[OptimalPerformance] Accessing Your Optimal State

Accessing Your Optimal Performance State On-Demand.

In sports they call it the "zone" or being in "the flow". These are the moments when everything lines up and we hit a high that is effortless and which often results in the miraculous occurring. Most of us have experienced this at one time or another in our lives. Whether it be in our work, our play or our sport. Creating these moments regularly and consistently in life is a hope for both the sports and career minded. It appears to be a hit and miss kind of thing.

How would your career/life be if you could access your optimal performance state on demand? How much higher could you go? Would you become more consistent, break more barriers, achieve more while seemingly doing less?

You work hard to improve your work, communication and leadership skills. Often this is your single- minded focus. I believe that with the same focus and application, you can train your mental and emotional system to respond as needed, when needed, so that you hit your high consistently, every time.
Few people are willing to apply themselves to this task, because it involves inner work, often spent in non-doing activities. The benefits though, are enormous.
Think of those people who have this skill naturally, or who have worked to develop the skills to a high degree. A clue as to whom they are is demonstrated in their consistency of performance, their ability to rise above adversity, to put behind them any emotional upset or set back.

Think of those times when being able to access your optimal performance state would have made a difference to the way you responded to a set of circumstances. When did the last major upset occur in your work or home life? How differently would you have handled it if you remained calm, focused, relaxed, and detached?

~~Coaches Comment. It has been widely recognized that mental training often gives an elite athlete that extra edge. Few people have been exposed to a systematic mental and emotional training regime that is as comprehensive as any physical training program. Some have it as a natural part of their makeup already, like the Michael Jordan’s of the world. A personal coach specializing in this kind of work (in distinction to a sports coach); can work with you in all areas of your life, to develop this mental and emotional training. .

There is generally a formula or list of ingredients that make up the optimal performance state. The list includes feeling calm, at peace, detached, focused, very confident, positive, relaxed and open to respond on instinct to changing conditions

Here is a brief outline of several of the steps involved in the emotional and mental training.

1. Identify your ideal optimal performance state, clearly and concisely. What does it take for you to" know you know you know" (In our last issue Jackie Gallagher coined this phrase to describe how she felt before she won the World Championships. For a copy of this issue, send and email to optimalperformance@christinemcdougall.com with issue #7 in the subject.)

2. Establish daily rituals or habits. These rituals will become triggers to your mind and physiology that optimal performance is about to be required.For example, when Michael Jordan goes to throw a free throw, how many times does he bounce the ball before he takes the shot? Is it the same number of times every time? Yes, because this is the signal to his body that performance is required.

3. Balance your work/stress with recovery periods. Just as your muscles require stress and recovery to complete the growth cycle, your mind and emotions require stress and recovery to complete their growth cycle. Take frequent 10 minute breaks, especially when stress is at its highest. Nourish yourself well. Stretch, breath.

4. Train your mind to be positive. Be vigilant to your thoughts. You cannot afford a negative thought, about anything. Negative thoughts have a magnetic affect, you have one, and you have a dozen. They seem to grow exponentially.

5. Surround yourself with people who will hold you to all of the above
conditions, and remove yourself from people who do not.

6. Practice calling on your optimal performance state on-demand, when you don't need it.

7. Take time to "blow off steam". This is a part of the stress recovery cycle.

~~Coaches comment. If you work with as much focus on these steps, as you do on your career/life, over time you will be able to call on your optimal performance state on-demand. I recommend that you work these steps with your own personal coach for maximum results.