Accelerate to High Performance

As Petra reminisced about how she ended up on a coaching path to help women accelerate to high performance , she was reminded of her love for anything fast. From young she loved fast cars, was fascinated by the Concord invention and gravitated to people who were fast thinkers. 

Rising to the top of her career with grace and ease she thought what next? Her effortless ascension and constant inquiry into self was the propulsion to her meteoric rise. Always taking feedback and learning from experience, Petra knew there was something more to her eventual path. She had not clicked in yet but knew she was moving in the right direction.

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She was on her way to a small town in Switzerland. Meandering through the mountains, the train was taking her into dreamland. The Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix surfaced. What a fun time that was. Experiencing a city in Asia where enthusiasts sat in the heat and humidity of the day waiting for the night race. Watching cars go around a circuit with danger looming at every corner. 

She saw, heard and felt the adrenalin rush and understood the excitement. Just hearing the engines roar was an indescribable feeling. With ear muffs on and heart pounding, she was back there again. The power of her unconscious mind now that she knew how it worked – vast memory likened to the hard drive on her computer. 

Petra had captured it all. The roar of engines as they approached and whizzed past in the flash of a second. The drivers must have had to adjust their internal clocks to slow time down inside them. It would otherwise be impossible to maneuver a car at that speed.  

They were probably in their “genius state” a Neuro Linguistic Programming term for a state of mind when operating at optimal performance doing something you love and of course thoroughly enjoying it. 

Time slowed down in slow motion inside and outside when in this state while in reality, the external world was racing by. Today it is referred to as truly being “in the moment” alert to every tiny movement that is occurring around. With sensory acuity heightened, the ability to respond in seconds is activated.

Petra had first experienced her genius state when dancing. As her dance partner spun her around everything slowed down internally and externally. At the time she had no idea what it was until she learnt NLP and realized she was experiencing her first genius state. 

A story came to mind. Petra’s friend was in a car accident. He was also an NLP Practitioner, trained in how the unconscious mind worked. It was amazing that he could relate the entire accident with clarity. He said as the car spun around a few times he felt everything whirl around him in slow motion. It was because he had learnt about genius states that he “allowed himself to let go” while this was happening. 

His car spun to the other side of the road and lucky for him there were no oncoming cars. A driver who was behind him saw everything. He thought that no one could have survived an accident like that. Petra’s friend opened the car door and walked out unscathed. 

Traders and leaders have a genius state too. In fact everyone did. It was a matter of understanding how it was set up and how to then use it. The great thing about genius states was that they accelerated outcomes. Get into a powerful writing state and you’ll find an unending flow of words oozing out of your brain. Feel that adrenalin rush state and be that Formula 1 driver who whizzes past the finish line in victory. 

Athletes call it being “in the zone” and leaders say “words just came out of my mouth” as they do inspiring presentations. Those who had felt their genius states knew about this. Petra was thankful she knew what her genius state looked like, sounded like and felt like. Now she was able to translate this to a different context in her life. 

The train stopped, she had arrived at her destination. She now helped others step on the accelerator in their lives! 

Sylvia Fernandes is the Founder & CEO of VIA Frontiers. She is also the author of soon to be launched book called Bye Bye Black Cat – Turn Your Luck Around to Realise Opportunities. She has been operating in the Asia Pacific Region for the last 12 years and is currently based in Singapore. Go to www.viafrontiers.com or email [email protected] for more information. 

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