Friday, November 09, 2007
Performance Strategies: Take a break...
Every now and then you should take a step back from all your life's turmoil to re-center and refocus on what's important.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Performance Strategies: The Cluttered Mind
Nothing happens without action! While fear, uncertainty or doubt are often the culprits of inaction, a confused mind equally paralyzes.
We are all so busy with our tasks that the big, important stuff seldom gets done unless it becomes a crisis. Well, sometimes the best action is simply going for a walk. Ever hear the expression "I'm just going out to clear my mind"? The problem is that once "out" our mind typically focuses inward to try and sort things out.
A better way is to focus outwardly. Appreciate the beauty of things around you, find a spot to just STOP, and literally "smell the roses". In other words, focus your mind on a single item outside yourself.
Those who meditate tell me beginners are trained in the "rose" or "candle" technique. That is to say they have a flower or scented candle (burning) in front of them and they focus on the design, shape, scent, movement, and symbolism. This technique calms and unclutters the mind allowing you to then focus inward on your breathing. At first your mind wanders then with practice and over time, you begin mastering the technique and are able to clear your mind entirely.
Now while I do not meditate per se, I do take walks almost each day. I am lucky enough to have a large forested park near me and I make a practice of enjoying the magnificent views. Each day brings something new to see whether it's at this time of year when the leaves are fiery red and orange or in the spring when the baby raccoons are playing. Maybe it's just staring at a catfish who is staring back at me.
We can all find something other than our own thoughts to focus on for a few minutes and the more we do this, the more relaxed we are and more able to arrange those other cluttered thoughts so we can methodically take action on the important stuff.
Give it a try and report back with your comments.
We are all so busy with our tasks that the big, important stuff seldom gets done unless it becomes a crisis. Well, sometimes the best action is simply going for a walk. Ever hear the expression "I'm just going out to clear my mind"? The problem is that once "out" our mind typically focuses inward to try and sort things out.
A better way is to focus outwardly. Appreciate the beauty of things around you, find a spot to just STOP, and literally "smell the roses". In other words, focus your mind on a single item outside yourself.
Those who meditate tell me beginners are trained in the "rose" or "candle" technique. That is to say they have a flower or scented candle (burning) in front of them and they focus on the design, shape, scent, movement, and symbolism. This technique calms and unclutters the mind allowing you to then focus inward on your breathing. At first your mind wanders then with practice and over time, you begin mastering the technique and are able to clear your mind entirely.
Now while I do not meditate per se, I do take walks almost each day. I am lucky enough to have a large forested park near me and I make a practice of enjoying the magnificent views. Each day brings something new to see whether it's at this time of year when the leaves are fiery red and orange or in the spring when the baby raccoons are playing. Maybe it's just staring at a catfish who is staring back at me.
We can all find something other than our own thoughts to focus on for a few minutes and the more we do this, the more relaxed we are and more able to arrange those other cluttered thoughts so we can methodically take action on the important stuff.
Give it a try and report back with your comments.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Performance Strategies: Don't turn "Self-Help" into "Shelf-Help"!
How may times have you bought a self-help book or program, reviewed it, digested it, attempted to apply it, just to put it on the shelf never to be used again? I call that turning self-help into shelf-help and too may of us have done it all too often.
Oh yes, I am one of the guilty parties. I have so many self-help books, CDs, casette tapes, DVDs, workbooks and the like I could fill the entire personal development section of your favorite bookstore. Some I've never even opened! Many of the ones I have, I never finished. Of those I finished, all too many of the valuable teachings remain unapplied...
Ahhhhh. but to take responsibility for that lack of action and to be accountable to yourself for it is actually enlightening. OK then, now what? Well, the answer is not in those self-help programs, it is in the "self", itself! In other words, assuming you are getting good content, it is you who must ACT! The "book" does nothing.
The simple solution? You need outside help!
I am sure you want success. I am equally certain you are willing to do what it takes to have it. BUT, the issue is following a plan with sustained and correct action. Most of us find it hard to ask for help or to seek it out.
Go out and get yourself a mentor, a coach and a personal assistant. Notice I did not say one or the other. I said...one of each. Oh, and please don't post a reply that you can't afford it. What you can't afford is that attitude. Either make excuses or make it happen. Choose!
Oh yes, I am one of the guilty parties. I have so many self-help books, CDs, casette tapes, DVDs, workbooks and the like I could fill the entire personal development section of your favorite bookstore. Some I've never even opened! Many of the ones I have, I never finished. Of those I finished, all too many of the valuable teachings remain unapplied...
Ahhhhh. but to take responsibility for that lack of action and to be accountable to yourself for it is actually enlightening. OK then, now what? Well, the answer is not in those self-help programs, it is in the "self", itself! In other words, assuming you are getting good content, it is you who must ACT! The "book" does nothing.
The simple solution? You need outside help!
I am sure you want success. I am equally certain you are willing to do what it takes to have it. BUT, the issue is following a plan with sustained and correct action. Most of us find it hard to ask for help or to seek it out.
Go out and get yourself a mentor, a coach and a personal assistant. Notice I did not say one or the other. I said...one of each. Oh, and please don't post a reply that you can't afford it. What you can't afford is that attitude. Either make excuses or make it happen. Choose!
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Performance Strategies: Watch these...
Take 15 minutes for yourself and watch each of the following videos. Then take a few extra minutes to return to this blog and write your comments. Very powerful stuff...
The Simple Truths of Service
The Nature of Success
The Dash
212 The Extra Degree
To A Child
Rock Solid Leadership
The Simple Truths of Service
The Nature of Success
The Dash
212 The Extra Degree
To A Child
Rock Solid Leadership
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Performance Strategies: Risk, I Mean REAL RISK!
We worry about the wrong things! A wonderful article from MoneySense Magazine (February/March 2007) titled "The Risk Illusion" says it all.
Here's a funny question? What are you more afraid of, a bear or a deer?
The obvious answer is the bear. But, a study showed that in Canada last year 2 people were killed by bear and 159 by deer (think car accidents).
Our mind does a terrible job of assessing true risk. It imagines the worst and that seldom happens. But at the same time, it does not perceive certain real dangers until too late.
So what do you do? Well, let's put this in the context of business risk and leave bodily harm out of the discussion. First, when you assume risk STOP and ask yourself if your response was automatic and emotional versus logical and unemotional. If emotional, take the time to truly assess the "risk". I believe intuition is valuable but I also believe that our mind can trick itself into accepting emotion as intuition. If still unsure, get expert advice and remember it's not what we think about that will usually hurt us, it's what we don't think about that will.
Here's a funny question? What are you more afraid of, a bear or a deer?
The obvious answer is the bear. But, a study showed that in Canada last year 2 people were killed by bear and 159 by deer (think car accidents).
Our mind does a terrible job of assessing true risk. It imagines the worst and that seldom happens. But at the same time, it does not perceive certain real dangers until too late.
So what do you do? Well, let's put this in the context of business risk and leave bodily harm out of the discussion. First, when you assume risk STOP and ask yourself if your response was automatic and emotional versus logical and unemotional. If emotional, take the time to truly assess the "risk". I believe intuition is valuable but I also believe that our mind can trick itself into accepting emotion as intuition. If still unsure, get expert advice and remember it's not what we think about that will usually hurt us, it's what we don't think about that will.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Performance Strategies: Lessons from "The Secret"
WOW! Once Oprah and Larry King "discover" something it really takes off. Of course I'm referring to the phenomenon of "The Secret". Watch it free here and if you like it buy it at the official website.So why put the word discover in quotes? Simple! They discovered nothing. They did however pick up on a sweeping wave of interest that has been around forever and bring that to a massive audience. In so doing, the interest continues growing exponentially) I'm sure Rhonda Byrne, James Ray, John Assaraf, Joe Vitale, Lisa Nichols, Bob Proctor, Jack Canfield, Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith and others affiliated with the project are all smiling.
The real secret is applying what you learn. In other words...live it, don't just learn it.
WORD OF CAUTION...Watching the secret changes nothing. Telling people how you agree with its content changes nothing. Entire groups of people will make it into a trend but like all other truths out there, nothing happens till you live it. Watching it is a start but then so is Dianetics, Landmark (a/k/a EST), holy teachings (The Torah, The Bible, The Koran, Buddhist texts, Kaballah, etc.), Quantum Physics (i.e. What The Bleep Do We Know, etc.).
Reading, Listening, Watching....all passive!
Doing, Living, Being...all active!
The difference is in the outcome.
Footnote: Joe Vitale already "slipped" that there will be a sequel (because he is attracting it). He also said his recent emergency appendectomy was attracted because he needed to take a break from his hectic life.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Performance Strategies: Perspective, Balance and Duality
Keep your feet on the ground and your head in the clouds
Monday, March 05, 2007
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Performance Strategies: Absolute Abundance
Prosperity is real. It emanates from a source. Scarcity is illusion. It emanates from imagination. The subconscious mind manifests both as a result of conscious action. Conscious action emanates from belief. Conscious inaction emanates from fear. Focus on faith and you get abundance. Focus on fear and you get scarcity. Faith erases fear...and vice-versa. Either way, it's a choice.
Your limitations are just that...yours! No one has imposed them upon you...except you.
Notice each time you utter or think of a self-limiting or self-defeating thought. Step back, take ownership, and take corrective action just as you would if you did something in error in your "normal", physical day. For example, if you made a mistake writing a letter, you would notice it, accept that you made the mistake, think little of it, and yet you would effortlessly correct it. Simple! Noticing your mind working in the same way creates abundance.
You must know yourself to dwell in abundance. Ignorance is poverty-mindedness.
Your limitations are just that...yours! No one has imposed them upon you...except you.
Notice each time you utter or think of a self-limiting or self-defeating thought. Step back, take ownership, and take corrective action just as you would if you did something in error in your "normal", physical day. For example, if you made a mistake writing a letter, you would notice it, accept that you made the mistake, think little of it, and yet you would effortlessly correct it. Simple! Noticing your mind working in the same way creates abundance.
You must know yourself to dwell in abundance. Ignorance is poverty-mindedness.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Performance Strategies: A Holistic Approach
Performance is not limited to any one area of our life. We must look at everything, evaluate where we are at right now and move towards balance.
For example, you may be in optimal physical condition and yet your relationships may not be so "optimal".
Consider performance in every aspect of your life; physical, financial, emotional, intellectual, spiritual...Are you at 100% efficiency? Is there room for improvement?
Understand where you are and where you need to be. Create a plan to accomplish each and remember, you are either moving toward your goals or away from them. Keep at it.
For example, you may be in optimal physical condition and yet your relationships may not be so "optimal".
Consider performance in every aspect of your life; physical, financial, emotional, intellectual, spiritual...Are you at 100% efficiency? Is there room for improvement?
Understand where you are and where you need to be. Create a plan to accomplish each and remember, you are either moving toward your goals or away from them. Keep at it.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Performance Strategies: Overcoming Fear
If I hear the acronym for FEAR uttered one more time, I might just scream!
OK, you need to know, so just for you...False Evidence Appearing Real. Yippieeeee!!!
What an overused cliché. Has knowing that ever helped? Probably not!
To overcome fear, you have to know what it really is. So let's take a look;
Fear is defined as "a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined." (For our purposes we will deal the "imagined" version.)
Impending is defined as "about to happen, imminent"
Imagined is defined as "to form a mental image of something not actually present to the senses."
Now consider that the event of which we are afraid has not yet happened and is therefore fixed at some future point.
As such, it is imagined. So what is the catalyst for all this? It is actually quite simple. Since birth we are "programmed" by internal and external experiences. We are programmed by events and by what people say. Many of those experiences we negatively interpreted and stored in our mind as an ongoing tape recording which automatically plays without our knowledge or conscious attention. We are fooled to think it is there to protect us. It is not. The instinctive mind protects us not the imagined mind.
If we could just step back when it begins to play we would actually have the choice to follow the voice in our head or not.
The key is awareness. We can condition our awareness by noting the typical words we use as triggers. Words and phrases such as "no, I can't, it won't work, it's dangerous, I'll get hurt, that's bad, what if, etc." Once we notice these words (and others like them), we can ask ourselves if the threat is real or imagined. By the way, it's real when an 8 foot grizzly bear is staring at you from 3 feet away and there are no bars or cage.
Successful people act regardless of the fear. Yes they are fearful and yet they will do it anyway. That is an achiement-oriented mind. That is true courage. Withour fear to overcome there is no courage. Be courageous!
OK, you need to know, so just for you...False Evidence Appearing Real. Yippieeeee!!!
What an overused cliché. Has knowing that ever helped? Probably not!
To overcome fear, you have to know what it really is. So let's take a look;
Fear is defined as "a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined." (For our purposes we will deal the "imagined" version.)
Impending is defined as "about to happen, imminent"
Imagined is defined as "to form a mental image of something not actually present to the senses."
Now consider that the event of which we are afraid has not yet happened and is therefore fixed at some future point.
As such, it is imagined. So what is the catalyst for all this? It is actually quite simple. Since birth we are "programmed" by internal and external experiences. We are programmed by events and by what people say. Many of those experiences we negatively interpreted and stored in our mind as an ongoing tape recording which automatically plays without our knowledge or conscious attention. We are fooled to think it is there to protect us. It is not. The instinctive mind protects us not the imagined mind.
If we could just step back when it begins to play we would actually have the choice to follow the voice in our head or not.
The key is awareness. We can condition our awareness by noting the typical words we use as triggers. Words and phrases such as "no, I can't, it won't work, it's dangerous, I'll get hurt, that's bad, what if, etc." Once we notice these words (and others like them), we can ask ourselves if the threat is real or imagined. By the way, it's real when an 8 foot grizzly bear is staring at you from 3 feet away and there are no bars or cage.
Successful people act regardless of the fear. Yes they are fearful and yet they will do it anyway. That is an achiement-oriented mind. That is true courage. Withour fear to overcome there is no courage. Be courageous!
Friday, January 12, 2007
Performance Strategies: Don't let emotions control you
"When your emotions take flight...don't be onboard"
unknown
unknown
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Performance Strategies: The Horse Knows The Way...
When I was a young boy I would go horseback riding with my father. One day I remember asking "what if we get lost?". "No problem" he said, "just loosen the reins a little, squeeze your legs (English saddle), and the horse will take you home (back to the stable). The horse always knows the way". "What about in the dark?" I asked. "No matter, the horse knows the way".
Years passed, I gave up riding for along time, then took it up again. I rode with a friend who was very experienced. I got comfortable and one day, with no riding partner, I went out on my own. Well, you guessed it. I got lost. I was so focused on the beautiful scenery that I forgot to take my bearings. Then it started to get dark, quickly. Soon there was little light and I was getting more nervous by the minute. Anxiety got the best of me and I froze. I had no idea what to do. Then it hit me. Loosen the reins and the horse will take me home. So I did. To my amazement, the horse did just that...and fast. It's like he could see in the dark.
This story is a metaphor for the times we get lost in our lives. Either personally or professionally. All we need is a good horse. In other words, we must have something we can trust in times of stress. A mentor comes to mind. Someone who has our best interest at heart and who is an expert in the areas that we are not. In this way we need not trust ourselves, we just trust them, the horse. Why? Because they always know the way home!
Years passed, I gave up riding for along time, then took it up again. I rode with a friend who was very experienced. I got comfortable and one day, with no riding partner, I went out on my own. Well, you guessed it. I got lost. I was so focused on the beautiful scenery that I forgot to take my bearings. Then it started to get dark, quickly. Soon there was little light and I was getting more nervous by the minute. Anxiety got the best of me and I froze. I had no idea what to do. Then it hit me. Loosen the reins and the horse will take me home. So I did. To my amazement, the horse did just that...and fast. It's like he could see in the dark.
This story is a metaphor for the times we get lost in our lives. Either personally or professionally. All we need is a good horse. In other words, we must have something we can trust in times of stress. A mentor comes to mind. Someone who has our best interest at heart and who is an expert in the areas that we are not. In this way we need not trust ourselves, we just trust them, the horse. Why? Because they always know the way home!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
