By Liz FLetcher Brown
Imagine it is an hour before you take the stage for your most important presentation to date. Or you are at a TV studio for your first big network interview. Perhaps you’re about to make that
very important pitch. The stakes are
high, your heart is beating fast, your
palms are sweating, and your mouth is
like cotton.
Nervous energy gives you an edge,
up to a point. But, in times of heightened anxiety, neurons in the prefrontal
cortex of your brain (your brain’s CEO
and decision center) are inhibited. That
leads to foggy thinking, specifically
when it comes to peak performance.
Your brain’s focus is directed instead
toward the threat, whether real or
imagined.
That’s good if a saber-toothed tiger
is barreling down on you. Not so good
if you are about to give that important
presentation.
With recent advances in neuroscience, we are better able to determine
what triggers us positively and negatively, as well as how to prime our
minds for success. You also can apply
this to your work as a speaker to make
your message “stickier” and increase
your impact and influence with
your clients.
How can priming your mind
increase your clarity, confidence and
creativity?
Kim Serafini, a leading expert on
positive priming from Queensland,
Australia, was working with a large,
publically traded travel company. At the
end of an intensive three-week training,
the new sales agents were so stressed
that they didn’t perform well on the
final test. So, Serafini implemented a
short “positive priming” program that
the prospective agents accessed for a
few minutes, twice a day throughout
their training.
After the three-week training, the
students were less anxious and more
competent. When these new agents
went into the field, sales were up over
previous groups. It was so successful
that the organization decided to extend
the program to other departments.
WHAT IS POSITIVE PRIMING?
Your brain processes massive amounts
of information. To create shortcuts,
unconscious (implicit) associations and
biases are formed, and these can be
influenced. If I showed you the color
yellow, and then asked you to think of
a fruit, there’s a high likelihood it
would be a banana. If you watched a
movie clip of Rocky scaling the “Rocky
PRIME
for PEAK PERFORMANCE
YOUR MIND
