In the run up to the January launch of our book Physical Intelligence: Harness Your Body’s Untapped Intelligence to Achieve More, Stress Less and Live More Happily, we have dedicated the month of October to Achieve More. If you missed it, visit @CIMforPI, check out our Facebook page, stop by LinkedIn or visit us at www.companiesinmotion.com. In November, we’ll take a closer look at how to use Physical Intelligence to Stress Less. In the meantime, here are four steps you can start taking today to Achieve More at work and home.
Imagine yourself at the end of the day or the end of your life saying: “I wish I could have……”.
What might you say? What would you really like to see, do and experience in a day or over the course of your lifetime? Looking at the world around you, what do you see or believe needs to be achieved? What can you do personally to make that happen?
Whatever your answer, that is what Achieve More means to you. Possible answers cover a broad spectrum from something as basic as getting the children to sleep earlier, hitting your sales goals or making time for that workout to loftier goals such as providing clean water sources globally, curing cancer or contributing to world peace. Achieving More is a very personal endeavor with a unique definition for each of us.
The good news is regardless of what Achieve More means to you, Physical Intelligence can help. Breath and movement exercises, visualization techniques and dialogue skills, along with fitness and nutrition tips fuel our drive and excitement for the future, and help us create a strong mind-set that enables us to connect with our purpose and mission, and generate the energy that sustains us.
Achieve More Physical Intelligence techniques enable you to realise your personal and professional goals, living life to the full whilst contributing to the lives of the people around you and things you care about. It is not about having more; it is about being more of what you are, being your best self and identifying ways both short term and longer term to live up to your potential by using your unique talents.
A wide range of components enable us to Achieve More: confidence, ambition, a clear vision, a strong ‘voice’, mental clarity, brain power, productivity, innovation, collaboration, influence and persuasion, and negotiation, along with the courage to take risks and be competitive – all while remaining resilient and determined. That might sound like a daunting list but with a few select Physical Intelligence techniques in four key areas you will be well on your way.
Strength techniques give us mental and emotional stability enabling us to find our voice and stand our ground, act with greater clarity of thought and decision making power. Try this: Think of a situation in the near future that you’ll find challenging and that you want to go really well. Breathe in and out and picture yourself doing well, with your heart speeding up and slowing down smoothly as you respond to the pressure. You have primed your muscle memory so that when you come to it your performance will be enhanced.
Flexibility techniques enable us to adapt to changing circumstances, find creative solutions to problems, create excellent relationships and be able to understand situations from the perspective of others. For example, to stimulate creativity and relax the visual cortex of the brain, take a walk, change your viewpoint or look at beautiful things in art or nature.
Resilience techniques develop the mental, emotional and physical fitness to bounce back quickly from disappointments, learn from each and every ‘mistake’ and face life’s challenges with more confidence. When you know your schedule is very demanding, look through your diary for short windows of respite and write ‘REST’ in those blocks. Then approach those windows in an extra-restful way bearing in mind the need to REST – Retreat, Eat (healthy), Sleep and Treat yourself. It is also a reminder not to put anything else in the diary during those days or windows.
Endurance techniques are particularly important for achieving more because they enable us to sustain focus on the long game, harnessing the energy of vision, motivation and appreciation, and excellent planning skills to make us more determined even when things are at their toughest. Try this technique: Which muscles can you unobtrusively tighten? Experiment with how this helps you when your willpower weakens or you are facing something you don’t want to do. It’s fun!
Those techniques are the tip of the iceberg – there are over 30 techniques, tips and life hacks that put you in the driving seat of Achieving More. You can read about all of them in our new book, Physical Intelligence: Harness Your Body’s Untapped Intelligence to Achieve More, Stress Less and Live More Happily available from Simon and Schuster in January of 2019, (Preorder here.) (If you would like to read it in simple or complex Chinese, Russian, Korean or German these translations also will be available in 2019.)
In our next post, we’ll share stories of how Physical Intelligence has helped individuals and teams Achieve More. Until then, give these techniques a try and let us know how they help you!
For more information about how Physical Intelligence can help you, your team or your organization, visit us at www.companiesinmotion.com.