5 Mindset Tips about the Success of Champions
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 patients 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 need to change, too. Sometimes that change means operating on yourself!How Do You Achieve a Breakthrough Mindset?
So, what’s the key? How do you confidently 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 weight-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.” In another example, 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:- 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. Learn to focus on what’s most important. Get better organized. Know and act on your top priorities. For example, at work take care of the customer. At home, spend time with your children and spouse. If you don’t plan it, you most likely won’t do it.
- You have to change proactively not reactively. To manage yourself to increase your effectiveness you must be willing to change some habits to increase productivity. So, start small, and build on it. Remember, you can’t do everything at once.
- All good mindset and championship 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.
- Keep learning-diligently. Enroll in 4-6 education and training programs every year. Get a degree. Read a new book in your field every month. Attend webinars every week. Always to be learning. Finally, if you aren’t learning you are decaying and dying. With learning you are growing and becoming.
- Never give up! All of us will fail. If we learn that’s how we succeed again. Success isn’t winning every time. It’s being resilient enough to get back up after a fall. Thus, that’s the courage of a champion.
The “Best” of the Best Exercise
Certainly, with these approaches, winning is more than an outcome it’s an attitude. Mind and body and spirit 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 that go with any career, let alone life in general. This is called emotional resiliency and is a key to a successful mindset.
Furthermore, try this mindset 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. For instance, think of the details –people, problems, sounds, feelings, and surroundings. Review in your mind what happened, how you behaved, what you felt and achieved. In addition, 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? Write out what worked and what didn’t work.
- Identify 3-5 lessons can you learn or relearn about your education, career or success in life.
Summing up a Success Mindset
In summary, practice to replicate the above experience, you will learn how to easily adjust your mindset as needed. You will begin to transform your thinking, efforts and results. To be the best you can be, make a commitment to personal development and excellence. Therefore, if you want to be exceptional, do exceptional things. The difference between winners and losers is that the winners are champions that do what losers won’t do at all or won’t do enough.
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