5 Ways to Use Mental Imagery to Boost Your Confidence
Guest post by Joshua Molnar, MSW, LCSW.
I am a social worker who works at a hospital.
I was talking to a nurse who had some great ideas about how nurses could benefit from learning anxiety reduction skills and teach them to their patients. I encouraged her to present her ideas at our next staff training.
She said, “Josh, I can’t do public speaking. I end up reading every word that I write without looking up. I rush. I turn red, and I stutter.”
My colleague has most likely had bad experiences with public speaking in the past. Those experiences have been encoded in her belief system, and they will almost certainly lead to bad outcomes in the future. The good news is she can change those beliefs or at least the relationship she has with those beliefs.
The standard way a coach or counselor would help her improve is a combination of verbally processing her thoughts, as well as teaching skills aimed at helping her relax her body when she is anxious. Those are both important and well-established interventions.
Another important piece to this coaching should be aimed at improving her mental imagery.
Seeing without seeing
Mental Imagery is a multi-sensory process where we use our imagination to create the sights, smell, feel, taste, and sounds related to an experience.
It can be automatic (“knee jerk”) or intentional, in service of our goals or opposed to them.
My colleague, when she first thought about giving a talk, could have formed an automatic mental image based upon previous experience that would lead to greater anxiety.
Below I will show you below how to do the opposite – to use intentional and productive mental imagery to achieve your goals. This is sometimes called, visualization, the process where we create mental images for the purpose of improving beliefs and/or performance.
According to Dr. Frank Niles, visualization works because,
“…neurons in our brains, those electrically excitable cells that transmit information, interpret imagery as equivalent to a real-life action. When we visualize an act, the brain generates an impulse that tells our neurons to “perform” the movement. This creates a new neural pathway – clusters of cells in our brain that work together to create memories or learned behaviors – that primes our body to act in a way consistent to what we imagined.”
The use and impact of mental imagery in sports are well-known, but research also shows its efficacy in the workplace.
Recent research conducted by Simon Blackwell and colleagues finds that emotional processing via mental imagery was more powerful than simple verbal processing.
Participants were asked to imagine a positive meeting with their boss versus verbally processing a positive meeting, and visualizing the meeting had a much greater effect on their emotions, and their beliefs predicting how events would go in the future.
Kick the ball or watch the game?
There are two “views” that one can use when practicing mental imagery.
One is the observer view. This is when a person takes a third-person perspective as a spectator- think of yourself watching a soccer match from the stands.
The other perspective is the field view, which is the perspective of the performer; the one doing the activity. Imagine yourself kicking the ball down the field.
Blackwell and colleagues found the “field- perspective imagery tends to have a more emotional impact than observer- perspective imagery.”
The emotional impact of the imagery is the most important point to consider when using visualization to improve performance because it is the emotion that makes the experience seem more real.
Imagine for instance, that the soccer player imagines herself watching from the stands. She approaches the goalie and fakes right and kicks the ball left. The ball hits the back of the net, and they win the championship. The stadium explodes in clapping. Her teammates jump and hug her.
She also imagines the local sports bar in her country, where she can hear the announcer yell “gooaaal,” while patrons are giving each other high fives and hugging.” At home, her parents are tearing up with pride. All of these images are from the observer perspective, but they are effective because they are emotionally powerful.
This is the kind of multi-sensory detail visualization requires.
DREAM
Now back to my colleague, and you. Imagine for a moment that you are her. Let me walk you through some steps you could take to use mental imagery to improve your performance. You can remember these steps using the acronym DREAM, which stands for Draw, Rehearse, Emotionally Engage, Accept, and Mindful.
Draw
Here you leverage your imagination to create an image of giving an effective speech or whatever it is that you are trying to achieve.
You can literally draw, or you can write a script that describes the room, how you will look, and how the audience will look when you give the speech. You can also make a collage using images that you find in magazines or print from the Internet. Remember to make these scenes consistent with your values and use color to make them emotionally engaging.
Reflection: Is there a skill or a goal that you have been avoiding because of self- doubt? How would it look and feel to achieve that goal? Take a moment and visualize it. Now create a fixed image of that visualization. Draw it. Make a collage or write a script. Whatever you choose, just make it visual, something you can look at.
Rehearse
The next step is to rehearse your actions. Don’t just study the content of the talk. Use the imagery that you have already created and practice giving the talk.
The closer that you can recreate the actual place that you will give the talk the better. Use the actual room or stage, if you have access to it.
Reflection: How much time do you spend rehearsing and visualizing what you are trying to achieve? Devoting just five minutes a day to this type of visualization reaps big benefits. I encourage you to rehearse even mundane tasks.
Emotionally Engaged
It is important to remember that our brains remember what is emotionally important. That is why my colleague remembers her public speaking memories so clearly. They are embarrassing, and so her mind is telling her not to do it again because it can cause harm, like it did the last time.
For that very reason, it is important for her to engage positive emotions when using visual imagery and practicing new skills to make public speaking a rewarding experience.
She should imagine herself walking out on stage to a smiling crowd. Envision the sound of the venue and the feel of the environment. She could also envision herself forgetting a line and recovering and moving on unphased.
Reflection: Are you emotionally engaged when you are working towards your goals or are you going through the motions? Or worse, are you rehearsing anxiety and fear? How often do you focus on positive emotions, such as gratitude, bouncing back, joy of the experience, etc.?
The good news is that regardless of the negative emotional baggage we all carry, we can be aware of our emotions and use our imagination to direct them in productive ways. In the case of my colleague, I would encourage her to rehearse smiling, laughing, and engaging her audience. I would also encourage her to imagine the audience participating, smiling back, and receiving her message.
Accept
This is about embracing the idea that growth is possible.
My colleague must acknowledge her past experiences doing public speaking, but also accept the idea that she can improve!
Undoubtedly, she will have to accept that her next speech will not be perfect, and yet see herself continually improving.
Remember, experiencing setbacks is part of improving. You wouldn’t expect a child to learn to ride a bike without falling or catch a baseball without ever dropping it.
Reflection: Think for a second about a skill that you had to learn or develop. Is there an area where you have gained proficiency and competence in the past? Draw upon that experience to gain confidence and internalize the reality that growth is possible.
You are reading this, which means at some point you learned to read. You weren’t born with that skill. As we get older it is easy to forget that we have the ability to learn and grow. Once you have in mind an area where you have grown, ask yourself what skills you can bring to other skills where you would like to grow.
Mindful
Being mindful means being fully present in the moment, without judgment, and not getting caught up in the past or future.
Mindfulness is an ancient practice that has become popular in recent years and is a powerful way to slow down, develop focus, and choose how to think or act.
We prepare for the future by living fully in the present.
Remember, my colleague’s negative experiences are in the past, and her anxiety is about giving public talks in the future.
The present is an opportunity to put all of her energy into creating the skills that she will need to make her future experiences positive.
Mindfulness will allow her to capitalize on that opportunity.
Tip: To promote mindfulness take a couple of minutes to breathe deeply and slowly before practicing a new skill. Focusing on your breath will help you anchor yourself to the present moment.
Rehearse the images that you created for what you are trying to achieve. Notice, your emotions, and as well as actions. Now, mindfully approach rehearsing the new skills with the mental imagery, feelings, and skills you imagined.
DREAM BIG
You are certainly not alone if you have past experiences that are preventing you from taking on new challenges. The good news is that those self-limiting stories provide opportunities for growth.
You can begin to use the power of visualization to create positive and successful images of who you want to become.
Experiment with both the field view and the observer view. Make those images positive and emotionally powerful and be open to the change process. Doing that you will begin to change the story you tell about yourself, and that will help you to bring about the changes you are trying make.
All photos except author headshot are courtesy of Unsplash.