Reprogram Your Mind to Be a More Confident LearnerPosted by Nick Niesen on October 27th, 2010 If you want to become a good student, it?s important to have confidence in yourself as a learner. It?s important to believe that you actually like learning, and that you really enjoy the topic you are studying. When you picture yourself learning poorly, you program your mind for more learning failures. This is what you expect, so it becomes more likely that you will achieve it. What should you do if you don?t actually have confidence in yourself as a learner, or if you are convinced that you?ll never understand the topic you are studying? Fortunately you can learn to change your opinion of yourself and what you are learning by a technique called visualization. Successful visualization essentially means that you are able to pretend to yourself that you are already performing successfully the skill you want to learn. To change your messages to yourself about what kind of student you are, you will have to change your inner movie of yourself as a learner, and substitute new messages for yourself saying that learning is easy and fun for you. Your mind more easily absorbs positive messages when you are in a deeply relaxed state of body and mind. To achieve this state, sit or lie comfortably in a quiet place where you will not be disturbed. Notice your breathing. Relax your body and focus your attention on your breath. Start to breathe freely and deeply, in a relaxed manner. You can also use different meditation techniques to get your mind into a more relaxed state where it will be easier to accept a new, positive message. When visualizing, some people see still images, as in a photograph, while others see live action all around them. For some people, the images are two-dimensional and faint, while for others, the images are three dimensional and solid. For different people the images may appear as black and white, transparent, or colored. Your visualization may seem to unfold on a screen like a movie, or you may see yourself acting in a play on stage with seemingly real people. You may be watching an image of yourself in action, or you may feel as if you are actually inside your own body, looking out through your eyes, watching the action around you and participating in it. When a negative scenario plays itself out in your mind, notice how it appears. Does the scene appear in black and white, or is it in color? Is it near or far? Does it seem to be on a screen, or is it three dimensional? Are there voices? Are they threatening? Humiliating? How do you appear in the scene--are you large, or small? Do you seem powerful? Or weak? If the negative image is three-dimensional, make it two-dimensional. If there are voices you don?t want to hear, make them quiet, or turn them into funny cartoon voices that sound silly. Play circus music in the background to drown out the words of people you don?t want to hear. If other people in your scenes seem very threatening to you, shrink them in size or make them into cartoon characters. Imagine yourself growing very, very large and solid, much bigger than the people who have been putting you down. Strongly feel within yourself the satisfaction, confidence, and pride you would have. See it, feel it, right now, in the present, as a part of you. Feel that you really understand the subject matter and that you absolutely love learning more about it. Pretend to yourself that it is one of your favorite subjects to learn about. Like it? Share it!More by this author |