The way you think and the thoughts you allow to populate your brain are just as important if not more so. When I started my business I read everything and went to every site I could. I ended up with information overload.

Over the last few months I have learnt to focus my thoughts on what I really want to achieve and this has been of great benefit. I am no longer looking for the next great program to come along to lead me to success. I am looking for specific sites and information, because I'm looking for particular things.

I never thought that training my brain would produce such a great wealth of information or make building a business so easy. You see, once you set down your goals and develop a business plan, you actually free up a lot of your time.

Have you heard that the mind cannot tell the difference between real experience and imagined experience - that it reacts the same to both real and imaginary events?

Well, it's true! And you can use this principle to your enormous advantage.

Back in the fifties, researchers at one college tested the power of imagining by pitting three different

groups of students against each other shooting baskets.

They tested a large number of students for their skill at shooting baskets while standing at the free throw line. From this large group of students they formed three smaller groups of equal size and of equal skill, statistically. All three groups shot about the same percentage of baskets at the start.

Group No. 1 was the control, so for the next couple of weeks, they didn't do any practice at all. They were not to even go into the gym.

Group No. 2, meanwhile, went to the gym and practiced doing free throws for 20 minutes every day.

Group No. 3 also practiced for 20 minutes every day, but they didn't touch a basketball. Each one of the students was instructed to practice only in their heads. They were to imagine shooting free throws for that 20 minutes, but to engage in no actual hands-on practice at all.

At the end of that couple of weeks, Group No. 1, which had not done any practice, showed no improvement at all. When re-tested, their scores were identical to their earlier ones.

Group No. 2, which had practiced in the gym with actual balls, shooting real free throws, tested 20%

above their earlier scores.

The big surprise, however, was Group No. 3, which tested 19% better.

You can actually learn a skill by practicing it in your head.

Is there anything you're not good at, but you want to be?

Just play it over and over in your mind. See yourself doing the new activity successfully. It WILL stick with you.

I had a friend years ago who told me that when he was in the Air Force, he learned to pilot a jet fighter by getting layout drawings of all the cockpit instruments and practicing flying in his imagination until he felt confident.

Of course he was already well qualified with other aircraft, but as any pilot who has ever taken the

controls of a fighter will tell you, this is a different beast altogether. You don't just jump from a transport to a fighter. It takes many, many hours of hands-on training.

But my friend, on his first time up, flew the plane well enough not to disgrace (or endanger) himself.

Boxers imagine fighting their opponents over and over for hours before important matches. This has been called shadow boxing.

I had to give my first talk at a conference a few months ago so I asked many speakers how to do it. One speaker I really respect told me that I knew my topic very well so all I needed to do was to get out the first sentence. He said get that down pat and the rest will follow and you know what? He was right.

I was so nervous when I saw the large crowd that I squinted my eyes and got out the first sentence that I had go over and over till it was second nature and the rest followed.

Salesmen practice answering questions and objections. The more they practice, the better prepared they are when they're finally with a customer. That's the way to build familiarity with any new situation, and familiarity breeds confidence.

Every world-class athlete, every outstanding salesman, every top executive can tell you that the higher up the ladder they go, the more important the mental, imaginary, part of their preparation becomes.

If it's good enough to help them set world records, earn fortunes and become household names, what can it do for you?

Just imagine!