Is There Free Will? You Won’t Believe The Answer!

Guest Post, Personal Develpoment, Personal Empowerment, Unconscious Mind No Responses »

Oct 052011

I recently received some wonderful feedback from Dr. Al Barrios on my podcast about free will – Warrior Mind Podcast – Episode 28 – Do You Have Free Will?

Dr. Barrios is a clinical psychologist (BS Caltech, Ph.D. UCLA) and is a recognized authority on the power of the word and its effect on human behavior. He is the inventor of the Stress Control Card and author of the book, Towards Greater Freedom & Happiness.

Dr. Barrios said that after hearing the great podcast on free will he had to write me and share an article he authored.

As a special post today I’m sharing this article with you.

Is There Free Will? Finally an Answer

The question of whether man does or does not have free will has been debated down through the centuries by some of the greatest minds but has never been fully answered. There are those, call them idealists, who say that of course we have free will; we can control our own destiny; we can choose between misery and happiness. Then there are the realists who point to all the miserable people in the world and ask did all these people freely choose to be miserable?

Do we really have free will?
Do we really have control over our own destiny?
Can we change our behaviors at will if we see that they are detrimental to us?
Or is everything set in stone, pre-determined?

In order to finally answer this question, we must first properly define our terms. Although there are currently many definitions of free will, I believe the most correct one is:

Free will is the ability to control our automatic side, our subconscious behavior, by means of the power of sufficiently concentrated thought. And by concentrated thought I mean the ability to block the interference from any negative automatic behavior or thought that would tend to contradict the action or change we wish to empower.

If you stop to think about it, most people’s behavior is of an automatic nature: habits, attitudes and beliefs that have been so deeply programmed in over the years as to be so automatic that they are very hard to change. In this sense then you could say that many people are automatons, governed and slaves to this automatic (subconscious) behavior.

[The "subconscious" is to be differentiated from the "unconscious" here. I define the subconscious as behavior that has been so deeply programmed as to occur automatically, below conscious awareness and often beyond conscious control. The unconscious can be defined as engrams or memories beyond immediate conscious recall.]

So from this definition of free will we can see that the answer to the question of whether there is free will or not is that all humans have the POTENTIAL for free will because all humans have the potential to enter this state of concentrated thought and thus have the potential to re-program themselves at will (an ability that differentiates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom). But not everyone has learned how to do this. Consequently, people differ from one another in the amount of free will they have.

However, there is a way of achieving this state of sufficiently concentrated thought and that is by developing a heightened state of belief in the outcome or change you are trying to program in; for I define belief as concentration on a thought to the exclusion of anything that would contradict that thought. Or another way of putting it: a state of heightened belief includes a strong inhibitory set which can suppress the existing negative program you are trying to replace sufficiently so as to keep it from interfering with the re-programming you are attempting.

This is why hypnosis is such a powerful tool for facilitating change since I define hypnosis (as did B.F. Skinner) as a heightened state of belief. This is strongly supported by the evidence showing that hypnotherapy is the most effective form of psychotherapy. I refer the reader to the review of the literature I presented in my article “Hypnotherapy: A Reappraisal” (Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 1970). It was found that the average success rate for hypnotherapy was 93% after an average of 6 sessions; this compared to 72% after an average of 22 sessions for behavior therapy, and 38% after an average of 600 sessions for psychoanalysis.

This is also one of the reasons why religion is so deeply entrenched in the hearts of many since religion offers another way to a heightened state of belief. It also explains why the placebo effect in medicine (both standard and alternative) and psychotherapy plays such a big role in facilitating positive changes in humans since the placebo is based on the power of belief.

Those among you who are adherents of determinism need not feel that this approach to free will contradicts your beliefs – if you define determinism in terms of the lawfulness of nature instead of the opposite of free will as some mistakenly do. What is the opposite of free will is fatalism. If you believe that your life i pre-ordained or pre-destined and that you cannot change it from that, then you are a fatalist and do not believe in free will.

We should also clearly differentiate between the terms “heightened belief” and “beliefs”. When I refer to the power of heightened belief, I am referring to the power of concentrated (unhindered) thought. When I refer to the term “beliefs”, I mean specific attitudes, ideas, ways of seeing things a person might have.

I also feel it is important to differentiate between the concepts of faith and belief. Faith I define as a form of guided or directed belief. And I like to point out that belief alone is often not enough for positive change. If it is directed in a negative direction, it can be harmful and dangerous.

Finally, with regards to how thoughts can directly affect human reactions I refer you to Pavlov’s writings on the power of speech (as well as inner speech which is how Pavlovians refer to thoughts) to affect humans:

“Obviously for man speech provides conditioned stimuli which are just as real as any other stimuli… Speech, on account of the whole preceding life of the adult, is connected up with all the internal and external stimuli which can reach the cortex, signaling all of them and replacing all of them, and therefore it can call forth all those reactions of the organism which are normally determined by the actual stimuli themselves.”

Alfred A. Barrios

All articles and quotes referred to above can be found in the “Dr. Barrios Articles” section of the website http://www.spccenter.com including Dr. Barrios’s theory of hypnosis.

If you would like to comment on this article then e-mail – thegreatdebate@yahoo.com

I hope you enjoyed this article. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below and/or send them to the editor at – thegreatdebate@yahoo.com

You can read Dr. Barrios bio at http://spccenter.com/aboutus.htm

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Mental Strength, Commitment And Personal Success – Part II

Personal Develpoment, Personal Performance No Responses »

May 252011

In Part I we discussed commitment as it applies to your unconsciousness beliefs and how that may show up in your life.

I finished last weeks post with:

“You need to exercise your mental strength and make a good firm decision right now and that is to just try another project as you are sure this time it will be the right one. You convince yourself that you just haven‘t found the right project yet that is best for you. And off you go in search of another project.

But what are the criteria upon which you will choose the next ‘project’?

Well if you don‘t stop to find out what is laying below the surface of your conscious thoughts, what is driving your actions, then you wont know.

You will use the same criteria you have used your whole life…the one that commits you to reinforcing the unconsciousness and potential limiting belief.”

I’d like to continue today with…

Application

Without thinking about your criteria (beliefs) about how you make a decision you’ll end up taking another step reinforcing that belief. Reinforcing you’re a belief that doesn‘t support you. You’ll weigh all the reasons for taking this step and convince yourself that it is best.

You’ll never ask yourself how you feel about this step. You’ll ignore your feelings. Slowly you’ll convince yourself it is the right way to go forward. You have finally sold yourself on the idea or at least your inner critic has.

So…now how does the future look for you?

Well that ‘project’ didn‘t work out did it? I know…it just wasn‘t the right one for you. Once again you have convinced yourself of all the reasons why it didn‘t work out. The areas you convince yourself most about are the areas where someone else had something to do with it. You start to blame the market, the people on the task, anyone or anything that you could use to scapegoat. Then you choose another ‘project.’ Explaining once again all the reasons why this one is finally the one – you just know it!

Throughout this process you have been slowly corroding your self-esteem, your self-respect and your self-love. You are at a point were even you don‘t believe in yourself anymore. Each step towards denial is a further blow to your self. Your life is now about fully committing to a belief that destroys you.

It is again at this point that you can either choose uncertainty or certainty. Certainty in that you are certain doing the same thing over again will destroy you or uncertainty where you move to a time in your life where you begin to get to know yourself more. You move to a time in your life where you commit to learning more about yourself and finding out what is brilliant about you.

You commit to discovering what‘s unique and special about you. You commit to being successful. You commit to feeling fantastic. You commit to walking tall and no longer comparing yourself with others. You commit to feeling alive. You commit to your personal success. You realize that committing to your personal goals is going to be a new way of going forward in your life. You recognize that to achieve this you need support. Don‘t forget you have that little inner beast talking to you all the time, telling you that this is too hard, go back to the old way. This is your past talking. Say to it “thank you for sharing, now be quiet.”

Start to write-up a list of people who can support you. Commit to telling them about your path forward. Design a plan of action; rake steps to working out how to learn more about yourself. You’ll do great…for a few months.

Then one day you are tired and that inner beast of the past will try to get you to stop. It will try to convince you that this is not the best path forward. Your ability to keep it quite is slim and none…and slim just left town. Self doubt is slipping in. You start to think of other projects you could start-up with again. Same old patterns of thought are returning.

As Susan Powter say’s…”Stop the insanity!”

You still believe that you are not great. Let go of it. Call a friend, a coach a support person on your list. Take time out to care for yourself. Be still and let the moment pass as it will only be a moment. Then go back to your plan, look at your vision, see the vision of where you are going. Check in to see if your actions are aligned with your plan. Actions that are in alignment are a big sign that your commitment is aligned with where you want to go. Look at what you have achieved so far. Acknowledge yourself. Think about all the areas of your life that you are grateful for since you began working on your plan. Feel your energy shift. Recommit to your plan and check in right at this moment with how you are feeling.

Committing to ourselves is the most important thing we can do in life.

Consider the example of former South African President, Nelson Mandela who spent 27 years in prison. He was once asked how he could forgive his captors. He replied: “I realized one day, breaking rocks, that they could take everything away from me, everything, but my mind and heart. Now, those things I would have to give away, and I simply decided I would not give them away.” Even in a prison, Mandela found choices to make; choices that showed a commitment to freedom, to love, to independence and to moving forward. Fundamentally it showed a commitment to himself.

If we don‘t invest in ourselves then how can we invest in others?
If we don‘t commit to ourselves then how can we commit to anything in our life?

It must begin with us. If we are only trying to commit to ourselves then we are living in denial or we are not living in awareness. We do not truly believe in ourselves if we are simply trying. Simply trying is when we keep a small percentage available to us for failure so we feel okay when it happens. This however means that we are committing to personal failure rather than to personal success.

If you feel, and know, that the action to take will keep you moving forward is right action, then use your mental strength and commit to it 100%. Any percentage allocated to error means you are still uncertain and there is doubt and doubt will become the focus of your pathway. You will seek out doubt along the way. It is this very doubt that you have followed all your life. It only leads to further doubt.

OK…more on this next week. Until then….if you’d like to begin to explore your unconsciousness and limiting beliefs, go ahead and ask for an Introductory Consultation today.

Oh yea…the e-book “Develop the Mental Strength of a Warrior” (also available in a Kindle version) has many questions for you that will help uncover limiting beliefs so that you can resolve them and reach your personal goals and achieve your personal success.

I’d like to thank ICA again for their support and inspiration for this topic.

What do you think? Please let me know in the comments below.

References

www.nelsonmandela.org

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Unconsciousness Beliefs and Personal Success – Part II (warriormindcoach.com)
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Mental Strength, Commitment And Personal Success – Part I

Personal Develpoment, Personal Empowerment No Responses »

May 182011

I’ve discussed this topic – commitment – in an earlier posts and I thought it would worth while revisiting with some fresh information.

Let’s begin with a story…

Sarah and Brian were working on a project to create a new business. They were designing a name for their business, determining their market, and designing stationery and many other aspects of their business. The website was one of the biggest projects. They had to decide on the design of it, the language they used, the technology they wanted and the products they wanted to sell.

Each week, Sarah and Brian would get together to discuss their business projects. Each week, every aspect of project was flying forward except for the website. Sarah and Brian had decided that the website would be slower as they needed to work out all the other parts first.

Over several months the business was getting closer to launching yet still no website. There was some hold up with the designers, then the IT company, and then the marketing company they were using. The content of the website was not complete and it seemed as though it would never happen. Sarah and Brian sat down to have another meeting about the website.

They looked at each other in a very frustrated way. They began to go over the long list of incomplete tasks related to the website. Then Sarah stopped the meeting. She asked Brian if he was committed to this project. He agreed he was, one hundred percent. Brian then asked Sarah the same question. She agreed one hundred percent. The next question they asked each other was why they were getting stuck in moving forward with the website. They worked out that neither of them was particularly interested in the website. They knew they needed it for the business but they didn‘t have any particular strengths in this area.

Both Brian and Sarah were committed to the business and wanted to get it started. But they weren‘t committed to doing the tasks associated with the website. They realized this task was taking a lot of their energy and yet nothing was coming of it. They had to resolve this quickly. So they decided to ask a business colleague, who loved building websites, to be involved in this part of the project.

They would brief them and then hand it over to them knowing it was getting completed. They needed to find the right person who they could trust to do this really important task for them. They spoke to their colleague and he came on board straight away, excited at the whole idea. He quickly outlined the time frame they would be working towards and asked many questions to get a sense of the style of site Sarah and Brian were looking for.

At the end of the conversation both Sarah and Brian heard themselves give a huge sigh of relief. Now they could work to their strengths and grow their new business and their colleague could build the website.

Commitment

The above story gives some insight into an example and meaning of commitment. Many times we carry out tasks that we are not committed to and then wonder why they didn‘t work and why we don’t achieve our personal success.

In an incident like this we ARE committed, but to failure not achievement and personal success. If we keep pushing ourselves to fulfill something that is not right then it‘s just plain not right. It may be that we need to reframe our perspective and see the task in a whole new way to align with it. Or it may be as Sarah and Brian identified, it was something they were committed to.

But what happens when we are not committed to something…to our personal goals?

Deep down in the very depths of us are a whole range of underlying beliefs. These are beliefs we have about ourselves. They may be beliefs that someone gave us, our parents for example or the community that we grew up in. These beliefs sit below the surface of our consciousness in our subconsciousness.

The only way we can know what they are is by observing ourselves and seeing what causes us to do certain things. The more we know about these beliefs below the surface the more we will be successful in achieving our personal goals and the more we will feel great about our world and ourselves.

Lets look at what happens when we don‘t understand our unconsciousness beliefs.

When you were growing up you were probably in many number of systems that compared you to others. It may have been a sporting group, school, a social group, family, church or any number of other groups. In these groups, people are often compared against one another.

So you may have heard messages such as the other child is really good at this, why aren‘t you, or can’t you try harder, you take longer than anyone else. All of these adjectives are comparative adjectives. Smarter, harder, better, fitter, cooler – all these words are based around comparing you with someone else.

You may have heard these messages once or a million times. If you hear something enough times then you make a ‘limiting decision’ and start to believe it. Overtime this belief sits in your unconsciousness, like a conductor, orchestrating your life. This belief was given and accepted by you so long ago.

Once you started ‘committing’ to this belief, you built a world around you that confirmed this belief. You may have fought hard not to notice it, lived in denial, but this was rejection and denial was still believing in it, or you may have given into it and carried out your life reinforcing it.

Then one day, as you sit in a quiet reflective space while reading this blog, you start to think about why something in your life just keeps on going wrong. No matter what you do, you just can‘t make it happen in the way you would like to. You are trying so hard to make it happen but nothing.

It frustrates you beyond all belief. You start to feel negative about yourself; you start to doubt what you can do. You feel like giving up. You question why you can‘t be smarter, better, lose weight; make more money…and all the other comparative adjectives. You could decide at this point to:

Give up on yourself and not believe in who you are.
Deny this is happening to you.
Convince yourself that this was the wrong thing for you
Take a good hard look at what got you to this point in time.

The Decision

On average we take the first two options. The last option feels way too hard and you’re uncertain of where to begin (this is where a coach comes in handy). Plus the third option is filled with uncertainty – who knows where it will take you.

You need to exercise your mental strength and make a good firm decision right now and that is to just try another project as you are sure this time it will be the right one. You convince yourself that you just haven‘t found the right project yet that is best for you. And off you go in search of another project.

But what are the criteria upon which you will choose the next project?

Well if you don‘t stop to find out what is laying below the surface of your conscious thoughts, what is driving your actions, then you wont know.

You will use the same criteria you have used your whole life…the one that commits you to reinforcing the unconsciousness and potential limiting belief.

I’ll finish this post with a quote attributed to Goethe

“The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.”

OK…more on this next week. Until then….if you’d like to begin to explore your unconsciousness and limiting beliefs, go ahead and ask for an Introductory Consultation today.

Oh yea…the e-book “Develop the Mental Strength of a Warrior” (also available in a Kindle version) has numerous questions for you that will help uncover limiting beliefs so that you can resolve them and reach your personal goals and achieve your personal success.

I’d like to thank ICA again for their support and inspiration for this topic.

What do you think? Please let me know in the comments below.

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Creating Action For Personal Success – Part III

Personal Develpoment, Personal Performance 2 Responses »

Mar 162011

Last week I continued with this topic of taking action for personal success. In Creating Action For Personal Success – Part I, I began with how creating action is not always easy, it does take mental strength. However it is critical to our feeling of personal success and achievement. Action is doing. It is experiencing something.

In Creating Action For Personal Success – Part II, I discussed some application from a coaching perspective that I use and you can utilize as well. Today I’m going to continue with…

Failure to Act

If you find yourself not willing to take action, or that you do commit to action but don‘t follow through, then there may be something blocking you from wanting to move forward. This is a strong indication that you may not be ready for the next step, at least at an unconsciousness level.

When this happens, ask yourself “What is holding me back, why do I not want to take action?” The answer is the first tip/hint of a limiting belief(s) that are interfering with your consciousness personal goals. Remember, the consciousness mind is the goal setter and the unconsciousness mind is the goals getter.

I have had clients that have a limiting belief of “This coaching thing is not going to work, it’s easier to just not changing.” When this belief is uncovered, it usually has to do with that I’m inadvertently pushing them in directions that’s not right for them, or not challenging them enough, or not recognizing and acknowledging the significant but small steps that they are making. I’ll then ask the question “What‘s the best way that I can support you now to move into action?” This question usually loosens up the limiting belief and then it can be handled.

The Past Does Not Equals Future

Each of us remembers certain events in our past as big dramatic stories of our lives. We often focus on why we are in our current situation and provide all the details leading to this situation. The implication is often that the state we are in now is an inevitable result of past actions and activities. Unfortunately the next logical step in this mode of thinking is that things have to stay the way they are and can‘t change for the better.

At some point you may be telling yourself, a friend or even a coach a detailed story about major events of your life. For example, in order to discuss seeking more fulfillment in your work, you may feel the need to tell someone how you got into your current job, why you are in this particular job and what main obstacles have prevented you from moving beyond the present job.

Often times these stories provide an important context for you to orient yourself and the listener to your future plans. However, sometimes these stories are a way of restricting forward movement. If you keep talking about the past, this is a red flag! Be alert enough and determine if you’re stuck there. Sometimes, looking back at the past and to continue to look back may be the very thing which is preventing you from moving forward.

If this is the case NLP, and Time Empowerment® work great mental strength tools that can resolve and neutralizing this issue.

Keep in mind that the information you are describing may be a mixture of both facts and personal interpretation. Specifically, when it comes to explaining all the reasons why you are where you are in your life. Be aware enough that you have developed your story to explain the way things are now. While all of the reasons feel “real” to you, they have all been constructed after the event. Contrary to popular belief, hindsight is not 20/20! We all look at the story of our past through the window of our present circumstances. If the event is dramatic enough the story or explanation is called a “Black Swan.” No…not the movie

The Black Swan Theory or Theory of Black Swan Events is a metaphor that encapsulates the concept that The event is a surprise (to the observer) and has a major impact. After the fact, the event is rationalized by hindsight.

The theory was developed by Nassim Nicholas Taleb to explain:

1. The disproportionate role of high-impact, hard to predict, and rare events that are beyond the realm of normal expectations in history, science, finance and technology

2. The non-computability of the probability of the consequential rare events using scientific methods (owing to the very nature of small probabilities)

3. The psychological biases that make people individually and collectively blind to uncertainty and unaware of the massive role of the rare event in historical affairs.

How to Get Unstuck

When you keep living in the past or feel they are getting stuck in the past, you can use a number of techniques to shift your thinking forward. One way to simply ask yourself:

How would I like it to look/be?
What would I like in my life right now?
What have you learned about me from this past experience?
How can I apply the learning from this to my current situation?

Often this will do the trick.

If you find yourself continually dwelling in the explanations of the past rather than thinking about and answering questions about the future, this is the time for coach. After all…if you keep doing the things you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting things you’ve always gotten…and this is the cause of the “past” dialogue. A coach can help sort this out and assist you in getting refocused on the future.

Focusing on Strengths

Unfortunately in life there are some individuals are all too willing to focus on their weaknesses and shortcomings and very few people willing to focus on strengths. Some people mistakenly think that the goal of life is to eliminate their shortcomings. This simply denies themselves the opportunity to excel and shine and what they are good at.

Others think that it is their duty in life to point out the shortcomings in others. These people have accepted the myth of “constructive criticism.” The reality is that “constructive criticism” is never constructive at all. Sure there are ways to provide feedback, but constructive criticism is simply a persons opinion, and depending who they are, have no real basics for this comments.

We have also become trained in believing that knowing someone‘s weaknesses is the way to help them develop and grow. We ask people to make their weaknesses strengths and we even believe at times that we should be good at everything – no weaknesses. This perspective is damaging. Every person has strengths that are unique to them. It is what makes them special. To build on these strengths is to grow their uniqueness.

Here‘s an important mental strength secret: What we focus on grows. If we focus on our strengths, they will take us to great places, if we focus on our weaknesses, they will dominate your life and prevent you from moving forward and reaching personal success.

One of the best ways to move into action is to focus on your strengths and to acknowledge them. Your ‘weaknesses’ are only ever an issue if they prevent you from building on your strengths and achieving peak personal performance.

We all have weaknesses – however, unless they prevent us from achieving our goals, they are not worth the focus of a coaching session. In fact, they are not worth focusing on at all.

Did you know that the writer F. Scott Fitzgerald was a terrible speller?

No?

It didn‘t prevent him from writing The Great Gatsby, one of the most important novels in American literature, read by millions the world over. So why would you know about it? It simply doesn‘t matter.

If Fitzgerald had focused on overcoming his spelling, instead of on writing novels, what a waste to the world (and to himself) this would have been.

Setting Goals

Anyone who has accomplished anything worthwhile has consciously or unconsciously followed through on a goal. Goals have the power to keep us focused on a purpose. They support us through difficult times when it may be tempting to give up. Personal goals create a future pull and pushed us to stay focused so we can achieve them.

One of the ways that a I support my client’s in creating in action is by supporting them to set and achieve goals. A person who wants to get the most out of life often has a number of goals simmering at the same time, in their personal and business life.

The extent to which individuals set goals and the level of detail of those goals varies enormously. Some people have a very general sense or vision of the direction that they want their lives to go and want support in making very short term goals that head them in that general direction. Other people respond well to elaborate goals and plans with detailed milestones and points of accountability leading for 5 or 10 years into the future.

Whatever the structure or form the goal takes, it’s essential to find someone that can provide a level of support and accountability that you not would otherwise have.

I’ll be continuing this topic next week. Until then please share your thoughts in the comments below

Find out more about taking courageous action and achieving personal goals and personal success by picking up a copy of “Develop the Mental Strength of a Warrior” today.

If you’d really like to make fast progress towards realizing your future and develop the mental strength and mindset of confidence, request your Introductory Consultation today!

Great way to “kick start” your inspired action…take a look at The 2^nd Passage….this is a truly life transforming event!

I’d also like to thank ICA again for their inspiration and assistance on this topic.

I’ll be continuing this topic next week….Oh yea…did you get a chance to check out the new section on my blog “Warrior Mind Programming”? This is where I have some great audio programs designed to bring your brainwaves into a Alpha, Theta, or Delta state and create synchronization between the two hemispheres.

If this sounds Greek to you, no worries…I have complimentary direct download e-book on the page that explains everything! Once you have experienced this process you’ll understand, feel and see the affects.

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Mental Strength Tip #29 – Recovery and Personal Success

Mental Strength Coaching No Responses »

Feb 212011

Achieving peak personal performance and creating personal power begins with a mental strength mindset and empowering beliefs. Reaching your personal goals starts in the mind and finishes with peak performance…taking massive action.

This is one in a series of mental strength life coaching tips to help start your week of strong so that you can reach your personal goals and personal success.

I take one subject and run though a brief overview of it, then ask some very direct questions. The intention of these virtual sessions is for you to write the questions in your success journal and then reflect on them and write your answers and thoughts in your journal.

These series of posts are for YOU! If I’m not able to coach you personally one-on-one, I want you to at least get the benefit of “virtual” coaching.

Objective of this Mental Strength Tip:

To help you determine how balanced you are in your personal and professional life. To illustrate what a mental strength work/recovery cycle looks like and how it helps you reach peak personal performance.

Let’s Get Started:

Let me ask you….at the ideal, what would your work/recovery cycle look and feel like? DO you believe a balanced work/recovery cycle would lead toward peak personal performance? Just as in physical training, the work/recovery is essential for sustained growth. Too much or too little of either leads to stagnation and burnout.

Questions to Uncover Beliefs about Mental Strength Thinking:

What do you believe your work/recovery cycle would have to look like for you to reach your professional and personal goals without burning out?
At what point have you experienced burnout from overwork in the past?
Do you believe most top producers and performers overwork themselves?

Unsupportive Beliefs about Recovery

Elite and top producers and performers are workaholics.
Successful people have no personal life.
Successful people never rest.
There’s enough time to rest when I’m dead.

Mental Strength Beliefs about Recovery

Rest and recreations are critical for peak performance.
Relaxation is the incubator of new ideas.
It is possible to work less and reach my personal success and make more money.

Outrageous Questions:

Is it possible to create more leverage at your work/career so you can get more rest?
Is lack of money costing you your rest and recovery?
How are you responsible for the lack of balance in your life?

Reflective Questions:

What action can you take in the next 30 days to help balance your work and recovery cycles?
How can I assist you balance your quest for personal goals and the need for recovery?
What’s the worst thing that could happen if you built more rest time onto your schedule?

Mental Strength Coaching:

The key to moving the performer into balance is to persuade her that she is 100% responsible for being out of balance. As long as she is blaming outside forces for being overworked, balance won’t be achieved. Average individuals usually want to work less. Successful individuals usually won’t toe work more. Both require coaching in the work/recovery area because one will never attain peak personal performance and the other will burn out.

Final Thought

As in most aspects for mental strength coaching, uncovering the beliefs around a topic/subject are important, in this case the beliefs about the work/recovery cycles. Unfortunately, specific steps and action really can’t be given until these beliefs are known.

I will say though, that in looking at the Native American Medicine Wheel, to live a full and complete life balance must first take place with the individual in their ‘four directions’; spiritual, physical, mental and emotional.

It is believe that the individual is at the center of the wheel and controls and influences the balance NOT external forces.

This balancing of personal inner life for the balance of external personal life and personal success is the focus of The 2^nd Passage. If you can’t participate in The 2^nd Passage then remember that beliefs, no matter how limiting, are probably as ‘old’ as you are. Give yourself permission to take time and consider that beliefs must be chipped away at a little are a time until the change takes place.

If you’d like to get started on developing a rock solid mindset for personal power, peak human performance, goal setting or achieving your personal goals request your Introductory Consultation today!

Or, if you’d like to study on your own today, order a copy of “Develop the Mental Strength of a Warrior.” This is a fantastic e-book that helps you take control of your thoughts, develop success awareness and helps you tap into the powers of your unconsciousness mind to create the mental strength to succeed at anything!

OK…now it’s your turn! Let me know about your thoughts on this subject in the comments below.

Mental Strength Tip #24 – You Do Have A Choice (warriormindcoach.com)
Mental Strength Tip #23 – Criticism vs. Advice (warriormindcoach.com)
Mental Strength Tip #27 – Conflict for Personal Growth (warriormindcoach.com)
Mental Strength Tip #26 – Personal Success and Delayed Gratification (warriormindcoach.com)
Mental Strength Tip #28 – Personal Success and Comebacks (warriormindcoach.com)

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Mental Strength Tip #28 – Personal Success and Comebacks

Mental Strength Coaching No Responses »

Feb 142011

This is one in a series of mental strength life coaching tips to help start your week of strong so that you can reach your personal goals and personal success.

These series of posts are for YOU! If I’m not able to coach you personally one-on-one, I want you to at least get the benefit of “virtual” coaching.

Objective of this Mental Strength Tip:

To help you develop the mental strength belief that being a comeback artist is one of the greatest secrets to personal success and that the ability to recover from apparent failures may be more important then the initial effort.

Let’s Get Started:

Take a few moments and think about your greatest comeback and the impact it had your thinking. Now, what do you believe is the greatest comeback story of all time and how you think this individual pulled it off?

Questions to Uncover Beliefs about Mental Strength Thinking:

Do you consider yourself a comeback artist?
Are comeback artist’s developed or just born that way?
What do you think it take’s to become a comeback artist?

Unsupportive Beliefs about Comeback’s

Comeback artists are born with the ability to persist and reach their personal success
Not everyone can be comeback artist
It’s easier to accept defeat and move on to new personal goal

Mental Strength Beliefs about Comeback’s

Being a comeback artist is a mental strength decision
Perceived failure is only a set-up for a comeback
Being a comeback artist isn’t a skill is a mindset

Outrageous Questions:

What personal goal have you given up on where you could possibly make a comeback?
Do you the mental strength to become a comeback artist?
Are you allowing fear to paralyze you and delay your comeback?

Reflective Questions:

How can I support you in developing the mindset of a comeback artist or your comeback efforts?
Are you certain you haven’t given up on some of your personal goals and dreams prematurely?
How would you feel to make a comeback in the area that no one believed was possible?

Mental Strength Coaching:

To truthfully evaluate yourself as a comeback artist will have to make sure you are coming from objective reality (see Mental Strength #1). Many people claim to be a comeback artist, yet when they look deeper they really have never made a comeback in anything in their life.

Take a few moments and think of examples of your own comeback ability…you will automatically raise your level of awareness as to what being a comeback artist really means. I would suggest taking some time and research some comeback examples from mental strength individuals in your line of business; this will help you with developing the mindset to see the big picture of personal performance.

If you can’t think of one, how about Lance Armstrong!

Final Thought

Seventy percent of the populations will quite at the onset of physical or psychological pain and never even consider a comeback. I share this static with you to ask you if you think you’re above average.

If you claim to be above average do you have sufficient proof to back up your statement?

One you confront you belief by what making a comeback really is, you’ll never see failure in the same light again. This is when you know you have developed the mind of a comeback artist and on your way to reaching your personal goals and peak personal performance.

OK…now it’s your turn! Let me know about your thoughts on this subject in the comments below.