Batman is the ultimate introvert.

He’s this shy awkward kid who never finished growing up.

But then he puts on his bat-suit and he takes on all the confidence and courage, and other typically positive male qualities that he can muster and channels it into this relentless dark force for good.

We can use that kind of courage and make-believe in our own lives.

I used to train in Ju-Jitsu for several years, and every year or so we would have a grading (test of your skills and knowledge so far) and each time I would have to project total courage and confidence. As well as practicing all the required skills for endless hours.

It was tough.

I didn’t use to have a lot of either, toughness or CON-fidence – well less than none really, I had almost no belief in myself whatsoever. I’m not exaggerating in the least, I was the most shy socially awkward weak and underweight kid you can imagine growing up.

So…

I did a lot of mental rehearsal for whatever was required in the Ju-Jitsu grading, it’s something I’ve done for years along with meditation, weight training and Yoga. I credit Ju-jitsu training and the instructors for giving me the kick ass attitude to life I have today. I am indebted to them.

I would run mental movies over and over again in my own mind leading up to the grading test.

I ran through the mental routine of everything I would do, or might be asked to do.

A key thing is I did not just mentally rehearse in a cold mechanical way.

What was important is that I would see myself, in my own mental movie as already being extremely confident, assured, and relaxed. I saw myself as supremely confident and performing all tasks required without error. You know, Batman, Bruce Lee, Goku and Rambo all rolled into one. Total relaxed confidence, a precision engine of mass destruction!

And the great thing was, it worked.

I always APPEARED more confident than I was, and it showed.

In reality I was a nervous wreck. But nobody knew that.

It took several years of this practice, for that confidence to become permanent.

I don’t really need the mental movies so much now, I’m confident at most things, and what I don’t know already, I know I can learn and pick up pretty fast.

That does’t mean I don’t use that practice,

I still do, just not as often.

But if I was go into some arena of life that was completely unknown to me, boy you can bet I would be using those daily mental movies again.

Batman mentally rehearsed being or becoming Batman for years.

Before he ever became the Dark Knight.

He didn’t wake up one day being the epitome of courage, determination and self-sacrifice.

Batman got there slowly one Bat-breath, one Bat-punch, one Bat-Step at a time.

Bruce Wayne mentally (and physically) rehearsed being Batman, and everything that meant, as well as countless hours of training, (I’d say he started with at least several thousand hours of rigorous training).

He imagined he already was what he wanted to be.

The best goal setters and champions of the world are time travelers.

They have time traveled within their own minds to the near future, and in their own mind, they have ALREADY ARRIVED where they want to be, and already are how they intend to be. And they patiently wait for their body and present reality to catch up to their minds inner vision.

This is one of the secrets of Batman being 10 steps ahead of everybody else in the room. When Gordon or the JLA are working on some tough mental problem, Batman already has the solution, he’s already seen the near future and is waiting for everyone else to catch up. He’s not clairvoyant, and a good Detective has to work through things logically one step at a time, but they also take leaps.

No matter the challenge, in his own mind, Batman has already beaten it. This is where his supreme confidence comes from. Even when he loses, he wins, his enemies reveal their weaknesses to him unknowingly when they beat him. It’s all feedback for Batman, who is going to go away, train and come back even better than before.

I think with the right BATITUDE, all things are possible.

To be a little more like Batman, we can and should use mental movies to boost our own confidence at whatever we want to do in life, and to be as specific and detailed as possible in those mental movies. Your body is your slave, it does whatever you ask it to do without question, it literally has no choice. Your mind is your own garden to grow as you damn well please.

It’s no guarantee that you will succeed at anything at all, that’s a fantasy. We all fail and do stupid things. So what, with ongoing practice of mental movies and Batitude, win or lose – we take it all as feedback, as fuel for greatness.

We can apply that practice to just about anything.

Getting a new job, starting a new sport or martial art, becoming a better brother, husband, son or father. There literally is no limit to what mental movies we can run in our own minds on a regular basis.

We project the BEST version of ourselves into our mental movies we can imagine at present, we see it, feel it, smell it and know it. Then we wait for reality to catch up.

And slowly, one Bat-Step at a time, one Bat-Breath at a time we become on the outside, the person we already know we are on the inside.

We bring our BATITUDE out from our own dusty minds, we practice something meaningful in our outer lives that we can focus and channel all our best qualities into.

We still have to do the hard work of learning any actual skill, of endless training and learning.

There are no shortcuts.

But whatever you DO in life, you will be 10 times more effective with the right kind of mental movies, and the right kind of BATITUDE.

Those mental movies become the future versions of ourselves, so I hope when you watch your own mental movies, you’ve hired the best director (that’s YOU!), the best sound guy, the best actors, and the best soundtrack possible to get you feeling and acting at your best.

IMAGE CREDITS

Midnight, R.I.P. and Two Face images by Ai Eye

Full Ai Eye Gallery at Deviant Art http://ai-eye.deviantart.com/gallery/