A person’s arousal state is essentially how amped up a person is during performance. Think of arousal this way: on a scale of 1-10, a 1 would be trying to perform while you are half asleep and a 10 would be trying to perform after drinking 35 cups of coffee. You don’t want to be a 1 and you don’t want to be a 10. The pitcher knew he pitched his best when he kept his arousal at a 6. On the scale of 1-10 he knew that if he was a 6 before throwing each pitch he would feel a perfect combination of calm, aggressive and confident all at the same time. He also knew that keeping his IAS at a 6 throughout the game was probably the most important thing to do to ensure success.

The next day the pitcher felt great going through his pregame warm-up; however, he had forgotten to emphasize his ideal arousal state in his mental preparation. In the first few innings of the game his arm felt great, but he struggled throwing strikes and was having to work himself out of difficulty. As he sat in the dugout between innings, it occurred to him that he was not keeping his arousal under control. He realized that his IAS was at an 8 or 9. He promptly took a few centering breaths and thought about his IAS of 6 until he could feel his calm, confident feeling. He then pitched several strong innings, leading his team to a World Series victory.

Each time you make a sales pitch, facilitate a meeting, or participate in a performance review, you are performing. Think about it… for non-athletes, these business performances are every bit as important to success as throwing the game-winning pitch is to the Major League baseball player.

One of the most productive methods of increasing focus and performance success is learning how to control your ideal arousal state (IAS). A critical first step in controlling arousal is to know what your IAS actually is. Your IAS will vary according to the nature of the task at hand. Some tasks will require a higher IAS than others. For example, you may want to be a 7 to exhibit enthusiasm and positive energy when doing large group presentations. An IAS of 5 may allow you to slow down and be more attentive during one-on-one performance reviews. There are many reasons why your IAS may change across tasks.

First, identify what you consider to be your three most important work performances. Now I would like you to identify your ideal arousal state for each of your three most important work tasks. To figure out exactly what your IAS is for each task, think about the past times when you have performed really well at the tasks you listed. Assess on the 1—10 IAS scale what number you were while you performed at the high end of your potential.

Now that you know your IAS for the three most important career performances, learn to get yourself to that IAS state before each and every performance in the future. Here are some tips on doing so:

If you need to increase your IAS, use a specific memory from a time when you were experiencing the desired IAS number. For example, if you perform your best during sales calls at a 6, then remember a time when you made a successful phone call while feeling the IAS of 6. Remembering the specific call will help cause the IAS in the present.

If you are too amped up, try taking a centering breath. Breath in for 6 seconds, hold for 2, and then exhale for 7. Doing so will slow your heart rate and allow you to lower your arousal state.

Make the commitment to put yourself in a position to feel your IAS before every performance. Commit to taking a few seconds before each presentation or meeting or sales call. Your consistency and execution will dramatically increase by doing so.

Then one day, as I was sitting in a sauna sweating by myself in the University of Missouri’s rec center, I did something I had never done before. I did a life projection. I thought to myself, “If I continue living my life the same exact manner I am living right now, how will my life turn out in 5 years?”

What I saw made me very sad. I pictured myself as a slightly overweight, heavy drinking, under-achieving, excuse-making chump of a man.

Still sitting in the sauna I decided to imagine instead how I wanted my life to be in 5 years. What I saw made me smile. I imagined myself as a successful business professional, happily married, healthy and sober. I saw a man of integrity and character who was proud of how his life was turning out.

I liked this vision so much that I began calling it my Vision of Self-Image. I made a point to take 30 seconds per day and watch my Vision of Self image mental video. Eventually I began adding on another 30 seconds to the video that I called “daily integrity”. In the “daily integrity” mental video I would mentally rehearse what I needed to do in the upcoming 24 hours to make sure I was moving myself in the direction of my 5 year Vision of Self-Image. I would literally see myself making good decisions and doing what I needed to do throughout the upcoming day, anything from waking up at the right time, to completing my studies, to controlling my drinking and prioritizing exercise.

Every day I would spend a total of 60 seconds imagining how I wanted my life to be and then what I could do in the next 24 hours to help make my vision become a reality. Slowly but surely I started doing better and better. I liked the changes I was making in my life. So much so that 20 years later I still complete my Vision of Self-Image and “daily integrity” mental videos.

All in all, it takes me 60 seconds per day to complete, which honestly feels like a lot of work some days. However, I realize that without knowing where I want my life to go and then mentally rehearsing each day what it takes to get there, I am likely to end up as a person I don’t want to be.

For whatever reason, I am built in a way that if I don’t put energy into achieving greatness, I turn out to be a chump. If you’re anything like me, you might want to consider putting 60 seconds per day into achieving your own level of greatness. Remember the days you don’t feel like completing your Vision of Self Image and “daily integrity” mental rehearsal are the days you most need to do so…trust me on this, it will be worth the time.

A national sales executive said the following to me yesterday in one of our coaching sessions, “No one is buying… We have been creative and aggressive in terms of finding opportunities. I shouldn’t say no one is buying but for months the stream has been drying up. My team has lost confidence, and quite frankly I am not sure what to tell them anymore.”

Undoubtedly, it is still a very difficult economy out there, and it appears we still have a ways to go. It will become even more essential to have the mental toughness to stay confident and to fight through adversity.

In 2007 I was working with the St Louis Rams, and we started the season by losing our first 8 games. It was the worst losing streak I had experienced in my career, and I found myself driving out to Rams Park with my confidence shot. The mental game plan I had produced for the upcoming week was average at best. I remember thinking to myself, “What if we were 8-0 instead of winless? How would my approach be different?”

It was amazing to me to realize that if we had been on a winning streak just how different my approach to my job would have been. My approach would have been aggressive and full of confidence with an attacking mentality, as opposed to “just don’t screw up.” I decided to approach the day “acting as if” we were undefeated. In doing so my ability to teach and motivate was dramatically improved. Instead of a scared staff member, I was a leader for change.

The Rams went on to win their next 2 games. We still ended the season with a terrible 3-13 season. However, I felt much better about giving my all in tough times.

I told this same “act as if “ story to a Financial Advisor who was just getting started in the business. She said that “acting as if” she were already a million dollar producer helped her find the courage and confidence needed to look her clients in the eye and give much more solid advice. Ultimately, she said “acting as if” helped her to become a much better broker, and she overachieved on her own financial goals her first three years in business.

The Act “AS IF” Process:
1. Identify what success feels like: Whether it is a million dollar producer, an undefeated NFL football team or a division leading sales division, think about what it feels like to be highly successful in your field.
2. Replace lack of confidence with confidence: Anytime you are feeling less than successful, recall what it feels like to be highly successful.
3. “Act As If”: Act for the next 24 hours in a way that represents how a highly successful person would act.
4. Keep acting until it becomes reality: Continue behaving in a way that causes success until success becomes the reality.

Acting “as if” will have a dramatic impact on your approach to success and will significantly improve progress towards greatness. BELIEVE TO BE BELIEVED.

The problem is that if the big frogs are at the bottom of your to-do list, you will have a psychological tendency to find ways to procrastinate so that you won’t have to face them. Saving the big frogs for last means that you will need the greatest courage and energy at the end of the day when you are most tired from spending countless hours completing tasks that may be urgent, but not that important.

By eating the big frogs first, you create energy and momentum through your early accomplishment of something that has true impact. This makes it easier to complete your less important tasks and hence your to-do list in its entirety. In addition, completing important tasks earlier in the day ensures that even if you don’t complete all your daily tasks, you will have already checked off those that create the biggest impact.

To take advantage of the “eat the big from first” concept, take a moment now and create an “early morning goal”. An example of an early morning goal might be to work out everyday before work or to call 2 A+ prospects every day before 9:00am or to spend 15 minutes reading time with your daughter before school.

Accomplishing early morning goals serves as a springboard of momentum for the rest of your day. Choose a goal that is important and somewhat difficult to complete ad lock it into your calendar right now to help prioritize it. In doing, so guarantee yourself a stronger start to your day which will inevitably make it easier to finish strong as well. Try eating those big frogs first, and I think you will find just how good they really taste.

At first glance, the financial advisor’s approach makes sense. However, there is one MAJOR flaw. The “set it high and come close” approach teaches individuals that they do not do what they set their minds to. This becomes a real issue when the pressure is on.

Imagine what happens to the “set it high and come close” individual when roadblocks to success appear (you get sick, the market makes a dramatic turn for the worse, the media releases information about a faulty product line). You will have learned about yourself that you do not do what you set your mind to and when roadblocks appear your success will unravel. Translation; the “set it high and come close” mentality only works when everything is going well. Unfortunately everything doesn’t go well very often.

It is incredibly important for you to learn about yourself that you always do what you set out to do. When it comes to process goals, what it takes on a daily basis to achieve the desired results, I strongly encourage my clients to identify and fully commit to the bare minimum of what is necessary for greatness.

The Financial advisor from above knows he needs to make at least 12 current client contacts per day and 3 prospecting contacts per day if he is going to achieve his production goals. If he consistently does so he will know, even in tough times, that he ALWAYS does what he sets his mind to.

Don’t be that person who consistently doesn’t do the daily activities needed to produce results. If you have a day where you literally can’t finish what you know needs to be done then use a two, three or four day working average to accomplish your goals. For example if the financial advisor receives an emergency call from home after completing only 6 of his contact calls then he needs to do more than 15 calls the next few days to get his working average back up to 100% completion. Do not let this working day average go beyond one week as it begins to be overwhelming to increase discipline for longer periods.

The business person who always achieves the process goals is the equivalent of the go-to athlete who wants the ball at the end of the game. When you always do what you set out to do you learn to be the one who always gets it done…especially when the pressure is on and it matters the most.

Excuses, even viable excuses are the reason so many individuals never achieve at or above potential. Those who are the most successful are those who have learned to develop the “no excuse” mentality.

When a person gives an excuse, they literally reinforce that the future behavior will be the same. It is only when we vehemently refuse to offer an excuse that we open our future to growth and improvement.

At one time or another there is a very good reason, a viable excuse, for all of us to fail. If you give yourself permission to only succeed when the conditions are perfect, you will consistently come up short in life. The next time you find yourself on the losing end of success, find the closest mirror, look yourself in the eye and say, ”I’m sorry. There is no excuse. I will get better”. Say it to yourself. Say it out loud. Say it and mean it.

Learn to develop the “no excuse” attitude and literally watch how your life begins to change for the better. Anxiety, guilt and stress will be replaced with pride, improvement and increased success. People will start to respect you more and you will begin to respect yourself more.

Avoid the trap of excusing sub-par performance even when you have a good excuse. Learn to find a way to work harder or smarter or differently so that you can be the one who always finds a way to get it done.

Be like Bethany…find a way to get it done…no matter what. To see Bethany’s story check out the following link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DF1Clfb3Vc&feature=related)

Chip and Dan Heath stated the following in their best-selling book Switch: “Only 2 percent of high school seniors believe their lead­ership skills are below average. A full 25 percent of peo­ple believe they’re in the top 1 percent in their ability to get along with others. Ninety-four percent of college professors report doing above average work. People think they are at lower risk than their peers for heart attacks, cancer, and even food-related illnesses such as salmonella.”

Many people clearly have an inflated view of them­selves and their capabilities. Many of us simply don’t hold ourselves to a higher expecta­tion. Because of this, much of our work ethic has eroded, and our ability and skill levels have suffered. Accountability is the acknowledgment and assump­tion of responsibility for actions and outcomes. Simply put, doing what needs to be done on a daily basis.

In choosing accountability, there are 2 essentials:

1. IDENTIFY WHAT IS IMPORTANT: You literally cannot be everything to everyone so you must identify what is MOST important. I strongly suggest reading chapter 3 (Set Product and Emphasize Product Goals) in Executive Toughness to find clarity on what is most important to you.
2. TAKE ACTION: You must make decisions and act. Know this in advance; you will make mistakes; however, mistakes of action are completely acceptable. It is the mistake of in-action that we need to learn to overcome. When you do come up short, say the following to yourself and to whomever you have let down: “I’m sorry. There is no excuse. It won’t happen again”.

Accountability is obviously much easier said than done; however, it isn’t complicated. It is knowing and doing what needs to be done everyday. When this happens, you will never again be average. You will separate yourself from the pack and put yourself in a position of continual success and improvement.

To see what can happen when a group of individuals becomes accountable please watch the 4:01 video found at the link…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3HN5y1Dz-U.

Human beings are goal striving organisms. We experience more joy and satisfaction from striving to achieve our goals than we do from actually achieving them. It’s easy to forget this because we live in such a result-oriented society. Like it or not, the key to happiness and success lies in the efforts we place towards achieving the goals we have set for ourselves.

The ever-increasing societal pressure to de-prioritize our personal health and career goals over the holidays actually causes people to feel depressed and anxious after the holidays come to a close. The New Year’s resolution serves as a pacifier when making the choice to not strive for goal achievement in December.

Sun Tsu, the world’s greatest military tactician, stated “The most effective time to attack is when it is least expected.”

Those who are the most mentally tough are those who use December to actually attack their goals and finish the year strong. I advise each of my clients to identify one goal personally and one goal professionally to become OBSESSED with improving in December. Doing so will cause a strong finish to 2011 and also promote an incredibly powerful start to 2012.

Take a moment now and identify what you will become OBSESSED with improving in December. Once you have come up with your personal and professional obsession pull out your calendar and set a reminder for the first thing each December morning to remind you of your choice throughout the month. Instead of starting 2012 from a dead start and trying to use the New Year’s Resolution to get things started, try attacking in December and watch yourself fly out of the gate in January propelling yourself toward your best year on record.

Undeterred, Jack relentlessly focused on the next possible solution. He created “pledge to buy” forms that he had friends, family, and attendees of his speeches sign. Armed with pledges promising sales of more than 20,000 copies, he doggedly met with and was rejected by another 130 publishers. Jack finally stumbled on an upstart addiction-and-recovery publisher that agreed to publish his book.

But once published, the book didn’t sell at the level Jack had hoped. Again Jack was relentless. His solution was the rule of five: do five things every day to move sales of the book in the right direction. He would do five radio inter¬views or send five copies to review editors. Jack called talk shows and spoke with anyone he could think of, from military personnel to gas station attendants. He even sent copies to all the jurors in the O. J. Simpson case in hopes that a camera might catch a snapshot of the book for the world to see. For two years Jack committed himself to completing five sales-driving tactics every day. Finally, the book caught on to such an extent that you’re sure to recognize its title: Chicken Soup for the Soul. Because of Jack’s relentless effort, his book has sold more than eight million copies and has been translated into 39 languages.

For the last 15 years I have had the great pleasure of working with the Jack Canfield’s of the world, literally some of the most mentally tough and most successful individuals to walk the face of the earth. I have found that those who are the most mentally tough share 10 or so common characteristics. My new book, Executive Toughness: The Mental Training Program for Increasing Your Leadership Performance, outlines the 10 mental toughness characteristics and provides the step-by-step process of how to develop them yourself.

I have a deep passion for helping people improve, whether it’s becoming a better spouse or parent, improving personal health, throwing a fastball with more precision, or running a more efficient company, Executive Toughness is the resource for developing mental toughness. Who knows, you may even turn out to be the next Jack Canfield. Enjoy and please let me know if I can help. Executive Toughness is currently available for pre-order and will be in book stores across the country on November 25th, 20011.

“I am one of the leaders on this team. I need to be doing better. It’s not like I have been slacking. Not at all. In fact I feel like I am busting my butt, but the truth is, I need to be doing more. I can do more. When it comes to MP100+20 (this is a unit of measure I use with my athletes to help define what “best effort” is. This requires mentally and physically doing 100% of physical and mental training assignments plus an additional 20% above and beyond). I am at least at 90 to 95 percent, but it hasn’t been enough. For the first time since I can remember, I got a pretty stiff message from the coaches. I didn’t like to hear it, but I won’t argue. I need to respond with more effort.”

Accountability is knowing and doing what needs to be done. No excuses, just execution. These days accountability is at an all time low. When we come up short, we always have a good excuse. Excuses are, in fact, the antithesis to accountability. Notice the hockey player had no excuses. Instead, he displayed achievement of all 4 levels of accountability:

• Accountability Level 1, Personal: For the next 2 weeks, he will wrap 2 bands of tape on his stick, one band with the words “100% Focus and Intensity.” His product goal for the next two weeks is to improve his intensity in practices and games from an 8 to a 10. The second band of tape will display the word “VFlood.” VFlood is the act of visualizing success in the next shift (game) or drill (practice) that he and his coaches desire with intensity and focus.

• Accountability Level 2, Peer: He called a team meeting in which he told his teammates that he needed and intended to do a better job with focus and intensity in practice and games. He didn’t call his teammates out, but rather let them know of his own intentions.

• Accountability Level 3, Coach, Boss, Mentor: He told his coaches he was sorry. There was no excuse, and his lack of intensity would not happen again.

• Accountability Level 4, Public: In an article that made it into the local newspaper, he told a reporter that his team needed more intensity and focus from him, and they could count on the fact that is exactly what he was going to give them. For public accountability, one need not make the newspapers, but rather all affected parties need to be notified of the accountability. For example, inform the entire family, not just your spouse, of intentions if you come up short on a family matter.

Being accountable isn’t easy, but it is necessary for achieving true greatness. Next time you underperform at work or at home, try to achieve all 4 levels of accountability. Take ownership of what you can do to make the situation better, and then refuse to give yourself an excuse for not improving.