One Step At A Time
One of the most exciting days for a psychologist is when a client has that ''Aha'' moment. It is that time when the client has the self-awareness that they have the skills to make a change and are motivated to make it happen. While this is the goal of treatment for everyone, not everyone gets there. Recently, one of my clients did and the lessons he learned through his experience was eye opening to me, and something to be shared as it can really help others.
In order to protect confidentiality I will not go into detail of what the client's Aha experience was. However, it did involve pushing himself mentally in new untested ways. It pushed his comfort zone, and forced himself to mentally rely on himself that tested in ways that I am not sure even thought he could push. In the end he learned several significant lessons. In our follow up session when going through these lessons he noted two important things. First, he had to tackle each challenge one step at a time, and truly be in the moment. Second, he noted the realization that when it came down to meeting the challenges and managing anxiety and confidence challenges, it all came down to how he thinks and interprets the situation.
As a therapist, these are lessons we speak with clients about all the time. Prior blogs have touched on similar concepts. However, it is so much more powerful when you see a client successfully apply these concepts, and learn the importance to apply it to new and future situations. If one can do it, more clients can learn the same lesson.
Let's start with the One Step At A Time. It involves fully assessing the challenges of the situation. Controlling one's emotions and thought process, applying calm, rational, problem solving logic. If the mind starts to wander to the ''What if'' or negative way of thinking, the person needs to know how to shut down these thinking before it triggers anxiety. It means being in the moment, using your five senses, and refocusing your performance to the task at hand. In other words, taking all the mental skills that one can use and slow time down enough to apply them for success.
At the heart of his assessment was how he recognized how he thought about a situation impacted emotions of anxiety. In fact, one can say, that even happiness is subjective to how one thinks of himself and his ability to control the outcome of the situation. When a person is given a belief he / she can control a situation anxiety goes down and confidence goes up. If mentally you create the opposite or are told you can't, a defeatist attitude sets in and bad things happen. In other words, it is okay at times to be a little selfish to care for your mental health. Although it is never a guarantee, how you think impacts your ability to make good decisions, and ultimately increase the likelihood of success, happiness, and confidence.
Although these are themes that I work on everyday with clients, it was awesome seeing it in action with this one specific client. I have many other others, who note many of the same beliefs, and many more who are on the path of getting there. If too want to learn this process, or know someone who needs to, reach out and Peak Mental Performance Coaching is there to help.
