How to become excellent
@ anything & everything
Whose life do you admire the most? Whose phenomenal success do you
wish you could call your own? Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a peak
performer in your area? Have you ever wondered what the big achievers know-
that you don't about success & achievement? Have you ever wished you could
have that proud moment on the podium with a Olympic gold medal round your neck?
or a Bharat Ratna or a Nobel Prize in your hand??
WHAT TURNS ORDINARY PEOPLE INTO OVERACHIEVERS
Simply put, all of the above may sound like Superman’s
Wishlist, but they are not hallucinations or mirages; they represent what we
all could be. Natural talent and intelligence can certainly make life a lot
easier. Nor is luck. Whoever it is that you admire most is, in fact, a lot more
like you than you might expect. Except for one thing: THEY THINK DIFFERENTLY.
When the whistle blows, when the chips are down, when the deal is on the table,
when they step into the limelight, they are in a special mindset.
What turns ordinary people into overachievers is the way they use
their minds when they are called upon to perform. And in case you think that
only athletes, musicians, actors, and other entertainers "perform,"
you should know that any time you engage in your work, you are performing; any
time you are not alone or talking to yourself, regardless of your profession,
you are performing in public. To be as successful as you can be as a performer,
you will need a performer's mindset.
Peak performance mind training is essential for anyone wanting to
be at their best. Over the years we have heard a lot on getting fit
and eating the right foods, but very little attention is given to train your
mind. It's amazing really… because the MIND is like the source of the
stream, and everything else flows downhill from there. You absolutely have to
be performing mentally at your very best, if you want to surge ahead in life.
One of the most proven method of sports coaching is the
importance of "the mental game"; that players who are psychologically
prepared will have an edge on competitors who might be more physically gifted.
So, over the past years, clinical psychologists have jumped into the
sports arena, offering to help people work on their mental games by teaching
techniques of "stress management," "goal setting,"
"visualization," and "self-talk."
Olympic and professional athletes who have actually experienced
performing at their peak, or who realized they were stuck on the second string,
were quick to consult with these clinicians about how they might enhance their
games. Professional sports teams added psychologists to their payrolls. And
since sports is such an irresistible metaphor among business executives, many
of them former high school or college athletes, Fortune 500 companies began hiring
psychologists to teach their top executives the mental fitness tricks of great
athletes. Today thank God everyone recognizes, the need to keep your
mind tuned like a high-performance engine.
For most who, have accepted the incredibly
durable myth that some people are born with special talents and gifts, and that
the potential to truly excel in any given pursuit is largely determined by our
genetic inheritance. I've found, in my work with executives at dozens of
organizations, that it's possible to build any given skill or capacity in the
same systematic way we do a muscle: PUSH PAST YOUR COMFORT ZONE, and then
rest.That’s exactly the mega-achivers do when the perform in the critical
competiton on the Olympic track or the concert stage. Aristotle had it exactly
right 2000 years ago: "We are what we repeatedly do." By relying on
highly specific practices, I've seen young executives, dramatically improve
skills ranging from empathy, to focus, to creativity, to summoning positive
emotions, to deeply relaxing.
Like everyone who studies performance, I
have been making the case that it's not inherited talent which
determines how good we become at something, but rather how hard we're
willing to work — something he calls "deliberate practice."
Numerous researchers now agree that 10,000 hours of such
practice as the minimum necessary to achieve expertise in any complex domain.
There is something wonderfully empowering
about this. It suggests we have remarkable capacity to influence our own
outcomes. But that's also daunting. One of the central findings of human
behaviour & success experts is that practice is not only the most important
ingredient in achieving excellence, but also the most difficult and the least
intrinsically enjoyable.
If you want to be really good at something,
it's going to involve relentlessly pushing past your comfort zone, along with
frustration, struggle, setbacks and failures. That's true as long as you want
to continue to improve, or even maintain a high level of excellence. The reward
is that being really good at something you've earned through your own hard work
can be immensely satisfying.
HOW DO YOU TRAIN YOUR MIND TO PERFORM AT
THE PEAK OF ITS ABILITIES?
Practice,
Practice, Practice. Work at getting better each and everyday. When you were
learning to walk, you would take a couple steps and fall down. You may have
gotten frustrated but you still got up and tried again. You do not fail when
you make a mistake. You only fail when you fail to learn from your mistake.
Practice intensely, without interruption for short periods of
no longer than 90 minutes and then take a break. Ninety minutes appears to be
the maximum amount of time that we can bring the highest level of focus to any
given activity.
The evidence is equally strong that great performers practice no more than 4 ½ hours a day. Do the hardest work first. Bite the bullet…We all move instinctively toward pleasure and away from pain. Most great performers, delay gratificationand take on the difficult work of practice in the mornings, before they do anything else. That's when most of us have the most energy and the fewest distractions.
Next important point RITUALIZE PRACTICE.
Will and discipline are wildly overrated...few of us have much of it. The best
way to insure you'll take on difficult tasks is to ritualize them — build
specific, inviolable times at which you do them, so that over time you do them
without having to squander energy thinking about them.
NINE
GUIDEPOSTS TO ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE
Here, then, are GUIDEPOSTS to achieving
excellence we've found are most effective for my personal growth seminar
participants:
PURSUE WHAT YOU LOVE. Passion is an
incredible motivator. It fuels focus, resilience, and perseverance. Top performers are
positive. The super-achievers take negative self-talk, situations, and
circumstances, and reframe them into positive mood boosters. They look for the
opportunities and lessons that come from all events in life. They learn from
them and use the teachings to become more successful than they were yesterday.
COMMIT TO YOUR DREAM. Olympic athletes like all other
super-achievers are committed to attaining their dreams and they have a “never
quit” attitude. You can commit to your dream and make it happen as well. Have a
clear picture of where it is you want to go and take steps each day in the
direction of your dream. Make it a reality.
FOCUS & VISUALIZE YOUR END OBJECTIVES. Top achievers keep
focussed on their end result. What is it that you want to achieve? Sometimes
you will have to say "no" to pursuing an activity
or giving up a pet hobby that gobbles time but does not contribute
to your end objective. At times, you may ask yourself, "Is it worth
it?" What is it worth to you not to live your dreams? So super-achievers
are also great time managers
CONVERT DREAMS TO SMART GOALS -Only 3% of people set goals
and they are the super-achievers & peak performers. They set goals that are
specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and have time frame set for
achievement. With each goal, take time to set a plan of action. What are 5
things you can do today to take a step in the direction of your dream???
ALWAYS GIVE YOUR BEST. The difference between first place and
second place is all the little things that add up to be big things on the BIG
scoreboard. There is just a hair splitting difference between the winner and
runner-up in the 100 meter Olympic dash. So refine and nurture your
talents and strengths. Giving your best on a bad day is better than giving
nothing on a good day
WILLING TO TAKE RISKS. Super-achievers take calculated
risks and step out of your comfort zone. Train your mind to make decisions
quickly but with due diligence. Listen to your intuition. Super-achievers have
a well defined “inner voice” what psychologists call the self-talk. It’s a
hidden tape-recorder you have within you to motivate or de-motivate you in
those critical moments
GET A COACH OR A MENTOR. Accelerate your achievement by
hiring a coach or mentor that will help you develop a winning attitude and set
breakthrough goals that will help you get the results you are hoping to
achieve. The simpler and more precise the
feedback, the more equipped you are to make adjustments. Too much feedback, too
continuously, however, can create cognitive overload, increase anxiety, and
interfere with learning.
TAKE REGULAR RENEWAL BREAKS. Relaxing after intense effort
not only provides an opportunity to rejuvenate, but also to metabolize and
embed learning. It's also during rest that the right hemisphere becomes more
dominant, which can lead to creative breakthroughs. People who are in a big
hurry to succeed reach the other end very fast (yes! literally the other end)
CONTINUOUS LEARNING. Super-achievers discover new ways of how
you can improve yourself, increase your productivity, and train yourself to be
better than the rest. To learn more about your profession, listen to audios or
read books that talk about the new breakthroughs
& techniques or tips that will make you more powerful in your
field.
Peak performers are driven to be the best. They know what it takes
to become successful. They possess the "will" to go after whatever
they want in life and are willing to make sacrifices in order to achieve them.
They continually focus on getting the results they want and take calculated
risks to go after them. You can be a peak performer and achieve your own
personal Olympic Gold medal! Give your best to everyone and keep an eye on your
end result.
Achieve what you believe!
With best compliments
Dr Wilfred Monteiro
