The biggest mistake high achievers make that inadvertently caps their performance (part 4)
⬅️ Part 3 || Part 5 ➡️
Last week, we started talking about the cognitive illusion that causes high performers to inadvertently cap their performance.
I told you that sometimes your brain is Above The Line, in an un-threatened, un-fearful, flow state…
And sometimes your brain goes Below The Line, into a threatened, fearful, fight-or-flight state.
And one of your fight-or-flight responses is to work like crazy and grind grind grind and never stop thinking about all the things you have to do…
But the mistake that high achievers make…
Is that they think that overworking from fight-or-flight is what high performance looks like.
Not realizing that there’s a whole universe of even more effective performance (that also doesn’t burn you out) that’s available to you…
If you can just pull your brain back Above The Line.
I also told you that it’s 100% normal for your brain to get stuck Below The Line sometimes.
It doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you.
You don’t automatically have a chronic anxiety problem or heaps of unresolved trauma if this happens to you.
Your brain getting stuck Below The Line, and you having to manually pull it out…
Is no different than your immune system running a fever a little too hot and you having to take a little Tylenol.
You still have a healthy human brain.
But you should learn those “manual interventions” so your protective mechanisms doesn’t accidentally hurt you.
And then we started talking about exactly what that manual intervention looks like.
The 5 Rs of bringing your brain back Above The Line—
Recognize, Reposition, Reveal, Reframe, Repeat
We covered Recognize last time.
And today we’re going to talk about Reposition.
Once you recognize that your brain is Below The Line…
You’re probably going to be in a big rush to pull it out.
Me too. I get it.
It feels pretty crappy to be in fight-or-flight.
And once you know that your performance is worse in that state too, you’re like:
“Get back Above The Line so I can do good work, brain!!! Stop holding me back!!!”
But before you jump in and start hauling your brain back Above The Line…
First, I want you to Reposition.
Here’s what I mean by that—
Sure, there’s a bunch of stuff happening inside your brain.
A nasty voice is talking to you, telling you how terrible you are.
All kinds of feelings and sensations are surging through your body.
What-ifs and worst case scenarios are playing out like a movie you can’t turn off.
But where are YOU, relative to all that stuff?
Your usual position, relative to all the stuff happening inside your brain is:
Right in the middle of the action.
If all those thoughts and feelings are a storm, you’re getting drenched in the rain.
If those thoughts and feelings are a river, you’re being carried along by the riptide.
And when you recognize that your brain has gone Below The Line…
That the gentle rain storm has turned into a Category 5 hurricane…
That the placid river has turned into a raging flood…
The first thing I want you to do is reposition yourself.
Go from being in the middle of the rain to floating above the clouds.
Go from being carried along by the river to standing on the banks.
Go from believing your thoughts to being the outside observer of your thoughts.
This is a mental muscle movement that you can practice.
If I told you, “Focus your attention on your left hand,” you could do that.
If I told you, “Find five red things in this room,” you could do that.
This is a mental muscle movement just like those.
Instead of being in the middle of your thoughts and believing them 100%…
Step outside and be the observer, just for a little bit.
Sometimes this step alone can be enough to bring your brain back Above The Line.
That’s why this mental muscle movement is the foundation of many mindfulness meditation practices.
Just getting a little distance from the storm can cause the storm to start calming down on its own.
But it’s not always enough, which is why I have 5 Rs to bring your brain Above The Line, not just 2 :)
But this is a crucial step that makes all the other steps much easier.
Before you get into changing the state your brain is in…
(Which we’re going to cover in the remaining parts of this series)
Reposition yourself so that you are the observer, not the one getting buffeted around in the middle of the action.
Tomorrow, we’re going to dive into the third R — Reveal.
Make sure you’re subscribed to my email newsletter so you don’t miss a thing.
⬅️ Part 3 || Part 5 ➡️
And if you want to get your brain Above The Line and do even better work WAY faster…
Just come talk to me and let me give you some custom help for your exact situation.
You can drop by anytime for a no-strings-attached coffee chat ☕️
You tell me what’s on your mind — what problem you’re facing, that’s got you feeling stressed and stuck.
I’ll help you pull your brain from Below The Line to Above The Line, so you can see the best way to handle your situation.
(And give you advice based on the hundreds of hours I’ve spent coaching high achievers in very similar situations.)
And off you go on your merry way — un-stressed and un-stuck :)
Or you can book a consult call, and we can map out a full coaching engagement.
I can pull your brain from Below The Line to Above The Line once, in an hour.
But I can’t teach you the whole toolkit for doing that consistently and repeatably in an hour.
But I CAN teach you that over the course of a coaching package.
And the sooner you learn this skill, the sooner you’re going to create the life and the career that you want — one that feels as good on the inside as it looks on the outside.
Let’s start today :)
⬅️ Part 3 || Part 5 ➡️
What my clients have to say…
“I’ve gained the ability to notice when I’m in the more negative thought patterns and to recognize that no amount of bullying myself is going to result in the change I want.
I’ve been able to build a more positive, affirming, confidence-building narrative about myself and spend just as much time looking for evidence that I spend time exactly how I should and that I’m already fully capable, rather than just looking at the negative.”
—Client | Early-Stage Tech Startup Director turned Design Consultant
I help high achievers build their careers around flow.
This requires…
Internally, learning how to access your flow no matter what’s going on around you
Externally, designing a career strategy that angles your flow at a high-priority problem that someone will pay you good money to solve
Tactically, navigating the transition from the role you’re in to the role you want
Today’s post focused on #1.
For more writing on all 3 of these, check out my table of contents.
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