The Secret Behind Optimal Performance That Doesn’t Require Effort
The traditional focus for improving performance whether it is individual or organizational, is to work on improving motivation, ability and behavior. The premise is, that the most important variables for success are knowledge, skills and effort. From this perspective, all that is needed to get better results is to work harder, learn new and better skills, and be vigilant with self-discipline. This may produce incremental increases in results, but what happens when we reach the limit of how hard we can work, how self-disciplined we can be, and how skilled we can become? Does that mean performance has to stagnate? And what if we just don’t want to work any harder? Is hard work the only pathway to improving results?
The good news is there is a whole other variable that is not often taken into account. The variable of state of mind. The Cambridge Online Dictionary defines state of mind as a person’s mood and the effect that mood has on a person’s thinking and behavior. For example, when I am in a low state of mind the quality of my thinking is not very good. It will be flavored with negativity, judgment, fear, and insecurity. When I see my life and the people in it through the lens of this state of mind, I will tend to see the worst. This will look like reality to me, but when my state of mind changes, my mood will lift and and my thinking will change. I will be able to see the positive in the situation, and my reality will look differently.
One of the most profound experiences of this for me was related to me being in a relationship with an emotionally abusive man. I could not stay with him under any circumstances. After a period of time, I found myself married to the most loving, kind, generous man who I couldn’t imagine living without. The funny thing is, it was the same man. As my state of mind improved, I was no longer seeing my husband through the lens of my own insecurity and hurt. I could see him more clearly and not take his weaknesses so personally. As a result, my behavior changed. It was like I was married to a different person, when I was really the only one who had changed.
We all experience fluctuations in our state of mind. Some people have more extreme or more rapid fluctuation than others, but no matter what the amount or the frequency, changes in state of mind are normal. Having an understanding of this allows us to perform better overall. Interpersonal dynamics are far easier to navigate with less conflict and strife, and the skills, knowledge, and motivation we have are used most effectively so we can get better results with less effort.
The importance of state of mind for success is common sense. We all know if the net profit on a product is negative, you can’t make up for the loss by selling more. However, we miss this logic when looking at performance without considering the role of state of mind. State of mind is the context within which everything else happens.
In an interview between Tim Ferriss and Seth Godin, Seth shares about his coffee making technique. He says the most important part of the process for making coffee is how you roast the beans. This makes sense because he assumes he is working with good quality coffee beans. However, if he is roasting rotten coffee beans, it won’t matter how perfectly timed and sensitive his roasting process is, the coffee will still taste bad.
Having an understanding of state of mind helps us to recognize our quality of thinking so we know what to act on and what to ignore. If Seth gets a bad batch of coffee beans, he can throw them out and get a new batch rather than spending hours trying to improve the taste of his coffee after making it with bad beans. Think about how much time and effort would be wasted trying to fix the taste of rotten coffee beans, when all that is need is a new set of beans. The same is true for any work.
When people have an understanding of the role of state of mind in their lives, it is much easier for them to discard the rotten thinking, not take action on it, and maintain a greater level of stability and equanimity while waiting for better quality of thought to come along, and it always will. Our natural state is to have high quality thoughts. When we relax and allow our minds to clear, our state of mind will naturally improve, and better quality thoughts will come to our awareness. When people are able to recognize their state of mind, they will know when to take that step back, and when to move forward, when to rest and let the mind clear, and when to act on inspiration.
The role of state of mind in work allows for unlimited possibilities for improvements in productivity. Any other resource has boundaries, but there is no limits to our human potential.
As performance and results become more and more crucial for financial viability, individuals and companies who are committed to excelling would benefit from developing an experiential understanding of the relationship between performance and state of mind. There is unlimited potential in each one of us, but we don’t access it through hard work. We connect with it by experiencing an expansive state of mind. We each have this potential, but few of us know how it relates to our work. Understanding this relationship is the key to sustainable, enjoyable, burn-out free, optimal performance.
Christine Heath & Judy Sedgeman – Spirituality and Resilience
When you no longer give authority to the fear-based thoughts in your consciousness, all you are left with is happiness. Through the teachings of Sydney Banks, you can see how your psychological functioning works, which makes you less compelled to follow those thoughts that do not serve you. Becoming more aware of the wholeness and integration of both your human and spiritual natures helps to ground you in the unchanging essence of who you are, and ride out the ups and downs of your emotional experience more gracefully. Accepting the normalcy of your humanness will naturally reduce your anxiety and fear and enhance your joy and happiness in each moment. By placing less pressure on yourself to feel a certain way or be hung up on self-improvement, you may find that low moods do not derail or debilitate you; instead, you will become much more attuned to your innate wellbeing and peace of mind and experience more happiness as a result.
Greater psychological freedom is the gift that keeps on giving. How grateful would you feel if you no longer had to listen to your negative, self-punishing and painful inner narrative, day in and day out? Understanding the role of thought and recognizing how it creates your feelings of insecurity and self-doubt is truly liberating! You will be better able to hear and heed your inner wisdom and become less driven by the noisy thoughts of fear and constriction. As an ongoing practice, this allows you to more fully experience your resilience and reach a greater sense of clarity about how you want to move forward in your life. As a result, you can live in a way that feels authentic and true in every area, including your career, family, home, creative expression, play, relationships and overall well-being.
Your ability to enjoy life comes from being present in the moment rather than caught up in habitual, negative thoughts that take you out of the Now. Sydney Banks’ wisdom supports you in becoming aware of how you get seduced by your limited personal thinking and thus, create a painful reality of misunderstanding, fear and restriction. When you recognize how and why this happens, you can step free of the pattern. This understanding assists you to dismiss unhelpful thoughts and not take them seriously. Unlike traditional self-help or therapy, experiencing more psychological freedom and enjoyment does not rely on techniques. There are no magic bullets on the path of well-being. All you need to do is follow an internal compass that points to the truth of who you really are—beyond transient thoughts to your unchanging, formless essence.
In our culture, success is often associated with hard work and narrowly defined as material gain. However, authentic success, as shared by Sydney Banks, includes such intangibles as happiness, well-being, love, joy, compassion, and peace of mind that are innate in each one of us, along with outward goals and achievements. It honors the whole person in all walks of life, whether you are a professional, leader, executive, solopreneur, employee, mother, teacher or student. From this knowing and experience, you can access the infinite wellspring of love that is your essence, then share your gifts with the world from a place of fulfillment and meaning, through a profound understanding of the interaction between your psychological and spiritual natures. While conventional success can deplete you, authentic success only fills you up.
Are you self-critical, hard on yourself, and constantly trying to “fix” whatever you think is wrong with you? Perhaps you have tried all kinds of different personal growth techniques and spiritual practices in the hope of solving all your problems. This cycle can be exhausting and never-ending, because there will always be something to improve about yourself, from that mindset. Sydney Banks’ teachings can help you to see how your humanness is normal and not something that needs fixing: as a spiritual person, you don’t need to change or eradicate your humanness! Seeing yourself as normal allows you to love and accept yourself exactly as you are—warts and all. Adopting this perspective naturally brings out the best in you and helps to find peace with your personality. Self-love and self-acceptance is your natural state, and any disconnection from your true nature is only temporary. What a relief!
One of the first areas people often experience profound transformation from the teachings of Sydney Banks is in their relationships, both personal and professional. While it often seems like another person’s irritation, anger, indifference, insensitivity, rudeness, etc., directly affects your experience, in reality your disturbance is a product of your own individual thinking. By making someone else responsible for how you feel, that person automatically becomes the cause of your suffering. Once you understand that you always have a place of well-being inside, independent of another’s behavior, it is easier to maintain equanimity through their changing moods and behaviors. Romantically, you may experience deeper love and intimacy with your partner, but the teachings benefit all relationships. This awareness supports more authentic connection and expression, while facilitating greater understanding, improved communication, reduced reactivity, more acceptance of self and others, and improved ability to work out differences and find common ground. Best of all, just one person shifting in a relationship is enough to transform it.
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