To get what you want you must know what you want, you must be specific. However, most of the time what we say we want is actually not what we really want, there are people who say they want a business and then there are people with businesses who no longer want their businesses. Some people say they want a successful business, others say a loving relationship, and yet others want friends. Ultimately we don’t really want those things, what we really want is the feeling we think those things will give us. We don’t want money because it’s pieces of paper with deceased notables on them, we want money because of what we think it’ll give us. At the end of the day we want to change how we feel, it’s what drives all of our behavior. We want to avoid pain and gain pleasure. And the way we feel in any situation determines if we will perform poorly or brilliantly. Wouldn’t you agree that you behave and perform differently when you’re feeling frustrated vs when you’re feeling like you’re on a roll? The way to create power, joy, passion, or any other feeling is by managing our own states.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what happens, the way you feel is the result of how you’re directing your mind and body. Hence, the two things that control the state you’re in is the way you use your physical body and the way you use your mental focus. Also known respectively as physiology and focus. In this post, we’ll look at an overview of these two determining factors.
To begin with, you need to know what you want and why you want it, know why you want to succeed, know why you want to manage your state. Once you know your why we can get into the how. As we mentioned, the how is being able to control your physiology and focus. Physiology refers to the way you control and use your physical body. The reason being is that anything we feel is sent through our nervous system, which means that the way we move our bodies sends signals to our brain which then determines how we feel. Moving your body is therefore the single most powerful way to change your state.
The second factor that determines our state is our focus. All emotion is nothing but physiological storms in our brains. Focus is the way we use our mental focus by controlling what we focus on and how we focus on it, respectively the pictures we see and what we tell ourselves, and the brightness and volumes of sounds and pictures. What determines what we focus on are our beliefs, values, and how we evaluate things. The way we evaluate things is determined by the questions we ask ourselves. If you want to change your focus, change the questions you ask.
Physiology combined with focus allows you to manage your own state and gives you what you need to take responsibility for your own state. By being able to manage your state I believe you’re well on your way to feeling the best you can and therefore performing at your full potential. I hope this post has been helpful and I invite you to continue reading my blog every week as I will be posting content relating to achieving your full potential and peak performance in any field. If you want to feel awesome and energized I invite you to reach out to me and sign up for coaching by me where I will help you become awesome and feel energized and great by unlocking your full potential.