Every business owner who has been around will tell you that to grow and run a successful business is much harder than they originally thought. The reason is simple. There are thousands of new things to learn and do and each level of growth demands a new way of thinking and acting.
Growing and running a business can feel like a never-ending marathon, and unfortunately, over 80% of business owners succumb to the stress and pressure, closing their businesses within several years. For some, the pressure is so great that it undermines their health, their confidence to succeed, and even their faith in themselves.
Psychologists used to believe that some people are just better suited to working hard and being successful. Although there is some truth to this, we all have the neural capacity to excel—in business, in love, and in life.
Here’s the big question. Can anyone acquire the skill and ability to learn, grow, shift, and adapt the stress of work without getting discouraged, burned out, or losing hope and faith in their desire to grow and run a highly profitable business?
The answer is YES!
The latest brain research is now showing us that the average person has no idea how to optimize their thinking and behaviors in ways that generate peak performance. More importantly, few people know the secrets for minimizing stress and transforming conflicts into solutions. These tools are not fully integrated into our day-to-day lives. Poor thinking and high stress will undermine our health, hope, business desires and skills.
When we are constantly bombarded by stress – physical, emotional, or cognitive – our motor cortex (the part of our brain that turns our ideas into actions) is compromised. We can’t think clearly, disruptive emotions intrude and sabotage our relationships with others, and the “genius” part of our brain slows down. The executive functions of the frontal lobe are derailed, and our creativity (controlled by a specific neural circuit) is shut off. Stress increases – which neurologically generates doubts, fears, anxiety, procrastination, and discouragement.
But there’s an easy solution to this downward spiral of tension. Brain-scan studies have verified that a handful of practices can activate the frontal lobes of your brain in ways that reduce stress, anxiety, and irritability. These simple strategies will help you make significant strides in managing your stress levels and working through the heavy workload needed to effectively grow your business.
The easiest method for releasing stress – and surprisingly the least used – is doing some simple breathing exercises. Just close your eyes, breathe slowly in through your nose (which slows down brain metabolism), and then breathe slowly out through your mouth. Do this for ten times, and you’ll immediately notice profound shifts in alertness, relaxation, and experiential awareness. Not only are you learning how to consciously change brainwave activity, but you can actually raise or lower brain metabolism. Ten deep breaths is like taking a mini-vacation because it literally refreshes overly stimulated neural circuits throughout your brain. Activity in your amygdala slows down, which stops the release of stress-inducing neurochemicals and hormones. With practice, it even turns on stress-reducing genes.
Meditation is an excellent and highly proven method to activate your genius while lowering your stress levels. It will physically alter your brain structure as it increases your awareness of yourself and your environment. When these strategies are applied to businesses, work performance increases, sick days decrease, and team cooperation is enhanced. That’s why these “Innercises™” are now part of the Executive MBA program at Loyola Marymount University.
Each stage of business growth requires new knowledge, skills, and changes in behavior that can easily overwhelm most entrepreneurs or professionals. These feelings are normal but detrimental, yet few people have been given the tools that have been proven to help them cope better.
By performing a simple daily “Innercise™” program, you will learn how to retrain your brain for higher and higher levels of thinking and performance.
One of these methods is known as Mindfulness
Mindfulness is complete, calm awareness of the state you are in at the present moment. It’s a state of stillness where you can observe your thoughts and feelings without judgment. It takes your brain off of “automatic pilot” and gives you conscious control over nearly every aspect of your life. Instead of being driven by emotional impulses, mindfulness helps you live in a state of intention and purpose. You learn how to recognize unconscious patterns of sabotage behavior, and you’ll remain focused and serene when responding to any situation, good or bad. In complete mindfulness, you can reach a point where something seemingly disappointing can be seen as an opportunity to excel. And when your buttons get pushed by an unpleasant situation, you’ll be able to acknowledge it and quickly move on. You won’t find yourself holding onto a particular response and you won’t let negative feelings form permanent imprints in the memory circuits of your brain. You’ll even be able maintain your composure and respond to difficult people with kindness and compassion. That’s the power of mindfulness, but you have to practice it for a few minutes every day.
How you will benefit: You’ll develop a heightened sense of awareness, with a greater capacity to focus with clarity and intention. You’ll also begin to experience deep gratitude for the present moment as you quickly and positively adapt to your life experiences.
To find out more about how to retrain your brain for higher levels of business and financial success, join our upcoming free webinar “ Winning the Game Of Money” and we’ll teach you the latest tools, techniques and neuroscience lessons around making more Money.
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