2

Brain Hacks: Two Simple 5-Minute Practices That Will Rapidly Propel Your Entrepreneurial Success

The Hidden Benefit Of #2 Will Surprise You!

 

 

It may surprise you to learn that one of the biggest obstacles to reaching your goals is actually… Your BRAIN!

Our original wiring isn’t designed for success and our mind tells us countless lies to sabotage our progress.

That’s why I’m always on the lookout for hacks to re-wire our reptile brain so that it works for me, not against me.

It’s this search that makes me scour countless lists of traits and skills the most wildly successful people credit as their “secret weapon” to achieving success.

Perhaps one day I’ll write about the many lessons I learned from that practice. But today I want to focus on two things that are repeated on those lists a lot more than others:

• Gratitude (celebrating what is and what has already happened) and…

• Imagining (visualizing the future they want to create.)

Let’s take a quick look at those two skills. (Warning: lots of squirrels – meaning outside links. You can easily get down a rabbit path of reading stuff for hours.)

 

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

Albert Einstein

From conquering the world to building the “world’s happiest place” to building entrepreneurial empires – imagination is the first cornerstone required for such achievements.

Before you dismiss it as something you’re too busy for, let me make a quick case for use of imagination in business…

Highly successful entrepreneurs need imagination to creatively look beyond the present and imagine possible futures for their company.

For business owners, like you and me, we can also partially replace the word imagination with — strategy.

And suddenly it makes sense.

Businesses with better strategies typically outperform those with too much focus on tactics.

But if you check your email – the place where you probably spend too much of your time – it’s littered with tactics and nearly zero info on thinking strategically.

Now, about the gratitude…

 

“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.”

Eckhart Tolle

The idea of an “attitude of gratitude” has certainly gained mass recognition and momentum in the last decade.

Sadly, it’s still not enough.

While women are typically better at focusing on what they are grateful for, men often dismiss it as too “woo-woo” – and miss out on a boatload of intellectual, emotional and physical benefits.

While science still can’t quite explain the why behind the phenomena of “what we focus on expends” and it can definitely prove that it does.

So if you keep groaning and moaning about all the things that suck in your life, you’ll likely end up with more of them.

But if you celebrate your wins and regularly focus on being grateful for all you already have that’s going great for you – you’ll see those things expand and fill your life even more.

One little known benefit that I personally love is the increased “ability to understand the mental states of others” – in plain English, a better ability to “read people”.

That’s a skill that comes handy in selling, hiring, and leading – all things entrepreneurs have to be good at.

And I’m not making it up.

From science and academic research to popular business journals and entrepreneurial publications  – they all agree that gratitude is a key ingredient to achieving greater success.

 

Quick Implementation Ideas…

 

I’ll be the first one to tell you that giving thanks for things that passed and imagining a brighter future won’t make one iota of of a difference without TAKING ACTION.

That said, an easy way to get started is to write down 10 things that were awesome that you’re really grateful for that took place in the past year.

And it will make you feel like you’re on a “cloud nine” when you make a call to let someone know how much you appreciate them. Or send them a nice “gratitude card.”

Then continue the momentum with writing down 10 things you’re most excited about accomplishing in the next 12 months.

If you want to take it up a notch print out both those lists in a large-font format and post it where you can see it daily. TAKE TWO MINUTES TO RE-READ IT – twice a day, each day. (That’s your five minutes a day brain hack.)

Heck, if you want to go all out on this practice, why not share your vision with your team.

And if you’re in a total over-achiever mode, why not take one of those things you want to do and create a full-blown action and implementation plan for it. That will really get things going.

Finally…

 

Kick-Start This Practice Today… Right Now…

 

Comment below and share two things:

• Something you’re grateful for. It will make you feel awesome.
• Something are excited about in the future. It will inspire the rest of us.

I look forward to “reading” your posts..