I’ve been developing some trainings for our promotion department at American Guitar Academy using NLP, some ideas based on Quantum Physics research and a some other stuff. I’m posting a small piece of it here cause I think it’s really cool and it’s been a real practical way to handle state management for our promotion team that you can apply to pretty much any situation. We’ve also been using this in the Andy Harrison Band to engrain peak performance physiology. Let me know what you think!
The Confidence Switch
What if you had a switch, just like a light switch, that enabled you to turn on confidence in an instant anytime you wanted it? What if it was as simple, easy and consistent as turning on a light? If you had such a switch, how might it improve your life? When would you choose to use it?
Well guess what? You do have such a switch. You and everyone else were born with it and have carried it around for years probably without even knowing you had it. In fact you may have used it in reverse to turn off confidence at times when you really needed to be confident. So what is this switch?
Modern neurological research has discovered that our emotional states are produced by a combination of 2 main things: how we hold our bodies (our physiology) and the mental representations (or mental pictures) we choose to focus on. The one primary way we change our emotional states instantly is by changing our physiology or how we are holding our bodies. We have a specific physiology or way of holding our body that triggers every emotion that we experience. We have a sad, a mad, a happy, a disappointed, an excited and a confident, etc. physiology. As soon as we hold our body in any given physiology, we instantly feel the corresponding emotion. It works as quickly and effectively as turning on a light switch.
So if it’s so easy and reliable, why do so many people experience ongoing emotions that they don’t want? Great question, isn’t it?
One reason is that shifting your physiology hasn’t been a subject taught in most schools, so it’s not widely known. Another reason is that we have developed patterns in all 3 areas of the triangle; heart, mind and body. We have also misinterpreted these patterns to be who we are, our identities. For example, most people have developed a handful of emotional patterns, thought patterns and corresponding physiologies that all work together, and these patterns are experienced so often that they are mistakenly believed to be who we are.
Remember you are the space in which all emotions, thoughts and bodies exist. You are no patterns. You are the possibility of all patterns. So knowing this, why not choose to experience the feelings that you want to have rather than simply falling back into any old unwanted patterns that you may have unconsciously accumulated?
Try it
1) Walk up to your ES Trainer as if you are truly scared to meet them. Notice how you hold your body to produce these feelings.
2) Now walk up to your ES Trainer as if you are the King or Queen of the World – we’ll call this your peak state. Notice how you hold your body differently to produce these feelings. Pay particularly close attention to your upper body, shoulders and chest.
3) Repeat your peak state walk several times. How are feeling now?
The X Factor Principle
In AGA live coaching sessions, AGA coaches use the X factor principle to help AGA experts understand how physical skills are developed in playing the guitar. The X factor principle states that in order to master any skill, you simply need to do the following:
Repeat the position or motion correctly X number of times until it is memorized by the muscles.
The result of applying the X factor principle has also been called muscle memory or mastering a skill. This is exactly how you learned to do any physical activity in which you no longer need to think (use your mind) in order to do it. Everything from walking to tying your shoes to playing a musical instrument uses the same process; repeat the position or motion correctly X number of times until it is memorized by the muscles.
In AGA live coaching sessions, the AGA coaches use a coaching method called the X factor tool to take experts quickly through their X number of times to master skills on the guitar. This is one of the unique techniques used in the AGA method that speeds up the learning process dramatically. We usually recommend that an expert do 50 X factor repetitions in order to completely master a skill. This usually only takes 5 to 10 minutes of quick repetitions.
You can apply the X factor principle to developing any physical skill. Let’s apply it now to your Peak State physiology.
Flip the Switch
1) Get into what you call normal physiology
2) Snap quickly into your Peak State physiology
3) Now get into your “old” (what used to be normal) physiology
4) Now snap into your Peak State physiology
5) Repeat this switch 10 times
6) In blocks of 10, repeat the switch 4 more times for a total of 50 repetitions.