Program Your Mind for Maximum Performance
By Carol Day
Programming your mind for maximum performance begins with what and how you think. The Nobel Prize winning neurophysiologist, Dr. Roger Sperry, recently discovered that with repetitive thinking, the brain develops physical pathways or "circuits" which control the way you perform and feel. If repeated often, these circuits become so deeply ingrained that you actually "wire" your brain with them. These paths become a physical part of your mind.
You have the power to change or enhance these pathways by how and what you think. Neuroscience research is filled with proof that the thoughts you choose can maximize your professional capabilities, proactively driving what you produce, or they can make you a reactive person who becomes despondent when the economy sours or the weather is bad.
As long ago as the 1930s, when Andrew Carnegie commissioned Napoleon Hill to research highly productive people, he discovered that their ability to image their successful experiences intensely made them different. They positively influenced their brain's pathways by creating richly woven sensory tapestries. They could mentally see, hear, and feel both their past and future accomplishments in such detail that they were consistently able to sell themselves on their own success.
Charles Garfield, in his extensive research on excellence, has found that the top world-class athletes do this same kind of intense imaging. High achievers in all fields have this common trait: they mentally condition their minds by replaying their past successes and rehearsing their future ones.
The technique they use is simple. Create in your mind a repertoire of your own self-produced success videos of the times when you performed better than you ever thought you could, when things turned out better than you ever could have imagined. Imprint these achievements into your brain by being the director of your mental videotapes.
See yourself in a specific situation being the best you have ever been. As a movie director would, add a spotlight or focus in on the scene more closely. Wrap it in stereophonic sound and adjust the volume of your brilliant script, making it louder or softer as you wish. Notice how the feelings of strength, self--confidence and success grow as these scenes become more vivid in your mind. After all, you are the star and the most important part of your product. Sell yourself to yourself.
An equally effective technique is to imagine your mistakes as small, far away and low in volume. You can literally put them, as part of your past, behind you.
Your success videos have immediate results. You begin to act successfully. Your posture exudes confidence. You speak with more authority. You find yourself taking action and consistently performing well.
Remember that mental programming is a process, not an end in itself. Like top athletes, these successful producers know that they must continually condition themselves by monitoring their thinking and making sure that their success videos have plenty of mental reruns. Good ideas are not adopted automatically, admonished Admiral Hyman Rickover. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience.
Change is a challenge. Conditioning your mind, like the physical conditioning required of world-class athletes, is not for the timid. Tapping this vast inner creative resource takes commitment, repetition, and skill. As a payoff, the effort will give you that competitive edge you need for success.
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