Is It Time to Update the Pictures in Your Head?
- Julie Jones
- 5 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Over the past few weeks, I have spent a lot of time at my dad’s house sorting, organizing and selling things.
And after a few days of estate sales and family and friends taking what they can use, as you can imagine, the house looks very different than when my parents lived in it. There isn’t much furniture left. Drawers and cupboards that were once full (and I mean full…I STILL have 20 hammers if anyone needs one, or five!) are nearly empty and many of the things that had been in the same place for YEARS are now gone.
But apparently, no one sent that update to my brain!
People asked if we had tape, a certain tool or some other random item, and I would immediately picture exactly where it was and begin to give directions on where they could find it.
“The tape is in the drawer in the kitchen.”
Except it wasn’t. That is where it used to be.
Someone would ask about a piece of furniture and I could see it sitting in the room where it had always been…even though the room was now empty. The house had changed, but the pictures in my head had not.
And it made me think about how often we do the same thing with our performance.
Location of tape or furniture or a play on the field…we are built to see pictures!
An athlete has one terrible game and keeps replaying the strikeout, missed shot, bad race or costly mistake. A coach goes through a difficult season and continues to see herself as the coach who couldn’t get the team turned around. A leader mishandles a conversation and hangs on to the picture of the disappointment on someone’s face.
But things change…and even after we improve, learn and gain experience, that old picture can remain filed away in the same mental drawer.
Then, when we are under pressure, our brain pulls it out. “Here…you may need this,” our awesome brain says!
Of course, it is rarely the picture we would choose!
That picture may be real. But it may no longer be accurate! This was my experience…and it’s important to think about!
Updating the picture does not mean pretending the past didn’t happen. It doesn’t mean erasing mistakes, avoiding responsibility or creating some unrealistic highlight reel in which everything always works out perfectly.
The tape really was in the kitchen drawer. The athlete really did strike out. The coach really did make the wrong decision.
The performance happened. But it was a snapshot of who we were, what was happening, what we knew and what we were capable of in that moment.
It is not necessarily an accurate picture of who we are today.
Since then, we may have practiced, learned, adjusted, healed or gained experience. We may have developed a better approach, a stronger routine or a more productive response to pressure.
The problem is that our abilities and circumstances can change faster than our mental pictures do.
And if the picture in our head still says, I fall apart in big moments, I can’t make this shot, I always tighten up or I’m not a confident leader, we may enter the next opportunity responding to an old version of ourselves. We are standing in a newly arranged room while mentally reaching into the same old drawer.
But fortunately, mental rehearsal can help us create a more useful picture! In fact, I used it this morning to create a new picture of my new class of students…to help me learn their names before next week…now they need to sit on the same side of the room for at least one more class so I don’t have to update my image too quickly 😉!
All joking aside, research on sport imagery helps explain why intentionally updating these pictures can be so powerful.
Mental imagery, or as I prefer to call it, mental rehearsal, is not simply “seeing yourself succeed.” It involves creating or recreating an experience using as many senses as possible.
We can see the environment, hear the sounds, feel the movement and experience the emotions connected to the performance.
According to the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, athletes can use imagery to enhance training, build confidence, improve focus and prepare to compete more effectively.
Research surrounding the PETTLEP approach to imagery also reminds us that effective mental rehearsal should reflect the performer’s current physical experience, environment, task, timing, emotions and level of learning. In other words, the imagery must change as the performer changes…otherwise we are rehearsing bad data! Research reviewing the PETTLEP model supports its value when the rehearsal is realistic, meaningful and actively engages the athlete.
That learning piece matters here. The picture of how you performed a skill six months ago may not match the way you perform it now.
The picture of how you responded to pressure last season may not include the reset routine you have since developed.
The picture of yourself as a nervous freshman, struggling assistant or inexperienced leader may not account for everything you have learned since then.
Your experience has changed. Your skills have changed. Maybe your role has changed.
CHANGE must happen. If it doesn’t, this is when athletes and teams get into the “here we go again” mindset when something doesn’t go their way…particularly if they are coming off of a tough season…which has NOTHING TO DO with this season!
Things have changed…you have changed…the team has changed. Has the picture in your
head changed with them?
This is one of the reasons I am excited to be consulting with Kairo, a guided visualization app designed for athletes. The app helps athletes create personalized mental rehearsals based on their sport, goals and current challenges…and it changes when circumstances, opponents, experiences and expectations change!
Because effective visualization isn’t about watching the same generic success movie over and over. It is about deliberately rehearsing the performer you are becoming and the responses you want available when the moment arrives.
Let’s update our pictures. I know I could benefit from a few new scenes!
Think of one performance situation that tends to pull up an outdated or unhelpful picture.
Maybe you still see yourself making the mistake. Maybe you picture yourself hesitating, tightening up or losing control as a leader or a performer!
Maybe the picture says, This is what I always do.
Now ask yourself three questions:
1. What is the old picture? Describe it honestly. What do you see happening? What do you feel? What belief does that picture reinforce?
2. What has changed since that picture was created? Look for evidence. What have you learned? What have you practiced? What tools, skills or experiences do you have now that you did not have then?
3. What is the updated picture? Close your eyes and mentally rehearse the situation again using what you know and can do today.
See the environment. Feel your body settle. Hear your cue. Picture yourself taking the next productive action.
And make the updated version realistic. You don’t need to imagine a flawless performance.
In fact, sometimes it may be more useful to picture something going wrong and then rehearse yourself responding effectively. They call this coping imagery.
See the missed shot, not that we want to watch ourselves mess up too much…but then rehearse your immediate transition to defense. This is REAL. This is a skill. This changes the picture!
We can also employ motivational mastery imagery. Instead of imagining that everything goes perfectly, we picture ourselves encountering a realistic challenge and responding effectively. We rehearse staying composed, using our reset and returning our attention to the next action.
In this case, a cross-country runner visualizes trailing behind on a steep, muddy hill during a rainstorm but sees himself digging his spikes in, fighting through the burning in his lungs and passing his rivals to the top. Again…the reality of running cannot be ignored. And we need REALISTIC pictures of it!
We aren’t looking for perfection. We are looking at progress, preparation and response-ability.
Leaders and performers alike…and me, too, can spend 60 seconds rehearsing this picture each day. We need to give our brain enough repetitions to recognize that the old images are no longer the only possibility.
The pictures in our heads can feel like facts simply because we have looked at them for so long.
But some of them are only snapshots. Things change. We grow. We learn. We gain experience.
And every so often, we need to open our mental drawers, notice what is no longer there and update the pictures we are using to guide what comes next.
Your past performance may be part of your story…but it does not have to remain the picture of your future performance.
Manage the moments!
Julie
Julie Jones
Mental Performance Coach
SSB Performance
juliej@ssbperformance.com • 234-206-0946
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