By Jernavis Draughn
How can we upgrade, change and expand our MIND? Can we truly hack our mind to change our behaviors or to reach peak performance? There’s no real change until there’s change in behavior. As Aristotle says, we are what we repeatedly do, excellence is not an act, but a habit. I’ve been doing intense research on personal mastery and peak performance, which lead me to reading the book, Mind Hacking by Sir John Hargrave. One of our leadership board teammates referred me the book also, which inspired me to read it immediately. Sir John Hargrave, explains you are not your mind and it’s vital to work on your mind, not just in your mind. Become aware of where your attention is being pulled away from the task at hand by either two enemies; yourself or digital interruptions.
Mind Hack Game 1: Here’s a simple mind hack game to help you track your attention stealers. Keep track of how many times throughout the day and what is stealing your time. Write it down and review the list at the end of the day. Now you will have clarity on the enemies you’re fighting against daily, so you can eliminate them.
As Brian Tracy says, your future intentions determine your present actions. We have to create consistent success habits. Habits that have been documented throughout time the at most accomplished, successful and blissful people do daily. Remember you create your HABITS, then your habits make YOU. We are creatures of habit. Everything we do is habitual from the time we wake up until the time we go to bed. Become self-aware of your daily rituals. What are you investing your time in? What do you value? They both can be seen in what you do daily, spend money on and time with. We can’t buy more TIME, but we can spend our TIME differently.
Mind Hack Game 2: To help install new habits, use visual cues to start a habit. For example, if you’re starting a new workout routine, place your gym clothes and shoes in your car the night before. So in the morning you don’t have to focus on another task, especially one you’re not innately motivated to do. Next, reward yourself when you complete the habit. For example, if your goal is to work out 3 times a week and you accomplish that feat, reward yourself with a personal gift. It will activate the dopamine, which is the reward system in your brain to want that feeling after achieving a goal.
Progress equals happiness! We are growth seeking humans. Success in anything starts in the MIND. “Imagination is more powerful than knowledge.”-Albert Einstein. In the book Mind Hacking, Sir Hohn Hargrave, explains you have to consciously reshape your thoughts and you can actively reshape the world around.” We become what we think about most of the time. Our mind creates our internal reality. Sir John Hargrave, goes over the value of focusing on feeling, doing, having and being in every moment. Mental stimulations, it’s a way of developing these mental functions, so that when we find ourselves confronted with difficult situations, we are better equipped to handle them.
Mind Hack Game 3: Learn and develop your emotional intelligence. In our leadership training academy, we focus on teaching the key foundations: Empathy, Self-Awareness, Self-Regulation, Motivation and Social Skills.
Quote of the Day: “What preoccupies the MIND controls your LIFE.”-Timothy Kelly