CHAPTER 8

The Cusp of Brilliance

Advanced Strategies for Priming Your Brain for Success

I don’t think I can do this!” I said to Jonathan, who was sitting next to me. I was taking off my big, heavy Timberland shoes in preparation for the Tony Robbins fire walk experience. Tony had just completed a session of neuro-linguistic programming to prepare us to walk over smoldering hot coals behind the Palm Beach County Convention Center. During the visualization exercise, I felt unstoppable. But as soon as the lights came on to signal us to exit the building, my adrenaline kicked in and my thoughts became scattered.

I desperately tried to calm my nerves by reminding myself of the thousands of people who had done this before me. Logically I knew it was possible, but my primal brain thought it was crazy! My heart was racing, and my instincts were telling me to hightail it out of there. Despite this, I wanted to prove to myself that I could break through negative patterns that previously would have made me turn and run. It was time to let my subconscious mind know that I was writing the script.

As we began our journey into the pitch-black parking lot on a balmy Florida night, everybody began chanting, “Cool moss, cool moss, cool moss!” This was the anchor we were to repeat when walking across the coals to help us remain focused. We were to picture walking across cool moss instead of hot coals. As we came through the doors, my eyes had to adjust not only to the change in light, but to the chaos as well. We were among 5,000 others in the darkness. We couldn’t see where the strips of hot coals began and the people ended. We just kept blindly following the people in front of us. Many of them were nervously joking: “BBQ feet for dinner anyone!?” I didn’t know how close we were to the coals; all I knew was that my heart was about to jump out of my chest. Out of fear, I went back to chanting in my head, “Cool moss, cool moss, cool moss.” I needed maximum willpower, if only for a moment.

Then, unexpectedly, I was standing right at the front of the line! I’m not ready! I thought. The woman in front of me charged through the coals, and I was next. I walked up to the front and felt the heat of the coals on my face. Was I ready to take the next step?

How to Align Your Biochemistry with Your Soul’s Purpose

So far we have examined how to close your energy gap in a myriad of ways, as well as how to short-circuit your brain’s fight/flight response that is holding you back from doing what you love.

Now it’s time to dive even deeper, to bring your body and mind into alignment with that unstoppable version of yourself. Being out of alignment is like coming to a T-junction in the road: Your soul wants to go right, while your psychology or biochemistry wants to turn left. This can feel excruciating, almost as if you are two people who can’t agree on where to go next. When all three elements align (biochemistry, psychology, and your soul’s purpose), your identity becomes strong and your resolve unstoppable. Suddenly your life makes sense; the many aspects of your body, health, and spirituality are aligned. A sense of relief washes over you as the fight between what your soul wants and whether your primal brain will let you have it ends. You transform into a Catalyst—an Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson, or Tony Robbins—in which every part of you, your body, brain, and soul, is heading in the same direction, and when it isn’t, you know precisely what to do to rectify the situation. This doesn’t mean you won’t ever experience self-doubt or fear. It simply means you’ll know how to not let it cloud the road ahead of you. (See Figure 8.1.)

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Figure 8.1 Aligning Your Biochemistry with Your Soul’s Purpose

To achieve this blissful alignment, this step requires priming the brain for success and getting ready to take the required actions to fulfill your goals, without resorting to self-preservation mode, which will have you retreating back into Defender and Guardian mode. Doing this requires two crucial steps:

1.  Optimizing sleep/rejuvenation

2.  Visualizing/mental rehearsal

Many of us are on the cusp of brilliance and breaking through in ways we’ve never imagined, but we can’t see ourselves crossing the finish line. We step to the front of the line, and our fears get the better of us. Our brain doesn’t have a road map for where we’re about to go, nor is it prepared to overcome the inevitable challenges that pop up along the way. Because of this, we end up sabotaging our success by focusing on tasks that are habitual, not helpful. When you can visualize reaching the goal in your mind first, it’s easy to go there in real life. By initially focusing on your health and nutrition, we’ve fueled your brain for success, so it has the biochemical resources it requires for processing new information fast. Then, by short-circuiting fight/flight, we’ve put it into a state of neuroplasticity and optimal learning. According to the Oxford dictionary, “Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to form and reorganize synaptic connections, especially in response to learning and experience.”

Our brains are constantly evolving through experience; this is neuroplasticity in action. Changes in brain structure and organization occur as we learn, adapt, and evolve. With each repetition of thought, emotion, or action, we forge and reinforce new neural pathways. Neural connections are constantly becoming stronger or weaker depending on what we focus on, when we focus on it, and whether it’s being used. Some of these pathways are being created daily, as we discovered in the previous chapter. For real change to occur, we need to visualize the new path in our minds, now that we have taken steps to calm the internal chaos. For this path to break old connections, we must get our brain into a state of neuroplasticity so change is easy and becomes permanent. If we want our brain to work better, we must progressively overload it so it adapts to change. And, just as we used various wearable devices to short-circuit and calm our fight/flight response, we can use the following strategies to prevent that response from occurring in the future.

Short-circuiting a fight/flight response is different from priming your brain for success. Priming allows us to mentally rehearse future events that require us to be at our absolute best. It prepares the brain for what is to come, to reduce any stress or anxiety related to the future event. Athletes prime their minds for success by mentally visualizing the competition they are about to enter. The more detailed this visualization is, the better and more consistently they perform. A study conducted by Guang Yue, an exercise physiologist at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, had participants imagine flexing their biceps as hard as possible. The training lasted for 12 weeks (15 minutes per day, five days per week). After a few weeks, they showed a 13.5 percent increase in strength.1 This demonstrates compelling evidence that the same neural pathways are activated while visualizing movements just as they are when the movement is being physically performed.

Mental rehearsal achieves five major outcomes:

1.  It reduces mental noise that distracts us from what is important.

2.  It tricks the brain into thinking you’ve already done the activity before; hence, there is nothing to fear and no reason to activate the fight/flight response.

3.  You don’t have to engage willpower to get work done; you enter a state of “flow” and become immersed in your task.

4.  It alleviates fear, reduces stress, and helps you become more confident in yourself and the mission at hand.

5.  You come into alignment and transform yourself into a Catalyst, an individual capable of getting what they want.

This method is by no means new. The problem many face is figuring out how to apply this strategy to everyday situations, particularly when it comes to reaching our goals. The visualization technique I will reveal to you in step two is powerful and effortlessly solves this problem. I have used it for the past ten years to prepare myself to speak in front of audiences of thousands, film videos without a teleprompter, deal with breakups, manage the death of my father, resolve internal conflicts, prepare myself for an intense workout, and write four books. In fact, I wrote 8,000 words in the past four days after priming my brain in the morning for no more than ten minutes per day before starting to write—a new personal best. There was a four-year hiatus between this and my last book because I had trouble writing; I couldn’t even focus for longer than 30 minutes at a time.

During my 90-day mission, I decided to make it even more powerful by getting my brain into a state of neuroplasticity before I did my mental rehearsal for the day. This included enhancing my mental state with nicotine, alternating various nootropics (e.g., L-Theanine and L-Tyrosine), and wearing the TouchPoints to get myself primed to make strong neural connections. By no means are these steps essential to this mental rehearsal process; after all, I’ve successfully used it for years without the added help. However, they do amplify the method and make it even more powerful. I wanted to get myself into an optimal state of neuroplasticity by ensuring I was well-rested, which leads to our first step in priming your brain for success: sleep.

Step One: Sleep for Consolidation, Rest, and Rejuvenation

I was a walking zombie for four years despite getting the recommended eight hours of sleep each night. I would wake up feeling exhausted. Many factors contributed to this, including my digestive issues, nutritional deficiencies, and asthma medication. No matter what I did, I always woke up tired. Insufficient sleep is implicated in various mental health problems, including bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, and depression. Sleep is essential for memory consolidation, repair, and growth. I’m not alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The agency reports that between 50 and 70 million adults in the U.S. alone suffer from a chronic sleep disorder, with one in three adults logging under seven hours of sleep per night.2 Connections between sleep deprivation, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, mental health, and obesity are being researched by the University of Oxford and the Royal Society for Public Health.3

What is profoundly interesting is that insufficient sleep affects the body the same way drinking alcohol does. One study at the University of New South Wales found that after 17 to 19 hours without sleep, a person’s alertness is hindered to the same extent as someone with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.05 percent.4 This is considered legally “impaired” in the U.S. A person’s impairment after a full 24 hours without sleep is equivalent to a BAC of 0.1 percent, significantly higher than the 0.08 percent required for being legally drunk. Lack of sleep causes a number of health issues that can compound over time, impact our mood, and send us straight into Guardian and Defender mode. The need for sleep will continue to increase until your brain forces you to take a nap. Too little sleep upsets our emotions and our ability to make rational decisions. Likewise, excess fatigue can cause stress and irritability and engage “decision fatigue” well before it would normally be triggered. Becoming a Catalyst requires strong emotional management, which is not possible when you are fatigued. It also requires being aware of what is pulling you out of your optimal state.

I wanted to get to the bottom of why I was so tired, so I purchased the Oura ring. This modern-looking finger ring worn day and night tracks body temperature, heart-rate variability, and sleep stages (timing, duration, and quality). It also tracks physical activity, respiration, and breathing variances, as well as inactivity, intensity, timing, and length of physical activity. The Oura ring is the first on the market to have been independently validated (conducted by SRI International).5 The Oura ring takes wearable technology to another level. Instead of just inundating you with copious amounts of data, it provides daily suggestions to help you self-regulate. Every day, you receive a readiness score. This score is calculated by various factors, including how many hours you slept, resting heart rate, activity from the day before, and much more, and recommends whether you should have a highly active day or take it easy. It also adjusts how many steps you should do that day instead of the default target of 10,000. I noticed my readiness score jumped significantly if I got at least eight hours of sleep per night. And, because it was tracking my body temperature, I could also use it to indicate whether I was getting sick. The first week I had it, my temperature one night went from 98.6°F (37°C) down to 97.7°F (36.5°C). I was sick. By keeping track of these statistics, you can take preventive steps before a cold or flu takes hold, like reducing the length or intensity of a workout, getting extra rest, or increasing various supplements. Female users can also detect menstrual cycle stages for better fertility management.

The Oura’s most profound reading was my low levels of deep sleep, as shown in Figure 8.2. By early January, once my energy was returning and I was well into my recovery, my deep sleep jumped significantly, even while the duration of my sleep dropped. I was feeling much more mentally alert and my moods were improving. This coincided with a few interesting observations. My deep sleep increased as my nightly body temperature decreased and my respiration rate significantly improved (the number of breaths I take per night). When winter in Florida hit, I increased the temperature in my bedroom by one degree. Florida doesn’t really have much of a winter at all. After observing that my deep sleep began to decline, I could link it to the temperature change and fix it. You’ll learn more about this shortly. As you can see by comparing the diagrams, as my temperature dropped, my deep sleep increased. (See Figures 8.2 and 8.3.)

Remember that many factors play a role in feeling rested and rejuvenated. Over the years, too much emphasis has been placed on how much total sleep we need, when the quality of sleep, as well as understanding our natural circadian rhythm, plays an even more important role. We each have a unique circadian rhythm. It is an approximately 24-hour rhythm that ticks away in the background of our daily life, setting the pace for our minds and bodies. This internal clock drives when we’re active and when we need to rest, eat, and sleep. Any disruptions to our life, such as jet lag, can throw our circadian rhythm out of sync. By following our natural patterns as much as possible, we feel more rested and experience greater mental clarity. Not following our circadian rhythm can trigger various health issues. Unfortunately, this natural rhythm is being disrupted by our modern environment. Due to artificial light, we no longer follow the sunup and sundown cycle like our predecessors. This can affect the quality and stages of sleep. A normal sleep cycle includes the following stages:

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Figure 8.2 My Oura Ring Correlation for Deep Sleep Pattern

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Figure 8.3 My Oura Ring Correlation for Body Temperature

1.  Light Sleep: This is the phase in which your muscles loosen and relax, and your heart and breathing rates slow. This accounts for about 50 percent of total sleep time for most adults.

2.  Deep Sleep: This is the most restorative stage and makes up between 0 to 35 percent of total sleep time.6 It enables muscle growth and repair as human growth hormone is released, which is necessary for the stress triggered by exercise and weight training. Any interruption can suddenly stop its release.7 Some research also indicates that deep sleep may be important in clearing the brain for new learning the next day. This is the most refreshing stage of sleep; if you are awoken from it, you may experience “sleep drunkenness,” which is a particularly dangerous time to drive or perform other complex tasks.

3.  REM Sleep: REM (rapid eye movement) is critical for reenergizing your mind and body. It is associated with dreaming, learning, creativity, and memory consolidation—all vital in preparing your brain to be mentally primed for the goals you would like to achieve.

4.  Awake Time: This is the time spent lying awake after you have gone to bed. If you experience large amounts of awake time, it may indicate that you have trouble falling or staying asleep and you may feel sleepy during the day.

We all know how hard it is to focus during the day when our sleep is disturbed; hence, proper sleep habits are a crucial step in preparing for success. If disruptions to your sleep continue for too long, they may lead to exhaustion and eventual burnout, because your brain isn’t consolidating the events of the day and your body isn’t repairing your muscles. You’re in a constant state of disrepair, putting stress on your body and brain. A 2016 meta-analysis of 11 scientific studies found evidence that sleep deprivation seems to cause a person to eat an average of 385 extra calories the next day.8 Falling out of normal sleep range even a little bit can cause one’s immune system to work against a healthy body.9

If you’re considering the use of sleeping pills to manage your sleep, consider the following warning. A 2012 study showed that regularly taking prescription sleep aids increases mortality at a rate five times greater as non-users over a 2.5-year period.10 Sleeping pills are not a long-term solution and come with potential side effects, including feeling groggy the next morning. A doctor should work with you to help you stop taking these medications.

So what are the alternatives to help improve the quality of your sleep and recharge your battery so that you’re ready for the day ahead?

Top Seven Tips for Increasing Deep Sleep to Prime Your Brain for Success

The following list provides suggestions for getting a good night’s sleep without the use of drugs:

1.  Block junk light. Avoid using your electronic devices before bed, as they emit blue light that inhibits the production of the melatonin hormone, which regulates your sleep/wake cycle. This reduction makes it more difficult to fall asleep. Every time you look at the blue light from a screen, you’re sending a signal to your brain that the sun is up. Most new phones now come with a built in “blue light filter.” Have this set to automatically come on around the same time the sun sets. Second, be sure to get plenty of natural light during the day. Rodents exposed to sun produced far more melatonin at night than ones confined to an artificially lit environment.11 Blue-blocker glasses with specially tinted lenses are also available to mitigate the effects of other light sources.

2.  Block social media. You knew this one was coming! Social media’s addictive nature can pull us into a news feed and not let us out for hours. What’s more, many of us stare closely at that screen before we nod off. Have you ever dropped your phone on your face when looking at it in bed? Yeah, thought so! It’s not just chipped teeth you should be worried about. Your social media use may also be causing you stress before bed. Allow at least one to two hours before sleep for your mind to wind down. Social media app blockers are available for both Android and iOS. I have mine set to block at certain times of the day. After a week, you’ll realize how many times a day you check your phone, and how much better you feel once the pattern is interrupted. Social media can lead to decision fatigue as well. Reduce it and feel your mindset clear.

3.  Reduce stimulants. Many people consume caffeinated drinks like coffee, sodas, or tea late in the day, leading to disrupted sleeping patterns. Caffeine has a long half-life, meaning your body will still be processing it hours later. Some of us metabolize caffeine slower, which could result in side effects much later in the day. If caffeine has left you jittery, dilute its effects with a dose of L-Theanine, as described in Chapter 6. L-Theanine partially counteracts caffeine-induced sleep disturbances. Also speak to your doctor to see if any medications you are on could be disrupting your sleep or having a stimulant effect, such as asthma medication. This could be corrected by taking the medication in the morning instead of later in the day. A doctor will advise you as to your specific needs.

4.  Stick to a routine. Prioritize your sleep. It is life giving and crucial to optimal cognitive functions that allow you to focus for lengthy periods of time. There isn’t any specific time that you should go to bed; that is up to you and your unique circadian rhythm. If you’ve ever wondered why you get tired or hungry at the same time each day, that’s your circadian rhythm at work. It’s best that we follow these internal clocks and do what is right for us. Just because the habits of the ultra-successful include getting up at 5 A.M. doesn’t mean you should, too. In fact, that could completely disrupt your natural rhythm and throw your life into disarray.

5.  Drop the temperature and increase your deep sleep. According to Alex Fergus, research has found the “optimal room temperature for sleep is a cool 15.5°C to 20°C (60°F to 68°F).” My initial increase in deep sleep correlated with getting stranded at the peak of winter in Canada. It began to decrease again after I returned home to Florida, which doesn’t experience much of a winter at all.

6.  Supplement with melatonin (sparingly). Melatonin, an increasingly popular sleep-inducing supplement, comes with a warning. Taken by millions of Americans every year, it is only recommended for short-term use (a few months or less). Melatonin may also increase blood sugar, so anyone with diabetes or pre-diabetes should avoid its use. Too much can cause bad dreams and severe grogginess the next day. It should only be taken sparingly, as more research needs to be done.12 I use it rarely, such as when I’m trying to recover from jet lag and resetting my circadian rhythm to a different time zone. For this reason, I would suggest not going with the cheapest brand.

7.  Address vitamin deficiencies. As we’ve discovered, fixing nutritional deficiencies is the key to unlocking our mental capacity and improving our sleep. Three key vitamins include vitamins A, B6, and D. Vitamin D3 deficiencies are also associated with sleep disorders. B6 deficiency has been linked to sleep disturbances, and Vitamin A is a vital contributor to setting and maintaining our circadian rhythm.13

Without quality sleep, remembering key facts, staying focused, and regulating your emotions becomes nearly impossible. Sleep plays a profound role in neuroplasticity and ensuring our brain can perform at its absolute best.

A study published in 2016 by the University of Freiburg found that the build-up of connectivity in our brains that occurs during the day is reset during sleep. They also discovered that missing one night of sleep is enough to stop this natural reset from happening, thereby hindering the brains ability to solidify memories from the day that was.14 Quality sleep is vital for our brain’s ability to remember and learn so we can adapt to the changing world around us.

While you may experience some benefits from doing mental rehearsal and meditation daily even when you are sleep deprived, you may find that you struggle to attain the level of focus required for long-term memory storage. This work requires nightly consolidation. You should take steps today to correct your lack of sleep and make use of wearable technology such as the Oura ring to track any changes so you can quickly correct problems when they arise. After all, sleep might be the most essential restorative bodily function required for neuroplasticity, and it prepares us for the next step in our journey, priming your brain for success and making new connections to an unstoppable you.

Step Two: Find Calm in Chaos

Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is the systematic study of human performance. It is grounded in the belief that an experience can be modified, improved upon, and even removed to help clear the mental blockages that hold us back. It provides a structural framework to help us manage our emotions as well as lay the foundation for future success. NLP originated in the 1970s in Santa Cruz, California, with Richard Bandler and John Grinder.

I was lucky enough to come across NLP in my early 20s and have used it for close to 15 years on an almost daily basis. NLP has been made massively popular over the years by Tony Robbins highlighting its benefits at countless events worldwide. Through years of self-experimentation, I have refined and combined specific NLP techniques that allow me to mentally rehearse future events and prime my brain for the task ahead in only 10 to 20 minutes per day.

If we are to take more purposeful steps forward in achieving our goals, our identity must come into alignment with who we need to become. Mental rehearsal is by far one of the most important steps you must take. If you can’t see it in your mind, you won’t see it in the world.

To achieve this, we need to take advantage of all the key aspects NLP provides to create real change. That includes becoming fully immersed in the daily mental rehearsals by making use of submodalities. Submodalities comprise our sensory representational systems; in other words, we see past and future events through these senses and the intensity associated with them. The way we use these submodalities dictates whether we see a situation as positive, neutral, or negative. They include all five senses:

1.  Visual submodalities (what you see): Shape, color, focus, brightness/darkness, contrast, distance, speed, size, etc.

2.  Auditory submodalities (what you hear): Volume, pitch, distance, movement, harmony, rhythm, tempo, phrasing, progression, etc.

3.  Kinesthetic submodalities (what you feel): Temperature, weight, sharp/dull, wet/dry, pressure, texture, intensity, duration, etc.

4.  Olfactory submodalities (what you smell): Sweet, fresh, perfumed, faint, mild/strong, putrid, etc.

5.  Gustatory submodalities (what you taste): Savory, salty, sweet, bitter, hot, tart, etc.15

By manipulating a past or future event through adjusting its submodalities, we can lift the burden the event is causing for us and create new neural pathways and positive expectations for a happier outcome. This can lead to a positive behavior change while improving performance and reducing stress.

I asked Australian illusionist Sam Powers how he mentally prepares for the dangerous stunts he performs at 400 shows per year. He said, “When I am doing something new, I’ll lock the dressing room door and in pure silence, I’ll take about ten minutes to visualize specifically everything that is about to unfold right before I walk out onstage. That way when I do walk out, it’s literally just happened minutes before, and all I am doing is repeating it in real life.” He uses priming as a regular ritual to get himself in a proper state so he can give the audience everything he has, instead of worrying about what may or may not happen. Imagine how much easier your day will flow with this tool up your sleeve.

Exercise: Neutralize Negative Past Events

Let’s examine how quickly you can change the way you feel about a past event or even a person. Think of a mildly upsetting event from the past. Rate it on a scale from 0 to 10 based on how much discomfort it causes you when you stop and think about it for a moment. Allow those feelings to expand. See it in front of you in your mind. What do you see, hear, feel, taste, and touch? How intense is it? Take a moment to experience it. Once it becomes uncomfortable, it’s time to play a game with the submodalities to change the way you feel about it.

1.  Change the picture to black and white and make it dull.

2.  Shrink it down until it’s the size of your thumb.

3.  Hear your favorite song being played in the background.

4.  Turn up the volume on this sound until you can feel the vibration from its bass (better yet, hit play on your favorite song while thinking about this event).

5.  Make the image blurry while the song continues to play in the background.

6.  Smell your favorite aftershave or perfume in the air.

7.  Imagine sinking your teeth into your favorite food.

8.  Replace this tiny, blurry, black-and-white image with a picture of an event that occurred later that had you bursting out in laughter.

9.  What expression do you have on your face now? How do you feel when you think about this funny event? What can you hear? Immerse yourself in the experience.

When you think of that upsetting event now, on a scale of 0 to 10, how would you rate it for discomfort? Repeat this process multiple times.

What many people find after doing this exercise is they can barely remember the event or what they were upset about. If you still rate it as highly upsetting, try playing with even more types of submodalities to manipulate the image. I have always found that shrinking that image down to its tiniest size and replacing it with a happy image from after the event was over was by far the most effective way to relieve myself from all negative feelings associated with it. This simple yet powerful technique allows you to dissociate with all the factors that caused the event to be committed to long-term memory while associating it with more positive feelings. You thereby interrupt the pattern and how you respond to it—just like Trish did with her thalassophobia.

Step Three: Popping the Cork on Stress and Dropping into the Moment

Now that you understand how to neutralize an event by manipulating it, let’s look at how we can relieve stress about future upcoming events and prime our brains to reach our goals. This time, we’re not just taking in all the submodalities; we’re also traveling through time. When we associate with our memories, they may be unpleasant or pleasant, which results in us responding to them as if the event just occurred. Our neurological responses to associated memories can be as strong as to the original events themselves. It is believed the brain can’t distinguish between present, remembered, or imagined events. Because of this, mental rehearsal becomes a powerful tool for anyone who wants to become unstoppable.

By doing a mental dry run of an event in your mind multiple times before it occurs, we can alleviate any associated fear and prepare ourselves for what is to come. But one difficulty is that people often can’t see life continuing on normally after the event in question has taken place.

Picture a couple who are about to get married. All their thoughts and energy are focused on that one date. They can’t see past it. Pressure builds up between now and the wedding day to the point it becomes almost unbearable. It’s almost as if life stops on this day, regardless of whether it’s meant to be the best day of your life. The event has been “overamplified” and taken out of context with your life as a whole. This single-focused mindset allows no room for error. If something small goes wrong, people react as if it’s a life-or-death situation.

But by simulating the event in your mind and going beyond it to see what you’ll be doing in the days, weeks, months, or years that follow, you release the pressure. You’ve shown your brain that life goes on and gets better after the event has taken place. And, importantly, that it isn’t a life-or-death situation. Better yet, you “drop into the moment” and become profoundly present, allowing you to enjoy yourself and the journey leading up to it.

I have had profound experiences using this technique. Many times I’ve spoken to an audience of thousands and walked off without any idea what just happened. I was so deeply in the moment that I just enjoyed myself. My thoughts flowed naturally, and I was free from being self-conscious, which was liberating. My brain had been there and done it before, which meant there was nothing for me to fear. It was all going to unfold perfectly because I had seen myself walking offstage after the event smiling to a round of applause. Think what could have happened if I had seen myself getting up onstage and fumbling to find my words. I would have negatively associated myself with an event that had never happened before, engaged my fight/flight response, and set myself up for potential failure and unnecessary stress.

Mental simulation can be used in the following scenarios:

image  Priming your brain for the day ahead to help increase your productivity; this is part of your 90-day plan to an unstoppable you

image  Progressively overloading your brain to adapt to future events that may stretch your comfort zone (e.g., taking a new job, ending a relationship, buying property, or starting your own business)

image  Improving athletic performance, as I did in conjunction with Halo Sport to prepare myself for an intense workout

image  Any other event you have coming up you want to be primed and ready for so you’re on your best game

Let’s walk you through the process now. But before I do, to ensure you have the best and most optimized experience, you may wish to do the following, although they are not essential:

image  Have a green tea or coffee and some L-Theanine 30 to 60 minutes prior to help you get into the zone and increase the likelihood of unstoppable focus.

image  If you have them, put on TouchPoints 30 minutes prior to get yourself into a state of neuroplasticity.

image  Meditate for ten minutes to prepare your mind to focus on the task at hand, especially the first time you do this exercise.

image  Read through the process multiple times before you try it. After time, it will be second nature and you can do it at a moment’s notice when you need it.

If you would like a copy of the audio recording in which I take you through it step by step, visit www.areyouunstoppable.com to download a recorded version of this process you can add to your daily playlist. Check out the sidebar for a Quickfire Visualization technique you can start today.

Repeat this exercise daily after revising your goals for the day ahead. It is vital that you visualize yourself overcoming any challenges you may face along the way so your brain is prepared to deal with them calmly. You may find that your day flows more smoothly and you get more done in less time. Instead of spending all your time stressing over what might be, you instead focus on what can be. In this state, your mind is calm and rational, and you can handle problems easily. By snapping your fingers, or by making another gesture, you’re anchoring that mental state with a physical gesture. This comes in handy when you’re in the midst of doing the activity you’ve rehearsed. Simply snap your fingers, and you’ll access those same emotions.

QUICKFIRE VISUALIZATION

(approximately five to ten minutes daily)

STEP 1: Get Quiet

Find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed for at least ten minutes, close your eyes, and take several deep and calming breaths.

STEP 2: Visualize the Upcoming Event

In your mind’s eye, picture an upcoming event or goal on a TV in front of you that may be causing you stress or making you feel overwhelmed. Perhaps there’s an event coming up where you need to perform at your best. It could be a major project or simply the activities you have scheduled for the day ahead that you want to complete on time.

STEP 3: What Do You See, Feel, Hear?

Think about it to the point that you start to feel some discomfort. What do you see, hear, feel, smell, and taste?

STEP 4: Manipulate the Image

Now, shrink that image down and place it on a screen, about the size of an iPhone, a few meters in front of you. Turn the image to black and white and take it out of focus.

STEP 5: Dissociate

Imagine floating out of your body and standing behind yourself. You’re watching yourself watch yourself on the TV in the distance.

STEP 6: Rewind the Movie

Rewind the movie until just before this event, when you were laughing and having fun and everything was perfect. Really see it and feel it.

STEP 7: Fast-Forward the Movie

Then fast-forward through the event, seeing what you’re seeing, hearing what you’re hearing, and feeling what you’re feeling. Picture yourself doing what you need to do and everything going smoothly, not just around this event, but a day, week, month, and year into the future after the event is over.

Pause this image and turn it into color. Turn up the colors, sounds, and feelings of success to 10 out of 10. Take it from 2D to 3D. What do you see, hear, feel, taste, and touch? When you hit level 10, snap your fingers to anchor these feelings to a gesture.

STEP 8: Rewind the Movie

Now rapidly rewind this event, going as fast as you can, seeing what you’re seeing, hearing what you’re hearing, and feeling what you’re feeling, until you’re back at the start just before the event happened and you’re laughing and happy again. Turn up the volume on these feelings and snap your fingers when you hit level 10 in intensity.

STEP 9: Step Into the TV

Step into the TV and actively visualize yourself doing what you want to do, everything unfolding exactly as you want it to. See yourself overcoming any challenges that may come your way with ease and grace until, once again, you’re back at an image of success with a smile on your face. Amplify the volume on these feelings until you hit level 10, then snap your fingers.

STEP 10: Rewind/Fast-Forward

Rewind the event, fast-forward it, rewind it and fast-forward. Do it faster and faster each time. Repeat this at least 10 times and snap your fingers every time you reach either end of the timeline.

That’s it! You’re now ready to go about your day.

I have used this exercise for every book I have written. On the days I forget to do it, I write 50 percent less. My brain isn’t prepared for the focus I need to get it done. This exercise will become your cornerstone for productivity and help you unlock your mental capacity in less than ten minutes per day.

Back to the Fire Walk …

I made a fist to draw power into my body and mind. Then, with my head up, I began walking. Seconds in, I broke my state of concentration! Just as I was about to panic out of fear of getting burned, I snapped back into saying, “Cool moss, cool moss, cool moss,” the auditory anchor Tony had successfully programmed into me. At the end of the fire walk, someone hosed my feet off with water to ensure I didn’t have any hot coals stuck to them. One foot felt particularly hot, and I thought I had burned myself, but thankfully I hadn’t. It took me a while to process what had just happened.

By using a powerful anchoring technique and mental rehearsal, we had put our minds into a state in which we could do something few of us thought possible. The fire walk demonstrated just how powerful simulating an event in our minds can be. By setting real intentions of making change and simulating that experience repeatedly in the safety of our minds, we can go beyond ourselves and close our identity gap between what we used to think was possible and what actually is possible.

What if you’re not clear on your goals or you haven’t been able to hear your soul’s purpose yet? How would you use this exercise? It’s simple: See yourself coming to the realization that you know what you’re going to focus on. You don’t actually have to know what that is just yet; you just have to see yourself realizing it’s finally possible. As you’re about to discover, many of us have buried our purpose out of fear and put our bodies into self-preservation mode. Well, it’s time to turn off self-preservation mode, uncover your deeper purpose, and give yourself an even stronger reason to achieve your goals.