*A Book Review*
Psycho-Cybernetics Updated and Expanded
By Maxwell Maltz
by Michael C. Gray
April 5, 2016
Can you remember the feeling of accomplishment when you first learned to tie your shoelaces? (With Velcro and slip on shoes, many will have to think of another example in their life experiences.)
According to Dr. Maxwell Maltz, we can use these memories of accomplishments to condition our minds for more frustration. Instead of worrying about what we fear, a form of negative goal setting, we should "worry" positively about the future we want.
Psycho Cybernetics is a self-improvement classic that was introduced more than 50 years ago in 1960. It became a huge best seller, but is unknown to many millennials. Now Matt Furey, President of the Psycho-Cybernetics Foundation, has re-published Psycho-Cybernetics in an Updated and Expanded Edition.
Maxwell Maltz was a cosmetic surgeon. He was puzzled when he performed a cosmetic surgery that dramatically improved a patient's appearance, but the patient couldn't "see" the improvement and still "felt ugly." Maltz also had people come to him seeking cosmetic surgery whose appearance was quite attractive.
Maltz decided the problem was how these people "saw" themselves in their own minds. He called this concept the self-image. Individuals can't improve their performance until they can "see" themselves as able to do it.
He also found that people could enter the "theater of the mind" and visualize themselves doing things they would normally think of as impossible, such as successfully speaking to a large audience, and use these successful imagined experiences to build their confidence and actually do what they imagined.
These concepts have successfully been used to improve athletic performance: helping high jumpers jump higher, helping long jumpers jump farther, helping basketball players shoot more baskets, etc.
Matt Furey has wisely left the text of Psycho-Cybernetics unchanged. He has added a Forward and Afterward, and has salted encouraging boxes to bring the text up to date. For example, Maltz suggested practicing the theater of the mind while lying down. Furey suggests that practicing while sitting might work better because you're less likely to fall asleep.
Furey conducts seminars on Psycho-Cybernetics and coaches individuals on applying the techniques.
I hope a new generation gives Psycho-Cybernetics a try and enjoys the benefits. If you have read Psycho-Cybernetics before, consider revisiting this classic.
Buy it on Amazon: Psycho-Cybernetics, Updated and Expanded
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