Mind Magic

If you’re constantly being zapped by the idea that you can’t do something, or that you’re stupid or less important than somebody else, then eventually you’re going to start believing it.

Confidence is all about one thing: believing in yourself!

The third group (who had done absolutely nothing) showed no signs of improvement. That makes sense – as we know, you won’t get better at something if you don’t practise.

The first group, who had practised for an hour every day, had improved – in fact, they scored around 24% more. For example, if a player had scored 16 baskets the first time around, one month later they scored 20 baskets.

Again, nothing very unusual about that – Alan expected the group that practised to get better at throwing, and that’s exactly what happened.

But what about the second group? That’s where the big surprise came.

That group had done nothing but IMAGINE themselves throwing the ball into the basket – but they had improved too! In fact, they had improved ALMOST AS MUCH as the group that had practised every day!

Had the group been secretly practising? Was it just pure luck? Was it a magic trick?

Nope, Alan realised, the truth was even more astounding: if we IMAGINE ourselves achieving something, then our brains begin to believe that we have already done it and believe we can do it again!

MICHAEL PHELPS is currently the most decorated Olympian OF ALL TIME. He has spoken countless times about the power of his IMAGINATION – how, the night before a race, he played a movie of his swim over and over again in his head – IMAGINING what it would be
like to WIN again, to SMASH another world record.

‘I VISUALISED TO THE POINT THAT I KNEW EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED TO DO: DIVE, GLIDE, STROKE, FLIP, REACH THE WALL … THEN SWIM BACK AGAIN FOR AS MANY TIMES AS I NEEDED TO FINISH THE RACE.’

Encounters with people who knock our confidence can end up reducing the amount of belief we have in ourselves overall:

Confidence is a skill that you pick up and learn as you go through life.

need to practise confidence EVERY SINGLE DAY until we become confident without even thinking about it!

the imagination in this way has become a very important part of achieving great things, no matter what they are.

we IMAGINE ourselves achieving something, then our brains begin to believe that we have already done it and believe we can do it again!

you won’t get better at something if you don’t practise.