Our brains do not process negatives. If I tell you, "Don't think about pink elephants," immediately you think of pink elephants. If I tell a young baseball player to lay off the high pitches, he will swing at the next high pitch. The brain is now focused on high pitches.
Performance Stress
Have you ever watched a player shooting free throws with the game on the line? There is pressure...and pressure can make your muscles tighten.
Some deal with the stress by creating a routine. You can mindlessly go through your routine and get away from your thoughts. Success depends on being able to calm and focus your conscious mind so that the unconscious can do what it has done successfully many times!
Body/Mind Connection
Many understand that negative thoughts can affect our mood and how we carry our bodies. But how you carry your body can affect your mood? Feeling down? Force yourself to smile! See how it makes you feel...
Feeling a lack of confidence? Notice your body language and posture, the position of your head. Now change it. Hold your head up high, eyes straight ahead, shoulders back, chest out.
Change your state, change your results...
Mental Toughness
This is one of the great sports cliche's. Top performance is achieved when one is able to be completely focused and present. When one is free of thoughts, your muscles are oxygenated and flexible and your body responds by instinct. This is a ready state, ready for success. We should be striving for Mental Readiness!
Test Anxiety
Some people prepare well for an exam, but at the exam, get so nervous that they do poorly. What is at work here?
Our
fears of not doing well or focusing on the consequences of not passing, triggers our fight/flight mechanism. This function is
governed by our primitive part of the brain called the reptilian brain.
Our frontal lobes are responsible for our "working memory" (what we are
currently working on and studying).
By
stressing out, our reptilian brain takes over and greatly reduces the
blood flow to other parts of our brain, especially our frontal lobes. This puts us in a mode of preparing to fight or run and restricts access to the information we have gathered and stored in our frontal lobes. So despite all that studying and learning, our fear state limits our access to all that information.
We have all had the experience of trying to remember something that seems right at the front of our brain, but we just can't seem to remember what it was. The harder we try to remember, the more blocked we feel. Then when we give up and move on to other things, suddenly the piece of information comes to us.
When we relax, the Reptilian part of our brain once again allows normal blood flow to the other parts of our brain allowing you access to the part of the brain storing the information.
So for better test taking:
1. Relax! Because you have studied, the information is in you. Trust your ability.
2. Get good rest the night before the exam. Having a rested brain is more important than trying to cram additional facts in your head the last minute. It won't do you any good if you can't access the information in your brain.
3. Eat some protein before the exam, so you are not dealing with a drop in blood sugar during the exam.
4. Remember to breathe! Not only will it relax you but it will help oxygenate your brain!
5. Drink water...it will help you stay alert and helps good blood flow.
6. Have fun! Testing is a part of the learning process. It helps you to become a master of your area of expertise!
Hypnosis and Visualization are tools to help you access your own inner resources.
Take on new challenges with confidence!
Contact me to learn self-hypnosis!
