With Winning In Mind: Mental Rehearsal + Reinforcement (Chapter 7)

This is a chapter-by-chapter summary of a book by Lanny Bassham's With Winning in Mind (2012) series. One chapter, one article. Read this summary, buy the book. Enjoy!

“You can imagine far more than you currently can achieve. If you consistently rehearse what you want to achieve, what you imagine can become reality. Let me give you an example. Back in the 1970s, I was shooting good kneeling scores and began approaching the national record of 396/400. I wanted to set the record at 400, a perfect score. But I had never actually fired a 400, even in training. Nonetheless, I vividly rehearsed shooting the first 100, then another and another. I visualized each of the last ten shots building toward the record. I rehearsed what I knew would happen at that point: I would realize that I was above the record.

“Next, I rehearsed hearing a voice say, ‘That’s OK. I do this all the time.’ then I imagined shooting the final ten easily and saying to myself, ‘Another 400, that’s like me.’ I rehearsed this sequence several times a day for two months. In my first competition since the beginning the rehearsal, I started with a 100 kneeling. My next two targets were also 100s. I began my last series with ten, ten, ten, ten, ten. Only five more to go. Ten. Ten. Ten. Then reality set in. I was above the record. I heard an internal voice say, ‘That’s OK, I do this all the time.’ I shot two additional tens, setting the national record at a perfect 400.”

(Lanny Bassham)

Bassham basically mentally rehearsed shooting a perfect record of 400/400. And when (in his mind) he hit the 400/400 he positively reinforced it by saying, “That’s like me,” and “I do this all the time.” He’s programming his mind and tells it over and over and over again that hitting a perfect 400/400 is “like him” and that he “does it all the time.”

Lanny had never actually shot a 400/400. Not even in training. But of course, he then did it straight away in the next competition after using this mental rehearsal + positive reinforcement technique.

Have A Winning Mindset!

With Winning In Mind: Mental Rehearsal (Chapter 6)

This is a chapter-by-chapter summary of a book by Lanny Bassham's With Winning in Mind (2012) series. One chapter, one article. Read this summary, buy the book. Enjoy!

“In mental rehearsal you are picturing what you want to see happen before you actually perform. You go over in your mind exactly how you want your performance to be conducted. In rifle, looking through the sights, centring the target, and firing the shot in the ten ring. The more vivid the picture, the better the outcome. The more often you rehearse, the better the chance for success”
(Lanny Bassham)

Mental rehearsal is simply visualizing your performance or behaviour in your mind. You can mentally rehearse giving a speech, shooting free-throw, hitting grand slam, writing an exam, or anything else. The benefits are threefold:

1) You are practicing: Mental rehearsal is mental practice. Maybe it’s not as good as actually practicing, but Lanny says it’s a great substitute when actual training is not possible due to weather, injury, or time limitations.

2) No negative reinforcement: Because you only rehearse good performances, there is no negative reinforcement. It’s 100% purely positive reinforcement (which is almost impossible during actual training).

3) It reduces fear: This is neat. When you’ve been in a stressful situation often, the stress or fear you encounter diminishes over time (Think about the first speech you’ve ever made. I bet you were more nervous than in your 10^th speech, right?). Rehearsal reduces fear because it gives you mental experience in a pressure situation. Lanny claims that he’s competed in the Olympic Games twice physically, but thousands of times mentally.

Keep in mind that you mentally rehearse the process of your performance,

NOT the outcome.

Have A Winning Mindset!

With Winning In Mind: Catch Yourself Doing Something Right (Chapter 5)

This is a chapter-by-chapter summary of a book by Lanny Bassham's With Winning in Mind (2012) series. One chapter, one article. Read this summary, buy the book. Enjoy!

“Stop catching yourself doing things wrong and trying to find out why you are failing. Instead, only think about your successes, never your failures. An example is a golfer. The mentally uninformed golfer hits a good shot and says, ‘Well, I guess I just got lucky that time.’ When he hits a bad shot he says, ‘Why do I always do that?’ The mentally informed golfer hits a bad shot. He knows it is bad, but says, ‘Next time I will hit a better shot.’ Then he hits a good shot and says, ‘That’s a good shot. What did I do right?’ See the difference?”

(Lanny Bassham)

Instead of catching ourselves doing something wrong, let’s from now on catch ourselves doing right and improve our chances of repeating that positive behavior in the future. You can catch yourself doing anything right. Be it cleaning your room, studying, reading, meditating, being kind to someone, having fun, practicing something… whatever it is: Catch yourself and pat yourself on the back. Applaud yourself. Better yet, celebrate yourself.

“I know it’s counterintuitive,” writes Bassham, “but that’s because our society is seriously messed up. We’re all programmed to focus on the negative, to complain, to make excuses, to behave like little bitches, and to use negative reinforcement. Let’s stop that.” Instead, be nice to yourself and others, focus on the positive, talk about the good things in life, and positively reinforce them.

Have A Winning Mindset!

With Winning In Mind: Negative Reinforcement (Chapter 4)

This is a chapter-by-chapter summary of a book by Lanny Bassham's With Winning in Mind (2012) series. One chapter, one article. Read this summary, buy the book. Enjoy!

“Be careful not to complain. I often hear people, in business as well as sport, complaining about their circumstances. Complaining is negative reinforcement. I teach my students not to reinforce a bad shot by getting angry. Do not reinforce a bad day at the office by complaining to your spouse. Remember something that you did well each day instead. Fill your thoughts only with your best performances and you cannot help but be successful!”

(Lanny Bassham)

Ugh… negative reinforcement, it’s terrible! Yet, funny enough, it’s what most of us are absolute pros at. Do something right and nobody gives a sh*t (= no positive reinforcement). Do something wrong and people are all over you telling you what a loser you are and bla bla bla (=negative reinforcement). Ourselves, we are often the worst offenders or critics. Somehow we were just never taught to reinforce our good behaviors, but instead, we were taught to get down on us when we did something wrong. Anyway, it’s obvious that we want to reinforce our good behaviors, not our bad ones.

So what are some ways we negatively reinforce our bad behaviors?

• We talk about our bad performances
• Someone else talks about our bad performances
• We complain
• Someone else complains
• We get angry at the bad behavior
• We tell ourselves that we’re idiots for a certain bad behavior

Remember (previous articles): Every time you think, talk or write about a bad performance/ behavior/whatever, you improve the probability of having another bad performance/ behavior/whatever just like it in the future.  

“One thing I especially remember about training with them,” says Lanny Bassham about his toughest competitors in shooting, “was that they never talked about their failures in front of me.” If Lone Wigger (World and Olympic Champion) had a problem, he kept it to himself. Jack Writer (World and Olympic Champion) on the other hand was a talker. It was not that Jack bragged on himself (“Although I can understand how those who didn’t know him would think that,” write Bassham), he just liked to talk. His favorite subject was shooting and he was his favorite shooter. No matter how many low scores he shot, Jack would only talk about the high ones. The important lesson here is that Jack never reinforced a bad performance and rarely shot a low score in a big match. On the opposite, Margaret Murdoch (World and Olympic Silver Medallist) rarely talked at all. If she did, it was to compliment others on their performance. “I wonder if she knew that every time she praised another shooter, she also improved her own chances of winning?” reminisced Bassham.

The point is: The top athletes do NOT negatively reinforce their bad performances.
And neither should you.

Have A Winning Mindset!

With Winning In Mind: Positive Reinforcement (Chapter 3)

This is a chapter-by-chapter summary of a book by Lanny Bassham's With Winning in Mind (2012) series. One chapter, one article. Read this summary, buy the book. Enjoy!

“You've done it before and you can do it now. See the positive possibilities. Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration and turn it into positive, effective, unstoppable determination.”

(Ralph Marston)

Remember that the more we think about, talk about, and write about something happening, the higher the probability of that thing happening. When you reinforce a positive behaviour, you increase the likelihood of that behaviour happening again.

Arrived at the summit? Reinforce it.

Just read and meditate the Scripture? Reinforce it.

Had a great study session without being distracted? Reinforce it.

Ate a healthy meal? Reinforce it.

Just exercised? Reinforce it.

Finished a work project? Reinforce it.

Won a game? Reinforce it.

The point is: Whenever you do something beneficial, you want to reinforce it. Because reinforcing it improves the likelihood of that thing happening again. So that begs the question: How do you positively reinforce something? By thinking, talking or writing about it. Here are some ways to do it:

• Praise Yourself (“I think I did a great job today”)
• Praise Someone Else (“You absolutely rocked this. Greatly done!”)
• Write Down 5 Wins at the End of Every Day
• Talk About Your Good Behaviour/Performance With Your Friends or Family

“Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones,
you'll start having positive results.”

(Willie Nelson)

Have A Winning Mindset!