Are you 50% Banana? (Genetically speaking of course)
It was Prof Steve Peters, author of ‘The Chimp Paradox’ who reminded us that we share 99.9% of the genes of a Bonobo chimp. He also said that we share 50% of genes with a banana. That’s interesting I thought. Perhaps we should explore that 0.01% that makes us different to the chimp. It’s all about our sense of self and how we use our brains.
The majority of business owners I speak to are proud to tell me how busy they are, yet they when asked, “Is this as good as it gets”, say No. So what is missing and why are people prepared to stay in the ‘busyness’ and not make changes?
In my experience the business owners that have absolute clarity about what they want to achieve and create a written plan to work to are less busy and more focussed. They have more purpose and track the things that tell them they are on target.
As Michael Neil, in his TED Talk, asks “With all the advances in science and knowledge, why aren’t we more awesome”. In other words, we have access to all the tools, support and knowledge yet we decide not to use them. Perhaps it’s more to do with the fact that we don’t know how to use them or we give up?
You’ve read the books, watched the You Tube video, signed up for the online course and attended the local ‘mastermind group’ yet still you have not done anything about it. Or perhaps you’ve completed the ‘vision exercise’ on your ideal future but nothing is giving you the results you want. Everyone you meet tells you to ‘read this book or that book’ yet still you resist and dismiss it as woo-woo or just plain weird. You want to make changes yet you continue with the same habits and mind-set. You end up discussing it with your friends and before you know it you’re back to old ways and nothing changes.
I know when I first started exploring all ‘this mind-set stuff’ I felt like it was full of hype, too American and just didn’t feel right. I’m fortunate to have had the support of one of the world’s best Coaches who enables me to make best use of that grey matter between my ears. The secret is to find what works for you. As a Coach you’d expect me to use a range of tools and conversations to help you create and define goals that have significance. Yes, significance. That comes before SMART as you need to have goals that you are emotionally attached to. We can add the logic afterwards.
When a business owner engages with me the first thing we do is an ‘Alignment’ session. It’s a process by which we get the heart of why they want to change, agree personal and business goals and start mapping out initial plans for the long term as well as the next 90 days. Nothing new there I hear you say, but what’s important is the time they spend before we meet thinking about what they really want and who they need to become. By the end of the day people leave with real clarity, a simple process and a new set of habits to build the business and the life they really want.
So if you want to make use of that extra 0.01% of your genetic material that makes you human then perhaps it’s time to take a new approach to change. Here’s one thing you can use and the good news is it’s something you already have. In fact you use it all the time and are not even aware of it. In fact, without you’d probably die. For some of you it’s ruining your life and you’re not even aware of it. Don’t you think it’s worth taking a fresh look at what you are doing?
I’m talking about the Reticular Activating System, or RAS for short. The RAS is vital to basic thing such as breathing, sleeping, heart beat, arousal, appetite and the ability to bring certain things to your attention. According to Allan Pease in his latest book ‘The Answer’ the RAS “filters the incoming information and affects what you notice, your level of arousal and decides which information in NOT going to get access to your brain.”
“The RAS sorts through your environment for information patterns that best match your beliefs or the things that are familiar to you”.
It explains why people that focus on negative things can attract more negative things so do you think it might work in your favour if you program it with strong images and positive beliefs. It’s like having GPS and a search engine which will help you find what you need and get you to focus on achieving it. Your job is deciding where you want to go and what you want to achieve. The RAS then kicks in and starts helping you get to where you want to go.
Your job is to program your RAS with what you do want rather than what you don’t want. If you create a clear image in your RAS, then it will start working for you. You can do a simple experiment by choosing a car. Think of a car such as a Volvo XC 60 and focus on that. Then count how many times you see that car. The same is true if you define your personal and business goals.
People are often worried when we start talking to them about personal goals but once they start they realise how powerful it can be. This is because it defines what is important and why they are doing it.
It’s not about motivation and willpower as you might expect. It’s about being clear what you want and sticking to a process that will get you the results.
If you want to explore this further, then come along to my next workshop where I’ll show how to apply this ‘mind-set stuff’ to the real world in a way that feels natural and works”
The testimonials speak for themselves so take a look and register. It’s at my expense so all you have to do is decide you want to learn something new and make changes. Alternatively, we can arrange a growth review session and see how this can be applied to your business.
Remember, the average life lasts 4000 weeks so think about what you want to achieve and what you are telling yourself about what you can achieve. Of course thinking alone will not work. You need to learn, create an action plan and implement it.
I look forward to hearing how you have used your RAS to get what you want.
Best regards,
Richard
