You're listening to the Driving Confidence podcast for drivers who want to be calm and confident on the road. We will be sharing tips, stories and advice to beat driving nerves and anxiety and build your driving confidence. Whether you are just starting out as a learner or have had your driving license for years, if you want to transform how you feel about driving, this podcast is for you. We've got some content here for you that's a little bit different. And the reason for that is because when we created it, we weren't thinking about the podcast. We were actually creating this as training materials for driving instructors. So yeah, so we want you to listen to this season from a different perspective. We want you to hear things Slightly differently, because we're talking to driving instructors, predominantly in this. you might hear the phrases slightly differently. So it will give you a different perspective of what we're trying to say as well. Now of course, because we were talking to driving instructors, we've used some of the lingo. So you might hear us say phrases like ADI or PDI, and that just means an approved driving instructor or a potential driving instructor. Yeah, other words that you will hear us say are part two, Part three and standards check. And here we're just talking about the tests or the assessments that people have to take to become a driving instructor or to stay a driving instructor. So really it's a bit like the equivalent of the driving test. We hope that you enjoy listening to things from a fresh perspective. And remember that while we are talking to driving instructors in these episodes, we are talking to them about how they could help you. We are going to share some ways that you could use imagery and visualization to help your students. So the brain responds to imagined experience in almost the same way as you actually experience. Yeah, and this is the key. This is why imagery and visualization works so well. Because even when you are imagining something, you still get those. Physical responses, don't you? Yeah. Yeah. You can actually really, I mean, even now, if you was just sitting here, you can think of something in the future that you want to do and you can imagine yourself doing it. Yeah, you maybe might feel excited or start looking forward to it because you are imagining what you're going to do and you would also get the, would you get the same emotions? Yeah. And the physical sensations as well, wouldn't you? Yeah. You get exactly the same emotions and physical sensations. And this works the other way as well. So if you. Think back and I'm gonna use something that you are embarrassed about. So if you've ever tripped over or dropped something, you know, if you think back to something that was embarrassing, then you will still get, whenever you remember that, you still get those feelings, you'll still maybe blush, feel a bit embarrassed, a bit hot, a bit bothered a bit, those cringey sort of feelings. So. Even though you are playing it in your mind and it is not actually happening at that moment in time, you get almost the same response. Yeah. Now I say almost because actually your brain does know, you know, logically that it's not happening right now. So there is. Between when it actually happens, because when you are imagining it, when you're thinking about it, when you are using your mind, you can. Choose to stop it if you want to. You can choose to interrupt it. Whereas unfortunately, you can't interrupt that actual embarrassing experience. Once it's happened, it's happened. And I suppose in lessons, one thing I do is with my students, they do something where they, they've learned a skill. Um, it'd be on a first lesson, and they've just learned clutch control, I can say to them. Can you think of a situation in the future where you would use that same skill with the clutch that you've just shown me and that student will start to think of different situations? They'll probably say junctions. They'll probably say, um, reversing I. Or whatever it may be that they come up with. And that is a very simplified version of what we're doing, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely. So you know that your students are doing this already, but they're doing it in a negative way instead of a positive way. So for example, if somebody has done something in a lesson that didn't go very well. Then they start worrying about it. They start dwelling on it, they start thinking about it, they start replaying it, and then that influences the way they feel about doing that again, next lesson. So they, your students already have these skills, they're doing it naturally, but then maybe not doing it in a positive way. So this is where you can actually. Guide them and encourage them to use those same skills, but with a positive benefit. With a positive outcome. And it's also easier for them to remember it as well. So when we fast forward from that first lesson, collapse control to the junctions. You know, in a busy junction, and they've got to use clutch control to ease out so they can see better. You can actually say to them, what did you do on the first lesson that's gonna help you now? And they'll be able to remember it because they've made a connection. So let's move on to some ways that you, we can use this. If there is one thing that I would love for everybody to do, it's to replay their success. So a bit like Kev just said there about what went well, what can you use to help you. Now, if a student has mastered something in a lesson and they've just. Nailed it. They might have been working on it for a few lessons, or they may have just done it in one lesson, but once they've had a success, once they've done something really well, then actually what you want is that student to be replaying that success in their mind's eye again and again, and again and again, so that it really embeds it. Into their mind so that they really can remember it and bring it out to replay whenever they need it, in the same way as they might have dwelled on a past mistake and played it again and again and again. We want the students to replay their successes. Far more times than they dwell on their negatives on their, on the things that didn't go so well because this really will help them to build their confidence, but also to remember what to do and how to do it next time. And it doesn't have to be big either, doesn't it? No, it can be tiny. It can be a really tiny thing that they check their mirrors at the right time. So something really simple, really small, although it's, you know, it's a big part of driving, but something really simple that they can go, oh yeah, I did that. And just get them to visualize Yeah. What they did. Yeah. Re replay those success, replay that. Yeah. What did you do? Well, I checked that one and I checked that one. Fantastic. Brilliant. Yeah. Smooth gear changes. Smooth gear changes and big ones. Parallel parks that always comes up. Yeah. And parallel parks. Yes. Or um, bay Park. And we had this recently on one of our courses that we did, and someone said, my student did a perfect bay park in between the lines and said, can I take a picture of that? My end result? Of course you can. What she was doing subconsciously, she didn't really know, but she was replaying her success because now she's got a photo to look at. What she had done. Yeah. Is gathering evidence to back up that success. So if they can replay their successes, they're gathering evidence. Yeah. And that's what we want, isn't it? It's not just to say, yep, you've done really well now and then forget it. It's okay. Tell me what you did. Just replay that for me and then hold that fork. Yeah. So you can use it again. Yeah, definitely. So the next one is mental rehearsal. And this is, they're doing this well, well actually all of this they're doing outside of the car, but this is something that, some homework that they can be doing between lessons. Yeah. So if you imagine they've got the skills to be able to, um, do a parallel park and they've had a practice at a parallel park, but it hasn't gone so well. It hasn't been fantastic for them. What they can do is they can then rehearse doing a parallel park in whatever area they want, or maybe multiple areas. But what they're doing is they are just rehearsing a parallel park maneuver. They'll be able to take their time, they'll be able to look around, visualize, and imagine what's actually happening around them, what they're gonna be doing, how they're gonna be doing it. Because they've got the skills and they can recap those skills and bring them forward to help them, and they can actually see in their mind's eye what is happening and what they need to do at certain points. So when it comes forward to next lesson. They're gonna replay that as they actually do it this time. But just remember, the brain can't really tell the difference. Yeah. So it's gonna help them. The brain will respond to the, those rehearsals that went well. 'cause this is important when they're mentally rehearsing, they need to rehearse it. Going successfully. So the brain will use that information to help them when they then come to actually doing it. So, and it can, again, this can be something big like parallel park, or it can be something tiny like we said before. So it could be smooth gear change. It could be. A junction, it could be approaching a roundabout, it could be absolutely anything, but mentally rehearsing, mentally prota, mentally practicing, particularly helpful for students who don't have the opportunity for private practice with somebody else. In between lessons, and also, again, one that works really well is rehearsing a test. So they can actually, you know, they might know the test center. They might know how to come out of the test center. They go left or right. Well, how about rehearsing that and getting them to think about what they're gonna be doing, how they're gonna be doing it, and coming out of the test center, turning left. And again, come out the test on its own right, because there is no limit to this of what they can do, and they can make up their own route. And just imagine that they're driving round a test route. Yeah. This then means that when it comes to doing the test, their brain is like, oh, instead of being uhoh, this is new. What are we doing? It's like, oh yeah, we've been here before. We've done this before. So it can just help to dampen down those nerves a little bit. So this one's always quite a nice one. So visualizing future driving self, what can they see themselves driving like in the future? So past test. Pass test, post-test. So post-test, what do they see themselves driving like? And this is quite important because if somebody struggles to imagine themselves driving later on after they've passed their test. Why can't they imagine themselves driving later on? What is it that's stopping them? So that imagining yourself driving, you've passed your test, you are driving independently, you are making your own decisions, spending some time visualizing that can really give you the confidence, can really help set you up to, that is my future goal, and that's where I'm going to, and I'm gonna take the steps to. Get there and, and it will feel much more natural when they do get there once they have passed their test. But you can also visualize the future of them driving or yourself driving, um, with people in the car. You know, or, or it could be later night. It, it could be anything that the options are endless. They are, but it's, it's about them and what they can see and visualize. And this is a technique that sports people use all the time. Yeah. They visualize themselves making that winning part or that winning penalty or all of those things. So using that as part of your future planning be. Be an Olympian. Yeah. But again, I, I wouldn't wait too late in their driving journey to start this. You know, a simple question is, what does a good driver look like to you? And they will then be looking into the future to see themselves mirroring that good driver in the future. So that's a nice one to start with as well, during lessons. Yeah. Thank you for listening. Find out about the different ways that you can work with us on our website www. confidentdrivers. co. uk and begin to transform the way you feel about driving.