"Practice makes perfect" or so the saying goes. The troubled is that often we simply do not have either the time or the opportunity to practice things in the real world. However there is a very powerful technique known as "Visualization" that is used by many world-class athletes to boost their performance on the field. Applying this same technique to other aspect of life enables a person to practice things mentally, before encountering the real event.

Visualization is the process of running through scenarios in your mind, actually visualizing the events and your role within them and mentally enacting them. The amazing thing is that scientific research has shown that at a subconscious level the mind does not discriminate between real world events and this visualization. The process of mentally practicing things or visualizing is the same as having actually done it!

Using this technique in advance of any difficult or challenging situation is going to give you a huge performance boost. Just imagine running through an upcoming job interview repeatedly until you had it perfect in your mind. When you come to the real interview, you will already have done it many times in your head; you will be far more relaxed and confident and will have all the right answers to hand. You are bound to impress!

Practicing, mentally or otherwise does not mean however that you should shut your eyes to what may be required of you in any given scenario. There is little point in practice, either mental or real, when you are practicing the wrong thing. This is not going to help create a successful outcome. You need to make sure that you play through your visualizations in a way that takes into account not only what you want, but also the demands of all the other aspects of your scenario.

When other people are involved, you need to take into account their desires and needs or where your scenario involves simple techniques, make sure you have those techniques completely understood.

Visualization allows you to approach difficult and stressful situations with confidence and aplomb and is a vital life skill. When combined with other positive thinking techniques the effects can super-charge your successful outcomes. Visualization will work for anything, from asking for a date to running the marathon.

So why not try it. Next time you face a challenge, why not visualize yourself handling it perfectly and see how powerful it is for yourself.