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 talk about why practice makes better. So we heard this phrase and it's so relevant to what we're gonna talk about. So things tend to get easier the more you do them. Yeah, I mean, it sort of seems obvious, doesn't it? But. But it is true. And so this really is why we encourage practice. So why you should be encouraging your students to practice whenever they can. Um, this might be practicing with you in lessons. This could be practicing privately. Outside of lessons, but it could also be that active passenger in that we talk about. Yeah, so practicing putting the knowledge in place as well. So even if they can't get driving practice using the knowledge that they have around driving. So yeah, things tend to get easier the more that you do. Well, and I can relate this to the time that you started your part two training. And the first time you had your assessment, it was okay, but the more you practiced what you needed to work on, the better Your driving got. Very similar to when you are part three and you started becoming a teacher and you had to talk through a situation, and I can almost guarantee the first time you did it, the mouth was so dry and you couldn't get your words out quick enough and you're, you are very similar to that. But have a look at what you do now if you have to give a talk for it. You're probably more relaxed. You're giving yourself more time to do things, and that's all happened because you practiced. Yeah. So practicing enables you to learn and just feel, I. A bit more comfortable and you get a bit better. Yeah. And you know, you know what you are practicing as well. That can also be a massive help for you. So one of the reasons for practicing is to uncover or resolve this fear of the unknown. Yeah. Which is a common cause of nerves and anxiety in your student. And your students might be saying, well, what if. Or if I do that big roundabout and there's a Maori coming, what would I do? You know what if I go out the test center and turn left? It's all these fears of the unknown. They don't know which way they're gonna go or what is gonna happen. But you know, these are just common thoughts that people have. Yeah. And our brains hate doubt. They hate uncertainty. And whenever we have doubt or uncertainty present, we tend to have nerves and anxiety alongside. It is part of our survival instinct, our survival systems. And so practice can help you uncover. Fill in this, making the make the unknown known. And part of a couple of questions that I normally ask at this stage if I'm getting those questions aimed at me is, okay, so what have you done before that's gonna help you with that situation? Or What skills have you got? That can deal with that situation if it arises. 'cause it might not even happen. Yeah. So yeah, those two questions are really good to ask your students at that time. So this is a big one for practice, isn't it? Yes, it, it's building experience, it's filling in those gaps in knowledge, understanding, as well as filling in those gaps. Fear of the unknown. And when you think of practice, I touched on it just a little while ago where, you know, what is it you are practicing? You know, where are those gaps? If I was turned, turn left. What is it about turning left that you, you know, that's missing, that's giving you that thought process? Okay, well it's a heel start at the junction. You know, you come out the test center, you turn left, here's a hill star. Okay? So what we need to do that's telling us is giving us that clue that. Potentially that person needs to practice heel starts at junctions or in different situations so that their knowledge and understanding of doing heel starts in any situation. They can reflect back on it and say, well, I'll just do this. Yeah, and as much as possible. What you are aiming to do with your students is to build those positive experiences. So this comes back to bite-sized goals, making sure that goals are achievable and manageable so that your students are building positive experiences whenever they're practicing. Yeah, and this is what you, we always liked the good things. You know, what went well and what was good. What did you do that was good in that situation? You know, these are the things that we want to build on, build on good experiences, and then work on what could we change that's gonna make it better. So we touched on that just there about those positive where possible trying to create those positive experiences because actually those positive experiences build into evidence for your students is going into their. Their driving folder in their brain, so to speak. It's a bit like having a folder on your computer where you are storing all the information you can, and that's what your students are doing with their driving. They have a driving folder where they're storing all this information about driving. So as much as possible, you are trying to ensure that the practice is creating positive experiences, which means that they, they are gathering. Positive evidence around their driving. Yeah. And this is really important for confidence building. And it can be, you know, from lesson one, you know, you are creating a positive experience and through reflection we normally say what went well, and I'm gonna repeat this again. What went well? Use that first. Even if it's one thing again. That is the positive experience. And like Kev says, this is from lesson one. In fact, if anything, those early lessons are almost more important in creating this foundational positive evidence. Some of the later experiences and they later lessons, so, so all lessons are practice. They're learning experiences and opportunities to create positive evidence for your students. So experience and positive evidence builds trust. Yeah. The more your students are practicing, the more they're learning. The more they're having positive experiences, the more they have that positive evidence that they can pop into their, their folder, their thoughts, their feelings and behavior around driving, that's gonna build trust. In their driving ability. Yeah. Which helps 'em as they move forward and they progress and they're doing more and more difficult situations or scenarios that are coming up, this is what we really want them to do. We want them to trust their ability to get that trust from those experiences. Yeah. It's really hard to have trust. When you haven't got experience. Yeah. And you haven't got evidence. And that's where, you know, what have you done well today? Give me the evidence that you've done well. 'cause we probably know as instructors what's happening and this is where your job is to create that positive experience for them. You know, if it's, oh no, I can't do that, you know, I go, oh no, that was, okay. Good. Well, tell me one thing, just one small bite size. Positive thing that you did well and it's like, okay that, yeah. And what this is reminding me of is sometimes we will hear from ADIs say that I know they can drive. It doesn't matter if you know your student can drive, if your student needs to know that they can drive. Yes. It's so important. If they don't know that they can drive, then they're not gonna have that trust in their driving ability. So it really is helping them. Your role is to help them gather those positive experiences, positive evidence, so that they know they can drive and they can trust their driving ability, not just review, but this goes. Post-test as well. Yeah, and this is what we are really trying to do in lessons is, is make sure that they've got enough evidence post-test to drive safely on their own. Yeah. Because if they haven't got the evidence, they haven't got the trust, then quite likely they're gonna pass and then be scared to drive or a situation might develop and they go, I dunno what to do. Well. But what we're aiming for is we're aiming for better. Not perfect. Yeah. I think this is really important because if your students are aiming for perfection, they're making life really difficult for themselves. So encouraging students that actually, that's not what we are looking for, letting them know. The, you don't necessarily drive perfectly all of the time either. So being a human being, being realistic, and so what are we aiming for? We're aiming for better practice, makes things better. We don't need it. To be perfect. Be, I think things like stalling is a really good example. So loads of people stall. Yeah. But they've got their license and had it for years. Yeah. I am an expert staller. I consider myself an expert at stalling and getting going again and not even giving it a second all. But you're not perfect at stalling. Don't do it every time. No, that's. 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.