The crowd is going wild. The score is tied and you can cut the tension on the court with a knife. The pressure starts to build inside as I walk up to the free-throw line as the referee tosses me the ball. All that’s running through my head is I have to make this shot, otherwise, we lose the game.
I can feel the stares of the other team members on me, their side of the crowd yelling “MISS, MISS, MISS”. My breathing is short, my palms are sweating and for a moment I close my eyes. I take a deep breath and it’s as if I transport to a different place. All I see is darkness, all I feel is calm and peace as I take a deep breath. I open my eyes, see the basket, take my stance and shoot as if no one is there.
Whether you’re shooting a free throw to win a championship game, closing the biggest deal for your company, or spontaneously getting asked to speak in front of hundreds of people, your ability to stay present, focused, and in your zone is crucial to your success.
So many people let external circumstances shake them, determine the way they show up, and ultimately determine the outcome.
High performers are those who can maintain focus, are clear-headed, and act with confidence allowing them to continue to achieve success after success.
As business professionals, entrepreneurs, and sales professionals it is crucial to your success to be able to maintain an empowering state of mind at all times. If you’re on a sales call that’s going south, it’s your responsibility to maintain focus, stay in a state of excellence, and turn that sales call around. For some people, it could be a make or break, right?
By now, you’re probably wondering, what is it that makes high performs excel under pressure, make quick decisive decisions and be the calm amongst the storm. High performers can maintain their emotions and stay in a peak state, unlike most.
Most business professionals react rather than respond to situations which keeps them from making clearheaded decisions or logic. They continue to repeat behaviors without getting any learnings or opportunity to evolve.
People react rather than respond to situations usually when they are triggered and unwarranted emotion is present, causing people to fall back into past patterns and ways of being. Unwarranted emotions cause a lot of problems in business, while warranted emotions are good, unwarranted emotions can cause a lot of conflicts, miscommunication and at the end of the day are very unproductive.
Unwarranted emotions are when you see someone get cut off on the freeway and that person decides to speed in front of them, slam on their breaks and give them the finger. Not safe at all, right? While this isn’t a business example, people have unwarranted emotions all the time in business.
They lose a client and get angry or overly upset and can’t let it go, their boss gives them back feedback and they end up yelling in their boss’s face or walking out of the office. There are countless examples of when unwarranted emotions pop up, what is more, important to know is what to do to make sure you have less unwarranted emotions running the show so you aren’t like a puppet on puppet strings being run by your emotions. Unwarranted emotions come from past experiences, rather than what is happening in the current moment.
Being able to respond to situations as they happen rather than react will allow you to consciously make choices and decisions in alignment with where you want to go rather than where you’ve been. By responding to situations you typically would have reacted to, integrating the learnings you can evolve to the next level and produce and an entirely new set of results.
High performers do this well, on and off the court. They consistently respond to business and life as it happens rather than reacting, allowing them to stay in control of their life and future. That way they are the captain of the ship.
Take time to reflect on where you react rather than respond in your business and life to open an entirely new set of opportunities for you and your future.
