To live a world class life, it is very much essential to raise your consciousness to world class. Before becoming one, you must first mentally live that life. Unless this belief sinks in your subconscious mind, it becomes very difficult to achieve this goal. Following key inputs will assist you to make your journey smooth.
School is Never Out
World class have come so far in raising their level of awareness that they realize there is always a higher level. Average people have a worldview that says being comfortable with who and where they are in life is the key to happiness. The great ones have a worldview that says happiness is learning, growing, and becoming. School is never out for champions. The more they learn, the more they realize how much they don’t know.
While average people seek mental comfort, the world class believes mental comfort is the death of growth. They live by this phrase: ‘You’re either growing or dying; stagnation does not exist in the universe.’ Like the child who always asks “why,” champions always ask questions of other top performers in an effort to get a new take on an old idea. Their ongoing mental growth reinforces their belief of another level of conscious awareness that can make them more successful, more fulfilled, and happier.
Ask yourself this critical thinking question: Am I growing or dying? If your answer is dying, make the decision today to become more aware and begin growing.
Belief is the Real Start
One of the major distinctions between average performers and champions is their belief system. Like champions, average people tend to be a product of their mental programming from childhood. People of influence, such as parents, teachers, coaches, religious leaders, and others were the primary builders and shapers of our early belief systems. In most cases, this programming is limiting because it comes from people who believe they are limited. That’s why average people are saddled with a set of beliefs that are more about survival than success. Average people have been programmed to avoid pain at all costs, which promotes a ‘playing not to lose’ mentality.
Many world class performers were raised with these same beliefs, yet learned to reprogram themselves somewhere along the way. Champions learn how to develop empowering beliefs and invest a substantial amount of time solidifying those beliefs, mostly through their own self-talk. With guidance from coaches and mentors, champions monitor the words they use. They know reprogramming is a never-ending activity. Some people even consider this process ‘positive brainwashing.’ When aspiring champions learn they can program any belief they wish, and through repetitious, ongoing self-talk, build that belief into a foundation for their consciousness, it’s a revelation.
A world class belief system can be created from scratch, no matter what your age, upbringing, or current lot in life. A world class belief system is a primary factor in the making of a champion, and every great performer knows it. While average people see champions as more intelligent, the champions know better. The truth is that intelligence plays a small part. Belief is the real star of the show.
The Evolution of a Belief System
Parents, teachers, coaches, ministers, friends, relatives, and other people of influence in a child’s life say to the child: “This is Fact.” The child accepts the elders’ perception as a fact even if the elder is completely wrong. A child unconsciously ingrains these beliefs in his/her subconscious and builds habits accordingly. The child grows into an adult operating under dozens of faulty beliefs and habits but is not consciously aware of it. Adult operates under false and limiting beliefs and sets invisible boundaries for his/her life at an unconscious level.
Make a list of your most closely held beliefs, and begin the process of questioning whether they are serving you or holding you back. Question their validity. Are they relevant, or out of date? Knowing that behavior follows belief, give yourself an opportunity to discard or upgrade any beliefs that limit you.
Impact of Gratitude
The world class is famous for using non-linear thinking as a primary problem-solving strategy, and nowhere is this more apparent than when it comes to heightening their creativity. While amateurs become increasingly stressed during problem-solving, the great ones become more relaxed to enhance their creative ability. Champions know the ultimate creative force is located somewhere beyond our everyday consciousness, and they must tap this source to generate their best ideas. The secular sometimes refer to this source as the unconscious mind. The spiritual often call it God. Whatever label their belief warrants, few deny the power of the source, whatever its point of origin.
Champions know the fastest way to connect to the source is through gratitude. Thoughts and feelings of gratitude seem to elevate the performers’ consciousness to a higher plane than is accessible through any other means. Professional writers call it being connected. Athletes call it being in the zone. Psychologists refer to it as a state of flow. No matter what name you assign it, the experience is the same.
It’s a process that begins by letting go and mentally detaching from the end result or outcome of any task. The focus is on being, as opposed to doing. While amateurs experience this phenomenon from time to time, the great ones are able to access it much more often. They are aware of the triggers that create a mental climate conducive to this state of mind. Gratitude is the mindset of choice when they need to awaken the giant and tap their genius.
Make a list of the ten things you are most grateful for in your life, and review them every morning for the next seven days. Monitor how this activity impacts your emotions. (Excerpt is from ‘177 Mental Toughness Secrets of the World Class’ by Steve Siebold.)
