3 Tips for Cultivating the Mindset of a Champion
Over nine decades ago, Dr. Evan O’Neill Kane of New York’s Kane Summit Hospital changed his mindset. He felt doctors were losing too many patients in appendectomy surgery, many because of the effects of general anesthesia. He felt that local anesthesia would be better for the patient but, not surprisingly, no volunteers came forward to test his hypothesis. Until, that is, February 15, 1921. That’s when he performed an appendectomy with local anesthesia — on himself! In the process, he changed accepted medical practice. To be the best you can be in customer service, sales, leadership, sports, or any other endeavor, you will need to change, too. Sometimes that change means operating on yourself! Begin analyzing your own situation by simply counting the how many times the letter f appears.
FEATURE FILMS ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE FORMAL EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.
How many did you get? 3? 4? 5? 6? 7? There are a total of seven! Most people get four or five. If you missed some, why? Why would anyone miss an f or two or three? It has to do with our mindset or the way we perceive things and act on them. This little exercise points out that what you are missing in terms of personal performance improvement is most likely right in front of you. Sometimes the solutions to your challenges are there, but you just don’t see them. Why? Because of entrenched habits, perceptions and beliefs. When you try to improve, it seems as futile as trying to lose weight with fad diets.
How Do You Achieve a Breakthrough Mindset?
So what’s the key? How do you breakthrough? Dr. Charles Garfield of the Peak Performance Institute has discovered exercises that help individuals tap their personal best performances. Garfield experienced these techniques himself as a world- class weigh-lifter and researcher. Garfield explains, ” In the process, the researchers discovered that mental training techniques not only combated negative reactions, but also threw open the doors to hidden reserves of energy and endurance.” Dr. Denis Waitley identified similar peak performance strategies in his work with Olympic athletes and business people. To begin remember these important principles to achieving peak performance in your career:
- Self-development is self-management. There is no self-improvement only increasing in the ability to be all that you already are. You can’t change others but you can change yourself.
- You have to change proactively not reactively. To manage yourself to become more effective you must be willing to change some habits to increase productivity. Then you must diligently reinforce the new habits, or the old will re-surface.
- All good performance begins with clear goals. A foundation to self-management is to respond to all events based on your goals and priorities rather than responding to current difficulties, problems or needs.
With these approaches winning because more than an outcome it’s an attitude. Mind and body are intricately intertwined; to control what you do, better control what you think. Just like a champion athlete systematically physically and mentally prepares to win the gold, champion salespeople, leaders, and customer service reps do likewise. Make the effort to learn more, know your product, gain new techniques to be customer centered, and prepare mentally, too. It will help you handle the setbacks, the no’s and rejection that go with any job. This is called emotional resiliency.
The Best of the Best Exercise
Think of a time in your career when you did your best work ever. Choose a situation that exemplifies your highest performance. Get a clear mental picture of the event. Replay it in your mind as if it were a movie. Think of the details –people, problems, sounds, feelings, and surroundings. Review in your mind what happened, how you behaved, what you felt and achieved. Capture your thoughts with the questions below:
- What was the situation?
- What was your motivation to succeed or act?
- How did you feel?
- What key behaviors or strategies did you use?
- What lessons can you learn or relearn about your Peak Performance?
By learning to replicate that experience, you learn how to easily adjust your mindset as needed. You will begin to transform your efforts and results. To be the best you can be, make a commitment to personal development and excellence. If you want to be exceptional, do exceptional things. The difference between winners and losers is that the winners do what losers won’t do at all or won’t do enough. Author Lewis Howes says, “I have learned that champions aren’t just born; champions can be made when they embrace and commit to life-changing positive habits.”
