Performance Intelligence at Work: The 5 Essentials to Achieving the Mind of a Champion: The Five Essentials to Achieving the Mind of a Champion - Hardcover

Bell, Julie Ness; Pou, Robin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0071625143 ISBN 13: 9780071625142

Verlag: MCGRAW HILL BOOK CO, 2009

Inhaltsangabe

Your mind is a powerful tool. You just need to learnhow to master it. That’s where Performance Intelligencecomes in.

The ability to perform your best when it mattersmost is a skill anyone can learn. A well-knownsports psychologist, Julie Ness Bell, Ph.D., hastrained some of the world’s greatest athletes, fromprofessional golfers and tennis stars to footballteams and basketball pros. She’s learned that theathlete’s ability to perform under extreme stressis predominantly mental—not physical—and thebasic principles of peak performance are the samefor everyone, whether you’re a corporate leader,team player, or small business owner.

Principle #1: Your mind is powerful.
Principle #2: You control your mind.
Principle #3: You have a choice inevery situation.

Think about it. Now think again. That’s the secretbehind Performance Intelligence at Work, a provenmethod of unblocking the obstacles in your brain—and unlocking “The Mind of a Champion.”

Performance Intelligence works for athletes, and itwill work for you, too. Throughout the book, Bellprovides specific examples from her vast coachingexperiences and relates them to the corporate playingfield.

Each chapter ends with a “Business LeaderHuddle” to help you put each principle into action. You will learn how to recognize your old waysof thinking, refocus your thoughts on a goal, andestablish new routines to make it happen. Insteadof negative “what-not-to-do” thinking (I will notprocrastinate), you’ll be able to retrain your brainusing proactive “what-to-do” thinking (I will finishthis task today).

Soon you’ll be performing at higherlevels than you ever thought possible—with awinning mindset you never knew you had.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Julie Ness Bell, Ph.D., is founder and president ofThe Mind of a Champion, a Texas-based coachingfirm that works with athletes, individuals, and companies,including Time Warner, State Farm, andErnst & Young. She earned her bachelor’s degreein psychology from Oklahoma State and a master’sand doctorate of sports psychology from theUniversity of Virginia. Dr. Bell wrote PerformanceIntelligence at Work with Robin Pou, J.D., a successfulentrepreneur whose experience leading peopleand growing businesses has provided him with anup-close view of how individual and organizationalthinking influence performance.

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GET IN THE GAME ANDPLAY TO WIN!

“Performance Intelligence at Work is the wake-up call every business leader needs.Results come from actions but actions come from your thinking. To performbetter you must change your thinking.”
—Mike Davidson, Vice Chairman and Chief Agency and Marketing Officer,State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

“Dr. Julie coaches you to activate your mind fully so you can conquer anychallenge and rise to the top. If you are looking to achieve your greatestpotential, read this book.”
—Brian Baldinger, thirteen-year NFL veteran; sports analyst,Fox/NFL Network; and coauthor of The Map to Clear Messages

“Without confidence, focus, and a winning game plan, it is hard to reallyperform your best. Dr. Julie gives sound advice to take your game tothe next level.”
—Alton Jones, professional angler, 2008 Bassmaster Classic Champion

“Performance Intelligence at Work is a home run. . . . As an athlete and businessowner, training my mental game is critical to success. Everyone needs acoach and this book is mine.”
—Don Miguel, master fitness coach; founder of Fit-for-Me Foundation; four-timenational track and field champion; and fifteen-time all-American, track and field

“With this book, Dr. Julie coaches you to change your thinking so you canchange your actions to achieve the results you desire. A must read.”
—Holly Roush, Presidential Black Diamond, MonaVie

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Performance Intelligence at Work

THE FIVE ESSENTIALS TO ACHIEVING THE MIND OF A CHAMPIONBy Julie Bell Robin Pou

The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Copyright © 2009 The Mind of a Champion Publishing
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-07-162514-2

Contents

Chapter One

Your Mind Is Powerful

"Dr. Julie, it's Coach Smith. We have a problem. Robert is in a free throw slump. He is shooting 17 percent in games, yet he shoots 97 percent in practice. I know you can help him."

Robert and I met on the court later that day, and I asked him a handful of questions. What was the difference between games and practice? Did he forget how to shoot a free throw? Was he nervous about the crowd? Was he worried about his coach? Did the arena bother him? He kept answering, "No. That's not it." Then he did something interesting. He stepped up to the line, dribbled the ball, and said, "You know what, Dr. Julie? I think I'm jinxed from the line." I answered him simply: "Now we know your problem."

The only difference between practice and the games was his thinking. He thought about making the shot in practice. He expected his free throws to go in. In games, he thought, I'm jinxed from the line. And that thought changed his shooting percentage from the high 90s to below 20. It changed the execution of his skill.

Imagine a printout of your thoughts. What might it look like? If you saw that list, would it cause you to consider changing your thinking? Now put that printout of your thinking next to a list of the actions that result from those thoughts. Place them side by side and you will see how a change in your thinking can have a dramatic impact on your actions.

Three Principles of the Mind

Three basic principles of the mind guide my Performance Intelligence coaching. Let's start with the first principle.

Principle 1: Your Mind Is Powerful

Do you know that your mind is powerful? Think about a time when you had a nightmare. You might have awakened suddenly with cold sweats, a racing heart, or a fearful scream. Yet you were in bed—a warm, safe environment. There was no real danger, but your body reacted to your mind, to what you were thinking. Your mind tricked your body into having a real reaction to the perception of a fearful situation.

Here is an exercise that will demonstrate the power of your mind. Find a paper clip and about a foot of thread. Tie the thread to the end of your paper clip. (Now read these instructions in their entirety; then put down the book and do the exercise.)

Make sure the thread is tied to the end of the paper clip. Place the thread between the tips of your finger and your thumb with the paper clip dangling. It is important that the thread be at the tip of your finger and the tip of your thumb, not at the knuckle. Hold the thread gently. Without moving your hand or blowing on the string or the paper clip—only by thinking about it—move the paper clip from front to back. Just think front to back ... front to back. Continue to think front to back.

Now, without moving your hand and only by thinking about it, change the direction of the paper clip. Move the paper clip from side to side by thinking side to side ... side to side.

Next, without moving your hand and only by thinking about it, change the direction of the paper clip again. Move the paper clip in a circle. Repeat the thought in a circle ... in a circle.

(Put the book down and do this exercise. You will be amazed at how powerful your mind is.)

What happened? Did the paper clip move in the direction of your thinking? I use this activity in the workshops I lead. A majority of the participants are able to move the paper clip simply by thinking about it. There is no magic here. Your mind is powerful. As a result of your thinking, your mind sends out impulses all the time. Those impulses travel down your arm and out your fingertip and thumb, and down the thread to move the paper clip in the direction you are thinking. Congratulations. You now know that your mind is powerful.

To get an idea of how powerful the mind is, consider the story of the prisoner who was in a concentration camp for seven years. When he came out, he had shaved 20 strokes off his golf game. How? While locked away, he played every course he had ever set foot on in his mind. He would play one course a day, every day. The same thing happened with a Chinese pianist who improved under similarly trying circumstances. He was a gifted player before his incarceration, and he visualized playing each note of each song he had ever played. When he emerged, he performed at an amazingly higher level.

The second principle of the mind should be considered great news too.

Principle 2: You Control Your Mind

Do you agree? To know for sure, do this simple exercise. I want you to think of a song whose words you know. Sing a few lines of that song in your head.

Now I want you to sing the same song with the same words. Only this time, slow the song down.

Do it one more time. This time I want you to speed up the song. Make it go faster.

If you can speed up the song, slow down the song, or even change the words to the song, you are demonstrating that you control your mind. As easy as it is to speed up a song or slow it down, that is how easy it is to control your mind. Congratulations. You control your mind.

When you put these two principles together—(1) your mind is powerful and (2) you control your mind—you are ready to understand the third principle.

Principle 3: You Have a Choice in Every Situation

The choices you make in your thinking directly influence your actions. Here's another way to say it: Your thoughts lead to your actions.

The basketball player in the free throw slump at the beginning of this chapter was experiencing these three principles. Every time he heard the whistle and knew he was going to the line, he thought, I'm jinxed from the line. Those thoughts created tension, and that tension made it more difficult to make the shot.

These three principles are not exclusive to sports. Let's consider a business example. Your company has launched a customer service initiative. The company has invested a significant amount of money in training employees to handle difficult customers. The much anticipated customer surveys return, and nothing has changed. What happened? The focus of the training was on actions. No one addressed the thinking of the customer service representatives.

For example, let's say that one of those customer service reps has an upset caller on the line. That service rep has a choice in his thinking, and the choices he makes in his thinking will influence his actions directly. If he is thinking, This person is upset and wants to blame someone, how is he going to act? Most likely, he will approach the call defensively, frustrated, or listening for conflict.

Now take the same situation but change the thinking. This time the service rep is going to think, This person is upset and believes I can help. If those are his thoughts, what are his actions? Most likely he will approach the call in a helpful manner. He is listening for some sort of solution or pressing toward resolution.

Think about it. The person on the other end of the phone has not changed. She still is using the same colorful adjectives to describe her issue. She still has intensity in her voice. But the rep's new thoughts have led to his changed actions, leading to a completely different customer experience. Change your thinking...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: MCGRAW HILL BOOK CO
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2009
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0071625143
• ISBN 13: 9780071625142
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 174
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: McGraw-Hill Education; https://www.mheducation.co.in/; ; Via Verdi, 8; Assago Milano; 20090; Italien