Learning Strategy (4)
More on the Five Principles for Success...
5. Operate from a physiology and a psychology of excellence
Human beings have certain physiologies intimately linked to certain emotional states and we can utilise this phenomenon to maximise the results that we can produce.
Let's illustrate what we mean by this with a little exercise:-
Firstly I want you to slump in your chair, allow your shoulders to flop, allow your head to flop so that your eyes look down toward the floor. Put a frown on your face and imagine that somebody has just given you a task to do and that the task is the one thing you most hate doing. Then imagine that you'll have to do that same task, over and over, every day for the rest of eternity.....
How does that feel, pretty bad huh?
Okay, shake off that physiology and let's do something else instead. By the way - can you remember which shoe you put on first this morning?
NOW! Stand up nice and tall. Push your chest out, push your shoulders back and take three deep breaths, in through the nose, out through the mouth breathing from the top of your lungs and lift your eyes so that you're looking slightly upwards. Now imagine that helium balloons have been attached to the corners of your mouth and the outer corner of each eyebrow and that they are pulling your face up into a big silly grin. Allow the balloons to pull that grin up and out until it covers your whole face.
NOW - maintain this physiology and the big, silly grin and TRY to feel sad. Go ahead - really try to feel sad - it's impossible.
As we will learn from the NLP communication model, physiology is intimately linked to state and behaviour and a change in any one is reflected in the other two.
When we adopt negative physiology we enter negative emotional states and produce negative behaviours. Conversely, adopting a positive physiology has positive impacts on both our emotional state and resulting behviours. When we act positive we produce positive results.
Our choice to operate from a physiology and psychology of excellence changes our world for the better and helps us to maximise the results that we produce.