Raising the Bar
"If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember this whole thing was started by a mouse." - Walt Disney
As we move through the month of July, we are also past the halfway mark of 2007. (Can you believe it? Seems like just yesterday the world was freaking out about Y2K)
Most of you are aware of my "Time to Review" philosophy. As your review the first half of 2007 and check your progress, how about kicking it up a notch?
Whether you're one of the few stepping up to the Personal Mastery Program or not, you can raise the bar. Turn on the afterburners, step it up, do more, create a bigger picture, a stronger vision.
Take off the gloves and get at it!
There are only 16 days left in June. Take this opportunity to prepare for the remaining months of the year. Be ready to attack the second half of the year: Go For It!
There is no time like today for you to begin a new plan for your business, your health, your fitness, your finances, your freedom or any one of the dreams you have.
Raise the bar for the remaining 6 months of the year.
And remember to tune into the EmpowerMax PCS Training Call for some breakthrough strategies to rocket you into the next 6 months.
Show Up, Suit Up & Step Up!
Best of Success,
David Martin
EmpowerMax PCS, Inc.
info@empowermax.com
The Performance Zone
Fall Down - Get Up!
"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time." - Thomas Edison
Edison nailed it. So did Winston Churchill, Ray Kroc, Lao Tzu, Miyamoto Musashi, Andrew Carnegie, Donald Trump, Mark Victor Hansen, Bruce Jenner, Anthony Robbins and the list goes on.
My Taekwondo instructor, Master Sang Lee, was the first person to really emphasize the concept. This attitude permeates the martial arts - Indomitable Spirit. If you fall one thousand times, you get up one thousand and one.
The distractions in life have always been around in one form or another. However, today they come in at broadband or DSL speed.
News hits us so fast it can make the head spin. We seem to every detail about every thing, person, politician, celebrity and sports star.
We're told everyday how difficult it is. The economy, the wars, the natural resources, the weather, the illegal immigrants and especially STEROIDS IN BASEBALL!
I see so many people with a "Why bother" attitude. They're allowing themselves to feel like they have no chance. They've given up mentally...they QUIT!
But not you, you're not the quitting type. That's why you're reading this right now. You understand that although life is not always easy, the alternative is not appealing.
This is a core value toward achieving anything you want in life - Never Give Up - Stay In The Game!
You can accomplish whatever you truly desire and commit to. Pursue your dreams to your fullest and I promise the rewards will amaze you.
Until next time - Show Up, Suit Up & Step Up!
Best of Success,
David Martin
EmpowerMax PCS, Inc.
info@empowermax.com
The Performance Zone
Flowing in "the Zone"
"We derive more benefit from the actions we take than the results we seek." - David Martin
Chances are you have been in "the Zone." You know, that place where you played your absolute best, everything just flowed, you felt confident, you were focused, and everything around you was easy.
Chances are you felt calm and quiet inside, you had no worries, and you felt no pressure.
In "the Zone" you were focused, confident, calm, and in control. You moved easily and effortlessly. You were totally tuned into what you were doing, you were unaware of external distractions, you experienced a sensation of elation, joy and fluidity that was unexplainable.
It is that place where your mind, your emotions, and your body were totally connected. Would you like to get there more often?
What is "The Zone"?
The Zone is a state of consciousness where all of the body's senses and functions (sight, hearing, taste, smell, emotions, thoughts, and muscular reaction) act in harmony with each other to achieve some specific task.
When you reach this state of consciousness, you experience a sense of "Flow."
You lose conscious control of your senses and functions and perform from a deeper more subconscious level of control. This is the ultimate place; it's where you want to be to achieve peak performance on a consistent basis.
"Why can't I get there?"
Most people are not able to get into the zone because of mental, emotional or physical distractions.
Mental distractions occur when you're unable to block out external distractions like noise, weather conditions, crowd behavior, over-analysis, or just plain thinking too much.
Emotional distractions are feelings like doubt, fear, anger, frustration, lack of confidence or over confidence. Physical distractions include fatigue, lack of conditioning, injury, or soreness.
Many of these distractions can lead to unforced errors which contributes to pressure and can rob you of your confidence. Playing under these conditions will keep the door to "the Zone" shut tightly.
However, the biggest reason people fail to get into the zone is because they refuse to let go of the conscious control of their performance. Conscious control is how they learn and it is the only way they know how to perform.
The only way to get into "the Zone" is to let go of conscious control and let the instincts take over. Essentially, you'll be getting out of your own way!
It's time to take your life to for the next level! The choice is uniquely yours.
Best of Success,
David Martin
EmpowerMax PCS, Inc.
info@empowermax.com
The Performance Zone
Influence: Who's Affecting (or infecting) Your World?
"The growth of the human mind is still high adventure, in many ways, the highest adventure on earth." - Norman Cousins
Influence is powerful. The influence we can have over others and especially the influence that others can have over us.
That influence can affect us either negatively or positively.
Prior to my return to the US Olympic Training Center the influence that others were having on me was not good.
My generosity allowed a friend to move in with me for what was supposed to be a few weeks. Key words: "supposed to..."
He ended up staying with me for 3 months. That in itself wasn't so bad. The problem was that he was out drinking every night. He came in and would immediately go to the kitchen, cook and leave the dirty dishes in the sink.
He smoked inside and was surprised I could smell it.
He hung around with less than desirable people.
He brought them around me and my business, because he thought that I would want to be friends with them too.
He was a major part of everything that seemed wrong and assisted my focus to stay on what was wrong.
It was a very dark period of my life.
Conversely, when I moved back to US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs I found myself in another world. Take a look at the excellence that surrounded me:
- World Champion - Pan Am Games Silver Medalist (Taekwondo)
- 2 x Olympian - Bronze Medalist - National Team Coach (Taekwondo)
- Olympic Team Coach (Taekwondo)
- Olympic Gold Medalist (freestyle wrestling) x 2
- Olympic Gold Medalist (Greco-roman wrestling)
All of the above were former teammates or friends earlier in my athletic career and were carrying on their success in life with businesses or some other worthy endeavor.
What did this do for me? Great question.
This gave me an avenue of excellence to follow. These men, some of whom I consider to be brothers, gave to me the feeling of success. This influenced me in the direction of what was possible for me.
- The influence from their attitude alone moved me forward.
- The influence of their level of commitment raised my standard.
- The influence from their passion motivated me into action.
The influence you can have on others can make a powerful contribution to those very same lives. Just make sure you're aware of who's influencing you and the affect that influence is having.
Hey! It's your life, it's your legacy. What you make of it is uniquely up to you.
Best of Success,
David Martin
EmpowerMax PCS, Inc.
info@empowermax.com
The Performance Zone
PS - Personal Mastery you will learn the skills that will assist you to make sustainable breakthroughs in all areas. Business, Finance, Physical and Personal change can be made in minimal time and the results will stay you for life. To schedule a one on one exploration into Personal Mastery send an email with phone number directly to me at info@empowermax.com.
Time for Mental Practice
"If you want your life to be more rewarding, you have to change the way you think." - Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey hits the proverbial nail on the head in this case. She knows what it takes, wouldn't you agree?
I would, but then again I'm a results oriented kind of guy.
To change the way you think takes practice. Mental practice in this case.
Mental practice is the process of using your creative imagination to select positive images for your brain to focus on. This eliminates false, destructive images from your subconscious mind.
Every idea that you have learned can be re-evaluated and challenged. Each idea can be reevaluated and relearned with new input that can replace the old garbage.
By focusing your imagination on what you want, your conscious mind will direct your subconscious mind to accept the new input. Your subconscious mind will simply agree and begin to comply.
Key points to remember:
- Anything vividly imagined is accepted as true by your subconscious.
- Imagined experiences are perceived and acted upon exactly as real.
- Your behavior follows what you believe to be true.
- Your behavior changes in the direction of your beliefs.
Successful people use a process of visualization to assist them with their pursuits. By spending time each day visualizing that they achieve their goals, they guide their subconscious mind to accept that image.
Create a process for yourself. Follow these guide lines when doing so:
- Choose the same time everyday for your mental practice
- Make sure there will be NO interruptions
- Accept all positive images as valid and helpful
These basic steps in mental practice will go a long way in leading you toward the life you desire. Take a closer look at how you've been using your creative imaging and what kind of mental practices that you have.
To have, do and be all you can...the choice is uniquely yours.
Best of Success,
David Martin
EmpowerMax PCS, Inc.
info@empowermax.com
The Performance Zone
Shape It In Your Mind
"Reality is that thing that even if you stop believing in it, it still doesn't go away." - David Martin
David(L) & partner bending an iron bar with "Mind Power"
My first attempts at board and brick breaking were memorable for sure. I recall trying to power through the target physically. It worked, at least at the lower levels.
However as I became more advanced in my training, I had to learn to use visualization, to use the power of my mind to see the results in advance. In this case, the result was the board(s), the bricks or the blocks breaking.
Every successful athlete that I know uses visualization to some degree.
Now, what about negative thoughts? Well, they do come around from time to time.
Here's what I learned from studying the Martial Arts:
The mind is like a fertile garden. It will grow anything you wish - beautiful flowers or weeds. And so it is with successful, healthy thoughts or with negative ones that will, like weeds, strangle and crowd the others. Do not allow negative thoughts to enter your mind for they are the weeds that strangle confidence.
This is a great bit of information, but what do you do when the negative thoughts come? That's a real question based on real experience.
Here are a few quick techniques:
1. In your mind, write the negative thought(s) down on a piece of paper. Crumple it up, throw it in a trash bin, set it on fire and watch it burn.
2. See it in your mind; see yourself using whiteout to erase it from your mind.
3. Say, "STOP! You're not welcome here! BE GONE!"
Each of these will work to get the negative thought out quickly and then you MUST see yourself being successful. Visualize success not failure. It's important to follow the above techniques with an image of success or else you run the possibility of sliding back to the negative thought.
You use visualization everyday whether you are aware of it or not. Don't you feel it's time YOU chose the images that you want and deserve to see?
That choice is uniquely yours.
Best of Success,
David Martin
EmpowerMax PCS, Inc.
info@empowermax.com
The Performance Zone
