An introduction to your state of mind
by Alan Pritt
You’re lined up on the starting blocks. It should be easy; you’ve done this before; you can beat the rest of the pack, no problem. It’s so easy you begin to let your mind wander. It’s not difficult because you have some money problems, you have a credit card bill to pay as well as the next payment on the mortgage and you’ll not sure how you’re going to pay it. You’ve been worrying about it all week.
Suddenly you realise that the gun has gone off and the race is starting. You leave the blocks, but because you were distracted you didn’t get a great start. Half the pack is already ahead of you. You should have practiced more this week, but you had more important things to deal with, you had to figure out a way to pay those debts.
Again you regain focus on the race. You’ve dropped even more, but you’re fast and you know it and in the next couple of seconds you manage to make up a couple of places. You’re in third now. But you should be in front.
There was no doubt that you should be in first. There was no doubt that you would win this race. But now it looks like that wasn’t going to be the case. Suddenly, not one but two people were better than you.
And then the race is over.
Entering a race in this state of mind is clearly a recipe for disaster. But a bad mental state is a problem for all our mental activities.
When we are not clear of mind we take umpteen times as long to complete each task, and we can’t do the tasks so clearly.
When I was taking my driving test a few years back this bad mental state kicked in. I had taken several mock tests and passed them easily. I knew I was ready, but when the actual test came, I was afraid that I was going to fail. Thoughts of spiralling costs and a huge waiting list for the next test made me extremely nervous. I was so scared that I made some stupid mistakes and failed the test.
On my second test I was more nervous. I had failed once so I knew how easily it could happen even when I knew I was easily capable of passing. And there was an added social pressure of failing your second test and being declared a bad driver.
Again my nerves got the better of me and I failed again.
My third test went slightly different. Instead of taking me straight into town, we went in the opposite direction and we went on a quiet straight road for a few minutes. There was very little chance of error and I even had a little conversation with my examiner. I calmed down and the rest of the test went smoothly.
If you have the wrong state of mind you can seriously hinder your abilities in every area of your life.
But if you take control of your state of mind you can operate at your best whenever you choose.
Can you remember a time when everything was going smoothly? When you just weren’t making any mistakes. When you were doing everything effortlessly and perfectly. You might have experienced this at work, playing a sport, or even getting to know someone better. A state where you were so engrossed in your activity that time just seemed to stop.
This section is going to focus on getting you to live in the most optimum state of mind, whenever you choose.
