Mental Edge

Newsletter Issue April 2010

Mind Strength. Become Exceptional.

What if for 21 days...

Shaun Goodsell, MA

President and CEO of Mental Edge

Many people are looking for the secret to a great life. Turn on any talk show or radio program and it isn't too long before someone is talking about his or her formula for improving one's life. It may sound simple but in most cases the quality of our lives are made up primarily of the results our consistent behaviors earn us. Life does not discern our intentions, our needs, and our wishes. Each of us has perfected a regular set of habits and rituals. It is these regular behaviors that earn us what we experience in our lives. For those executing behaviors that earn great relationships, health, financial strength, relational intimacy and meaning, you earn yourself a life of great value and fulfillment.

What if for 21 days you exchanged one life sabotaging habit for a new life enhancing one? What I mean is ONE, not two, three or more. JUST ONE.

What if instead of drinking a soda you replaced it with water? What if instead of watching TV you exercised? What if instead of criticizing your spouse or child you encouraged them? What if you exchanged negativity for a positive outlook? What if you exchanged entitlement for gratitude? WHAT IF? Isn't this the ultimate question? I believe that many of us are blocked from life changing experiences because we live in the "what if". New life experiences evade us simply because we cling blindly and ignorantly to behaviors that keep us comfortable and STUCK...existing in a life that lacks depth, inspiration, purpose and meaning.

I want to challenge you to dare to create a new life experience. Many are waiting for a magic stroke of luck to turn their lives around, hoping a poor relationship will suddenly change, a child that is stuck in negativity or apathy will suddenly "see the light", or our health will hold on without us doing anything different. The truth is that the quality of our lives is made up of the results of our everyday consistent pattern of behaviors. Everyone can exchange a habit for 21 days.

Take the 21-Day Challenge! If you are ready to give up your "what if " for a new habit, ritual, or regular behavior keep your eye on your inbox for the challenge details.

Shaun

Change your Thoughts, Change your Life

Justin Johnson, Performance Coach

Critical thinking is a term often used in high schools and universities across America. Regardless of the medium, be it politics, media, our education or even personal conversations, as we grow and mature as individual we are taught that it is important to question and seek the truth in the information available to us. As rhetoric, editing, text messaging, and other methods of information sharing have muddied the waters in our ability to critique and find the truth in today's world, it has also become increasingly difficult for us as individuals to pinpoint and seek the truth in our personal thoughts and perspective of ourselves. In other words, even if you are skilled enough to be able to sift through and think critically about the information in our world, few of us use the same critical thinking skills with ourselves. Those who do, inevitably reap the rewards through great personal growth. The skills needed to think critically about ourselves and our perspective for the betterment of personal growth can be identified in three parts:

First, we must be Aware of our thoughts and the messages they send. Our daily pattern of thoughts and explanation of events around us are established in our early teens. From there it becomes increasingly more difficult to recognize harmful thinking and the type of thinking that keeps us stuck because it truly becomes our reality. A helpful exercise is to write down the statements you tell yourself. Often times it is surprising to see what you actually tell yourself when it is written right in front of you.

Second, we must be able to Challenge these thoughts or reinforce the thoughts you'd like to see continue. This often takes some creativity and fortitude. You see, once we have created a thought pattern it is difficult to disrupt it. Therefore you must be willing to challenge old patterns with its new replacement. A common example of the type of explanation that keeps us stuck would be "I can't do this" a powerful challenge could be "Many have done this before so I know I can too." Once you have challenged the thinking pattern you are ready to take the final step to change your life pattern.

Finally, it is important to remember that neither of the previous steps matters unless you are willing to take Action around your new thoughts. The action portion of this equation is what solidifies the replaced thought challenge into our daily pattern. Momentous action and/or a radical change of action in your life rarely last. More often it is the small accumulation of micro choices and actions that lead us to our desired new life direction. As a wise man once said "the journey begins with the first step".

Justin

How Willing are YOU?

Brady Greco, Performance Coach

I hear athletes say all the time, "I wish I was better", or "I'll do whatever it takes to become better". These are fine things to say, however there comes a time in an athlete's life when they need to PROVE they want to be better and excel in their sport, instead of just speaking these types of words. If an athlete truly wants to intentionally become better at their sport, sacrifices MUST be made. Nothing is handed to us, and every great athlete needs to put in endless hours of intentional, deliberate practice in order to see the results they truly want. Take for instance a high school hockey player who wants to play junior "A" hockey the following season. This player continuously preaches how they will do anything in their power to make it to the next level. However, when push comes to shove and there is an existing junior hockey tryout camp the same day as Senior Prom, and the athlete picks to go to their prom instead of going to try out...this, to me, portrays the athlete as unengaged, which means they don't want to make the sacrifices necessary in order for them to play at the next level.

The older one gets, the tougher decisions they must face, meaning they may have to give something up in order to gain what their true ambitions are. If you ask any great athlete who has made it to a high level, they will be the first to tell you that they had a huge laundry list of sacrifices in their past, which ultimately resulted in where they are today.

In order to gain big, one must risk big. If the athlete is not willing to pay a certain price, then they must reevaluate what it is they really want. Many times athletes will say they want something, but don't really know what type of effort and sacrifice it involves. To overcome situations in life such as this one, it is extremely important to have very specific goals set in place. Then it is vital that one organizes a strategic plan to help achieve these goals. If the athlete is truly engaged and wants it bad enough, with the right amount of dedication and sacrifice, their goal of playing at the next level will indeed come true.

Brady