTION is always a key element of visualisation and mental rehearsal. To bring something into the material world we have to use the frequency or vibration of our feelings. Without emotion, creation is limited.

PERSPECTIVE awareness allows us to create the most intense representation in the 1st person (looking through our own eyes). We can then use it for future creation by stepping out of the picture and seeing our body in the image (2nd person). To complete the process we can see all aspects and possibilities by dissociating once more into the observer position (3rd person).

“I have a system of ridding my mind of negative thoughts. I visualize myself writing them down on a piece of paper. Then I imagine myself crumpling up the paper, lighting it on fire, and burning it to a crisp.”

Bruce Lee

Mental Rehearsal Can Impact Performance In Every Area Of Your Life

Mental Rehearsal is a tool we can use in our everyday lives, from rehearsing an important presentation, negotiation, or interview, or improving our relationships by managing our reactions to certain trigger words, facial expressions, or vocal tones. Its main functions include improved motor control, enhanced motivation, control arousal, problem-solving, self-efficacy, resilience, and emotional calm.

Visualisation can guide you to reach financial goals, business targets, sports goals, and personal achievements. Even better, it can help you reduce stress. Studies have shown that this approach has positively impacted novice surgeons who received imagery training and demonstrated reduced general performance stress. Research results show similar stress-relieving benefits to police officers.

We can, therefore, assume that mental rehearsal works for all groups of people and in a variety of situations: helping you to achieve your goals, to manifest the future you want, effectively manage stress, and much more. What we do know in the field of NLP is that working with these methodologies consciously often only delivers temporary or lesser results. To manifest the full force or impact of mental rehearsal, you want to unpack elements of your current behaviour or programming and use them purposefully to create your desired outcome.

Are you ready to feel the impact of mental rehearsal in your life?

Combining Tools For High Impact Performance

In my Primal Integrity™ NLP Training, I’ve now integrated PETTLEP, Self-talk Management, and Body & Mind Relaxation into the Goal Setting & Mental Rehearsal Methodology to enhance results across the board.

If helpful self-talk can improve performance; poor performance can impact self-talk; it is a chicken-and-egg situation. Self-talk is an effective strategy to help improve performance; it can improve concentration, build confidence, and aid in physical performance. To use our self-talk as a TOOL we have to learn to understand how we use it now and what impact it has. Self-talk management involves identifying the impact of TOWARDS and AWAY FROM statements on personal motivation and allows you to find your perfect UNIQUE recipe to deliver internal cues that work for you.

Mind and body relaxation techniques serve to increase focus or direct focus towards the most important element of performance in a precise moment. When you can step into the optimum state of mind and body relaxation at will, you have control over the ideal instrument to create the result you want.

By combining all three methodologies in mental rehearsal you can visualise your desired outcome in a way that looks, feels, and sounds completely real for you. When you repeatedly spend time in this new imagined reality inside, it becomes your new external reality.

You can find out more about my Primal Integrity™ NLP Workshops here.