Programming, sleep and visualisation

Hypnagogic and Hypnopompic states:

There are two naturally occuring hypnotic states we go through around sleep: hypnagogia, the transition from wakefulness to sleep; and hypnopompia, the reverse. As you pass through these, your mind naturally takes on the ideas you give it.

You’ll probably recognise the effects from inadvertently programming yourself the wrong way: worrying about something coming up the next day, and having a restless, unsatisfying sleep.

You Get More Of What You Practice:

Of course you get better at something the more you practice it; it turns out that you get more of what you mentally rehearse as well.  There’s good scientific evidence supporting the use of visualisation to improve performance.

This translates into everyday life as well: as you move through the world rehearsing success in your mind, you’ll find not only an improvement in mood but also more success. If you’ve ever received a less-than-optimal outcome (such as saying the wrong thing in an interview) and run the situation through in your mind,  rehearsing all the things that went wrong — and worse, with emotional attachment — you’re rehearsing for more of the same! Rehearse success and you’ll feel better and get more of it.

Replaying scenes in your mind:

I forget where I heard this story from. When Will Smith was preparing to star as Muhammad Ali in the movie Ali, he turned up to performances and had most things sorted, but he just didn’t move like Ali himself. So Will fell asleep watching videos of Muhammad every night, and within a few weeks he had begun to move just like him.

When we fall asleep, the last thing we think of is often replayed in our minds throughout the sleep. This ties in strongly with You Get More Of What You Practice. Imagine a whole night’s worth of practice at no extra conscious effort!

The Caveats:

There a number of factors that can adversely affect sleep patters and quality. The technique can be used to cope or enhance, and is not a substitute for getting your life in order. Please examine diet, stressors and exercise levels and the times of each. Sometimes a small (or big) change here will make a world of difference.