Optimizing Peak Mental Performance Through Deliberate Rest

The most creative geniuses and the most elite professional athletes have one thing in common. They are intentional in their focus, but also know when to relax their intention. They allow the power of their subconscious to take over. That power is what allows them to come up with new, innovative solutions to the challenges that lie ahead, whether it’s in the boardroom or on the field.

Peak mental performance requires deliberate, restful and yet active breaks. It optimizes your creativity by engaging the subconscious part of your brain. If you commit to making intentional rest as much a priority as conscious effort, you’ll get more done in your day. You will also be able to solve the greatest challenges that you’re facing, without breaking a sweat.

Mental Awareness

When you practice long-term mental awareness, you actually create more time in your day. According to psychological studies*, people who multitask and rush through their activities make more costly mistakes. Fixing those mistakes costs time and energy, and can be depleting in itself. For professional athletes, the mistakes may also lead to injury which takes precious time and energy to heal from. Teams also run the risk of losing when they lack mental awareness. However, if you practice long-term mental awareness, you learn to focus intently on the tasks or challenges at hand. This makes you more efficient than ever before, opening up greater space in your schedule and more clarity in your mind.

Sustainable Creativity

Allow yourself to daydream. Daydreaming is a way for your mind to wander and come up with ideal solution to problems at hand. Even if you choose not to spend your restful break in a daydream, deliberate restful breaks also allow your sub-conscious, creative, uncontrolled mind the freedom to explore different connections that your conscious mind may not have considered. While some people think that “taking a break” means sacrificing work time, new insights are created, even when our conscious minds are at rest. 

Active Rest

By taking deliberate breaks, we give our conscious minds a rest and allow our sub-conscious minds to explore new possibilities we wouldn’t have otherwise considered. When you take a restful break, try to be physically active in some capacity. A restorative exercise, like yoga, martial arts, or even just going for a walk, can sustain your body’s momentum and avoid sluggish rest. Also refrain from surfing the net or using your phone, since such activities still require much of conscious mind.

Schedule It

Be intentional about scheduling frequent breaks throughout your day. Discover which intervals work for you, whether it’s taking a five-minute break every twenty minutes or a half-hour break every two hours. Give yourself the gift of time and space, to do things you enjoy. This way, you will avoid getting burned out on the tasks or challenges ahead, and you’ll be able to let that hidden, creative, subconscious part of your mind roam free.

I hope this article inspires you to start taking intentional breaks! If you’d like to learn more about how to relax your intention, and refocus your energy so that you can achieve an elite level of success in your life, visit my website for more information or reach out to me directly!

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References: American Psychological Association. Multitasking: Switching costs. http://www.apa.org/research/action/multitask.aspx 

On Being Busy

If you ask someone how they’re doing, even a close person friend, their likely response will be “Good,” followed by the word “Busy.”

Being busy is not just the norm for most people, it’s also a badge of honor. We overschedule ourselves in order to feel like we’re on the road to achieving greatness, when in reality we’re hoping for affirmation from everyone else that we’re useful, valuable and appreciated.

My question for is, “Who are we trying to impress?” Are we actually filling our schedule with tasks that lead us to greatness? Do we even know what our highest calling is? Or are we too busy to even begin to reflect on our God-given purpose?

Make no mistake, I am not telling you to give up on being diligent. Diligence and hard work are necessary for us to achieve our greatest purpose in life. But we often mistake that purpose with someone else’s vision and fill up our time needlessly to please others. You must work diligently for your own personal vision, under your terms and conditions. That doesn’t mean you should refrain from being in service to others, but recognize that you cannot sacrifice your highest calling to suit everyone else’s needs.

You must also pair diligence with a time for relaxation and quiet reflection. To keep up your powerful momentum, you must re-fill your well through a contemplative practice like mindfulness and intentional rest. Remain diligent while also affording yourself a time to relax, and you will achieve greatness in every area of your life. 

One way to do this is to be in dialogue with yourself. Take time throughout the day to have a quiet conversation between yourself and God. In my videos, I show you how to engage with your deepest spiritual needs at any given moment. Ask yourself the following questions: Am I doing what my heart tells me to do? What is my energy level like in this moment? What do I need right now, so that I can be the positive reflection I want to see in the world?

If you can learn to be fully present to yourself, you can also learn to be present with others. I promise you, it will increase the positive dynamics of your relationships tenfold. Let go of the anxious, negative energy that comes with being too busy. Exude positive, confident and peaceful energy, and you will attract allies in your journey toward abundance and self-fulfillment.

Do this, and you’ll discover that you don’t need to fill up your schedule in order to experience abundance. It is has been proven that intentional leisure time is necessary if you want to stay creative and motivated. Keep your eyes on a more sustainable, long-term sense of satisfaction, that of accomplishing your life’s work. 

I’d like to end this blog post with a call to action that I believe can change the hearts of others… and yourself! Next time you ask someone how they’re doing, and they answer that they’re busy, gently engage them in a conversation. Ask them how they are besides being busy. If you do this, you’ll discover that that many people are not only eager to share the details of their lives with you, which allows you to connect more intensely with them, but they may also walk away from the conversation with a feeling that maybe… just maybe… there is more to life than “being busy.”

If you’d like to learn more about re-dedicating all of your energies to yourself, in a way that leaves you rejuvenated instead of depleted, please don’t hesitate in contacting me. My greatest hope is for every person, everywhere, to be able to pursue the life that was meant for them. Let me know if you’d like to start that journey today!