As part of a regular series for TIA UK News, Lee Dickinson, a licensed business coach with ActionCOACH, explains why it’s crucial to have the right mindset.
Mindset is about setting your mind to a particular purpose. It’s a major part of the mental preliminaries that successful people commit to when preparing themselves to tackle a new challenge.
It’s what’s going on in the head of Andy Murray when he bounces the ball 5…6…7 times before he serves the ball. Or in Tiger Wood’s thinking when he stands behind the golf ball and visualizes himself knocking it straight in the hole, before he moves forward to address the putt. Jonny Wilkinson has a similar routine as he gathers himself into an uncomfortable squat before he bisects the uprights with another successful conversion.
Of course this preparation isn’t just a sport thing. It happens in business situations everyday. But since our business planning, budgeting or negotiations are not on TV, it’s not so outwardly obvious that we even notice. The “Idealize, Visualize, Verbalize & Materialize” philosophy (IVVM for short) that under-pins basic mental preparatory routines has long been practiced by top business operators.
At its root is the ‘Law of Attraction,’ a principle by which the mind is set to a particular goal, which the ‘Reticular Activating System,’ the compass to the brain, then guides towards its achievement. It can’t be a one off though, since for it to be effective in shutting out doubt, the practitioner ……Tiger Woods, Andy Murray, you or me needs to repeat this preparation routinely before every putt, serve or business meeting for it to become established and fully functioning.
Takes a little getting used to that idea….I know. But think of it as ‘like attracts like,’ and it’s easier to accept. Two further phenomenon are known to help set the mind.
The first of these is a behaviour known as the ‘Law of Intention,’ which is what you, me, Andy & Tiger do when we deliberately define the future outcomes we want. This definiteness gives us a firm context to what we plan, and focuses our intention. As the late Jim Rohn, the celebrated US Philosopher observed, this is about “trimming a better sail.”
The second is actually the 3rd law of nuclear dynamics – ‘Perturbation.’ This law observes that for growth, there must be pressure. Like the flame under the pot of water that brings it to the boil, perturbation is also the emotional pressure we put on ourselves when we want something so badly.
The final thought is about what it is, or what it will take to persuade us to change our mental preparations and become more definite in use of these techniques? The answer to this looks like an Einstein equation at first glance……(D x V) + F > R. This is best explained as arising when: Our Disatisfaction (D), when coupled with our Vision (V), and when our willingness to take First Steps (F) is greater than our Resistance (R).
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The Tennis Industry Association is working with Lee Dickinson, a licensed business coach with ActionCOACH, to provide business mentoring to its members.