Are you at your best in the most important moments of your life?

Creating the right thoughts, emotions and mindset in the most challenging personal or professional situations gives you an edge on success and happiness that others can only wish for. If you don’t control your mindset, then you may be victimizing yourself. Mental preparation is critically important for achieving your dreams.

Mental preparation techniques are all fairly easy to learn and can be mastered if you use and practice them consciously for a long enough period of time.

Remember that when mentally preparing you are either wiring or rewiring your brain so you can be your best. Precision and repetition are critical.

Take this example of someone we coached. Julia had been working for a high-tech company for about a decade. She was a solid but average producer. Then she learned three techniques that she applied every day for the next several years, gradually becoming the top producer in her company.

• Each day, Julia would pay attention to rethinking any negative thought so that it became a positive one.
• She would focus on only what she controlled and relax about everything else
• She would use centering breathing and mentally prepare before every phone call and client meeting. She credited these three mental strategies for her dramatic increase in sales.

Gain Control

The more you gain control of your thoughts, and as a result, your emotions and mindset, before you enter a stressful situation (regardless of whether this is positive or negative stress), the more likely you are to engage as your best and create the best outcome for yourself.

Remember what the researchers from NYU discovered: we make 11 major decisions about a person in the first seven seconds of our meeting him or her. If what you do involves leadership, management, or interacting with people in any capacity, you’ll likely want to make the best impression that you can as quickly as you can. This is not only the first time you meet someone; it’s each time you interact with someone.

This is why your emotional preparation (pre-routine) is so critical.

Whatever emotions you have, people pick up on them, either consciously or subconsciously, in the first seven seconds you are together, and they make decisions about you based on that impression.

Have you ever met someone whom you felt immediately was either right or wrong for your project, or who projected an optimism or pessimism that you noticed right away?

Thanks for sharing.

For questions about this post or for information on becoming a fearless leader, contact Dr. Cathy Greenberg and The Fearless Leader Group at (888) 320-1299 or by email at hello@fearlessequalsfreedom.com.