Why is it that some high achievers seem to flow effortlessly in the desired direction whereas others seem to hit wall after wall and finding themselves overwhelmed, distracted and stressed out? Surprisingly, it's not because a lucky few were born under better stars or experience eternal sunshine making them immune to stress or giving them supernatural powers to distinguish between the right and the wrong.
This - in fact, couldn't be further from the truth....
What differentiates the strongest performers across all disciplines is not something they were gifted with it's something they have cultivated within themselves. It's the inner resources which enable them to direct their focus effectively. All of the world high class performers have one trait in common: they know their internal centre of power - their inner hub. It's the mental and emotional focal point from which they are able to make strong decisions.
Form follows focus is the guiding principle for all successful high achievers. But how do we cultivate this strong mental power? I invite you to an experiment: apply one of these strategies below to yourself and observe the external effects that will occur from doing so and recognise how much easier it will get to direct your focus in an effective way.
1.Mind Your Mind
As high achievers we experience in addition to impatience with the status quo a sense of 'dissatisfaction of our own accomplishments'. In aspiration of where we want to go we forget how far we have already come. The problem? Progress equals focus and what we focus on flourish. If we don't feel like we have achieved and accomplished something, what is the point in even go further? The solution here is to shift our mind from looking for "What is not working?" to "What is working?".
2. Intentional Being
It's easy to take the eyes off the ball if we don't know what the ball is. What I mean with this is we have to define our mission - and this starts as little as having an intention for the day (week/month/year). Otherwise we end up doing too many things without being able to even remember what the things were we were working on. We feel like we haven't accomplished anything - and thats probably the case because it hasn't contributed to our mission. The solution? Set your intention for every day, for every week and for every month. If something does not contribute to this intention - cut it out. Our focus will go out of the window if we don't progress.
3.The Positivity Of 'No'
It's easy to get overwhelmed by possibilities.How can we navigate through without getting lost in an odyssey of opportunities? Focus is what will set the sail. If we actually did everything we were asked to do we would loose our life to other people. And there's nothing more painful than to experience a live un-lived. The feeling of not having accomplished what's meaningful to us. If we fail using our focus we will ultimately 'fail' in our life. So if you wait for somebody giving you permission to say 'No' to something - here you are. Say 'No' to the things, circumstances and people who are not in alignment with where you are heading.
4.Work Less To Achieve More
It's a misconception that we think we have to be busy or have to hustle to get something done. In fact this is what keeps us in the cycle of being fatigued and not being able to give our full capacity. Some ideas are to add 10 minutes of 'play' (means doing something which is not related to work at all and brings you joy) to every 90 minutes of work. Another way could be to have at least one day per week dedicated to yourself where you unplug from social media, or taking it a step further and taking a whole week off for every 7 weeks of work.
5.Empty Mind = Full Focus
Have you ever wondered why some of the most brilliant people seem to have only one outfit? It's because they don't waste time to choose one every single day. Fact is: the more decisions our brain needs to make the more it gets fatigued. With every decision we loose a micro part of our willpower (this can be really small things like scrolling through the Facebook feed and subconsciously deciding weather we find something interesting or not) What happens when the brain is fatigued? The more distracted we already are the easier distracted we get. The solution? We need to find ways to make fewer decisions. For example: Stop browsing.
6.Make Achieving A Habit
Beliefs and emotions are what creates our reality and drives our actions. Before anything gets done we experience it as a seed planted in our mind as a result of an emotion. As high achievers we expect ourselves to be perfect immediately which gives us a lot of opportunities to mismatch our expectations, the standards we have on ourselves and therefore disappointment. We are caught up in thought patterns which are not contributing to our vision. Before we get a high achieving mindset we need to practise it, make it a habit so that it can run on autopilot and support us effectively. The good news is: we can easily train it.
A simple hack is to have a to do list. Establish the routine to write down all the goals of your day first thing in the morning and - this is the crucial part - tick it off in the evening! This will not only reward you but also show you all the - even small things - that you did get done during the day. Train your mind to give you credit and celebrate your successes. Do this also for non work related tasks - this will impact your business as well.
As high achievers we sometimes look at the end result and forget about the truth behind genius. The years of studies and practise that went into the vision of all the luminaire’s we so deeply admire. What we forget is that genius is not in the realm of genetics - it's in the realm of practise. Good for us! According to neuroplasticity, whatever we practise will grow and get easier.
Instagram: @judygodhartcoaching
Website: http://www.judygodhartlifecoaching.com
Judy Godhart will also be launching a high end retreat for high achieving creatives this year with this exact topic packed in a transformational experience so head over here to find out more.
