Part Three: Achieve
Achieving big goals—whether in sports, life, or business—takes more than Aspiring and Rewiring.
When it is time to take Action and Achieve you need:
Rules for the Road
Control of Your Dashboard Dials
Access to The Zone
Let’s look at how fine-tuning these elements will help you achieve your goals with greater efficiency, speed, and enjoyment.
Set Your Guiding Principles: The Rules for Your Journey
Every successful journey to your Goals needs Guiding Principles.
These principles help you avoid distractions, reset from setbacks, and stay focused on each step.
Here are a few suggestions:
Positive Perspective - You have control of the "background music" playlist for your journey. Your cognitive mind (pre-frontal cortex) is wired to look for trouble every step of way (unpleasant/negative music). When you set a PRINCIPLE to look for small successes each day and each part of the journey (pleasant/positive music) you make the entire journey more enjoyable.
Process Goals First: It is important to always keep the "Result Goal" in mind to make sure you stay on track in your journey. However, excessive daily Focus on your Result Goal (macro) can create frustration when you are not moving forward as quickly as you would like. Putting the strongest emphasis on accomplishing your daily Process Goals (micro) will make each day motivated by achievable steps and minimize potential frustration.
No Failure Challenges: Think of this as a Rewire for what happens after you experience a challenge. Overcoming Challenges on your journey will produce one of two results: Succeed or Learn. There is no failure. Every time the outcome of a Challenge is not what you hoped, you learn invaluable information for overcoming the same Challenge the next time.
Control Your Dashboard Dials: Presence, Mindset, and Emotions
The dashboard of your vehicle has three very important "Dials".
They are not switches that turn on and off.
They are "Dials" that you can learn to use to control the "Volume" of key systems for your vehicle:
Presence: Staying Present in the moment improves focus, engagement and reaction time. Studies show that practicing mindfulness, even for brief periods, can enhance both attention and resilience (Kabat-Zinn, 1990). To cultivate presence, use simple practices like mindful breathing or reducing digital distractions.
Mindset: An "Observer" mindset helps you separate yourself from pressure, expectations and challenging situations on your journey. When triggered by a distraction the ability to change your perspective and view/observe the situation and opposed to getting absorbed by the situation is a critical skill. The Cloud/Sky meditation exercise is a great way to start learning how to access and utilize the Observer Mindset. (Mindful.org, Oct 2024)
Emotions: Use them or Get Abused by Them. Emotions can fuel your actions. Positive emotions, like excitement and gratitude, can boost motivation and keep you on track, while poorly managed negative emotions can lead to burnout and frustration. Techniques like journaling or visualizing your goals can help align your emotions with your intentions (Fredrickson, 2001).
The Zone: Your Built-in Turbocharger
The Zone is THE peak state for high performance. Neuroscientist Steven Kotler refers to it as the “superman state,” where optimal neurochemicals boost learning, creativity, and problem-solving (Kotler, 2014). The key to accessing the Zone lies in creating the right conditions—presence, clear goals, and a balance of challenge and skill.
Learning to recognize when you’re in the Zone can help you replicate it more often.
Here are a few ways to identify and intentionally access the Zone:
Identify Your "Triggers": There are a minimum of seven "Zone Triggers" that have been verified by research (some research says there are as many as twenty). The key is to find your personal/situational Triggers and create a process for turning up your Zone Dial. Here are a few of the recognized Triggers:
Clear Goal
Laser Focus
Optimized Skill/Challenge
Immediate Feedback
Recognize Your "Signs": These are personal feelings that let you know you are moving towards Zone access or you are in the Zone. When you connect personal Triggers and personal Signs you have created a formula for using the Zone Turbocharger hard wired into your vehicle. Here are are few of the recognized Signs:
Time Dilation
Full Engagement
Effortlessness
Ease
The Science Behind the Zone
During Zone experiences, neurochemicals like dopamine and endorphins increase, enhancing pleasure, focus, and learning speed.
The Zone can lead to a 500% increase in productivity and up to %480 increase in skill acquisition according to research by McKinsey & Company (McKinsey, 2013).
Not to mention it is one of the most pleasurable and fulfilling experiences you can have.
One of the key benefits of Zone access on your Goal journey is reducing self-consciousness and quieting the inner critic which helps you dramatically boost confidence and also streamline complex problem-solving.
Exercise: Discover Your Personal Zone Anchors
Creating personal Zone Anchors can help you access flow when you need it most.
Here’s a simple exercise to identify and set yours:
Identify Peak Moments: Think about times you felt "in the zone."
Note Conditions: VIVIDLY Identify and Clarify what emotions, environment, and actions were involved.
Choose Anchors: Pick a cue like music, a mantra, or a visualization that brings you back to that state.
These anchors act as shortcuts, giving you a mental and emotional reset whenever needed.
Conclusion: Experience Your Journey with Clarity and Power
Achieving your Goals is the result of successfully following a three step process:
Aspire - Choose Goals that give you clarity, energy and motivation.
Rewire - Tune your vehicle for optimum efficiency and performance during your journey.
Achieve - Learn to control your dashboard Dials and access the built in power of Zone Performance.
If you want to find out more about creating your personal three step process to achieve your BIG Goals... click the link below to set up a free 30 minute Zoom session with me.
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