Performance File #06 - The 7 Key Rules of the Mental Road (Part 2 of 2)

[ This article is part 2 of 2. For part 1, see Performance File 05. ]

Rule #4 States: Your Dominant Thought Determines Your Emotions, the Behaviors that Result from Those Emotions and Ultimately, Your Performance...

Because human beings think in pictures and the pictures you view in your mind have a real influence on your emotions and your physical body, whatever you process in your mind as a dominant thought has a direct influence on your subconscious mind, directly influencing feelings, the behaviors that result from those feelings, and ultimately your personal performance. I recognize that this is a bold statement and because I cannot demonstrate this basic truth for you in a tangible way through this article, I’d like you to simply take my word for it. In a seminar environment, the strength of this most important Rule can be demonstrated in a way that most of my high-performance clients have found absolutely fascinating and even shocking.

Rule #4 affirms that our dominant mindset directly affects our ability to perform. Each of us, regardless of our age, has more than likely experienced the consequences of this powerful Rule in the real world. Consider the following, for example:

• Circumstances or belief systems that lead us to become afraid, to develop feelings of anxiety with its associated physical tension often deny us the ability to focus effectively on the task…and our performance is not as good as it might have been.


• Situations in which we feel a high degree of motivation and desire seem to allow us unlimited reserves of energy and strength.


• A loss of confidence creates periods of self-doubt where images of failure become self-fulfilling prophecies that infect and poison our feelings, behaviors, and ultimately, our performance.


• Environments that allow us to remain calm and focused usually allow us to generate and deliver our best personal performances.
  

Positive and productive dominant thoughts generally beget our best performances while negative and counter-productive dominant thoughts beget anxiety, loss of focus, and poor performance. We violate the Rules of the Mental Road and our personal performance suffers.

Rule #5 States: You Can Control Your Dominant Thought

There are some things in our life over which it seems we have little control. There is however one thing over which we can learn to have greater and greater control…our mind. If you learn how to control your Dominant Thought such that your mind consistently ‘sees’ what it is you want and what you want to be like when you perform, your personal performance will be the best that it can be given the skills, knowledge, and abilities you possess. The A.C.T. Model© that is the hallmark of our Individual Performance Program is a self-directed process that is expressly designed to help our clients control their dominant thought, to be able to bring their best performance to the event on command, in spite of what might be significant challenges.

Rule #6 States: Your Perception or Perspective Regarding the Challenges you Face Will Determine Your Emotional Response...

It may be hard to believe, but it is not the events in your life that cause you stress, it is your perception or interpretation of those events that leads to a stress response that on the one hand, can be negative and counter-productive for your health or performance and on the other, that can be positive and contribute to your ability to perform. This Rule follows a simple A-B-C format.

A references The Activating Event – the situation that you are reacting to

B describes Your Belief with Respect to That Event, and

C outlines The Consequences of That Belief

Let me give you a concrete example from the world of business to illustrate this point:

Two salesmen from competing companies arrive at a local hotel because each is scheduled to make a major sales presentation to prospective buyers from one of the leading companies in their industry. One is scheduled to present from 9:00 to 9:30 and the other is scheduled from 9:30 to 10:00. Initially, they were supposed to meet with the Vice President for Sales only but 10 minutes prior to their presentation, each is told that not only will the VP for Sales be present, but so too will two other senior VPs for Marketing and Finance as well as the President of the company. It appears that this deal has just recently escalated in importance and volume and because it could be so financially significant, all of these key executives want to be able to ask the questions that they feel are important to satisfy their individual concerns.

Salesman #1 thinks to himself: “Good grief, what am I going to do? I’ve only got a half-hour to answer all of their questions! I will never be able to satisfy their need for information in that short a time. Not only that, I know that often these top executives do not really understand the sales process and I am certain that I will not be able to convince them that our company’s product is their best choice. I never do well in these kinds of pressure situations… I get so nervous that I trip over my tongue every time! I just can’t get comfortable. Why did these other people have to show up? This meeting is going to be a disaster! What will my boss think if I can’t pull this deal together?”

When faced with the same information, Salesman #2 thinks to himself: “Good grief, what a great opportunity!! It is so tough to get all of the key decision makers to focus on one thing at the same time and I have them all in the same room for 30 minutes. I know they won’t expect to get all the details in that short a time, my job is to excite them about this opportunity for collaboration and show them that our company’s product and reputation is their best option. I always do well when the challenge in front of me is well defined! These people put their pants on one leg at a time just like I do and I know I can deliver the goods. What a lucky break! I can’t wait to get in there to show them what we can do to help make them more successful! The boss is going to love this!!”

The quality of their product or service being equal, it should be obvious which salesman is going to be more effective and is likely to bring home the big contract. We can go back to our A-B-C explanation to better understand this scenario.

The Activating Event – the ‘A’ in this scenario is the same for both individuals: 10 minutes prior to their scheduled meeting, each is informed that other key players will be participating.

Their Belief about the event (the ‘B’ in this equation) is quite different however! Salesman #1 sees the change of plans as a threat, with the arrival of company heavyweights as a sign of doom and disaster. Salesman #2 on the other hand, sees the change as a positive, a situation that could turn to his advantage and make closing the big deal that much easier because he is being provided with the opportunity to make his presentation to all of the key players at the same time.

What are the Consequences (the ‘C’ in our equation) that each will realize as a result of their beliefs? Salesman #1 will become anxious and physically tense as the meeting approaches and the increased tension will cause him to narrow his focus and lose the mental flexibility needed to think on his feet. He will likely trip over his tongue, just the way he pictured it in his mind! Salesman #2 on the other hand will become energized by the thought of hitting a home run and will enter the room more relaxed, confident, and mentally sharp.

What is the impact of Rule #6 on performance? Here it is: realize that in our A-B-C analogy, A always leads directly to B, which in turn always leads directly to C. A, the activating event does NOT lead directly to C, the consequences! It is always our beliefs - our perception - regarding the activating events in our life that lead to the Consequences that we ultimately experience. The beauty of this realization is that if you change your belief about the activating event (something that is 100% within your control to do), you will change the consequences that you experience. It is simple enough, it just is not very easy to do in the real world!

And finally, Rule #7 simply states:

If you do what you have always done,
You will get what you have always gotten…
If you want something different,
You must approach challenges and opportunities
with a different mindset!

If you successfully integrate the 7 key Rules of the Mental Road into your day-to-day thinking (and maintain that mindset – this is the key), you will understand the secret of how to program your mind for success. You will understand how to powerfully shape your dominant thought so that you can more easily slip into your mental zone of peak performance, on command.

Remember that the mind can only process one thought at a time and that you cannot NOT think about what is on your mind. Your performance will be best served by implanting a dominant program in your mind that describes exactly what you want and how you want to be when you perform in the moment. If you focus on this mental program with intensity and single-mindedness, you will find it easier to maintain the relaxed and confident frame of mind that is consistent with excellence in your personal performance!

Visit www.dallaireconsulting.com if you would like more information regarding Dr. Dallaire and our Performance Programs.

Performance File #04 - The Five R's: A Negative Thought Stopping Procedure

Rule #2 of the 'Seven Rules of the Mental Road' states: "You can't NOT think about what's on your mind". In fact, the harder you try to ‘not think about' something that is negative, the more powerful and entrenched in your mind that negative thought becomes, and the greater the negative influence it has on your performance. The only way to stop negative thoughts is to shift your thinking to thoughts – and images – that are both positive and productive with regard to your personal performance. Since the human mind can only process one thought at a time (Rule #1), you must actively choose to direct your mind toward (i.e. focus on) a Dominant Thought that is positive, productive, and directly related to how you want to perform. By doing so, you will deny the mind the processor "capacity" required to dwell on the negative.

The FIVE R's are key words that summarize a Negative Thought Stopping procedure that can help you achieve this goal. Each word sets up the thought process for the next step in this sequential procedure. Implementing this thought process on a consistent basis, with intensity, is critical to successfully learning to stop negative or counter-productive thoughts.

RECOGNIZE – Recognizing that you are having a negative thought is a critical first step in learning to control negative thoughts. Consciously increasing your awareness and vigilance with regard to negative thinking will aid in the recognition and control of counter-productive and self-destructive thinking. You must be "on guard" to recognize the first signs of negative thinking in order to crush that thought before it has a chance to fully form and strongly take hold of your conscious mind.

REFUSE – You must refuse to allow the negative thought to continue and gain strength by some positive and defined action (e.g. visualize a STOP sign in your mind's eye; snap a rubber band across your wrist every time you have a negative thought; etc.). You must do something to disrupt the negative image and/or thought in order to prevent it from growing stronger. By doing this, you begin the process of shifting your mind away from the negative thought.

RELAX – Use any of a number of techniques that can help you to relax: take a deep, controlled breath; use a verbal trigger to shift your thoughts and feelings to a relaxing image; etc. When you are relaxed, the effect of mental programming is more powerful and you are ensuring that the next step in this 5-step procedure will have an increased potential to be effective.

REFRAME – The 4th step in the Negative Thought Stopping procedure serves to complete a mental shift toward images and thoughts that are consistent with your best performance. Replace the negative thought with a positive image or thought. "I AM in control of my thoughts and actions, I can choose to respond and think the way I want to." "I've been here before and done this before, so I know I can do it again." "This is part of the process that I have chosen." Use imagery to ‘see' and ‘feel' the performance you want to achieve and how you want to BE as you achieve it. Become you're personal A.C.T.© model.

RESUME – Continue your activities with a sense of confidence and control. You will always enjoy strong sense of confidence if you tie this mindset to a personal commitment to always give nothing but your best effort, regardless of the situation or outcome. The degree of effort you apply to the challenges that you face on an ongoing basis is totally, 100% within your control… it is one of the few things that is, in fact, fully within your control. Think about what you are like when you perform with excellence and what you want to achieve, and develop your confidence by always applying your best effort to achieve it. A.C.T.© like a Champion in word, thought, and deed.

The next time you feel negative thoughts grabbing hold, use these Five R's to effectively change your thought patterns and bring about powerful results in your life. Make this simple program your new habit!

To learn about revolutionary business performance programs, individual/sport programs and products, visit Dallaire Performance Consulting.