Written by: Michael Doyle, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Great leaders are genuine, passionate, and seem to uplift those around them. As an entrepreneur and leader of your business, when you are clear, focused, and you fully believe in your message, you will naturally attract the right people to support your vision. What this means then is that to achieve peak performance, instead of competing, you must decide to focus on creating. My best advice is to be yourself and lead by example. When you are authentic, you build respect and trust. It all comes down to relationships because people choose to follow and support leaders who care.
Peak performance may look different for many people, but a common thread weaves through them all. They all are in alignment with themselves and know who they are. They are not avoiding doing the inner work. They have a growth mindset with a thirst for learning and expanding. In this chapter, I will discuss and highlight some key mindsets that fully support entrepreneurs, business leaders, and individuals in general.
Anytime we make a big change in our lives, it is sparked by a moment of clarity. This spark is powerful and supports that change because it is at an energetic level and, therefore, creates a shift in consciousness. I invite you to set an intention to receive from this article what is meant to spark your next shift.
“We must intentionally fuel our mind, body, and spirit daily to achieve peak performance.”
1. It starts with you
There are a lot of books and articles written on the importance of getting your mind right. I agree this is a key area of focus. We must develop our self-awareness and emotional intelligence regarding our self-talk, beliefs, and our default narrative. Most of what we do daily is habitual, so assessing our beliefs and putting the effort in to retrain our neuropathways where needed is key.
Many people, when they think of peak performance, think of athletes or someone’s fitness or wellness levels. Indeed, our health and overall vitality does play a key role in the amount of clarity, performance, drive, focus, and overall fulfillment we experience in life. Healthy nutrition and movement support and improve our neuroplasticity and cognitive function. Hence, taking care of our body supports our mind and overall performance. To me, it is common sense that our health is our wealth. If we don’t make time for our health, eventually we will be making time for our sickness.
When I think of effective leaders, I focus on their level of spiritual connection with themselves and their surroundings. Understanding that our physical body is a small portion of our actual existence will help us consciously co-create with the quantum field. Our energy field (aura) moves far beyond our physical vessel, energy chakras, and meridians. When we utilize modalities such as breath work and transcendental meditation, and practice heart coherence, we are now energy creating matter, rather than matter trying to change matter. There is a lot of science that supports the power of meditation, and many successful leaders embrace some type of mindfulness ritual or practice. We rarely have creative ideas or think of solutions to problems when we are busy. It is in stillness that we are connected to our creator and the ether which holds all the wisdom we will ever need to access.
We must intentionally fuel our mind, body, and spirit daily to achieve peak performance. The truth is, all these things are key and must be in balance if we are to align and flow at peak levels. When I was an MC at a leadership event during a world fitness expo, I clearly saw a common theme. What I realized was that every speaker at the event said the same thing, perhaps in different ways. Basically, they all said that leading themselves first was key to being a successful leader. The cool thing is that this is not only applicable for leaders who guide teams or for an individual within a team, but it applies to everyone living their daily lives. Learning to put ourselves first in an empowering way is a game changer along the path to self-mastery.
I hope your main takeaway from this section is—it all starts with you. No matter where you go, you will be taking yourself with you.
2. You work for your team
Entrepreneurs, business owners, and leaders require support and a team of people who can carry out the actions required to achieve their goals and vision. As a leadership expert, best-selling author, and intuitive coach, I do not have employees, but I do have a team I work with. There are people in my circle that support, motivate, and help elevate me on a regular basis. Having a team to work for you is key; however, you also must fully work for the team. You must ensure you also consistently support, motivate, and elevate them. This often gets missed by many leaders, business owners, and entrepreneurs.
So, what are some ways we can ensure we are working for our team? As mentioned in the previous section, ensuring we are growing ourselves and developing our meta-cognition and emotional intelligence is a great place to start. This will ensure we are at a place where we can effectively work for our team from a solid foundation. We must ensure we are clear on the overall vision and direction of our business. Because we are working for our team, we must be willing to openly communicate and take time to understand their strengths, working styles, individual needs, and expectations. Try to be creative while fostering the personal development of your team. Take time to understand what motivates them while developing incentives that will fuel their personal drivers. Ensure your team knows that you have their back.
3. Why personal growth?
Why should a company invest in the personal growth of their employees? Recent studies show that worldwide, only 15 percent of employees are engaged at work. This means 85 percent of employees are not inspired or motivated in their job. A lack of motivation will always decrease productivity levels. When we factor in staff turnover, hiring, and training costs, it is costing companies billions of dollars a year globally. The good news is, there is a better way.
The people in your organization are the foundation that determines the overall quality of your products or service delivery, and ultimately the success or failure of your business. Forward-thinking companies understand this and provide personal growth, support, and training for their employees.
Empowering your employees produces better results and ensures they meet their goals and your goals throughout the year. Promoting employee opportunities for growth within your organization will keep your current employees motivated and productive. There are three key areas that must be addressed in having a great leadership team that has synergy and flow within the organization. Your team must feel and experience the following:
A sense of belonging and fitting in. They not only get the vision of the company but fully understand where they fit into this vision.
They must know and feel they are appreciated and not just a number in the “corporate wheel.” Employees will over-deliver when they feel valued for their efforts.
Their natural talents and skills must be utilized most of the time they’re at work.
4. Building on strengths in leadership
To increase productivity and optimize your business you must leverage the strengths of your team. I believe many if not all successful businesses are a natural byproduct of having effective teams and great leadership. There are many systems and tools for optimizing your business and your team members. The entrepreneurial operating system (EOS) model analyzes organizational systems, structures, strategies, frameworks, and more. One of my favorites for identifying individual strengths is Marcus Buckingham’s StandOut assessment. This assessment helps identify and leverage the strengths within an organization. Both systems also help identify and address gaps currently in a business.
Understanding the life cycle of your business and ensuring you have experts in all those areas is key to having a skilled and diverse team that can optimize your business over time at various stages and levels.
You can be competent at something you don’t love doing, but you will never be great at a role or task that doesn’t light you up inside. Passion, desire, and flow are key to employees feeling motivated and fulfilled in their day-to-day tasks. I admit it may be hard to have staff spend all their time on the “feel-good” tasks. However, you should ensure that 50 to 70 percent of their time is spent on harnessing their natural skills and strengths. They are much more likely to perform at higher levels and stay longer with your organization when their talents are being utilized.
5. Harnessing flow state
As a flow consultant I love helping individuals and, more importantly, teams experience flow state. Flow state is an inner state of being where every cell in your body and every level of awareness is fully in the present moment. I am fascinated with the power it holds. It can give you the ability to remain calm in the eye of the storm. Countless studies have shown that flow state can increase your productivity levels up to 500 percent. Imagine experiencing a level of focus where you will more consistently take aligned action. You are no longer in reaction mode, and you are even deeper than merely being proactive because you are in flow. Individual flow state will change the quality of your life and the people you engage and work with. Now, imagine what collective flow would do for your organization or business. Learning how to guide your team into flow is a game changer for the trajectory of your organization.
Musicians, athletes, writers, authors, and many others relate to this state. It’s when you are very focused on whatever it is you are doing or creating. Flow state is at the foundation of all alchemy and creating from this place will always serve the greater good. Water is our life source and is at its highest vibration when it is flowing. Our physical body is largely made up of water, therefore, when we are experiencing flow, we too are at our highest vibration. We are literally tapping into the universal life source that flows through all creation.
However, as an expert in human potential and peak performance, I do want to mention that we must balance our time and ensure we are moving beyond our comfort zone as well. I love flow state, but I know we are comfortable in the flow state and, therefore, not growing.
Conclusion
Leading yourself first is key to having the energy, clarity, and mindset to be a successful Leader. Always work for your team, and they will effectively work with you. Support not only your team’s professional development but always champion their personal growth. Ensure you are utilizing the natural talents of your organization and the strengths within your teams. If you do this well, you are creating a culture and climate that will naturally foster a collective flow within your day-to-day operations. Great teams are more effective at taking a client-centric approach and can deliver the best product or service. You and your business will literally become unstoppable.
Michael Doyle, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Michael is a peak performance and leadership expert, a best-selling author, a gifted speaker, an intuitive coach, and a professional musician. He has an innate ability to unlock the potential in others. His process is powerful, having transformed his own life from being exhausted, overweight and stuck, to where he is now thriving. Taking a common-sense approach, he effectively motivates, influences, and guides companies and their teams to work in a “collective flow.”
