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How Can You Get Into The Zone More Consistently?

We’ve all heard of it, many of us have experienced it and all of us want more of it. I’m talking about “the zone.” Other terms for this are flow, peak performance, etc. Regardless, athletes refer to it in an illusive, mythical sense. Often, it seems we stumble into that special state, during which time stands still, our performance feels effortless, we are fully composed and our confidence is unshakable. Then, the instant we realize we’re in the zone, like the eye of a tornado, it’s gone. The good news is, it doesn’t have to be that way.

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Multitasking Is Your Nemesis: Stop It

One of my favorite questions to ask people when I speak about multitasking is this: “Have you ever come home exhausted at the end of the day, with no idea what you actually accomplished?” The typical response is a resounding “yes.” Perhaps you’ve had that experience too. Often, this occurs because we weren’t focused enough and spent the day interrupting one task for the next every time a new issue came to us. The side-effects that seem to accompany these days are drained energy, lower satisfaction, and increased stress.

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One Word You Never Want to Leave Off Items On Your To-Do List

Spring is almost here for those of us in the four-season-belt of the U.S. Flowers bloom, birds sing and life returns as the chill of winter subsides. Despite the budding all around us, many people find this to be a grueling time of the year. The holidays seem ages ago and summer vacation seems eons away. Oh, and those New Year’s resolutions, how are those coming along? I’d say it’s time for a booster shot to get us refocused, energized and taking actionable steps toward our goals again. 

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“Good Job” Isn’t Good Enough: What It Means to Praise the Process

Praise can have damaging effects. To a coworker, “Wow, you learned that new software fast. You’re a genius.” To your boss, “Great sales pitch, you’re a natural at working the room.” To your daughter, “Way to go Casey. You’re so smart you got an A on that math test.”  To your wife, “You look beautiful in that dress, all done up.” What is wrong with praise like this?
 
The research of Dr. Carol Dweck, author of Mindsets: The New Psychology of Success, finds that praise centered on a person or his/her ability may actually sabotage performance.
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3 Tactics to Corral Nervousness and ACE Your Next Performance

If you are trying to be great at something, pursue excellence and fulfill your potential, chances are you’ve experienced the feeling of being nervous. Leading up to your big sales pitch, before briefing the board on last quarter’s numbers, before the first game of the season, preparing to give that speech – many of us have been there. The interesting thing about nervousness is that we only experience it when we want to be awesome.
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Should You Keep Your Goals A Secret?

In 2006, I announced to my friends and family that I was going to attend graduate school. Indeed, in 2007 my dad and I drove my overstuffed car of belongings nearly 2,000 miles from Virginia to Arizona where I started my graduate program. In 2010 I announced to my wife and family that I was going to start my own business. That’s exactly what I did in 2011. However, some say we shouldn’t tell a soul the things we wish to achieve.
 
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4 Powerful Lessons About Pursuing Our Potential from America’s Olympians

Over the past two weeks, I have enjoyed the athletic displays of excellence that characterize the Olympics. Sochi 2014 has been no exception. Truly there were so many great moments, performances, once-in-a-lifetime experiences and terrific stories. Among the American delegation, the stories of four athletes caught my attention because they teach us about pursuing our own potential.
 
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How The Practice of ACR Can Help You Build Stronger Relationships And Teams

 
The highest performing teams in sports and business are built on shared purpose, collective effort and strong relationships. All three are needed to achieve excellence. Let’s focus on the need for strong relationships. For team members to perform at their best, they need connectedness within the team. That is built on trust, knowing others have your back and commitment to one another. When teams aren’t operating on all cylinders, performance suffers.
 
 
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Retrain Your Resistance: 3 Steps to More Productive Thinking

Listen. Do you hear that? Do you hear that voice inside your head holding you back, telling you why you will fail and why you don’t have what it takes? Steven Pressfield calls this Resistance. You aren’t in this alone. As it turns out, we all hear voices. Most of the time our inner thoughts simmer in and out of our awareness throughout the day like a spotty radio station.
 
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3 Myths That May Be Suffocating Your Potential

As a kid, I was never the smartest in the class, the most athletic, the most…anything, really. I went with the flow, but if I was honest with myself, I wasn’t truly happy. Something just didn’t feel right. I wanted to be great and achieve more. Looking back I now realize what was going on. I was being misled and sabotaged by my own thinking. I felt unsatisfied, disappointed and unfulfilled.