What is a High Performance Mindset?

Here’s a question I get asked a lot: What is a High Performance Mindset?

So I figured I’d better share it here. I’ve got a workable definition so it's immediately calibratable and actionable.

High Performance Mindsets (HPMs) set you up for optimal and peak performance because they:

🎯Are essential for overcoming performance anxiety, stage fright, fears of failure, overwhelm, burnout

🎯Bullet proof your process for getting into The Zone.

🎯Immediately align your greatest abilities with your purpose (your Why).

🎯Work in a play by play way—task to task, goal to goal—so you can perform consistently at your highest potentials—and best your bests when it counts the most.

🎯 Fast track playing at the top of your game with world class performance, creativity, productivity, and leadership—to explore your extraordinary.

This is why professionals, speakers, performing artists, actors, tattoo artists, musicians, and athletes—with a lot at stake in their work—love HPMs.

Using HPMs is a skill my clients experientially learn in a matter of hours and one big reason experts who must perform under pressure hire me and accomplish life changing results faster than they ever thought possible.
So when you need to be your best when it counts the most, make sure you:

🔶 embody the optimal mental, emotional, physical state you need for the action to take.
🔶 give yourself the best self-talk on the planet from your deep trust and belief in yourself.
🔶 open your channels to your intuitive awareness, or higher consciousness –-so you dial into the quantum field intelligence that’s greater than you.

If you want to find out more, I’m happy to help, so message me here.

Giving Up: What Do You Make it Mean?

When you have the feeling you want to give up on something—what do you make it mean? How does that make you feel?

The feeling of giving up on something may just mean it’s a sign to change gears—actions and or strategies—or aligning with your vision in a different way, or revisioning your vision in someway.

I know the feeling of quitting or being labelled as a quitter is a loaded one with feelings of guilt, shame and failure. Those are stories that keep us stuck.

My take on giving up on something is about knowing when to hold em and when to fold em.
Holding our vision, while embodying the flexibility and resiliency to reevaluate and strategically navigate situations, opportunities and challenges. As things change, we change, opportunities and opportunity costs change. Our choices may change.

Here’s some wisdom around this from being an extreme athlete and wilderness adventurer. Exploring my potentials into do or die situations—immersed in working with the laws of nature—requires high situational awareness and adaptability skills. Like how to strategically navigate challenge and change all day every day, including wildlife and the weather.

Exploring whitewater rivers in the remote wilderness consists of deciding how to run each section along the way. Scouting can mean not just reading the river from an eddy on the edge, but climbing a cliff to get a bigger picture of what lies ahead. Then planning your paddling route by reading the flow of the river so you can pick the main current to ride—which is also the path of least resistance!

For the most part you want to ride the main current, not only because it has the most velocity, and keeps the fun factor was on high—but because it’s most likely to be free from obstructions, especially deadly fallen trees. It’s the fastest and safest place to be. Path of least resistance right there!

Sometimes the main current is too big and you can’t choose a safer line beside it, so you gotta get out of the river and portage around it.

Usually you can only see as far as the next bend, and sometimes you can see further.

And sometimes you can see you'll be able to switch gears and take a rest from precision positioning during calmer straighter stretches.

But here’s the thing—even tho you have an ultimate outcome—a final destination—you have to give up on the notion of knowing exactly what lies ahead along the way of getting there.

Obviously you wanna know about natural obstructions like dangerous ledges and holes, perilous waterfalls, and roaring canyons—but also rivers are dynamic and log jams can spontaneously appear. So some obstacles you will know about—the other ones you won’t until you get there.

Same thing with business and life—it’s important to be flexible and expansive with our perspectives as well. Being able to look at our goals and dreams like destinations along the road—from the driver seat and a drone flying overhead. To pick the main current in each section along the way—to take us from where we are now to where we want to go.

Ultimately our fulfillment and growth are in the choosing the best current or the main path of flow—for each part along the way—in a play by play way.

How do you apply lessons learned in nature or sport to your business and life?

Behind Every Extraordinary Action – There’s An Extraordinary Feeling

 What really inspires us to do what we do?

What really inspires us to deepen our connections with people, do great work, explore our potentials, enjoy a healthy bodymind, have fun, travel, create nourishing home spaces....?

And what is it about doing these things that is even more important to us?

To FEEL good. To FEEL better than good - Happy. Amazing. Blissful. Inspired. Creative, Accomplished. Connected. Loving. Loved....

Our energy drives our behaviour. Always.

Feelings are the language of our bodies and the way we connect with our soul.

Feelings are how our soul communicates with us.

We are always trying to connect with our soul.

Our soul is always trying to communicate with us.

We think we need to do things first so we can get to our desired feelings.

When we feel the way we desire, we are in the being of it. For those moments.

We feel love in all its forms. Happy. Blissful. Connected. Creative. Talented. Confident. Gorgeous. Relaxed. Ingenious. Inspired. Motivated. Sexy. Generous. Collaborative. Clear. Energized. Grateful. Fulfilled...

And then the feeling dissolves.

We do the thing again. We get a beautiful feeling. The feeling dissolves.

We do something else. We get another beautiful feeling. The feeling dissolves.

We think they dissolve because we attach their existence to an external event in time and when the doing in the event is over, we think the feeling is over and we have to do something to find it again.

We tell ourselves that when we make the money, get the relationship, the house, the vacation... then we’ll feel how we want. Until then, it’s a game of strive on.

When we experience our life DOING things in order to FEEL.

We spend a lot more of time waiting or thinking about what to do to feel good, than actually feeling good.

That strategy is stressful.

That strategy is backwards.

Here’s the thing: Our feelings are energetic blueprints in our bodymind and they’re our own natural resource. We can reframe things till the cows come home but if we stay in our head— no meaningful lasting changes happen on: cellular, neurochemical, brain rewiring, visceral, empathic, heart, or vibrational levels.

No true transformation happens.

You know this great Rumi quoteè “Let the beauty we love be what we do.”

I believe the beauty in what we love is how we feel, and when we feel On Our Game — in The Zone — in Flow — we feel our Peace and Power— Blissfully Alive.

Flow states have energetic blueprints too. They’re actually classified as a category of Ecstatic States, which are types of Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness [1].

Flow States naturally take us into our highest highs, those transcendent experiences that make life worth living. When we’re in them, our vibration goes through the roof. When we experience them frequently, regularly, almost always—we set ourselves up to operate on higher frequencies in between them—to continually lean more into flow consciousness and its limitless reality. Because Flow States rewire our bodymind to function in the realms of our highest potentials and possibilities—unlike anything else!

So no matter how ambitious or empathic world changer you are, nothing extraordinary can happen...

• unless you KNOW HOW TO GO ALL IN to the actions you take

• Unless your HEART IS ALL IN with your attention and intention

• Unless you absolutely FEEL LIKE IT. Period.

If you don’t really feel like doing something and you do it anyway—you’ll get a mediocre result from a mediocre effort—and who wants to waste time or energy with that?

Your Vibration Matters.

Your Flowfillment Matters.

May you always be exploring your extraordinary!

Want to find out more? Watch my free video training: Get Your High Performance, Flow, & Fearless Soul on Speed Dial

References:

1. Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientist Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work. Steven Kotler & Jamie Wheal. 2017. p 23.

DO YOU KNOW The SECRET Advantages of Flow?

Before we dive in here— let’s be clear about the three basic types of Flow.

1. INDIVIDUAL FLOW STATES: These are temporary peak states where you explore and channel more of your genius. All world class creativity, performance, and leadership come from Flow States.

2. COLLECTIVE/GROUP FLOW STATES: This is where everyone’s in their own individual flow state plus in a group flow state

3. UNIFIED-ONENESS CONSCIOUSNESS a.k.a. FLOW-CONSCIOUSNESS — is the higher levels of awareness you can be in all the time.

Here we’re going to focus on Flow States.

“The test of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there.”

— ~ James Buchanan

FLOW IS A HUGE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

The most progressive organizations on the planet know this. Elite sectors of Silicon Valley, Wall Street, and US DOD like the Navy SEALS — are investing in Flow Research to reach increasingly new levels of innovation, performance and ROI.

Why? Because our Flow States are our keys to our greatness. 

It’s no coincidence — because…

WE’RE HARDWIRED TO LEARN and GROW

“We must be learning if we are to feel fully alive, and when life, or love, becomes too predictable and it seems like there is little left to learn, we become restless — a protest, perhaps, of the plastic brain when it can no longer perform its essential task.”

— Dr. Norman Doidge

FLOW STATES ARE HOW WE CHANNEL AND GROW OUR GENIUS.

Flow States are often described as a mental state, but they’re actually a total bodymind experience. When you’re in a Flow State — you feel on your game: mentally, emotionally, physically. You’re operating at way higher levels of awareness and energy. It’s no wonder all world class creativity, performance and leadership come from Flow States.

Flow States infuse us with the most powerful superhero confidence, creativity, and performance enhancers our bodyminds make. We feel so beyond incredibly good — our soul smiles.

This is also no coincidence. Flow States are highly elevated states of consciousness with brainwave patterns like the most highly regarded transcendent states — you know the ones that the most dedicated spiritual seekers used to mediate for 10,000 hours to get to? They’re scientifically classified as one of four types of Ecstatic States: Contemplative States, Flow States, Mystical States, Psychedelic States (Kotler & Wheal, Stealing Fire).

‘Kamizawa” — you know this Japanese term Seth Godin refers to in his book, The Icarius Deception? ‘Kamiwaza’ is roughly translated as — the human experience of being godlike.The unique mix of hormones and neurotransmitters that flood our system in Flow States — is our natural ‘Kamizawa’ elixir! 

Flow States are one of our most profound keys to self-actualization and how we explore the higher realms of our potentials. They naturally connect us to the parts of ourselves where we’re deeply motivated at our core — to access more of our genius and create even better versions of our best work. 

FLOW STATES — MOTIVATION AND BEYOND

Beyond basic survival motivation, there are 3 types of Motivation. Most people are familiar with the first two here:

1. EXTERNAL/EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION—

   is summed up in the metaphor of the carrot and the stick which comes from behavior modification psychology and behaviorist learning theory. Performance is encouraged through behavioural conditioning with a reward/punishment system.
   

2. INTERNAL/INTRINSIC MOTIVATION—

   is our inner drive to be, do, have, and create what matters most. Performance is encouraged by developing, expressing and sharing our genius, making a difference in the lives of others, and our planet. 

   Daniel Pink in his best-selling book on motivation — Drive, talked about three main keys to intrinsic motivation:

   1. Autonomy — is valuing self-direction. We want to direct our own lives — decide what we do, when we do it, with who and when.

   2. Mastery — is valuing being on the path of self-actualization. Continually exploring our potentials and possibilities — becoming increasingly more amazing versions of ourselves.

   3. Purpose — is valuing the greater good. Feeling like we are part of something greater than ourselves and contributing to making our world a better place.

   Flow States are our autonomy, mastery and purpose in action. 

   Now here’s where things get even more interesting...

   The Latin word for motivation is ‘motivus’ — a moving cause. 

   And this shows up in the third type of motivation in a super cool way…

3. EMERGENT MOTIVATION (BEING IN THE ZONE)—

this is the Flow State experience where we’re engaged with every cell of our being. Performance is encouraged in real time by actually being in the process of discovering more of our potentials in a play-by-play way— “our presence in action” (this is one way I describe Flow States). 

The pre-eminent psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, who coined the term “Flow’ in the 70’s, and then the term ‘emergent motivation’ to describe its essence (Csikszentmihályi & Nakamura, The Concept of Flow).

The direction of the Flow State experience and our compelling desire to explore it further is formed by being fully engaged — interacting with our immediate environment. 

Our emerging motivation forms new immediate goals on-the-go. It’s the dynamic series of decisions we make as we’re in the process of discovery, learning, growing — with the seamless perfection of each action leading to the next — and the whole of each moment is greater than the sum of its parts.

It’s no wonder the widely cited 10 year McKinsey study on productivity found Top Executives 5 times more productive in Flow. Time wise this means 1 day working in Flow = 5 days working the old way or ‘normal’ way.

BEING IN A FLOW STATE OR IN THE ZONE — IS KEY TO LEVERAGING OUR GENIUS, ENERGY AND TIME

Since Flow States are our well-springs of creativity, performance, motivation, inspiration, innovation, productivity, and happiness—they exponentially increase ROI across the board.

This is true for business bottom lines and for us personally. The more time we are in Flow States — the more we exponentially up our inner and outer game — and benefit from the time and mental — emotional — physical — energy we invest.

THE ZONE OF ACCELERATED LEARNING and GROWTH

Almost 100 years ago the Russian psychologist and learning theorist Lev Vygotsky introduced The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) between 1924–1934. 

He specialized in the interaction between learning and development. The ZPD was his representation of the optimal learning-development-performance strategy. It became a revolutionary development in education. Vygotsky described the ZPD as:

“...the distance between the actual development level and the potential development level…it defines the functions that are in the process of maturation.”

Now one of the conditions and triggers of Flow States is an optimal balance between goal achievement and skill development — so you’re playing full out — fully engaged with every fiber of your being. This is where the immediate challenge stretches your existing skills to the optimal amount — so it’s not too hard (get anxious) or too easy (get bored). 

This is my rendition of Csikszentmihályi’s diagram showing the Flow Channel as this optimal balance, in his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.

And interestingly, current Flow State research pegs the optimal balance of goal achievement and skill development at 4% (Steven Kotler, The Rise of Superman). 

So if we superimpose the ZPD model on this Optimal 4% — it looks like this:

Since we’re hardwired to learn and grow—

and our Flow States are at the heart of accelerated learning and growth —

WE’RE HARD WIRED TO FLOW!

YOU KNOW YOUR TIME, ENERGY, AND FREEDOM ARE PRICELESS.

FLOW STATES make everything easier, extraordinary, fun, and fulfilling.

This is why creativity, productivity, performance, and profit skyrocket.

BEING IN THE ZONE FUELS MASSIVE PRESENCE, HAPPINESS, GROWTH, RESULTS, AND IMPACT. PERIOD.

I hope this dive into the Secret Advantages of Flow— helps you discover more of your brilliance — and experience more of the wildly successful business and life you’ve been dreaming of! 

Want to learn more? Watch my free video training: Get Your High Performance, Flow & Fearless Soul on Speed Dial

De-Stress on The Spot - Like The SuperHero You Are

A lot of people ask me what they can do to calm down on the spot right before they’ve gotta to do something big—when they’ve gotta feel totally on their game. The answer to this is using High Performance Mindsets, Flow & Fear Mastery skills, but here is something I also recommend to clients.

There’s a breath technique that’s really useful for Stage 2 of the Flow State Cycle: The Release. This is right before you get into a Flow State to take impactful, purposeful action—like having a super important meeting, taking the stage, or before going up to the start line for a major race, etc. It also works to calm you down to get to sleep.

Professionals and competitors in high stakes situations use it: first responders, military and athletes. It counteracts the big doses of stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol, that can cloud your thinking and responses in stressful situations. It mitigates nervousness and helps you maintain clarity, confidence and focus.

This form of breathing is a proven and fast way to calm down and get centered on the spot because it activates your para-sympathetic nervous system—your rest and digest response. This directly resets your energy and bodymind in amazingly good ways.

I’ve used my breath to prepare for ‘do or die’ situations as an Action Adventure Athlete. As as a bodymind medicine nerd who’s tried a ton of techniques and former Ashtanga Yoga Instructor — this is my absolute favorite. 

It’s Box Breathing.

This form of Pranayama is known as ‘Sama Vritti’ and its variation is ‘Visama Vritti’.

Most Box Breathing instructions I see around—tell you to just breathe into your lungs, but belly breathing is way more powerful—and the best way to breath all the time. 

Ok, here’s what to do:

I. SAMA VRITTI (BOX BREATHING) TECHNIQUE: BREATH SEGMENTS ARE EQUAL LENGTHS.

1. Breathe in through your nose while counting to 4.

2. Hold while counting to 4.

3. Breathe out through your mouth while counting to 4.

4. Hold while counting to 4.

5. Repeat as much as you feel is right for you in the moment.

II. VISAMA VRITTI: BREATH SEGMENT LENGTHS VARY.

So with this one, I make my inhalations and exhalations the same, usually about 6–7 seconds—and the holds are shorter like 4. Experiment and find out what works best in the moment for what you’re doing.

HOW TO MAXIMIZE YOUR BREATH EFFECTS: 

• Ground and center yourself in your body (I often put my hands on my solar plexus or my hips while I do this)

• Imagine your breath filling your belly and then every cell of your body (note: belly breathers will naturally breathe into their bellies first–-I breathe this way all the time)

• Adjust the count for your breath sets to whatever works best in the moment—let your intuition guide you

• Move your breath into tension spots in your body—while you move those parts or hold that spot with your hands (I often move my head from side to side to release neck tension)

• Do these breath exercises in the body position to best prep you for the action you’re going to take. Example: If I’m going to walk on stage, I do it standing. If I’m going to make an important call, I do it standing or sitting. If I’m wanting to calm my body to go to sleep, I do it laying down

Cheers to making your BREATH WORK for you! It’s POWERFUL on so many levels.

I hope this helps you get your Calm and Centered Game on Strong!

If you want to learn more…check out my free video training: Get Your High Performance, Flow & Fearless Soul on Speed Dial

High Performance Skill: How to Get Good Sleep - Anytime, Anywhere

I know a lot of people, including some of my clients, who secretly wish they could get better sleep. They’re so stoked about new ideas they can’t wait to get started on, or they have trouble quieting their inner critic that holds them hostage — demanding they go over and over things they did or plan to.

Obviously we all experience times in our lives when getting to sleep can be extra hard. When something deeply upsetting happens that we experience anxiety over — or when something so incredibly amazing happens we’re so over the moon excited. 

Whatever’s happening — our ability to turn off our inner buzz feed and focus on the task at hand — melting into our Sacred Sleep Space—boosts our happiness and effectiveness when we’re awake. 

When you’ve got a lot going on and a lot at stake, you need to be on your game — and good sleep totally helps make this possible.

An essential part of playing at the top of your game in business and life is Deep Rejuvenation and Loving Self Care — and obviously getting good sleep is essential. I don’t know how much sleep you need, it’ll vary depending on what you’re up to — but the quality of it is important.

Getting good sleep is also part of the Recovery Stage of the Flow State Cycle which is essential for high performance across the board including:

• maximizing flow, leveraging your genius, energy, and time on a day to day, project to project, and scaling your business levels 

• growing your comfort zones, optimizing your work flow rhythms— so you can to be your best, do less, and accomplish more — riding bigger waves of momentum

I know what it’s like to be in Flow with massive downloads of creativity channeling through you — that you can barely keep up. It’s so awesome! During these times, we may not get as much sleep as we usually need, and that’s fine.

Ultimately though, if you’re serious about being able to totally show up for you, your work, your business, your team, your clients, your audience, your loved ones, and your dreams — you gotta get your sleep game on strong. 

The hardest time I’ve ever had getting to sleep — and I did

was the day I was held hostage by rebel forces with AK47s and a Bazooka — all afternoon with my 4 year old son, husband, two friends and about 30 others in Guatemala. We saw another hostage being taken away at gunpoint. By the time they let us go — it was going to get dark soon so we didn’t get far. We ended up camping in a coffee field near the base of El Fuego — the active volcano which erupted last year killing over 200 people. We were so worried about being noticed that after we opened the gate to the field and drove the truck in, Betty and I took branches and swept away our tire tracks.

At sundown we heard what sounded like whispering around us in the coffee trees. We thought we’d be ambushed any minute. It must have been some sort of insects, because the anticipated ambush didn’t happen. Whew. But the anxiety wasn’t over — we slept in a tent feeling the volcano rumble under our bodies while we listening to gunfire exploding in the hills beside us.  

As an action adventure athlete I made this process for getting to sleep anytime, anywhere — like when you’re tenting out in the middle of the wilderness on a big whitewater river trip, you don’t want to be freaking out with every twig you hear cracking at night in the forest — you gotta get some good sleep to be on your game every day.

From there I’ve never had a problem with getting good sleep — even before ski races, performing on stage, training new groups, or sleeping at the foot of an active volcano in a pop up warzone. 

So this is why my clients who crave good sleep find this process bullet proof — plus they love melting into their new Sacred Sleep Space. Please note that they’re in a pattern of getting less sleep than they want, and don’t have a medically diagnosed sleep condition.

HERE’S MY SACRED SLEEP SPACE RECIPE

1. Make Your Sleep Mindset (my clients use my High Performance Mindset Framework but you may have a mindset method that works for you). This is something you say to yourself — to focus your attention on getting out of your head and into your body MELTING into the peaceful and deep relaxation feelings you need to get to sleep.

2. Create a Sacred Sleep Space — this is an imaginary place where you feel totally safe — ESPECIALLY FROM ANY RUNAWAY THOUGHTS. It’s designed to repel any energy that disrupts your nervous system. It’s like a secret home away from home that no one knows about. Give it a name because it’s a destination you’re going to look forward to often — even for naps.

3. Create a trigger, be it an action, a sound, or something you say to yourself — so when you pull this trigger — you know exactly where to go — into your Sacred Sleep Space.

Then when you’re ready to sleep:

1. Do some Box Breathing (in Pranayama terms it’s Sama Vritti and it’s variation is Visama Vritti) — Because it’s proven to activate your parasympathetic nervous system and calm your bodymind on the spot. Remember to breathe in through your nose and out your mouth — bring the air into your belly and fill every cell of your body with your breath to maximize its effect. If you’d like a set of amazing instructions for this, check my article on it here.

2. Use your Sleep Mindset and Trigger to get into your Sacred Sleep Space.

Note: I also turn off anything that rings or pings, use earplugs, and cover my eyes.

I hope this helps you Get Your Sleep Game on Strong — to up your game when you’re awake!

If you want to learn more about getting on your game — in business and life — especially when it counts the most…check out my free video training: Get Your High Performance, Flow & Fearless Soul on Speed Dial

The Ultra Successful Don't Get Out of Their Comfort Zones - Here's What They Do Instead

Tigers have Comfort Zones all over the place — anytime, anywhere they want. They also spring into strategic action especially when it counts the most. They wouldn’t be able to do this without their Comfort Zones.

I hear a lot of people say we gotta ‘get out of our Comfort Zones’ like they were bad places to be.

In the High Performance World   they’re absolutely useful when you’re continually exploring more of your potentials to up your game and impact. You just gotta know how to make them work for you.

WHAT DO THE ULTRA SUCCESSFUL DO WITH COMFORT ZONES?

1. Use them as Pit Stops along the way of upping their game and impact

2. Grow them into their new normals

Here’s the thing — we’re hardwired to learn and grow. Flow states are how we channel and grow our genius. They accelerate business and personal excellence better than anything else.

The 4 Stage Flow State Cycle is one of the concepts at the heart of this.

I’m no ecologist, but I bet there are high correlations between this cycle and the growth — ebb and flow cycles —  in the natural world. 

Taking a closer look at this cycle will take another post — for now, notice Flow States are preceded by Set Up and Release stages — and are followed by a Recovery stage. Flow States can’t happen without the other 3 stages.

HERE ARE 2 WAYS TO MAKE COMFORT ZONES WORK FOR YOU:

1️⃣ Use them like Pit Stops  in between Flow Cycles. Flow States are temporary so when we’re not in them or the Flow Cycle, one place we can hang out in is our Comfort Zones.Consider your Comfort Zones a natural state too— along the way of exploring your potentials and growing your business.

A bonus here is — if we think of growing our excellence and potentials with Flow like a spiral staircase — every time you go through a Flow Cycle and spiral up a level up — your next Comfort Zone ‘Pit Stop’ is also elevated up the spiral from the last one. 

😁 Question for you: Consider how your business (and life) would transform — if your Comfort Zones were not about being in states of inertia — but taking Pit Stops to allow yourself to acknowledge and enjoy your accomplishments and how far you’ve come? 

2️⃣ Grow them into your New Normals. Get comfortable growing and evolving. Since we’re hardwired to learn, grow and flow — we grow our Comfort Zones too. 

Your Current Level of All That You Are — your confidence and capabilities —is your current Comfort Zone — because anything that happens within the frame of this Zone — you know you can handle very well.

Your Current Level of All That You Are — your confidence and capabilities —is your current Comfort Zone — because anything that happens within the frame of this Zone — you know you can handle very well.

The space between where you are now — Current Level — and your next Target Level — is your Growth Zone. In Education, it’s known as The Zone of Proximal Development (Lev Vygotsky). 

In Flow Psychology—it’s one of 9 Essential Conditions of Flow States (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi). 

Here this optimal growth zone— between where you are now and the immediate thing you want to accomplish — allows you to play full out because the immediate challenge isn’t to hard or too easy. Steven Kotler & Jamie Wheal report that current flow research pegs this sweet spot at 4%.

As you grow your confidence and capabilities — what you know you can handle grows too. And this doesn’t just happen in a linear way. It happens exponentially because as you increasingly play at the top of your game — you set yourself up to play a bigger game.

Your Comfort Zones expand into elevated new normals. This also means Momentum.

😁 Question to Consider: How would your business (and life) transform — if your Comfort Zones were not about being in states of inertia but being in confident, exhilarating, centered, expansive Flow States — taking purposeful actions aligned with your goals, your Whys, and dreams?

Hope this helps pivot your perspective on Comfort Zones and propels your Prosperity!

If you want to learn more…check out my free video training: Get Your High Performance, Flow & Fearless Soul on Speed Dial

Flow States: Finding Peace so Everything Falls into Place

I love this quote by Marianne:

“Ego says, “Once everything falls into place, I’ll feel peace.”
Spirit says, “Find your peace, and then everything will fall into place.””

— Marianne Williamson

YES! This is why being able to easily access the Flow States we know we have — plus create new ones — is essential to living and growing our peace and happiness. 

Flow States elevate our inner and outer game at the same time.

As everyone into mindfulness knows, being present in the now is key. 

I find not everyone into mindfulness knows about their Flow States though.

Flow States give us immediate experiences of being and creating from the places in us where ego doesn’t exist. In fact, our brainwave activity changes and up levels us into higher states of consciousness where our ego takes a time out…and our intuition takes over. This is ecstasy right here!

There’s a loss of ego awareness in flow states. Don’t you love it when your inner critic goes silent and you stop second guessing yourself? Ahhh… this is Peace…Creativity…Innovation…Pure Productivity…Peak Performance……this is a Happy Place…this is Bliss…this is Freedom.

our Flow States take us right into our High Self connecting us to Flow Consciousness — where everything falls into place with greater effortless ease.

When we’re in Flow States we get the sense of channeling energy greater than ourselves because a whole new world of possibilities opens up. This has us merging harmoniously with elements of nature or accessing and expressing new avenues of our creative spontaneous brilliance.

This is why I say “Flow States are Presence in Action.”

Flow is not just a mental state.

In these ultimate states of awareness — our bodymind chemistry changes. Flow States guarantee peak experiences because they infuse us with the perfect mix of mental, emotional, and physical energy we need to access, explore, focus on, and deliver more of our genius.  

The more you use Flow States — the more you rewire your brain and body — your bodymind — to establish habits that support you at your highest levels. And the more you get to explore your highest potentials and possibilities.

The more you operate on these higher frequencies, the more higher vibration people and opportunities come your way. As you gain these new perspectives,connections, and experiences — instead of you just moving towards your goals, visions, and dreams — they come closer at the same time.

May you Get Your Flow, Peace and Happiness Game on Strong!

And hey, if you like this give it a clap and-or a comment.

If you want to find out how my clients experientially learn to do this in a few hours now, so they can do it in seconds when it counts the most…check out my free video training: Get Your High Performance, Flow & Fearless Soul on Speed Dial

How to Set Yourself Up for Success in Your Sleep

Are you always on the lookout for ways to access more of your intuitive guidance and creative genius?

Are you intentional about your day, into producing your best work, and love extraordinary results?

Do you love brainstorming ideas but know that staying in our conscious mind to do it is limiting?

Are you not a fan of getting out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off, find snooze buttons annoying, and sometimes crave that floaty in-between worlds feeling of being half asleep and half awake?

Me too. So I created this Morning Ritual so I could sleep in a little every morning and have AHAs starting my day.

HOW TO SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS IN YOUR SLEEP:

1. Set 2 alarm times:

·       One for an hour before you want to get up (or however long you want your ‘sleep in’ to be) and

·       One for when you want to get up 

2. When the first alarm goes off, bring yourself awake enough to think of something you’re working on or need to figure out — and would love the help of your intuitive genius. Or you can think of what you want to ask the night before.

Remember in my last article about Getting Your Self Talk Game on Strong and asking yourself an ‘I wonder…’ question? 

Your in-between worlds time in the morning when you’re waking up is another kick ass time to ask yourself an ‘I wonder’ question! This is because your brainwave activity is already primed for it. You’re coming out of the lucidy creative-day-dreamy Alpha state — and Theta: the deeper intuitive, meditative, REM state.

By the way, Flow States happen in low Alpha-high Theta and they’re the gateway to your AHA-Epiphany Zone (Gamma brain waves). Delta is deep dreamless sleep and Beta is normal waking consciousness.

Sooo…to make an ‘I wonder’ question for your morning altered state of consciousness, fill in the blank with a what, how, who, or when — for whatever you’re working on.

“I wonder_________?

 Some ideas you might consider:

· the best way to optimize your day, your week, your resources, etc.

· the most important purposeful action you can do today or this week, that will make the biggest difference to accomplishing what you’re working on

· the best way to break down big goals or projects into doable parts

· the best way to communicate something to someone you need to have an important conversation with

As soon as you’ve got your question, you can drift back off into that yummy floaty creative dreamy space — and notice what pops up. My clients love this because they get insights they would never get any other way and live more in Flow Consciousness — the realm of infinite possibilities. Plus they feel like they’re getting an extra hour sleep!

So take this for a spin….I’d love to know how it works for you! Let me know :)

If you want to learn more…check out my free video training: Get Your High Performance, Flow & Fearless Soul on Speed Dial

High Performance Success Secret: Get Your Self Talk Game on Strong

How we feel about ourselves has everything to do with how we show up in every moment every day. It directly impacts the confident self belief and energy vibration we need  to create the results and impact we desire.

A core component of your success in everything you do is your ability to totally feel on your game for the purposeful actions that accelerate your momentum.

AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF FEELING ON OUR GAME IS OUR SELF TALK

High Performance Mindsets are actually the most powerful Self Pep Talks on the planet. A core component of a solid High Performance Mindset is a bullet proof self belief.

Now because Self Talk is also such a blind spot, before my clients experientially learn to use my High Performance Mindset Framework, they start upping their Self Talk Game. 

Here’s 3 things they do:

1. Identify Positive Self Talk Triggers — Your Language of Empowerment

2. Identify Negative Self Talk Triggers — Your Language of Limitations

3. Change Negative Self Talk into Positive

Here’s 2 ways they hone these skills:

1. THE FIRST THING TO IDENTIFYING POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE SELF TALK TRIGGERS IS TO LISTEN TO YOUR SELF TALK

How do you talk to yourself? Like a lover, a best friend, an intuitive guide, a coach, a raving fan, a negotiator, a critic, or a bully? Your Self Talk is your self belief talking to you.

When you notice what you say to yourself, how you say it — the words and the tone you use — and how you feel — you’ll get a sense of the WHO you’re being with yourself in the moment. 

Learning to hear your Self Talk is an integral key to discovering your higher levels of awareness and being self reliant about getting out of your own way.

On a basic level, our Language of Empowerment generates high vibrational feelings of fulfillment on the love scale, like self confidence, courage, empathy, connection, peace, excitement, joy, bliss, etc. Our Language of Limitations generates low vibrational painful feelings on the fear scale, like self-doubt, resistance, overwhelm, frustration, anxiety, procrastination, burnout, etc.

When you get a handle on noticing what you say to yourself, how you say it, when you say it, and how you feel about it — the next step is to say more of what you like and less of what you don’t.

2. ONE QUICK ON THE GO CORRECTION TO TRANSFORM NEGATIVE SELF TALK INTO POSITIVE

DO THE 180

Here’s a personal example. Sometimes when I’m taking on a new challenge and I’m not sure where I’m going to even start — I catch my Self Talk saying “this is hard” in a matter of fact tone of voice, and I feel myself deflate a bit. 

You know the 4 Stage Flow State Cycle? This is me sometimes at the start of Stage 1: Struggle. Yep, I can’t believe “this is hard” is the first thing that pops up but at times it does…because there’s a part of me that loves a big challenge … and I haven’t broken it down into doable steps yet. 

Linguistically ‘this is hard’ is a present tense statement — which is saying something is a fact. It’s a good tense to use for positive Self Talk. When it shows up in negative Self Talk, it’ll slow you down or stop you in your tracks.

This is where a lot of inner driven people with big goals, visions, and dreams to accomplish — get stuck, keep spinning their wheels, or stress out on the brink of burnout. When we’re unfamiliar with something, we often default to thinking it will be more complicated than it could be.

We can use our Self Talk to immediately switch our energy into how we feel when we totally know what to do and how to do it. 

So right there, I stop myself and do the 180 — and say “this is easy” in the same matter of fact tone — like it’s a no brainer — and I let this sink in for an immediate shift into feeling expanded and ready.

Then I take it a step further and ask myself “I wonder how this could be easier than I can imagine?”

‘I wonder…’ questions are from the language of possibilities that the world class innovator of medical hypnosis, the late Psychiatrist—Milton H. Erickson, M.D. —used in his highly successful therapeutic practice. 

When we’re facing challenges or uncertainty and are in a place of ‘I don’t know’… ‘I wonder…’ questions simultaneously open our awareness to higher levels of consciousness and inspire our subconscious creativity. 

My clients tell me this is a gamechanger for them right off the bat!

I hope this helps you get your Self Talk Game on Strong :)

And hey, if you like this and want to learn more…Check out my free video training: Get Your High Performance, Flow & Fearless Soul on Speed Dial

The Top 3 Skills for Accelerating Successes, Exponential Growth, and Impact in your Business and Life

So in my last article we talked about how thinking Success is Just a Mind Game — is a blindspot.

Because…

To play at the top of your game in business and life — you must set yourself up with and embody the optimal MINDSETS, ENERGY, & AWARENESS you need for the purposeful actions you take in a play by play way.

And I promised a Cheat Sheet, here it is:

1. Use High Performance Mindsets

They activate our higher mental, emotional, physical, and intuitive states — for doing purposeful actions aligned with our goals and dreams. They are the launch pads for getting into The Zone (Flow States). 

What is a High Performance Mindset? This is my working definition:

High Performance Mindsets (HPMs) set you up for optimal and peak performance because they work in a play by play way—task to task, goal to goal—so you can perform consistently at your highest potentials—and best your bests when it counts the most.

2. Access Your Flow States & Flow Consciousness (aka Oneness-Unified Consciousness)

Flow States are states of ultimate experience, consciousness, creativity, and performance. Being in a flow state is also known as being in THE ZONE. Flow States are where all world class performance, creativity, and leadership come from.

Flow Consciousness is where we’re aware of our connection to Oneness/Source Energy in a Limitless Reality, or The Quantum Field of Infinite Potentials and Possibilities. When you dial into these highest frequencies/or vibrations, everything becomes less complicated and more effortless. This allows our MARGIN FOR MIRACLES to grow, with deeper intuition, greater divine timing and synchronicities showing up.

Since Flow States are temporary, when we’re in them, we’re automatically in an expanded state of awareness. There are other skills for increasing your Flow Consciousness when you’re not in Flow States, but that’s beyond the scope of this post :)

3. Operate from Zero Resistance 

This is Your Fearless Zone. This is feeling the freedom of operating from the places in you where the blocks you think you have don’t exist. You can’t get here by using any strategies that just keep you in your head. This is an advanced emotional-soul intelligence skill where you energetically transform fear into breakthroughs you love at a feeling level — by connecting to your core truths or soul wisdom.

These 3 work on multiple levels to automatically align our:

·       Logical-left + Intuitive-right brains

·       Conscious + subconscious + high self minds

·       Feminine + masculine energies

·       Individual flow with flow consciousness

This is why they automatically allow us to feel the most empowered versions of our TRUE POWERFUL CREATOR SELF anytime, anywhere.

They guide us in the present — in the power of now — and naturally raise our frequency so we can intrinsically lead our best lives and empower others to do the same.

I hope these this helps get you Accelerate Your Successes, Exponential Growth, and Impact :)

And hey, if you like this and want to learn more…Check out my free video training: Get Your High Performance, Flow & Fearless Soul on Speed Dial

One of the Biggest Blind Spots to Success — Thinking it’s Just a Mind Game

Success — It’s Not Just a Mind Game

Mindsets are one of the most important things we can control to determine what happens in our life. Most people think success is just a mind game.

This thinking keeps even highly gifted Visionary Changemakers, inner driven Entrepreneurs and Coaches with big goals and dreams — stuck spinning their wheels. This sucks especially when they’d rather be exploring their potentials and possibilities, or delivering more of their genius to make the world a better place.

Because here’s the thing — MINDSETS ARE MORE THAN JUST IN YOUR BRAIN because OUR MINDS ARE WAY MORE THAN JUST IN OUR HEAD.

MINDSETS ARE A BODYMIND EXPERIENCE.

Heroic actions and neuroscience show us that our basic emotional responses happen faster than the speed of cognition. For example: If you see a little child on the road and a car is coming and you know you can save that kid — you’re gonna run and do it. Your heart energy (emotional response system) immediately goes to that child in danger and overrides everything else you were thinking about in that moment and compels you to action.

You know, where we slow ourselves down is how we think about what we feel. So no matter how high intentioned or ambitious you are, nothing extraordinary can happen:

· Unless you KNOW HOW TO GO ALL IN WITH EVERY CELL OF YOUR BEING

· Unless your HEART IS INTO IT

· Unless you ABSOLUTELY FEEL LIKE IT. Period.

If you don’t totally feel like doing something and you do it anyway — you’ll get a mediocre result from a mediocre effort — and who wants to waste time or energy with that?

In high stakes situations — that’s a recipe for disaster.

To play at the top of your game in business and life — you must set yourself up with and embody — the optimal MINDSETS, ENERGY, and AWARENESS you need for the purposeful actions you take in a play by play way.

You know this powerful quote by Rumi:

“Let the beauty we love be what we do.”

— Rumi

While I adore this, I believe the secret to channeling more of our brilliance, accelerating our successes and deepening fulfillment is:

“The beauty in what we love is how we feel.”

— Donnamarie

So I say:

And…

When we Feel On Our Game and In the Zone Doing Purposeful Actions — we set ourselves up for successes even better than we imagined.

But wait! How do you get into Flow States?

Well, my take on this is to use High Performance Mindsets because they provide the perfect container to simultaneously access your optimal mental, emotional, physical, and awareness states. This way you can fully show up for taking optimal actions aligned with your goals and dreams. That is…High Performance Mindsets set you up to get into Flow States.

How do I know? Exploring my potentials into ‘do or die’ moments as an Action Adventure Athlete in the remote wilderness taught me how to make high performance mindsets in seconds and get into flow states in the blink of an eye.

SUCCESS IS A BODYMIND GAME.

So the real keys to Success are really about using the right mindsets, energy, and awareness at the right times for the right actions aligned with your goals and dreams. As you can see, mindsets are definitely one paramount thing we can control, but not the solo key factor.

I’ll put together a cheat sheet for Accelerating your Successes, Exponential Growth, and Impact in your Business and Life — coming up next.

I hope these are valuable points to ponder and help you get your Success and Flowfillment Game on Strong!

And hey, if you like this and want to learn more…Check out my free video training: Get Your High Performance, Flow & Fearless Soul on Speed Dial