When you need a mental edge, toughen up your mind. Here’s how to do it:
- Start with a centering breath. Breathe in for six seconds. Hold for two seconds, then breathe out for seven seconds. Controlling your breathing this way is a stress reliever, and it reduces your state of arousal.
- Recite a personalized identity statement to yourself in five seconds. A good identity statement emphasizes one of your positive qualities and pinpoints something you want to become, like “I am confident and passionate. I’m consistently excellent every day as a leader, executive, and mother,” or “I care more about my clients and I will outwork the competition. I am a million-dollar salesman.“
- Visualize your own personal highlight reel for 60 seconds—seeing in your mind three things you’ve done well in the past 24 hours and mentally rehearsing three important things you need to do today.
- Repeat your identity statement to yourself for five seconds (see #2).
- Finish with another centering breath cycle—breathing in for six seconds, holding for two and then exhaling for seven.
Your mind is now ready to focus and perform.
This excerpt from The Two-Minute Secret to Mental Toughness by Jason Selk in INC magazine.