I was delighted yesterday to get a message that’s not uncommon in my life, in fact they are pretty much a weekly occurrence. A past client of mine got in contact to say that she had just secured a ‘head of’ role in her organisation and I could not be happier. She said something that I hear time and time again I never would’ve gone for that role or opportunity if I hadn’t done your programme.
It’s probably no surprise that at the heart of my programmes on career or leadership is a focus on mindset. If you’re not in the right headspace you’re never going to achieve your goals.
Whatever you want to call the gremlins or the mind monkeys or the saboteurs* that hang out in our heads, they are causing us major problems. When you can learn to manage those, then life takes on a whole new quality.
I have trained in many many things…I have a degree in Psychology, I’m an NLP Master Practitioner, an ICF accredited coach, and all of these things have helped me help others. The number one thing I have found to benefit my mindset has been positive intelligence by Shirzad Chamine! Which is why I trained as a Positive Intelligence coach and the practices and principles underpin all of my work.
So today I want to share with you some brilliant techniques to help you manage your mindset so that you can:
- perform at your absolute best
- push past those limiting beliefs
- And make the things you dream of a reality
These are inspired by the Positive Intelligence approach, and I’m giving you my personal SLICK approach to shift your brain to work for you instead of against you.
Signal
The first step is to recognise what’s happening. When you’re feeling resistance, negativity, stress…it’s a sign.
You may think it’s a sign I shouldn’t do this, but you have to be aware that your saboteurs are a pack of LIARS who will convince you this is for your own good and safety. But is going for the next level job, or saying yes to speaking at a conference (or whatever it is) actually a danger? No!! Of course not!!
You saboteurs have jumped into action to make you think you can’t do it because you’re afraid. It’s outside your comfort zone.
They can jump in to make you think something is personal, or that what you’re doing isn’t good enough, or that there are risks. Again, it’s a dodgy safety mechanism…like a smoke alarm being triggered by condensation.
So it’s all about recognising that those negative feelings are like a flare signal that your brain is likely to be acting against you and that what you’re feeling isn’t necessarily true!
Label
Once you register the signal, it’s really helpful to label it. When we label something it takes it from the abstract to something more concrete, therefore more manageable.
You have a negative feeling (flare signal)…oh there’s a ‘saboteur’ (label).
Recognise…my brain is lying to me about how dangerous/ bad/ personal/ risky this is.
This will really help you step back from the feelings that are triggered and engage your smarter, more rational part of the brain.
Interrupt
You’re in a negative mind loop so it’s important to interrupt it. It’s a bit like if you burn your hand on a hot stove, if you kept your hand there you’ll do serious damage! The longer you sit in a negative (unproductive) mindset, the more damage you’ll do to yourself or others!
Now I’m not talking toxic positivity – where you tell yourself you have to feel positive.
This is about shifting your brain into a better state.
What can you do? Focus on centring or grounding yourself.
Here’s a couple of techniques…
- Take a few deep breaths and label the in and out
- Take your 2 finger tips and rub them together with such a tension that you can feel the ridges. Focus on that sensation.
- Choose an object to look at and just notice all of the detail…the colours, the shapes, the shades.
That allows your brain to shift into a more neutral state. Which will help you with the next step…
Challenge
Challenge yourself to think about it differently. A great way to move your thinking from saboteur to sage is to ask yourself helpful questions.
- What do I really want to happen? What can I do to make that possible?
- What would I do if I wasn’t afraid?
- How can I move forward from this?
- How can I look at this differently?
- Who could help me find a solution?
Your brain is always happier when it has a direction to move in. You can let it spiral downwards, or you can choose to focus it on something productive, and the brain loves ACTION!
Keep it up
It’s like anything, the more you practice, the better you get at it. It’s normal to go to the gym or a class to get your body fit, it’s also important to exercise your brain to grow your mental strength for better performance.
When you do these things regularly you’ll notice you are calmer, more focused, and more creative! All great states for finding solutions. The interesting cumulative effect is increased confidence as you are making better decisions and more focused on positive action (instead of doubting yourself).
And when you package these (and more) techniques up with great career strategy (The Career Elevator), or smart Leadership Strategy (The Impactful Leader PQ Mastermind) then you get programmes that achieve HUGE results!
If you’d like to find out more about how I can help you improve your mindset you can arrange a chat with me here.
* If you want to carry out a free saboteur assessment, click here.
