This might be similar to the pre-flight, in-flight and landing routine checks that professional pilots tick off as each step is encountered.
But, such and approach fails if an artist is painting a portrait or a landscape, or if a musician is composing.
An artist's sketchbook contains ideas, experiments, what-ifs, compositions, composites, trial designs, juxtapositions, perspectives.
What is important is the freedom to express, the freedom to experience and the freedom to make errors…flexibility, choice…options.
Musicians play, create snippets, test melodies, compare harmonies, balance chords…play (as in the sense of enjoyment of activities as a child enjoys).
A by-the-numbers painting or a by-a-formula song lacks texture, layers, depth, intricacy.
And, the emotions of human experience are absent, too.
Human Experience means Mistakes
So, does a teacher perfect teaching skills by allow the imperfection that is associated with experimentation, experience, exploration?
The answer: Personal Goals and Professional Skills are developed in a manner similar to sailing a boat. When sailing a boat, winds gust and change direction, currents push one way or the other, waves drive (or push back), and weights shift. In addition, navigation sometimes uses the sun and a compass, sometimes stars and maps.
But even when the port is in sight, the course heading requires constant adjustment.
But the goal (the port) is kept in sight as adjustments to the heading are made. This is the model of improvement talents and skills…by focusing upon a goal or destination, keeping your bearings pointed toward that goal, and gathering course-correcting feedback along the way.
Feedback is the self-correction mechanism that we use to reach our goals.
But, focusing on getting everything "right and perfect" the first time does not speed us toward our goals. Rather, waiting to get everything perfect, or over correcting before we start, retards our progress and stagnates our performance improvement.
Visualization and Rehearsal
Fortunately, the learning capacity of the human system is more efficient than a sailboat. For one thing, each return to port requires a trip away from port. This is time consuming. Second, conditions are always different. The tides and currents differ each day by 50 minutes, and the wind and weather change in abrupt disdain.
But, the human mind and emotions can practice success with imagery and mental rehearsal. And, as the mental practice progresses, the speed of the practice can accelerate.
This means that learning time (the dreaded learning curve) can be shortened. And this also means that more complex, intricate and valuable skills can be developed.
Even better, mental rehearsal responds to the specific details of your individual learning style. This means that you are the world's greatest expert about how you learn.
Besides that, the learning that you can acquire, the skills and abilities that you can perfect, are limited only by the models that you can install within your mental system; and by the patterns that you can practice.
Since models and mental practice are unrestrained by "shouldn't do, can't do, must not do" boundaries; your ability to learn is "limitless."
Restraints of Conscience
There are restraints to the "shouldn't do, can't do, must not do" boundaries; but these have to do with "ethical, moral, legal and professional" constraints.
For example, classroom behavior management is a learnable skills. But, coercion, domination, brainwashing and subversion fail to meet the test of professional behavior. And these tactics may cross ethical or moral lines, or fail to meet legal standards.
Sidebar
The subject of Mental Rehearsal deserves an article of its own,. Expect a major article in an upcoming issue of Classroom Toolkit.
The mental rehearsal process relies upon vivid and meticulous attention to details, just like actual, practical applications do. But, practice speeds can accelerate and multiple practice sessions can occur in a compressed timeframe.
Creative Imagination
Creative Imagination is the mental rehearsal process that is carried out to its most useful conclusion.
Creative Imagination builds an experience from outcomes "as though those outcomes have already happened."
This is a process of carrying mental rehearsal to its "illogical conclusion." There is nothing connected to magical outcomes of intense imagery with real-world occurrences, yet strong intentions paired with multi-sensory imagination for the "event as already happened" precipitates amazing stories and successes.
Sidebar
Creative Imagination deserves a feature article of its own, and will be the subject of an upcoming Classroom Toolkit article, too.
Note: Classroom Toolkit explored the limitation of cognitive-academic learning (and the unlimited potential of the human psyche) in a previous newsletter article, Unlearn what you Learned in College: A Quick Way to Improve Teaching Effectiveness
Summary
Whatever the personal or professional skill that you aspire to, the most intricate skill sets can be expanded, developed and improved by visualizing, mental rehearsal and Creative Imagination.
Amaze yourself by practicing this most important skill of personal improvement.
