There’s been much said on the notion of “creative visualization” and how it can help improve performance. That said, we can and should use visualization techniques to help us in self-defense training.

Visualize yourself in self-defense situations and how you will respond and perform. There’s not really any right or wrong answer, except perhaps to say if you die it’s wrong and if you live it’s right, but even that isn’t necessarily so cut and dry. Certainly you should be visualizing yourself coming out a winner. Trouble is, often this creative visualization can get a little too creative and enter into the realm of fantasy, especially if you have unrealistic expectations or assessments of your skill level and ability. False bravado is not useful here. This is why visualization can only be a tool, reality-based training is certainly necessary.

Nevertheless, visualization is useful. What can help is to have a situation or a context that you did not come up with, thus you didn’t create something “perfect for your success”. The folks at Teddy Tactical have a fantastic archive of scenarios. There’s also a tremendous amount of other articles and information there, but really check out the scenarios. Read through them. Think how you would act.

Furthermore, take the advice of Tom Givens of Rangemaster. Every day look in your local police blotter. See what crimes were committed. Ask yourself what you would do in a similar situation. Furthermore, what could you have done to avoid the situation in the first place? You may be surprised to find that the answers to these scenarios often never involve drawing a gun, shooting a gun, or getting into any sort of fight or confrontation.

The goal of this visualization is to make yourself a playbook of sorts. That you may find yourself in a situation and instead of having to figure it out as you go along, risking precious time, risking making potentially costly mistakes, now you’ve got yourself a plan. You already know what to do so you can just do it. It’s easier to work with the familiar and known instead of the unfamiliar and unknown, especially in a pressure situation.