Thriving is Putting All the Negatives in a Box
There are so many negatives we are exposed to on a daily basis. We face news on so many fronts. There is the economy, politics, war, inflation, the stock market, weather, our own health, the operational difficulties of our employer, our industry’s welfare, the fear of new technologies replacing us, getting downsized, the difficulty of advancing in our careers.
Each of these takes a shot at our nervous system. They stress us. The test our optimism. They test our faith in life. They test our wellbeing, They test our desire to be engaged. We wake up in the morning with a large back pack of potential worries to strap on as we begin our day.
When I asked ChatGPT, Microsoft’s AI bot, what are the challenges corporations face today with workers, the long answer reflected all the emotional and psychological issues workers feel interfere with churning out peak performances.
Turning Away from All the Negatives
I think that is a big issue in making progress in our life; letting all the negatives prevent us from turning out peak performances every day. Working a peak performance backward from the standpoint of an athlete, entertainer, surgeon, speaker, or worker we get an idea of how to overcome our barriers.
Stephen Kotler, author of The Rise of Superman, discusses extreme athletes and how they are motivated to risk their lives to challenge dangerous situations in Nature with their personal skills. We might use this as a metaphor for going to work or our career or our life.
Dean Cotter, extreme athlete and soloist rock climber, climbs big cliffs without ropes. One missed grip and he dies. He says he climbs for the feelings he experiences, not to get on top of rocks. I think this single message should be our answer. What would you do for the feelings you experience, not just the results?
This is the definition of “flow” as Kotler’s book describes over and over. We engage in something in which we understand the mechanics, meaning basic skills without having to think about them like typing, and look for the next step up the ladder in our personal performance.
Leaving the Distractions Behind
In this process, we are able to shut out all distractions and our prefrontal cortex, which is our self-criticism or judgement zone, shuts down allowing us to perform fully expressing ourself. As we engage our brain recognizes what we are doing and stimulates dopamine and serotonin and oxytocin if we are performing to help others. If we are engaged in exercise we get endorphins.
This is a powerful cocktail. All the happiness hormones and neurotransmitters are engaged in sustaining our effort and giving us a feeling of bliss. We might experience this in sex, playing an instrument, writing, painting, running 10 miles, hiking a steep face, or in doing our work.
This is an escape from all the world’s negativity and arrival at the most blissful feeling we can experience in living. So, Robert Frost said I came to a fork in the road and I took the path less traveled. The problem with facing so many negatives is we don’t take the path only some people take and the majority don’t. There is a choice we can make.
Finding Our Own Blissful Path
We can find our passion and fully engage. This is the path to our bliss during which time we box out all the negatives in life. When I write in the mornings, the rest of the world doesn’t exist. This is one reason the compulsion is so strong and why I rarely miss a day. I do it first before anything else can interrupt or needs attending. This might be why surfers are out at 6 a.m. and runners are out before work.
This is the experience of video gamers who can spend 5 hours absorbed in a challenge. Nerds maybe labeled such because they have a passion and lose consciousness of what some may call worldly behavior. A quarterback or basketball player or team needs to get into flow for peak performances or they won’t win championships. In games when teams are performing at the level beyond expectations or beyond when an equal team can’t match them, they are experiencing a peak performance.
If you strive for peak performances and not material accumulation, praise, perks, adulation, or any other vain returns for our efforts, you may enter this sacred zone of bliss and life’s great gift to man. You will be discovering who you are, your potential, and a feeling of connection to all things. This is a rapturous experience and why extreme athletes feel compelled to keep returning.
The beauty of a person with passion is they are hard to stop. They don’t let negativity enter their solar system. They step over adversity like a log in the path. They have a vision and their vision includes them being someplace highly rewarding. When someone tastes the most delicious dessert, their aaaahhh is their arrival at a bliss. Peak performance is this bliss. This is the the aaahh, this is where I am supposed to exist and spend my time.
You might be at a fork. Choose the path you haven’t traveled and find your peak performances and bliss. It is waiting for you.
Read More
Emotions Are A Weapon Not A Hindrance
You Are in Charge of How Others See You
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Podcasts: Would you like to listen to all these posts on podcast. Tune into my channel for listening on the go. Everything About Podcasts
As a Thriving Worker Consultant, I can engage in conversations with employers on how to begin the process of helping workers thrive and reach peak performance. It begins with a conversation to see how far an organization is willing to go to change the culture for workers.
Great practices for daily living can be learned with the Markap Series of Books. If your organization would like live presentations or Zoom meetings, they can be arranged for small to large groups.
