Peak Your Profits: A beautiful mind-set translates into top business performance

Read James' latest interview with Jeff Blackman of the Marco Island Eagle. Peak Your Profits: A beautiful mind-set translates into top business performance By JEFF BLACKMAN, Special to the Eagle April 6, 2005 Mind over matter matters. Talent and expertise are crucial skills for success, but without self-belief and the right mind-set, the right results are seldom achieved. To learn more about the power of mind-set, I chatted with James Ray, a friend, fellow speaker and author. Ray has been studying top performers and what drives their achievement for more than 20 years. Here are excerpts from our conversation: - Jeff Blackman: What is mind-set? - James Ray: A group of attitudes, understandings, beliefs and resulting behaviors that create high achievement over the long haul. Whether you're talking about golf, sales or any pursuit, the same principle applies. The mind-set creates top performance, excellent production numbers and prosperity. - JB: How does one create positive beliefs? - JR: Beliefs are nothing more than habitual thought. Thoughts, and the words we use to express them, to ourselves and others, have corresponding images in our mind. These images have corresponding emotions. The emotions have corresponding actions. And actions have corresponding results. So the path to any result is thought-word-emotion-action-result. If you want to improve your results, you must interrupt the habit of thought and create a new one. You must "think" a new path. - JB: What's the key to this process? - JR: You have to see yourself as successful in the inner game to be successful in the outer game. When you give that "command" to the unconscious mind, when you imagine how you'll feel, look and sound when you're producing at the level you desire, the mind thinks it already has occurred and calls for an encore performance in the real world. Dr. Morris Massey wrote about how our mind sets us up for success and failure. It's as if we've "programmed" our inner selves to produce certain results in our outer world. Dr. Maxwell Maltz wrote about such mental mechanisms in Psycho-Cybernetics. He compared the subconscious mind (including those beliefs we've had since puberty) to a thermostat that equalizes the temperature to a set point whenever it gets too hot or cold. People who are mysteriously drawn to a particular income or production figure are suffering from Maltz's thermostat. Outside their conscious awareness, they believe they are, for example, $100,000-a-year performers, and if their production gets too "hot," the thermostat kicks in to cool things off. The cybernetic mechanism measures the deviation from the set goal and automatically turns on the cooler to make things more comfortable. - JB: Where else does this "thermostat" limit performance? - JR: It can show up in many ways. Is there anything you know you should do for your own success, but you don't, because on some level it takes you out of your comfort zone? Common underlying beliefs that regulate performance are: "I need more training and skills before I can succeed." "I'm not worthy of earning more than ... ." "I don't deserve to be a top performer." "I'm not good at ... ." "I'm not able to talk to (or get to) decision-makers at the top." "I need more experience before I can succeed." Once the underlying belief is uncovered, a new belief must be chosen. The new belief can be the opposite of or an "antidote" to the old one, such as "I have unlimited life knowledge and experience." The new belief then must be "installed." Specifically, the new belief must be supported by both evidence and habit. Start by answering the question "What will I have to see, hear and feel to cement this belief?" Then vividly visualize these results. You must see yourself already in possession of the outcome of the new belief. - JB: So responsibility and accountability start with the individual? - JR: Success grows out of a fundamental mind-set based on some ideas that may be "old hat" but require a "new head" to fit you. Whether you work for yourself or someone else, think of yourself as an entrepreneur, as the owner of your own success. Consider: As an entrepreneur, would you believe in your ability to achieve? Would you be passionate about what you and your product offer? Would you settle for mediocrity? Or strive for excellence? Who would be responsible for every result you produce? Would you be more interested in identifying problems or proposing solutions? Would it benefit you to be more rigid or more flexible? Would you value comfort or creativity? Would it best serve you to wait and see what happens, or to be proactive and growth-driven? Would you amble through the day mildly interested in the people and happenings around you, or would you exert enthusiasm in all you do? The answers may seem obvious, but they also may require you to think in new ways. Sustained success simply requires doing what may seem obvious, and doing it now. For more success insights, take a peek at jamesray.com. • • • Jeff Blackman is a speaker, author, success coach, broadcaster and lawyer. His clients call him a "business-growth specialist." Send an e-mail to jeff@jeffblackman.com , or visit http://www.jeffblackman.com and subscribe to his free e-letter.