During this time of quarantine, or “safer-at-home”, many find themselves wanting to improve on skills, but you might not be able to work on the things you want to while safe at home. So, here is an idea to help - there was a study done a while ago on the power of visualization. They took a basketball team and split them into two groups. One practiced free throws daily on the court. The other visualized themselves sinking free throw shots. And guess what!? They advanced their skills to a similar degree. Wild, right!?!
Cool, Erika. But, so what!?!
Well that skill isn’t just useful on the court. The takeaway isn’t really a sweet (and slightly lazy) way to improve your hoop game. The take away is that brains are powerful and visualization is a great tool to improve your life. Visualizing lays the foundation to create neuro pathways to make challenging behaviors more possible.
Some possible uses of visualization (in no particular order):
1. Picture yourself having a difficult conversation with a loved and remaining calm
2. Picture yourself going to bed and going right to sleep
3. Picture hoping on another zoom call and it going well.
4. Picture yourself spending the day inside during quarantine and having fun
5. Picture seeing difficult news or an upsetting social media post and not getting sucked in
The possibilities are endless. Pick something and commit to visualizing it at least once a day and see what happens.