You Can Train a Shark!

It has been an amazing week with a trip to Helsinki Finland to deliver my half day Mental Resilience Masterclass to the staff of a large organisation. This three-day trip to Finland was followed with a keynote talk to the Builders Merchants Federation branch managers conference in Coventry.

Finally, the week finished with a trip to London to meet a new potential client and finally a Skype call with the company from Finland to discuss the Masterclass I delivered and to look at the potential to deliver one or two more.

This stuff really works!

The more I deliver my talks and Masterclasses the more I see the impact of what I teach on people. The way you think, the way you speak and the way you act directly effects your future. You can change your future by changing the way you think, the way you speak and the way you act.

The way you think is the way you visualise your future. When you think of something you create a picture in your mind of that thought. If I ask you to think of an elephant you won’t see the word, but you will visualise an elephant. So, visualisation is very powerful and effective. We need to visualise or think positively to ensure a positive future.

The Theatre of the Mind

When I used to work in radio we used to call this the ‘Theatre of the Mind’. We would sit our clients in a blacked-out room and only play a soundtrack of someone describing situations with sound effects and the clients were blown away as to how real the images were in their minds.

The reverse is also true. If we think negatively we will see negative pictures in our minds and we will be drawn towards those negative pictures. Similarly, the words we speak are powerful. If we speak more negative words than positive, then the odds are we will have a negative life, BUT the reverse is also true.

Actions are key

Finally. the actions we take are key. We need to act to make our dreams come true. Many years ago, I used to switch off and get lazy once I had experienced success, then my success would start to fall apart. I didn’t understand the power of consistent work. We need to apply a consistent work ethic to succeed.

May I also point out that applying these three principles means you can be happy virtually all the time. You can really enjoy what you do and the difference you make. It becomes a joyful lifestyle which doesn’t feel like work. You develop a passion for what you do which is exciting and fun.

I came across this story which talks about limitations we may have created over the years which may not be real.

The Shark Experiment

During a research experiment a marine biologist placed a shark into a large holding tank and then released several small bait fish into the tank. As you would expect, the shark quickly swam around the tank, attacked and ate the smaller fish.

The marine biologist then inserted a strong piece of clear fiberglass into the tank, creating two separate partitions. She then put the shark on one side of the fiberglass and a new set of bait fish on the other.

Undeterred it carries on

Again, the shark quickly attacked. This time, however, the shark slammed into the fiberglass divider and bounced off. Undeterred, the shark kept repeating this behaviour every few minutes to no avail. Meanwhile, the bait fish swam around unharmed in the second partition. Eventually, about an hour into the experiment, the shark gave up.

This experiment was repeated several dozen times over the next few weeks. Each time, the shark got less aggressive and made fewer attempts to attack the bait fish, until eventually the shark got tired of hitting the fiberglass divider and simply stopped attacking altogether.

A new belief system was created

The marine biologist then removed the fiberglass divider, but the shark didn’t attack. The shark was trained to believe a barrier existed between it and the bait fish, so the bait fish swam wherever they wished, free from harm.

The moral

Many of us, after experiencing setbacks and failures, emotionally give up and stop trying. Like the shark in the story, we believe that because we were unsuccessful in the past, we will always be unsuccessful. In other words, we continue to see a barrier in our heads, even when no ‘real’ barrier exists between where we are and where we want to go.

We can create a new belief system and a new future by changing the way we Think, the way we Speak and the way we Act.

Thoughts for the week:

1. How do you Think, Speak and Act?
2. Are your thoughts words and actions more negative or positive?
3. If they are more negative than positive change that and see what happens.
4. Work on these this week and let me know how you get on by replying to this blog.

Well that’s it for this week have a wonderful weekend and stay positive.

Warm regards

John

Off the Wall – How to Develop World Class Mental Resilience available here
http://www.jdmindcoach.co.uk/product/off-the-wall-how-to-develop-world-class-mental-resilience/ (Special offer. Put in code 10POUND when prompted to receive a signed copy for £10 including postage and packing – UK only)