Peak Performance Motivation

Written by Dave Gannaway

To elite athletes, peak performance motivation can mean a mere one hundredth of a second. When working in the arena of the Olympic Games or world level competition, most of the athletes are striving to achieve that same edge.

Just as peak performance is about reaching optimum physical condition … motivation replaces pounding the streets and pushing up weights by conditioning the individuals mind to win.

The top-end, elite, performers demand individual, top end coaching. One-on-one peak performance motivation demands a coach who is as fine-tuned in his field as the athlete is in his/hers. The professional coach learns to know and understand more about his athlete that his athlete knows about himself! No stone is left unturned, from knowledge of the optimum diet and knowing his personal habits and idiosyncrasies, to an understanding of his pain threshold and just how far he can be pushed. But most important is his/her goal and their passion to succeed.

In The Flow

For the professional, peak performance motivation is not just about hitting top form on the day … its about maintaining it throughout the season of competitions. Think about tennis pros that play the circuits around the world they have to be at their peak all the time. These folks need to be in the flow. The flow state is where the athlete, or anyone else, lives a life of total immersion and devotion to their passion … nothing else matters. They experience life beyond normal waking consciousness … they become one with what they do… shift to another, overdrive gear. They are operating automatically, harmoniously in an almost effortless state of being.

According to authority Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, (pronounced ‘Chicks send me high’) flow is totally and completely focused motivation … total immersion in a single focus to the exclusion of all else. This is where high achievers have learned to go.

I have worked with an Olympic sprinter who explained to me that even in the noise and razzmatazz of the occasion, that once he was in the flow, he was in a special place unaware of all but the task in hand. The Hungarian Professor calls it – “the ultimate in harnessing of the emotions in the service of performance and learning.” He says that in flow the emotions are not just contained and channeled but energized and aligned with the task at hand … truly the ultimate in peak performance motivation.

For the athlete the result is an all encompassing feeling of joy and knowing that he is ‘in the zone’ … in a special place where all knowledge is flowing to him/her now. The experience could be expressed as erotic or sensual … another, higher, level in which he/she can now express from a higher place.

Many top performers have experienced the flow state in brief moments of total absorption yet fail in all efforts to get it back or repeat it. The tantalizing knowing that ‘the flow state’ exists and offers such promises of increased peak performance motivation, yet eludes them still can generate high states of frustration. Paradoxically, the more effort that is expended in trying to access ‘flow’ the more distant and illusive it can becomes.

The pressing, even desperate, desires to access the flow state can result in damaging habits such as experimentation with substances not compatible or in compliance with the sporting authorities. This can of course lead to substance abuse. Generally this only serves to dull the senses and deprive the athlete of the true flow of his searching.

The more the ‘flow state’ is explored the more it raises the question of ‘just what is it?’ Many feel that it comes from a place beyond the physical body … or that it contains intelligence that surpasses what we consider our own. It is sometimes linked intuition or that inner knowing that create thoughts and ideas that are beyond our personal comprehension. Mysterious answers to unspoken questions or solutions to previously insurmountable problems. We have all had tantalizing peeks at that, we propose to demonstrate how to access that intuitive flow as required.

At True-Motivation.com we have specialized in a greater understanding of these fascinating and valuable topics. We have developed techniques that enable the access of these truly extraordinary abilities and we look forward to sharing this cutting-edge knowledge with our visitors. Sign up for our Blog and Newsletter today!

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