How to Think Like A Champion

// June 29th, 2009 // No Comments » // Leadership, Personal Development, Self Improvement

How to Think Like A Champion

Losers say they might and winners say they will. It’s as simple as that. Of course, attitude has a lot to do with winning and life success. Any Olympic athlete knows that at their level of proficiency, the game is played with their level of attitude and mental confidence. Arnold Schwarzenegger knew the power of a winning mindset when he was competing as an underdog for the 1980 Mr. Olympia title. He had come out of retirement to win the Mr. Olympia title and he was hungry to achieve it. Schwarzenegger had not been training all year like the other competitors were because he was, at that point, an upcoming Hollywood actor and spending most of his time out shooting movies. However, Schwarzenegger was a seasoned veteran of the IFBB and knew that mental focus was the key towards making a winning performance. In the prep room behind the stage, where all the competitors would prime their bodies for competition, Schwarzenegger would crack jokes to the other competitors in order to throw off their mental focus. Schwarzenegger said it was his ability to psych out the other competitors, even the reigning Mr. Olympia at the time, Frank Zane, that secured him the 1980 Mr. Olympia title.

Unlike Arnold, you don’t have to be a pro athlete or be on the Forbes 400 list to develop the mental attitude of a champion. I’ve listed some very practical and proven methods for you to start your path towards developing the attitude of a champion.

Be Outcome Oriented

Nothing comes easy in life. If things were easy, then everyone’s life would be blissful. If we want the things that we want in life, then we have to know what we must give up in order to get it. That means we have to get our hands dirty doing the grunt work before we can enjoy the rewards. If we focus solely on the grunt work, we won’t be as motivated as the ultimate reward of completing that job. For example, paying bills causes us pain, but having the bills paid gives us pleasure. Exercise causes us pain (or at least discomfort), but having exercised causes us pleasure. Winners in life are outcome oriented. Instead of focusing on the grunt work which they don’t like, they see the end result of having done that grunt work. It’s that ability which motivates great achievers do accomplish so much more.

Reflect on Your Daily Achievements

As a former gymnast, I would often get frustrated and upset when my progress wasn’t what I wanted it to be by the end of the workout, but my coach Mircea Badulescu, who was the former head coach for the Romanian Olympic team, made sure that I reflected on what exactly my daily achievements were at the end of each workout. By reflecting on what I had achieved during that day, I realized that in fact, I was making progress and that I was moving forward towards my goal and this became a powerful technique that I use even today.

At the end of each day, on a piece of paper, your journal, or computer, write down at least five things that you accomplished that day. Review that list and be proud of your achievements. Each morning when you wake up, coach yourself towards achieving small steps that you can write down on your list at the end of each day.

Pick a Role-Model and Get Inspired

When I was an aspiring gymnast, I had posters, videos and autographs from several of my favorite Olympians. They were heroes to me and it served to give me something to shoot for in my training and my purpose. All champions do this when they first start out because remember that champions are never born—they are made. They all had role-models that they aspired to be like and the role-models that they chose showed the particular skills or traits that they wanted in themselves. Many of us, however, choose poor role-models or no role-models at all as a result, they aspire to be nothing at all. It goes to show that if you want to be the best at something, then you have to model yourself after the best out there. I suggest that you read inspirational books, magazines, articles, or watch documentaries or interviews with great people. Go and rent inspiring videos that are about human perseverance and stories of success. I personally devour biographies and articles about self-made millionaires—the people who had nothing, but attained financial abundance for themselves through hard work and creativity. Role-models also serve the purpose of giving you a blueprint to follow. Remember that the best of the best out there are really no different than you or I, but we can learn what they did to rise above and beyond the rest and then follow in their footsteps down the road that they have already carved.

Build Yourself a Winning Team

No professional athlete is ever a one-person accomplishment. Behind every great professional athlete is the multitude of supporting personnel that keeps that athlete in prime shape with the objective of winning. A lot of times, we don’t see that. We only see, for example, two boxers in the ring. While the game ultimately comes down to that particular athlete, it’s their infrastructure that plays a bigger part of their winning or losing a fight. That team includes coaches, specialty trainers, therapists, and an army of other people that we rarely see when they compete. So in fact professional athletes can be seen as something like a corporation and like a corporation, they would fail if not for the people who help support them. In order for you to achieve your goals, you too will need a winning team on your side. Be careful of the relationships that you get involved in and make sure that the relationships that you do get involved in are synergistic in nature, meaning that you both benefit from it. Often, my clients come to me with parasitic relationships where one person (the parasite) feeds off the other person, whether it be physically, financially and/or emotionally, until that person is just an empty husk of the person they once were. Don’t enter parasitic relationships, just as a professional athlete would not hire an incompetent trainer to be by his side. Your ability to be a winner is directly linked to your ability to choose a winning team.

Make Your Daily Tasks “Idiot Proof”

Mozart was said to be able to create pristine and perfect pieces of music that were note-perfect on his first attempt. Well, God created Mozart and then he must have been falling asleep when he created me because I rarely get anything perfect the first time. I’m not the type of person who can simply work on a project that has multiple steps to it because I’ll procrastinate on it until the very end and I’ll slap something together the night before it’s due, which if I’m lucky, will slightly resemble a finished project. For me to get things done, I need to “stupefy” my tasks and what I mean by that is that I need my tasks to be so no-brainer that I don’t have to think much to get them done. I need concrete and simple “next actions” that I can put myself on auto-run and not have to worry about. Procrastination and unrealized goals happen when we know what we want, but we don’t know how to get there. I take a goal that has many steps to it and I break it down as much as I can. I break that goal down until each step can’t be broken down any further. I understood awhile back that if I had to think about how to do something, I would rarely do it. By having very simple actions on my daily task list, it removes the brainwork from the equation and all I have to do is simply DO IT.

Develop a “No Retreat, No Surrender” Attitude

One of my favorite quotes is from one of my earlier role-models, Peter Vidmar, who won the gold medal at the 1984 Olympics in gymnastics. When asked by a reporter how he was able to finally secure a gold medal for the Americans, he replied, “Winning the Olympic gold was simple. I just trained when I felt like training and I trained when I didn’t.” Champions are not the superheroes that we make them out to be. They are in fact regular people just like you and me. The difference between champions and losers is the fact that when the two groups are faced with adversity and pain, it’s the losers who turn and run away and it’s the winners who push forward. You see, winners have a “No retreat, no surrender” mentality. They burn the bridge behind them and there is no going back. They put 100% of their energy on seeing a goal towards completion, regardless of the pain they might have to endure to get there.

When you decide to put 100% of your focus on a goal, make sure you set in stone and tell yourself that there is simply no other way to get out of it other than by seeing that goal to its completion. There are no if’s, and’s or but’s—no excuses at all, you just get it done regardless. Make it a habit to burn the bridges behind you when you set your goals so that you eliminate all your possible ways of retreating.

Celebrate Your Victories

Finally, champions go out and celebrate their victories and so should you. Celebrations are fun and not only that, they also serve to reset your mind so that you can start the whole process of winning over again. But true champions also know that celebration comes after they’ve won the game and not before the game has even started. So celebrate when you achieve your goals and share you achievement with your winning team that made it possible.

About the Author

Tristan Loo is the founder of the Self Improvement Association (SIA) and a leading authority on human potential and personal effectiveness. As a life coach, author and presenter, Tristan has inspired thousands of people all over the world with his passionate message of overcoming adversity and creating the ultimate life that they desire. His vision is a world where everyone is able to achieve their dreams in life. His life is dedicated towards facilitating that dream.

Get more information about joining the Self Improvement Association

If You Think You are Ugly She Will Too

// June 21st, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Dating Relationships, Personal Development, Self Improvement

If You Think You are Ugly, She Will Too

The aim of this post is to block a few of those negative associations we all have about our looks in the presence of an attractive woman.

It basically comes down to this. If you think you are ugly, she is going to think it too. I’m pretty sure we’ve all been through this field of thinking. Unless you’re incredibly good looking in which case; feel free to leave this post now and return to your straightener’s.

Acceptance

Instead of allowing physical looks to dictate decisions we should instead practice acceptance. Accepting such things allows us to see them in their true form, which on most occasions is much less than we originally thought, in terms of size.

To accept our physical appearance we’ll first needs to understand what we can and cannot change about ourselves. I had rather bad acne as a teenager which burdened my confidence and ruined many a Saturday night on the town. I eventually got my testicles together and realised that acne is a very common condition and therefore quite reversible.

Accepting my acne as a changeable situation I began scribbling together a half hearted list of other physical imperfections that I could change. The list creation took a matter of minutes yet the fulfilment took months. That’s the next step to acceptance – write a list of characteristics you can change, and then change them.

The things we cannot change simply need to be forgotten about. There’s no need to waste time on things we cannot change or improve, drop them and brush them aside and focus only on what we can change, which you’ll see is quite a lot.

Once I’d listed acne as a changeable characteristic of what I believed made me feel unconfident with my physical appearance I set out researching what I could do to choke the little buggers off my skin. Surprisingly enough, the answer was obvious – seeing my local GP.

After a short visit I was reinforced with the notion that acne was a very curable and common condition that wouldn’t plague me much longer after I’ve finished a batch of tablets. I proceeded and eventually won the fight which instantly increased my confidence to an unimaginative level.

You can increase your confidence in the exact same way using your list of change and change not’s. Once you’ve focused and removed your change list by completing each one you can begin focusing a little more on your change-not’s which can be buried with some very attractive knowledge regarding how women perceive men and what drives attraction mechanisms.

Being good looking is not important for men

That’s right; a man does not need to be physically attractive to attract an attractive woman (mouthful?). To explain this thoroughly before I get bombarded with comments I’ll enlist the aid of evolutionary biology.

Animals in every generation have random genetic variation, and those animals whose genes are best suited for their environment tend to do a little better, on average, than other members of their species. Over time, the advantage of doing “a little better” becomes compounded, and the nature of the species changes.

Seen in this way, each generation is a competition between different genetic make-ups. The competition takes place extremely slowly, but evolutionary time is very long. Assuming 30 years per generation, each million years allows for over 33,000 rounds of Darwin’s game.

Most of our genetic make-up today is a result of genetic mutations that have come from previous generations. Each mutation that gives an advantage wins out over time.

Success in evolutionary terms can be seen as –

• Surviving until he or she is old enough to have offspring of their own
• Having access to sex partners, to mate with
• Reproducing frequently
• Being able to protect and raise their offspring efficiently

Being good looking does not dictate any of the above items, only aids the endeavour. Instead women look for –

Health -

• Social Intuition
• Humour

Attributes -

• Status
• Wealth

Congruence -

• Pre-selected
• Challenging
• Confident

just believe me when I say men’s looks aren’t important to women. In fact 80% of the attraction process with men and women comes from the above list in a combination of health, attributes and congruence leaving a petty 20% to physical looks.

To be completely honest, you could be Quasimodo, but if you have the characteristics present in your personality that women desire, you will be James Bond.

Moving on

With the changes made and acceptance granted with the change-not’s you are on your way to becoming an extremely confident man who’ll never need to mutter the world ugly again.

Hopefully I’ve met the aim of the post and shot down a few of your inner negative associations to do with physical looks and helped replace a few with a more positive, reinforced version of reality. Whatever the case may be, it’s time for you to have fun and start mingling together a change list to actively move ahead in your quest for attractive women.

Craig is a 22-year-old student currently studying psychology at Bournemouth University. He runs a self improvement blog and community filled with useful advice. His main aim is to help people exceed their expectations and reach their true potential.

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How Successful People Think By John Maxwell

// June 20th, 2009 // No Comments » // Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Personal Development, Self Improvement

How Successful People Think
By John Maxwell

What’s a successful person’s greatest resource in difficult times? Good thinking!

Good thinkers are always in demand. A person who knows how may always have a job, but the person who knows why will always be his boss.

Good thinkers solve problems, they never lack ideas for building an organization, and they always have hope for a better future. Good thinkers rarely find themselves at the mercy of ruthless people who would take advantage of them or try to deceive them, people like Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, who once boasted, “What luck for rulers that men do not think.”

Those who develop the process of good thinking can rule themselves – even while under an oppressive ruler or in other difficult circumstances.  In short, good thinkers are successful.

***

I’ve studied successful people for forty years, and though the diversity you find among them is astounding, I’ve found that they are all alike in one way: how they think!

That is the one thing that separates successful people from unsuccessful ones.  And here’s the good news.  How successful people think can be learned. If you change your thinking, you can change your life!

HOW TO BECOME A BETTER THINKER

Do you want to master the process of good thinking? Do you want to be a better thinker tomorrow than you are today?  Then you need to engage in an ongoing process that improves your thinking.  I recommend you do the following:

1. Expose Yourself to Good Input

Good thinkers always prime the pump of ideas. They always look for things to get the thinking process started, because what you put in always impacts what comes out.

Read books, review trade magazines, listen to CDs, and spend time with good thinkers. And when something intrigues you-whether it’s someone else’s idea or the seed of an idea that you’ve come up with yourself-keep it in front of you. Put it in writing and keep it somewhere in a favorite place to stimulate your thinking.

2. Expose Yourself to Good Thinkers

All of the people in my life whom I consider to be close friends or colleagues are good thinkers. Now, I love all people. I try to be kind to everyone I meet, and I desire to add value to as many people as I can through conferences, books, audio lessons, etc. But the people I seek out and choose to spend time with all challenge me with their thinking and their actions. They are constantly trying to grow and learn.

The writer of Proverbs observed that sharp people sharpen one another, just as iron sharpens iron. If you want to be a sharp thinker, be around sharp people.

3. Choose to Think Good Thoughts

To become a good thinker, you must become intentional about the thinking process. Regularly put yourself in the right place to think, shape, stretch, and land your thoughts. Make it a priority. Thinking is a discipline.

Recently I had breakfast with Dan Cathy, the president of Chick-fil-A, a fast food restaurant chain headquartered in the Atlanta area. I told him that I was working on this book and I asked him if he made thinking time a high priority. Not only did he say yes, but he told me about what he calls his “thinking schedule.” It helps him to fight the hectic pace of life that discourages intentional thinking. Dan says he sets aside time just to think for half a day every two weeks, for one whole day every month, and for two or three full days every year. Dan explains, “This helps me ‘keep the main thing, the main thing,’ since I am so easily distracted.”

You may want to do something similar, or you can develop a schedule and method of your own. No matter what you choose to do, go to a special thinking place, take paper and pen, and make sure you capture your ideas in writing.

4. Act on Your Good Thoughts

Ideas have a short shelf life. You must act on them before the expiration date. World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker said it all when he remarked, “I can give you a six-word formula for success: Think things through-then follow through.”

5. Allow Your Emotions to Create Another Good Thought

To start the thinking process, you cannot rely on your feelings. In Failing Forward, I wrote that you can act your way into feeling long before you can feel your way into action. If you wait until you feel like doing something, you will likely never accomplish it. The same is true for thinking. You cannot wait until you feel like thinking to do it. However, I’ve found that once you engage in the process of good thinking, you can use your emotions to feed the process and create mental momentum.

Try it for yourself. After you go through the disciplined process of thinking and enjoy some success, allow yourself to savor the moment and try riding the mental energy of that success. If you’re like me, it’s likely to spur additional thoughts and productive ideas.

6. Repeat the Process

One good thought does not make a good life. The people who have one good thought and try to ride it for an entire career often end up unhappy or destitute. They are the one-hit wonders, the one-book authors, the one-message speakers, the one-time inventors who spend their life struggling to protect or promote their single idea. Success comes to those who have an entire mountain of gold that they continually mine, not those who find one nugget and try to live on it for fifty years. To become someone who can mine a lot of gold, you need to keep repeating the process of good thinking.

***

This article is an excerpt from the introduction to my latest book, How Successful People Think. Available now from booksellers in the United States, it’s derived from my book, Thinking for a Change.

Edited and distilled down to the bare essentials, this book is designed to help you expand your thinking and achieve your dreams with the following…

11 keys to successful thinking:

1.         Cultivate Big-Picture Thinking
2.         Engage in Focused Thinking
3.         Harness Creative Thinking
4.         Employ Realistic Thinking
5.         Utilize Strategic Thinking
6.         Explore Possibility Thinking
7.         Learn from Reflective Thinking
8.         Question Popular Thinking
9.         Benefit from Shared Thinking
10.       Practice Unselfish Thinking
11.       Rely on Bottom-Line Thinking