The lid came off the tomato sauce bottle as my brother attempted to force the sauce to the top of the glass container with a club like swing. He was sitting at the family dining table. My Dad had very recently finished painting the dining room walls. It was lunchtime. Dad was wearing a clean white shirt. There are two important facts relevant to this story. My Dad hated the smell of tomato sauce. He hated it so much that he would not allow it to be near him at the table. The second fact, my brother loved tomato sauce. The outcome of my brother’s vigorous swing of the bottle was to discover the lid was not screwed on but merely just sitting on the top of the bottle. This resulted in a long fast-moving stream of tomato sauce that created a diagonal line of rapidly moving saucy profjectile that hit my Dad’s shirt and ran diagonally up the recently painted white wall and ceiling.
This is the point amidst various points that the story changes. Why does it change? Because my brother siter and I all have different memories of this event. We all agree the sauce came out of the bottle but how it happened is different depending on which sibling tells the story. I remember my Mum and I looking at each other while trying very hard not to laugh. My sister remembers my Dad getting very angry. My brother remembers running to the toilet and locking himself in while my Dad ran after him in hot pursuit.
While listening to a radio program discussing memory it was stated that we do not remember an event, we remember how we last, remembered an event. This is an important aspect of memory. We can temper our recall of an event plus temper the resulting emotion and energy that arises from the recollection. In the above story, which is frequently revisited with my siblings and has for many years we see the inconsistency of memory. This is well known in the field of criminal investigations. Police are met with a variety of details that are different between ‘eyewitnesses’.
This provides us with a great opportunity. We cannot go back in time and change the past, but we can modify our response to past events and we can modify our response to what happens in the present.
In the book, HIGH PERFORMANCE HABITS – How Extraordinary People Become That Way, by BRENDON BURCHARD The habit of energy generation is discussed. Burchard states that high achievers get more done and seem to have a great deal of energy. Are high achievers genetically different? Are they in possession of some quirk of nature or superpower? Burchard explains as follows.
“The good news is you can dramatically increase your energy and overall performance with just a few simple practices. Your energy is not a fixed mental, physical, or emotional state. Again, you don’t “have” energy any more than a power plant does. A power plant transforms and transmits energy. In the same regard, you don’t “have” happiness. Rather, you transform your thoughts into feelings that are or are not happy. You don’t have to “have” sadness; you can transform it to something else. This means you don’t have to “wait” for joy, motivation, love, excitement, or any other positive emotion in life. You can choose to generate energy, on demand, any time you want, through the power of habit. Like any other area of your life or any other set of skills, it can be improved.”
Burchard suggest three practices to increase energy.
- Release tension and set your intentions.
I interpret Burchard’s concepts as a type of mindfulness. Taking note of rising tensions and noticing the impact rather ‘being’ a part of the emotion. For example, I may be engaged in answering a set of questions I have been asked via an email. The questions seem disjointed from a recent conversation with the email writer and I start to get irritated. If I use mindfulness, I notice the irritation. Without mindfulness the irritation arises as I become irritated. This ‘noticing’ or emotional intelligence assists with the transition from activity to activity or task. Burchard suggests we amplify the transition and refresh the intention of each new activity rather than dragging the emotional state from a prior activity. We do this by taking a moment to release ourselves from the current activity and clearly specifying our intention with the new activity.
- The anticipation of positive outcomes.
High performers find ways to enjoy what they do. They inject enthusiasm naturally in to each activity. The key point is to develop the capacity to oversee your emotions and support the taking charge attitude with gratitude. This develops with reflection and taking moments, as Dr Joe Dispensa says to, ‘Think about what we think about’ Dr Dispensa goes on to say that we ‘Fire and wire’ what we repeatedly do and think about. Repeated patterns of thinking become reinforced in the plasticity of the brain. In a way our thoughts truly become who we are.
- Optimise your health.
There are aspects of self-discipline that arise in my own pattens that are not helpful. At times I push too hard. This will result in too little sleep and the grabbing of junk food as I rush to complete my tasks. Recently, due to workload, travelling and a set of differing life objectives, I have had two weeks of intense work. As a result, my sleep has been too short. My eating has been compromised and I have not attended the dojo and practised Jiu Jitsu for two weeks. This is probably the longest period without training for 10 years. Yesterday I took time to rest and have a nap during the day as I waited for the heat of the day to pass so I could return to some construction work on our home. This was followed by eating a good meal and retiring early for my second night of solid sleep. This morning I feel amazing. I did not realise how tired I had become. One of my key stressors is to sacrifice sleep to get things done. It is short sighted.
“Energy is critical to high performance. You can have all the other habits up and running in your life, but without mastering this one, you won’t feel good. No one wants to feel mentally foggy, drowned in negative emotions, or physically exhausted. Happily, though, these states are usually the results of bad decisions, not bad genetics. You can optimize your overall energy quotient in life if you choose to. And perhaps that is our ultimate duty since our vibrancy ultimately dictates how we live.” – Brendon Burchard
- Exercise – work out more
- Nutrition – eat healthier food and less junk
- Sleep – get plenty, aim for 7 – 8 hours
- Repeat day in and day out
High performers are energetic. To maintain your energy to need to care for your physical and mental stamina. You will be happier and more production. The greater the physical and mental stamina the great the capacity to manage emotions and be clear about your intentions for each activity and task.
“Human excellence is a state of mind.” – Socrates