I purchased a mindfulness colouring book recently. My mind moves often at a 100 miles an hour (yes I know I'm not special in that regard), and focus on the moment, clearing my thoughts, applying my filter(s) can be at times, difficult. So concentrating on the task at hand, surely with Faber Castells at the ready, would solve the lack of "stillness" in my daily routine? Sadly no. I've not had that much self inflicted frustration thrust at me for quite some time. Of course I didn't choose an "easy" selection of graphics, and well I wanted to "blend" colours and not have it look like a 3 year old had completed the templates. Perhaps I was missing the point?
There are different approaches to mindfulness. A great way to explain what it actually is, is probably to start with what it is not. When we don't pay attention to what is going on around us, when we operate on automatic pilot, when we go through the motions, this is indeed the opposite of mindfulness. And we have all done it.
I can't tell you how many times I have driven into my street, and can't actually remember the drive home. Perhaps considering Melbourne or now Sydney traffic, that's a good thing. But imagine if that's the way you felt about a meeting, and interaction, or your day? In other words where we really haven't paid attention to what we have been doing or saying. Rather we have just reacted with ingrained habitual responses. Without mindfulness we can not create changes in how we live our lives, which is required because of the constant interchange and exchange of experiences that comes at us each and everyday. Without mindfulness we can. It change patterns that possibly are not serving us well.
I have triggers. Throughout my life they have led to a pattern of reacting to things. The reactions have manifested differently depending on the different experiences encountered, but nevertheless they are the result of patterns. Sometimes the reactions are needed and beneficial. Sometimes they have been rather destructive. The reactions are not the problem. The habit and locus of control relinquishment is.
Has mindfulness helped? Well I don't think I'd be writing this without it.
So what is mindfulness? It's paying attention, it's being aware. It is a style of thinking. It's being actively invested in the experiences that come your way, and dealing with them in the present rather than applying old filters and patterns.
Buddhist meditation teaches one to detach your own personal filter from the experience so that the automatic reaction does not occur.
It's not easy! It is about firstly focusing your attention to the experience at hand and then being open, accepting, curious.
Researchers have demonstrated that self awareness levels and positive emotions are associated with the ability to be more mindful.
But to break old habits, when you are practising mindfulness, Shapiro and Carlson in their article "The art and science of mindfulness, integrating mindfulness into psychology and the helping professions" (American Psychological Association, 2009) listed some elements that being mindful requires. They posit that to have success in mindfulness one must be non judging - be impartial to the experience, non reactive - forget and let go of habitual responses, trust - trust you are in control of the experience and also they identify having patience as key (just to name a few).
For me it was very much about transferring the quiet stillness I feel when running track, into everyday experiences, and not reacting in patterns of the past. It was also about appreciating that what was happening now, in the moment was not something that was happening to a scared helpless 11 year old boy. And as such triggers become, well, less of a problem. Letting go of some patterns is not without it's trauma.
What's the point of it all? Well there is a connection to concepts of flow, to peak performance for individuals and for teams. There's connections to happiness and well being. There are connections most profoundly to living a better life and being closer to the person whom it is you want to be.
That old adage exists : of playing the movie of your life, and whether you are proud or not. Luckily for anyone reading this, you can throw the script out if you don't like the direction the story is heading and rewrite it. It's never too late.
Showing posts with label Positive Self Talk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Positive Self Talk. Show all posts
Monday, 27 June 2016
Sunday, 27 April 2014
Greater Success And Sales Using Emotional Intelligence to Engage Staff and Clients : And What's This Got To Do With Intergenerational Advice?
Research studies have related team performance and team characteristics to effective leadership behaviours. The leadership behaviours in play encompass emotional intelligence and further, emotional intelligence becomes a precursor for the demonstration of transformational leadership.
The conclusions that can be drawn drawn are that facets of brain dominance and emotional intelligence may be potentially useful predictors of transformational leadership behaviours.
So what is emotional intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is described by Herbst and Maree and again by Schelecter and Strauss as a cognitive ability that involves the processing of emotion.
Other models define emotional intelligence in terms of behaviours and skills, including stress management skills (such as stress tolerance and impulse control), self-management skills (such as self-control, conscientiousness and adaptability), as well as social skills (such as conflict management, leadership and communication).
Overall however what is critical in understanding how effective a persons level of emotional intelligence is, is the requirement to understand how an individual perceives, understands, utilises and manages emotions.
Leadership comprises both intellectual and emotional facets and both these facets need to be attended to during the training of managers in order to equip them with sufficient leadership skills.
Transformational leadership behaviour has been found to be positively related to team-leader emotional intelligence and both these are said to be positively related to trust (both in the team leader and in team members) and to team commitment.
It seems that leaders are important creators and sustainers of the processes and dynamics responsible for effective teams.
So in the financial services world - effective client engagement and client servicing comes from having exceptional teams, team members and team dynamics that support a culture of ownership and empathy with the client.
Further the team needs to be crystal clear on the outcome that the business is creating for the client.
Without a leader that can define in client terms the vision for the business with a meaning and relevance that staff can not only believe in but also share the vision and help create it - then the business is only positioning itself for transactions with clients and not transformations of clients and the business itself.
Businesses that are not defining a vision, purpose and message for clients, sharing that vision with staff and building capabilities to deliver on the promise may do well in the short term in purely a transactional sense.
But the businesses that are shaping messages to win the hearts and minds of clients will be the businesses that truly capture the attention and the longevity of client loyalty.
The longer they are able to do this, then the longer they will be able to build their capabilities further to provide true family advice, true intergenerational offerings that deliver on providing the unspoken needs of clients.
The conclusions that can be drawn drawn are that facets of brain dominance and emotional intelligence may be potentially useful predictors of transformational leadership behaviours.
So what is emotional intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is described by Herbst and Maree and again by Schelecter and Strauss as a cognitive ability that involves the processing of emotion.
Other models define emotional intelligence in terms of behaviours and skills, including stress management skills (such as stress tolerance and impulse control), self-management skills (such as self-control, conscientiousness and adaptability), as well as social skills (such as conflict management, leadership and communication).
Overall however what is critical in understanding how effective a persons level of emotional intelligence is, is the requirement to understand how an individual perceives, understands, utilises and manages emotions.
Leadership comprises both intellectual and emotional facets and both these facets need to be attended to during the training of managers in order to equip them with sufficient leadership skills.
Transformational leadership behaviour has been found to be positively related to team-leader emotional intelligence and both these are said to be positively related to trust (both in the team leader and in team members) and to team commitment.
It seems that leaders are important creators and sustainers of the processes and dynamics responsible for effective teams.
So in the financial services world - effective client engagement and client servicing comes from having exceptional teams, team members and team dynamics that support a culture of ownership and empathy with the client.
Further the team needs to be crystal clear on the outcome that the business is creating for the client.
Without a leader that can define in client terms the vision for the business with a meaning and relevance that staff can not only believe in but also share the vision and help create it - then the business is only positioning itself for transactions with clients and not transformations of clients and the business itself.
Businesses that are not defining a vision, purpose and message for clients, sharing that vision with staff and building capabilities to deliver on the promise may do well in the short term in purely a transactional sense.
But the businesses that are shaping messages to win the hearts and minds of clients will be the businesses that truly capture the attention and the longevity of client loyalty.
The longer they are able to do this, then the longer they will be able to build their capabilities further to provide true family advice, true intergenerational offerings that deliver on providing the unspoken needs of clients.
Finding Balance : A ReFocus on Priorities
Perspective.....the ability to find perspective allows you to see things as they really are.
It's that ability in any given moment to step out of yourself and have a birds eye view on a situation and assess it for what it is. Perspective allows clarity of thought and that mindfulness leads to better decisions, more creativity and greater satisfaction with life.
The greatest challengers to perspective are time and awareness.
In today's unrelenting modern lifestyles the time for perspective is seldom allocated. Secondly with our minds bombarded more than ever before with information at speeds never before experienced in human history our awareness of our feelings, of situations is challenged and ignored. We become expressions of that which we have knowledge of but not necessarily understood. And that knowledge without understanding applies to ourselves.
We all understand the problem. What's the solution? Awareness is the key. But to give awareness an opportunity to change our direction, our perspective we need to allocate the time to gaining perspective.
Our advice is simple: time block it.
1) Allocate to start 10 mins in the morning and 10 minutes at night to mindfulness. This may start as simply a quiet spot where initially you don't think of anything. So don't take your smartphone with you. Now if you can't find a quiet room at work or home, then multi task. In all seriousness this might be time spent in the lavatory or in the shower. If that's all you can grab then take the opportunity.
2) Move next to assessing your life and how you feel about it. Ask yourself how you feel about certain aspects of your life, rank it on a scale of 1 to 5 and then write about what you want in the future and how you want to feel. This is a great exercise to do as a couple. The areas you are assessing include : relationships, health, fitness, philanthropy, community involvement, friends, spirituality, hobbies, work, house and home, finances, personal space, education and personal development.
3) Identify the three most important areas for you and assess whether you are spending enough time and resources in these areas.
4) By now that 10 mins hopefully has moved to 15 now you need to start a dialogue with your self and significant others : try setting time aside and this may start as only once a week that you and your partner just talk about your world and perhaps it's just as simple as a download of the week. Take turns. Listen don't solve.
5) Start focussing on what's really important (identified in 3)
It's that ability in any given moment to step out of yourself and have a birds eye view on a situation and assess it for what it is. Perspective allows clarity of thought and that mindfulness leads to better decisions, more creativity and greater satisfaction with life.
The greatest challengers to perspective are time and awareness.
In today's unrelenting modern lifestyles the time for perspective is seldom allocated. Secondly with our minds bombarded more than ever before with information at speeds never before experienced in human history our awareness of our feelings, of situations is challenged and ignored. We become expressions of that which we have knowledge of but not necessarily understood. And that knowledge without understanding applies to ourselves.
We all understand the problem. What's the solution? Awareness is the key. But to give awareness an opportunity to change our direction, our perspective we need to allocate the time to gaining perspective.
Our advice is simple: time block it.
1) Allocate to start 10 mins in the morning and 10 minutes at night to mindfulness. This may start as simply a quiet spot where initially you don't think of anything. So don't take your smartphone with you. Now if you can't find a quiet room at work or home, then multi task. In all seriousness this might be time spent in the lavatory or in the shower. If that's all you can grab then take the opportunity.
2) Move next to assessing your life and how you feel about it. Ask yourself how you feel about certain aspects of your life, rank it on a scale of 1 to 5 and then write about what you want in the future and how you want to feel. This is a great exercise to do as a couple. The areas you are assessing include : relationships, health, fitness, philanthropy, community involvement, friends, spirituality, hobbies, work, house and home, finances, personal space, education and personal development.
3) Identify the three most important areas for you and assess whether you are spending enough time and resources in these areas.
4) By now that 10 mins hopefully has moved to 15 now you need to start a dialogue with your self and significant others : try setting time aside and this may start as only once a week that you and your partner just talk about your world and perhaps it's just as simple as a download of the week. Take turns. Listen don't solve.
5) Start focussing on what's really important (identified in 3)
Wednesday, 2 April 2014
Your thoughts don't need to define you
Especially if they're negative! We love the work by Susan David (CEO of Evidence Based
Psychology) and Christina Congleton, an associate at Evidence Based Psychology on how effective leaders manage their negative thoughts and feelings (Harvard Business Review November 2013).
They recognise and remind us that all of us have thoughts and feelings that can include criticism, doubt, and fear.
Where this becomes an issue is when we start believing what our inner voice is saying. What that voice is often doing is looking at a situation and working through the scenarios : akin to a process like De Bonos thinking hats, this happens though often without our conscious control and is our brain at work navigating solutions for us.
Where we come unstuck is when we don't recognise the thoughts and emotions for what they are : thoughts and emotions : they do not have to become the defining feature of us in that moment or determine our outcomes.
Being able to practice mindfulness and consciously assess the thought for what it is, is a great first step in determining our outcomes. Realising we are having a negative thought is ok as is how we feel about that thought.
David and Cohen put forth that effective leaders don’t suppress their inner experiences but rather practice emotional agility. A process where according to David and Cohen they recognise patterns; label thoughts and emotions; accept them; and act on their values.
What this relies on is a base of values that define who you are as an indvidual as a human being. What you stand for and the committment you have to those values are incredibly powerful drivers of your ability to practice mindfulness and in doing so be able to enact positive changes in your and others worlds even when the voice of doubt and potential failure enter your head.
This is about being true to yourself and that comes with the first step of knowing who you are.
Who you are is a construct of your experiences and interactions : the socialisation and combination of social structure and social engagement : but it's deeper than that : it is the very essence of not only who you are as a result but who you are wanting to be.
That's when you can reach for the positive affirmations, and the picture of the ideal you and understand where the gap is between the self you are now and the person you want to be. That defines the values you need to stay true to and the ones that will be challenged along the way.
With that clear understanding when you are challenged, fearful, anxious, conflicted or have just made a bad choice you will have the mindfulness to recognise the feeling that is out of kilter with your ideal self acknowledge that thought, accept it and take the action the positive action to rectify it and stay or move closer to the values that the ideal you embodies.
Psychology) and Christina Congleton, an associate at Evidence Based Psychology on how effective leaders manage their negative thoughts and feelings (Harvard Business Review November 2013).
They recognise and remind us that all of us have thoughts and feelings that can include criticism, doubt, and fear.
Where this becomes an issue is when we start believing what our inner voice is saying. What that voice is often doing is looking at a situation and working through the scenarios : akin to a process like De Bonos thinking hats, this happens though often without our conscious control and is our brain at work navigating solutions for us.
Where we come unstuck is when we don't recognise the thoughts and emotions for what they are : thoughts and emotions : they do not have to become the defining feature of us in that moment or determine our outcomes.
Being able to practice mindfulness and consciously assess the thought for what it is, is a great first step in determining our outcomes. Realising we are having a negative thought is ok as is how we feel about that thought.
David and Cohen put forth that effective leaders don’t suppress their inner experiences but rather practice emotional agility. A process where according to David and Cohen they recognise patterns; label thoughts and emotions; accept them; and act on their values.
What this relies on is a base of values that define who you are as an indvidual as a human being. What you stand for and the committment you have to those values are incredibly powerful drivers of your ability to practice mindfulness and in doing so be able to enact positive changes in your and others worlds even when the voice of doubt and potential failure enter your head.
This is about being true to yourself and that comes with the first step of knowing who you are.
Who you are is a construct of your experiences and interactions : the socialisation and combination of social structure and social engagement : but it's deeper than that : it is the very essence of not only who you are as a result but who you are wanting to be.
That's when you can reach for the positive affirmations, and the picture of the ideal you and understand where the gap is between the self you are now and the person you want to be. That defines the values you need to stay true to and the ones that will be challenged along the way.
With that clear understanding when you are challenged, fearful, anxious, conflicted or have just made a bad choice you will have the mindfulness to recognise the feeling that is out of kilter with your ideal self acknowledge that thought, accept it and take the action the positive action to rectify it and stay or move closer to the values that the ideal you embodies.
Monday, 17 March 2014
Six tips for your clients to create new habits in 2014
Creating new positive habits can make a significant difference in one’s life and provide the skills to turn the impossible into the possible. But it’s not always easy to change our behaviour as Tony Schwartz of the Energy Project(1) reveals with the statistics below…
· 25% of people abandon their New Years’ resolution(s) after just one week
· 95% of people who lose weight on a diet regain it
· Most alarming is that after surviving a heart attack only 1 in 7 people make any enduring life changes around eating or exercise.
So you can see we are indeed creatures of habit and some behaviors become so ingrained, such as smoking or biting our nails that we can’t stop even if we want to. In fact, Massachusetts Institute of Technology research has identified two regions in the brain that are responsible for crystallising habits so it’s no wonder we find it so hard to break them.
Making positive choices to start the pattern of change
In order to break habits, we must start our own patterns of change which according to Chris Gardner (the man on whom the film ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’ was based), centers around our ability to embrace the best within and make positive choices for ourselves. (2)
In his retelling of his battle to come out of poverty and homelessness, he suggested four key choices to begin this process of change:
1) Choose to let go of judgment and accept who you are at your best
2) Choose to break generational cycles
3) Choose to accept that you are allowed to be happy and have abundance; and
4) Choose to learn from the past.
Now it isn’t easy to act on this advice, but by simply sharing these choices with your clients, you will be helping them start on their own path to making better decisions for themselves and their families.
Why your expert help is critical in this process
With the stress of daily life upon your clients, applying these choices and making time for what’s important can be extremely difficult. This is where you and your expertise fit into the picture.
When sharing these tips with your clients your role is two-fold. Firstly, you can help your clients understand the importance of freeing up their time as much as possible to focus on the important choices they have to make. Secondly, you can help your clients understand the areas where they can enlist your expert help so they have more time to focus on what’s important to them and what will add value to their lives.
Take John for example. I’m sure we could all relate to him…
John is a small business owner married to Kate a teacher and they have two children 13 and 10. John is trying to: Run the business; be a good husband; be a good father, keep a handle on the finances, keep fit, maintain his friendships, mentor his staff, fit in a family holiday at some point and maintain the condition of his home…..Something has got to give!!
With his energy focused on so many activities, where would John find the time to make better choices and start making changes to his lifestyle?
Today we call it outsourcing, the Babylonians(3) called it “…one of the cures for a lean purse” – either way, the message is clear – John needs to outsource the things that he is no good at or not qualified to do so that he can have more time to focus on what’s important to him and what adds value to his life.
So for John this meant joining a small business peer group, hiring a trainer for his staff, seeing a financial adviser and matching exercise with his friendship group. By doing this he freed up time for what was really important to him - being a good husband and father.
Six tips for your clients to create new habits
John was able to free up his time to focus on making change and you can help your clients implement positive changes in their lives too. But it’s important to remember that change takes time and there will be some resistance along the way.
Try these six tips to help your clients on their journey:
1) Don’t change everything at once: One or two things at a time
2) It takes about a month to lock in a new behavior
3) Be precise about what you want to change
4) Focus on a positive outcome rather than the negatives
5) Expect resistance (especially from yourself)
6) Enlist the support of others
Whether it’s finances in 2014 that are a priority, the estate plan, getting the right insurance cover or even talking about the no sugar diet (and that’s a tough one, I know from personal experience), it’s important your clients know they can talk to you and understand how you can help.
Ultimately for clients and advisers alike, by enlisting the help of others through outsourcing (as you would know), you can free up your time to make better choices and to start the journey towards creating new positive habits that will have a great impact on our lives.
1) “The Energy Project” www.theenergyproject.com
2) “The Pursuit of Happiness” Chris Gardner 2006
3) “The Richest Man in Babylon” George S. Clason 1926.
Thursday, 18 July 2013
Can you really have it all......YES...but something's gotta give
YES!!! You can have it all.
But there is a price to pay.
That price is the acceptance to create new positive habits.
Even further, you need once on the path to reinforce those new habits until they become crystallise.
And over all you need to decide what are the things you need to outsource and stop do them yourself!
This has become so evident for PCE. First you may notice its been a month since our last post. With meetings with key advisers, with travel, with conferences and presentations, something had to give!
And most importantly PCE made a choice to creat a new habit.
6am starts in the office, 8pm boxing and gym work : was not working!
Well at least it was not working for family. And PCE needed to step back at look at what was really important.
Factor in a new habit, 6am gym, 7.15am family time over breakfast, and then 7pm dinner and we are done for the night apart from conversation with loved ones. Easy? Not really, suddenly 2 to 3 hours of work time per day were sacrificed and there needed to be a solution?
Let us tell you about Jan and Phil. Phil owns a small business. Phil said to PCE he was battling : trying to me a good husband, father, businessman, boss, trying to keep finances on track, maintain the house, keep fit, maintain friendships, look after his staff......something's gotta give.
Phil was telling himself lots of stories.....
We readily notice what’s wrong in our lives and react to it automatically – often at a cost to more thoughtful deliberation and effectiveness. Our core emotional need is to feel secure valued and appreciated.
The more we feel our value is at risk the more energy and time we spend defending it and the less energy we have available to create value.
So we develop influence over the stories we tell .......
We can develop stories to empower us rather than undermine. When we react as a default to telling negative stories we assign ourselves to the role of victim. It feels better not to blame ourselves for disappointments The victim role undermines our power to influence our circumstances.
The alternative is to look for where our responsibility lies in any given situation and then take remedial action to influence what we can control.
Awareness is key: being curious about how we respond changes us from being the subject of our feelings to making them the object of our observation.
Realistic optimism balances a hopeful and positive perspective with a recognition that the desired outcome may or may not occur.
We often look to those that inspire us for guidance. For PCE Chris Gardner is a source of inspiration.
For Chris its about Spiritual Genetics : the conscious choice to embrace the spirit within yourself : to embrace the best within you.
It involves a choice to : let go of judgement, allow yourself to heal, accept that you can have it all, embrace lessons of the past and grow.
Accept that where you are now is where you need to be and move forward : empowered, can do attitude, tap into your ingenuity, with a sense of purpose, inspiration to face fears, with perspective, ask questions, get support, and have an unstoppable passion for life.
So create new habits, make change but do it positively and looking ahead, leaving what you can't control and focussing on what it really important and being accountable for where your responsibility lies.
Chris Gardner : Start Where You Are – Life Lessons in Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, 2010, Amistad.
Tony Schwartz: The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working, 2010, Free Press The Energy Project : www.theenergyproject.com/resources
But there is a price to pay.
That price is the acceptance to create new positive habits.
Even further, you need once on the path to reinforce those new habits until they become crystallise.
And over all you need to decide what are the things you need to outsource and stop do them yourself!
This has become so evident for PCE. First you may notice its been a month since our last post. With meetings with key advisers, with travel, with conferences and presentations, something had to give!
And most importantly PCE made a choice to creat a new habit.
6am starts in the office, 8pm boxing and gym work : was not working!
Well at least it was not working for family. And PCE needed to step back at look at what was really important.
Factor in a new habit, 6am gym, 7.15am family time over breakfast, and then 7pm dinner and we are done for the night apart from conversation with loved ones. Easy? Not really, suddenly 2 to 3 hours of work time per day were sacrificed and there needed to be a solution?
Let us tell you about Jan and Phil. Phil owns a small business. Phil said to PCE he was battling : trying to me a good husband, father, businessman, boss, trying to keep finances on track, maintain the house, keep fit, maintain friendships, look after his staff......something's gotta give.
Phil was telling himself lots of stories.....
We readily notice what’s wrong in our lives and react to it automatically – often at a cost to more thoughtful deliberation and effectiveness. Our core emotional need is to feel secure valued and appreciated.
The more we feel our value is at risk the more energy and time we spend defending it and the less energy we have available to create value.
So we develop influence over the stories we tell .......
We can develop stories to empower us rather than undermine. When we react as a default to telling negative stories we assign ourselves to the role of victim. It feels better not to blame ourselves for disappointments The victim role undermines our power to influence our circumstances.
The alternative is to look for where our responsibility lies in any given situation and then take remedial action to influence what we can control.
Awareness is key: being curious about how we respond changes us from being the subject of our feelings to making them the object of our observation.
Realistic optimism balances a hopeful and positive perspective with a recognition that the desired outcome may or may not occur.
We often look to those that inspire us for guidance. For PCE Chris Gardner is a source of inspiration.
For Chris its about Spiritual Genetics : the conscious choice to embrace the spirit within yourself : to embrace the best within you.
It involves a choice to : let go of judgement, allow yourself to heal, accept that you can have it all, embrace lessons of the past and grow.
Accept that where you are now is where you need to be and move forward : empowered, can do attitude, tap into your ingenuity, with a sense of purpose, inspiration to face fears, with perspective, ask questions, get support, and have an unstoppable passion for life.
So create new habits, make change but do it positively and looking ahead, leaving what you can't control and focussing on what it really important and being accountable for where your responsibility lies.
Chris Gardner : Start Where You Are – Life Lessons in Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, 2010, Amistad.
Tony Schwartz: The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working, 2010, Free Press The Energy Project : www.theenergyproject.com/resources
Thursday, 21 February 2013
Overcoming fear to reset mind and body to achieve
How did fear, drive anxiety that drove backing down in a challenge that then drove a reset of mind and body to achieve?
There are ten realisations that PCE discovered recently.
The story goes a little like this.....
PCE recently visited our Canadian friends and Aussies working at the Ski Resorts in BC and took the opportunity to hit the slopes.
First step was to find the ski legs again and then get challenged by some of the harder terrain.
One morning a decision was made to try a black run called "Dragons Tongue". With no information on what to expect the run began. As the moguls got larger and the terrain steeper, technique fell away and anxiety crept in. As a ridge approached that seemed to fall away a look to the right through the trees caught a glimpse of a red jacket fly past on clearly an easier run. Fear had set in and a lack of positive talk was replaced by a lot of negative chatter.
The decision was made, through the trees and onto a blue run "Born to Run".
Safely home later that day a piece of paper was torn out of a scrap book and two goals written down.
1) Complete "Born to Run" in it's entirety
2) Finish "Dragons Tongue".
The next morning off the lift towards "Born to Run" what ran through the mind was this:
- activate the body : form, technique; let's start feeling how it feels, feel the muscles activating
- activate the mind : fun, belief, positive talk
The run started. This seemed a lot harder than "Dragons Tongue". It was steeper. Longer. Narrower.
You can do this.
Remember the technique.
Feel every turn.
Control every turn.
Vocalisation took effect over each mogul: "turn....turn..turn...turn..."
Awareness of breathing.
A shout up from a skier below "be careful there's lots of exposed rocks here". "Thanks!", a quick reply.
The last few moguls before the run opened up and flattened. The exhilaration the vocal celebration "whoohoooo!!!"
It's done!!
Tomorrow bring on "Dragons Tongue".
Later that night at dinner, as the run was described, the fellow skiers looked puzzled. "That wasn't "Born to Run"
"Born to Run, starts through trees and it's steep but it's not overly moguled".
Having missed the entrance to "Born to Run" the right fork has been taken onto a black run "Goats Kick". That was what was conquered.
The next day "Born to Run" was a dream to ski down. And "Dragons Tongue" was completed not once but twice. On all three of these runs the same attitude and process taken down what was thought to be "Born to Run" was followed.
Technique, belief, positive talk won the day.
So what was learnt?
1) Fear can cripple
2) Fear without knowledge makes for bad decisions
3) Fear causes doubts in self
4) Attitude can be programmed
5) Mindset can be programmed
6) With the right base you can programme your body to perform
7) Visualisation is a powerful tool
8) Positive self talk drives you forward
9) Vocalisation of your process keeps you on track
10) Writing down a goal makes you accountable to it and drives your mind, body and spirit towards finding ways to fulfil the goal.
Taking these lessons and applying them everyday to every challenge is the next step.
There are ten realisations that PCE discovered recently.
The story goes a little like this.....
PCE recently visited our Canadian friends and Aussies working at the Ski Resorts in BC and took the opportunity to hit the slopes.
First step was to find the ski legs again and then get challenged by some of the harder terrain.
One morning a decision was made to try a black run called "Dragons Tongue". With no information on what to expect the run began. As the moguls got larger and the terrain steeper, technique fell away and anxiety crept in. As a ridge approached that seemed to fall away a look to the right through the trees caught a glimpse of a red jacket fly past on clearly an easier run. Fear had set in and a lack of positive talk was replaced by a lot of negative chatter.
The decision was made, through the trees and onto a blue run "Born to Run".
Safely home later that day a piece of paper was torn out of a scrap book and two goals written down.
1) Complete "Born to Run" in it's entirety
2) Finish "Dragons Tongue".
The next morning off the lift towards "Born to Run" what ran through the mind was this:
- activate the body : form, technique; let's start feeling how it feels, feel the muscles activating
- activate the mind : fun, belief, positive talk
The run started. This seemed a lot harder than "Dragons Tongue". It was steeper. Longer. Narrower.
You can do this.
Remember the technique.
Feel every turn.
Control every turn.
Vocalisation took effect over each mogul: "turn....turn..turn...turn..."
Awareness of breathing.
A shout up from a skier below "be careful there's lots of exposed rocks here". "Thanks!", a quick reply.
The last few moguls before the run opened up and flattened. The exhilaration the vocal celebration "whoohoooo!!!"
It's done!!
Tomorrow bring on "Dragons Tongue".
Later that night at dinner, as the run was described, the fellow skiers looked puzzled. "That wasn't "Born to Run"
"Born to Run, starts through trees and it's steep but it's not overly moguled".
Having missed the entrance to "Born to Run" the right fork has been taken onto a black run "Goats Kick". That was what was conquered.
The next day "Born to Run" was a dream to ski down. And "Dragons Tongue" was completed not once but twice. On all three of these runs the same attitude and process taken down what was thought to be "Born to Run" was followed.
Technique, belief, positive talk won the day.
So what was learnt?
1) Fear can cripple
2) Fear without knowledge makes for bad decisions
3) Fear causes doubts in self
4) Attitude can be programmed
5) Mindset can be programmed
6) With the right base you can programme your body to perform
7) Visualisation is a powerful tool
8) Positive self talk drives you forward
9) Vocalisation of your process keeps you on track
10) Writing down a goal makes you accountable to it and drives your mind, body and spirit towards finding ways to fulfil the goal.
Taking these lessons and applying them everyday to every challenge is the next step.
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