In this business world, we never seem to have enough time to get things done. We’re quite often too stressed out, finding ourselves not eating right, losing sleep, and wondering why we pay for a house when we seem to LIVE in the office. This can take its toll on our family and personal lives, too, of course.
Well, we overwhelmed business owners and executives have some good news that can turn our lives around! We can front load our day with activities that are focused on achieving specific objects to set the stage and “tune our brains” into the mode at which we need to operate. We can “set up our brains” to expect a higher level of performance and quality of life throughout whole the day. Our brains have tremendous power to at least co-create those elements that we need and desire in our days, and what our brains seek is what they expect to find.
We can prepare our brains to achieve peak performance.
So, what we’re looking for is:
*Setting the pace at which we want to work and produce results
*Having a clear vision of what we desire to achieve
*Possessing a high quality of life where we have more time to think about and do what we want to and relax
But, what can we do to front load our day and set us on course for a whole day, and even evening, of success, production, personal fulfillment, and quality time in our lives?
CHANGE YOUR MINDSET
As ‘Body for Life’ author and life-transformation master Bill Phillips tells us, we can and must “program” our minds so that we have an exciting and clearly defined vision of the future–the future of our office, our company, and our personal life. Your desire to make your vision a reality will be in direct proportion to the clarity and definition of that vision. Without the clear picture of your desired outcomes, you just won’t be able to sustain the efforts to unite your vision with the light of day.
There are three basic types of mindsets.
*The dweller in the past. This person’s mental vision is that all of the good or the best things have already come and gone. He spends his time trying to bring the past back, whether he consciously realizes it or not. You see, it’s easier to just sit and reminisce about the great times and achievements of the past than it is to forge ahead into new frontiers. They are uncomfortable with new ideas or new challenges. They also are threatened by others’ progress, for it threatens their sense of what is right. These people essentially waste away their lives.
*The dweller in the Here and Now. Now, these people are quite far beyond those who don’t understand that the past is dead. They are action-oriented and want to see results and progress. However, they are too distracted by the ticking of the clock. They tend to lack patience, which is vital to success as a business executive or owner, and so they might thwart the forward progress of new projects that they themselves have put into action because they didn’t get results fast enough. They don’t have a clear vision of the future.
*The visionary. These are the people who are constantly looking to the future. They learn from the past, but they never try to guide the future by it. They are growth-oriented and always progressing into bigger challenges. They have a clear vision of of the future, and they are constantly making it even clearer through refining it, modifying it, and re-creating it. They cannot stand the thought of their being tomorrow where they were yesterday.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO BECOME A VISIONARY?
The way you start your day has to be positive. You cannot allow yourself to wake up and go into rotten thoughts for the start of your day and hope to turn it around into a positive mindset later. Even if bad things happen to you in the morning at home or when you first get to or are commuting to the office, while it’s okay to be angry or irritated by them in the moment, you have to let those events pass away quickly and retain your positive attitude.
You can do this by preparing yourself for a powerful, productive, personally fulfilling day right from the start.
*Try to get in some exercise as soon as you wake, before breakfast (unless you know you’ll be getting exercise later on in the day or evening). If you have to start getting up earlier to achieve this, do it. This makes you feel like you’re getting something accomplished already and gets your blood flowing to your brain.
*If you aren’t going to exercise, at least try going for a walk outdoors (and if you’re not in the best shape right now this would be the best way to start, anyway). Again, try to make this as early in the morning as you can manage–if you can do it before or at the break of dawn, that’s the best. Don’t put it off if it’s raining or something, either. Get outside and feel the new day. You will be shocked at how this instills a positive mindset, gives you an energy spike, makes you feel alive, and makes you look forward to taking on the challenges and tasks of the day. “Early to bed, and early to rise…”
*Either before or right after you’ve eaten a brain-food breakfast (as I’ve written about elsewhere), do this exercise: take a piece of paper and write down at least 10 things that you desire to happen for you in the next year. Try to make these such things that, if they do NOT happen for you in the next year, you will NOT be satisfied with yourself. Next, start writing down notes, descriptions, etc, on the paper about your desires–and as you’re writing these things down, imagine what you would do if nothing were out of reach for you. Write down any words or phrases that speak to achieving your desired ends as if you have the capability to do whatever you want to do. Once you start this, you’ll take this list out and review it every morning. This is your “future vision quest”.
*Try to start blocking out at least your mornings, if not your whole day, into 90-minute oscillation cycles. You’ll work intensely and exclusively on one or two important tasks for 90 minutes, then stop working and take a break from all work for 30 minutes. This will enable you to optimize your energy right from the moment you reach the office and give you a great sense of high achievement and authentic progress.
*Place little “sticky dots” that you can get at any office supply store on places where you know you’ll be looking a lot: your car’s rear-view mirror; your bathroom mirror at home; your family photos on your desk; your computer’s monitor, etc. Every time you see a sticky dot, pause for just a moment and observe what you’re thinking and ask yourself, “Is it positive?” If you find it’s negative, change it.
*In the evenings, prepare to set up your next day positively by going over your future vision quest list and altering it as you feel inspired to.
These are key ways that you can prepare your brain for peak performance.
About the Author
John Tanner is a marketing consultant and founder of VAR
Strategy.
After a career in military intelligence John helped grow businesses in various
industries through sales and marketing, eventually finding a passion for
challenges and opportunities for business development in the IT channels.
VAR Strategy is a product of this passion and was created to provide
helpful information and resources to assist VAR's in growing their businesses.
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