The Winning Combination of Practice and Visualization

As we work towards achieving ambitious goals, we often encounter challenging situations or skills that we need to further develop. Maybe we need to become better at public speaking for presentations or a physical skill in order to achieve our goals. Through practice over time, skills have improved. Progress is being made however it’s slower than we want. We know that we can make quicker progress than we are and despite our efforts, our progress isn’t speeding up.

How can we speed up our progress so that we achieve our goals quicker? There is deliberate and purposeful practice which is different from just practicing because it incorporates planning what to improve, predetermined methods for improving skills, and making adjustments based on what’s working and not working. Maybe this is already being done so is there anything better?

Many people have heard of visualization or imagining being successful and there is a basis for it. There are numerous studies that have been done on the effect of visualization on skill improvement and motivation. They show that visualization alone improves skills compared to doing nothing and that practice combined with visualization improves skills quicker. This applies to physical skills such as sports techniques and lifting heavier weights, mental tasks, technical tasks, and improves staying motivated. It also improves focus and confidence. (Studies and some notes are at the bottom of this post for your reference if you want to dive into their details.)

To improve and to reach your goals quicker, combine actual practice with visualizing yourself successfully doing a task or being successful or the achievement of the goal. Visualization works because our brains can’t distinguish the difference between visualized experiences and real experiences.

There are many versions of visualization such as imagining ourselves in scenarios, writing, and creating vision boards. They are different aspects of visualization. Take on visualizing yourself performing tasks successfully, being successful, and achieving your goal.

Studies on Visualization

1) Visualization alone was helpful but less than physical practice. Visualization increased confidence and increased performance when used along with physical practice. https://commons.pacificu.edu/work/sc/cd419e86-6cb2-4b1f-94a2-baa344608f0b

2) The group that did practice only improved by lifting 5 lbs more. The group that did visualization in strength training improved by lifting 10 – 15 lbs more. https://assets.pubpub.org/k9og4slt/31643844339559.pdf

3) “A large body of peer reviewed literature supports the claim that success visualization combined with practice leads to better results than practice alone.” Brouziyne and Molinaro (2005) found golfers who combine success visualization with physical practice improved their golf shots. Rothlin, et. al, (2017) affirmed people access images from their memory or generate vivid new images that help them visualize succeeding on the field of play and explained how visualization opens cognitive pathways in the brain that render the visualized experience indistinguishable from the real thing. https://iacis.org/iis/2023/2_iis_2023_213-219.pdf

4) There is greater motivation to do visualization when the goals are to improve a skill and to outperform others versus just a goal to improve. It “involves 'programming' the body and mind with the purpose of responding optimally in a performance situation.”

“PETTLEP is a specific imagery technique that is considered most effective and is currently most prominent. The acronym indicates that physical, environment, task, timing, learning, emotional, and perspective relevant aspects of the imagery all need to be aligned with the aspects of the actual activity. This means the physical state (e.g., clothes and attributes), the environment (e.g., the playing field), the specific movements involved in the actual activity, and the speed of the actual activity all need to be the same as in the actual movement. Further, the athlete should adapt the imagery to his or her current skill level, to experience the emotions he or she would experience in a game situation, and finally to view the situation from his or her own perspective, as it would be seen if he or she was to carry out the activity him- or herself (although sometimes using a different perspective may also be useful; see Callow & Roberts, 2010).” Mastery goals result in improved skill level. For performance goals, “imagining scoring points and envisaging the competitive game context and the emotions one feels while winning a point” works.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5351796/

5) “Imagining future success can sometimes enhance people's motivation to achieve it.”

“Students experience a greater increase in achievement motivation when they imagine their successful task completion from a third-rather than a first-person perspective.”

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17933735/