A world champion speed typist, upon hitting a plateau, resorts to slow-motion typing and increases his speed.
A top salesman practices his presentation on an invisible prospect and increases his income.
A champion boxer spends the majority of his training time shadow boxing an invisible opponent rather than sparring, and improves dramatically.
A surgeon practices transforming the scarred faces of cadavers and is ready to perform stellar operations the day he opens his practice.
A star baseball player practices his swing by imagining he is hitting a ball that’s pitched to him and stuns the fans who’ve only seen him strike out.
An evangelist practices his sermons, delivering his words to a room of empty chairs and goes on to world-wide fame.
A golf pro practices his putting without a ball or hole to hit it into and masters the game.
All of the above are examples of practicing without pressure that were noted in Psycho-Cybernetics.
Now for the scientifically valid reasons for doing so.
Whenever you put yourself into a situation wherein the brain is under stress, your ability to learn is compromised. Although you want to improve, it’s hard to do so because the amygdala, located in your mid-brain, fires and puts you into a limbic or “fight or flight” state of mind.
You want to get better, you want to improve, and you think, erroneously, that increasing the pressure will result in better performance.
It won’t – until you are absolutely comfortable with pressure.
The key is getting out of the limbic brain, getting rid of the fight or flight pressure. It’s being totally free to explore and make mistakes with no consequences.
When you practice without pressure you engage your imagination, you get out of the limbic brain. You get into a state of flow by living in the present.
Amazingly, practicing this way can lead to rapid results, even when it appears, for all practicing purposes, that you’re not trying to improve.
The more time you spend out of limbic, the better your life will be.
Practice without pressure produces ridiculous results faster and easier than practicing with pressure. Give it a whirl and see for yourself.
Matt Furey
Follow me on Instagram @fureycatmatt
P.S. The techniques in Psycho-Cybernetics and Theater of the Mind ane designed to get you out of the limbic brain and into the neo cortex or “new brain,”
You can now download many of the Psycho-Cybernetics and Theater of the Mind products through audible.com
