Thinking for a change: 7 Steps on How to raise your potential and change your performance fast
“As a man a man thinketh in his heart so he is.”
The above saying can be summed up in this sentence: “we are the products of our thought or simply put our thought is our identity.” In this article we are going to explore the implications of this statement in terms of our activities of daily living – thinking, feeling and actions, which impact the results we get in different areas of our life. If we want to change our experience at any point in time, we need to change what we do (our behavior) in these areas. This is a challenge on our part to change. Change the way we think, the way we feel, the way we act so as to achieve the result we want. Change is not easy, but change is possible. Therefore we need to pro-actively imbibe those habits that facilitate the results we want. The process of learning and change is a creative endeavor.
In order to continue to be of value in any environment we need to be aware of the need for us to change. We need to change so as to grow and to contribute as well impact our world. The greatest challenge to our development and growth is the the need for us to be transformed in the way we think. We need to think differently in three areas of our lives. The way we think about ourselves - who we are. The way we think about about what we do - the value we create within our environment and who we do it for. The way we think about our results what we accomplish, achieve or experience - our productivity and profitability.
These levels of thinking we urge us to become more creative and innovative as we desire to move up to the next level in the ladder of life's demands.
Climbing the creativity ladders - for growth and change
There are different levels of experience on the creativity process:
Where and when of creativity – relates to environmental influences such as space and time constraints that might influence creativity
What of creativity: This refers to the kind of behavioral activities that might influence creativity. The How level of creativity relates to the inner maps and inner programs that trigger behavioral variations; there are the mental and behavioral skills to master.
The why of the creativity has to do with
Belief and values: This determines the why of creativity “why should I bother doing something innovative at all.” Your degree of motivation will determine how much of your inner resources you will mobilize. Motivation is what stimulate and activates the hows and what of your responses. Finally, there is a ‘who’ involved in creativity. “Am I a creative person or not.
Understanding these concepts is not peculiar to creativity but to any process of learning and change. It is fair to say that a creative process is a process of learning and change. This is because all these levels are involved. In this article, this framework will be used as a building block to explore the different stages of change that results in improved performance and hence a changes life.
There is the “who else” that is involved in the change process. This has to do with the world outside of your immediate environment. The team, organization, community, etc,
The decision to change
“Change is personal – I need to change
Change is possible – I am able to change
Change is profitable – I will be rewarded by change.”
Dr. John Maxwell – Leadership Expert
The desire and hence the decision to change is the most important step in your determination to transform yourself and therefore the world around you. In his book Awaken the Giant Within ; Anthony Robbins explained that decision is the pathway to power and that in life the difference between how successfulindividual are will depend on this important attribute. He is of the opinion that three decisions that control your destiny in life are;
- Your decision about what you focus on.
- Your decision about what things mean to you.
- Your decisions about what to do to create the results you desire.
Decision is based mostly on your value and prioritization of things around you. Therefore your how successful you become in life is not based on what experiences you have in life but the decisions you made in these three areas as to shape these challenges to create the life you deserve. There are certain habits of the past that can remotely interfere with your present decision making, with the result that you will not really be in control of of the decisions you take. These old habits (your unconscious) are: 1) your core belief sand unconscious rules, 2) your life values, 3) your references, 4) the habitual questions you ask yourself and 5) the emotional states you experience in each moment. The working together of these attributes could be responsible for the way you respond to different situations in your life which could result in your action or inaction, success or failure and the almost near freeze experience or learned helplessness when faced with a challenge. Changing your experience along any of these lines could dramatically improve the experience you have in life because you don’t want your past experience to control the decision you make in the present.
The different facets to a changed life
Change is not easy. But you have to realize that the ultimate destiny for us is to learn, grow and change so that we can fulfill our potential and help those around us. For us to change we need to understand change. As intelligent beings and creatures of God we have the ability to adapt to new challenges and to change. This is an important attribute. If we are not changing, we are not growing and if we not growing, we are not living. We must therefore change. Therefore we need to ask ourselves what we can do to ensure that these changes take place. For example, is it lack of skill, knowledge, resources and forethought? We need to make allowance for these shortcomings.
“Thinking is the operation skill through which intelligence acts upon experience.”
Edward De Bono
Steps to change your performance and life
Change your thinking – different though produces different outcome
Changes thought leads to transformation of one form or the other. For us to change our thinking we need to renew our mind. Mind renewal as a change process has a transformation power. Thinking is a discipline and needs a lot of investment of effort, time and commitment to master different aspects of it. When you change your mind or thought about a situation you are giving yourself permission to change you belief. If you want to learn more on this important subject you can read basic books in psychology and titles from authors like Dr. John Maxwell a leadership expert and Dr. Edward De Bono a thought leader
Change your belief
Believe and faith is the same thing. Belief is the certainty that what you hope happen will happen. You welcome the desire from afar even without tangible physical evidence. For in your spirit man (heart) you have seen it from afar and you welcome it. Beliefs are our driving principles which give us a sense of certainty, realism and direction in decision making. Positive beliefs are important to help us achieve our outcomes, and sometimes may even become our purpose. Belief work in conjunction with our values, which are the standards which frame how we live, and provide the juice to to motivate us.
Change your expectation
Changes expectation stems from a changed belief. If you change your expectation you will be filled with positive emotions like joy, enthusiasm, and positive responses in line with the desire in question. The woman with the issue of blood changed her expectation due to her changed belief. She said to herself: “If only I could touch the helm of His garment, I will be made whole.”
Change your attitude
You can have all the skill, aptitudes, knowledge, and experience in life but a changes attitude make difference to what you get out of life. It has been said that, your attitude determines your altitude. In order words a great attitude determined the level of progress you make in life. Attitude is like the window through which you see the world; your perception or frame of mind. How often have you heard that someone has a wonderful attitude? My friend we need to strive develop excellent attitude in all areas of our life, since this can determine our success or failure in any endeavor.
Change your behavior
Changed attitude leads to changed behavior. Behavior is what you do or don’t do in a particular situation. How do you respond to different stimulus in your environment? What type of behavior you model? What we do with life determines what we ge out of life. Our behavior in any experience determines the results we get under a particular circumstance.
Change your performance
If we change our behavior we ultimately will change our performance and hence the result we achieve. This concept is true in any human endeavor – sports, academics, and sales and other activities or roles where the result we get is a yardstick to measuring performance. People are paid according to the contribution or service they render to their organization or society at large. If you want to raise your performance you will definitely change the way you do thing (or behavior). This demands a change in strategy
Change your life
In any human achievement resulting to a changed life or success is due to changed performance. High performers are given better remunerations in life due to their creative energies, innovative ideas, leadership potential or creative imagination. At any level they bring something different to the table with the result that they become great assets to their teams, communities, organizations or nations as the case may be.
In conclusion we have looked at the ways we can use to change or perception in life through changed thinking. The power of decisions as a “gateway” to what we receive from life was also mentioned. Good decision results in good outcomes. The need to make our decisions based on sound thinking devoid of the unconscious suggestions of the past, determining our present decision was highlighted. The seven steps to a changed life was proposed as a framework towards making progress based on changed thinking. It must be mentioned that the whole process a problem solving tool will take time, effort, commitment and discipline to achieve. On the whole the reward will surpass the pain.
Copyright © 2010 Benjamin SC Ugoji
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