psychology

Last week I was waiting to check in at the airport and was confounded by the rudeness of fellow travellers toward the airline after a delay. This morning, while having a meeting at a coffee-shop at an upmarket mall, I noticed little kids throwing tantrums and being rude towards everyone in their immediate environment. Then I got back to my home-office where I was faced with more short-temperedness because I forgot to buy a new supply of coffee for the coffee machine.

Instead, I took everyone to our favourite coffee shop on the corner for a cappuccino. Noble I know, but my reason was much deeper than scoring brownie-points. Familiarity will cheer people up, while people will only embrace newness and novelty when they’re in a positive mood.

Throughout their careers, sportsmen and women will take part in thousands of races.  Business people will make thousands of presentations - most of which will fall on (kinda) deaf ears. Unless they fall in the rare 0,5% who chose their parents correctly, like Steve Jobs, Bruce Fordyce, Mark Allen and Lance Armstrong, they will achieve winning or exceptional results in only a hand-full of the events they start.  Mentally speaking, the biggest challenge in every event is to replicate your best performance time and time again.  Champions become what they are through consistent performance. 

 True fulfillment comes not from attaining your own goals.  They are merely the catalyst.  True happiness and fulfillment comes from sharing your knowledge, experience and wisdom with others. Research in Sport Psychology also shows that you perform better when you are able to transcend yourself - when you do something because you get fulfilment from the activity and not from the result.

Your mind cannot operate in negatives.
 
Whatever you do, do not think of pink elephants!
 
What are you thinking about right now?
 
90% of the population will say ...

 “Your goals, minus your doubts, equal your reality.”  Ralph Marston
The reason I believe so many adults fail to convert the majority of their goals into reality is that they succumb to their doubts.  Our kids set goals.  You did when you were a kid – and you realized a high percentage of them.  Much higher than you do now.

Your mind cannot distinguish between what is real and what is imaginary.

 “You win some, you lose some, you wreck some.”  Dale Earnhardt

When things go well, who gets the credit?  When things go badly, who gets the blame?  If you’re like most people, everyone gets the blame for the latter.  Everyone from competitors, coaches, event organizers, equipment – even the weather! 

 Your mind will move your body in the direction of your dominant thought.

Your mind will find a way to move your body in the direction of your thinking, in the direction of your focus.

 2.     Your mind is like the soil.

What makes agriculture, and economies based on it, so successful is the relative predictability of what you’re going to get.  Assuming that climatic and soil conditions are stable; you always get what you planted.  If you sow corn, that’s what grows – every time!  If you plant acorns, you get Oak trees – every time.  The soil doesn’t decide to give you pineapples if you’ve planted cashews.  Neither does your mind. 

Why Mind Management?

Every action begins with a thought – not one thing you’ve done has been without thought.  Therefore it stands to reason that, if you want to change your actions, you need to change your thinking. So let’s quickly explore a little bit of physiology to clarify the body-mind dynamic.