Did you know that you can "try on" the future, just like you try on a new dress or suit of clothes? Did you know that we all rehearse the future with our thoughts?  

When architects make drawings of a building, they are helping people imagine exactly what that building will look like. The more precise their drawings, the more completely they can "see" the building. Freud compared thinking to a military general, moving miniature figures over a map before sending troops into action.  

This is exactly what you do when you use visualization and imagery to project yourself into a future situation. You say to yourself, "Now how do I want this to turn out?" And then you very carefully, very thoroughly, imagine yourself behaving in ways that are most likely to bring about that end-result.  

The more anxious you are about the situation and the greater your fears, the more important it is that you control the kind of rehearsing you do. If you don't take charge of your thoughts, you may be imagining the worst possible consequences. What you are really doing is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. You are literally programming your subconscious, and you will behave according to the picture that is dominant in your mind. 

When you control your thoughts, you control your future. Make sure you focus on and imagine what you do want, and not what you don't want. And remember, the more rehearsing you do, the smoother the final performance will be.