Convincing Ourselves

A study by Pates et al  (2001) looks at the “The Effects of Hypnosis on the Flow States and Golf-Putting performance” looks at the impact of a hypnotic intervention on flow experience and golf. Although the study is small, It utilizes a relatively simple hypnotic process to instill a trigger that helps these golf players enter a state of flow and improve their golf puts. The study was only conducted on 5 people and was not a double-blind study, however, the results were interesting. All the participants in the study showed improvement in performance as well as entering flow states. Even though the study has its faults, even the indication that a simple hypnotic intervention might help improve golf performance is intriguing. Visualization and relaxation as well as alerting/acclimatizing exercises are common in sports psychology already. However, one can wonder about the possible impact of similar hypnotic interventions in various other settings. A good example...

This is a follow up to my article on goals: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-do-you-really-want-umair-usman/ When starting a business, a workout regiment, or any project for that matter, when starting with a blank sheet. No idea of how to move forward. We try things, we fail, we stumble, we fall and even with advice or a coach, we tend not to be able to attain what we set out to attain. A big reason for not being able to achieve our goals is because we lack a strategic plan. Now whats a strategic plan? A strategic plan is simply a break down of a list of goals over a period of time. All you need to do is to answer three questions to really set out a strategic plan -Where are you? -Where do you wanna go? -How do you get there? Example 1: BUSINESS Say you are starting a coffee trading business, how will you answer these? -Where are you? Define your objectives, mission, assets, strengths, weaknesses etc. All are necessary to understand know to figure out what can...

When one looks at high achievers, it is easy to get impressed. Finance CEOs, Athletes, movie stars, they all seem to lead a life where everything is perfect. One can even look at societies with high incomes and living standards with disproportionate levels of depression and wonder, what's going on. The big difference is that we think we can get happiness out of achievement or any one thing. We tend to think in terms of extremes because the world values achievement more than anything. We tend to tell ourselves “Only if we exercise 1hr a day and eat healthily, I will be happy” “Only if I am making a certain amount, I would be happy ” And so on After a while, we look back and see all the things we missed out on. Our health suffers, our relations suffer and sometimes even the very pursuit of perfection in all areas of life burns us out. The reality is we are not happy by achievement, or health or perfection or even great relationships. We are happy when life is ...

Many people go around life aimlessly. Comparing themselves to others, not knowing what the next day, month or year will bring for them. There is a sense of being unfulfilled or unhappy, often resulting in depression in the most extreme form. For most people, the reason is simple. They simply have no goals No goals for their life, no goals for their health, no goals for their profession. Without a set goal and path, we simply lack a direction and a purpose. This not only results in confusion but also anxiety and depression. One of the reasons ‘life coaching’ is so big now is because a lot of the uncertainty and anxiety that people face in everyday life has to do with not unfulfilled goals, but simply not even knowing what they really want. Having goals differentiates purposeful living from living aimlessly. It is perhaps the easiest and quickest key to overcoming paralysis, procrastination, and unhappiness and moving towards success that is personally gratifying. The quest...

This is part 2 of the Freedom series. Find part 1  here It is interesting how we often make decisions. Not only everyday decisions, such as what to wear or what to eat but even big life decisions. We analyze, study the pros and cons, do a cost-benefit analysis. Some take a long time to make important decisions, others intuitively move forward. During all of these decisions, we often believe that we are in charge of what we decide. After all, we have options, we have choices, what can be more freeing than making your decision? The problem is what we make those choices based on. There can be a number of factors dictating that. Long term plan, upbringing, values, and beliefs. However, in all of the cognitive and behavioral conditioning that might be obvious to us, we often forget the social aspect. I am not talking about social conditioning where we learn beliefs like religion and family values, but the fear of not fitting in. What will they say? What will they think? Th...

Given that its 14th August today (Independence Day of Pakistan), I thought it would be appropriate to make the post about Freedom One of the biggest reasons for depression today is lack of freedom. This can be actual lack of freedom, e.g not having the finances to live on your own, or perceived freedom e.g can't say no to friends. Freedom, the ability to make choices/goals and influence ones own life, is one of the most important needs of humankind. In a traditional hierarchy of needs, I would say it increases in importance throughout the pyramid and supports going up the hierarchy as well. Knowing we can have sex when we want, or eat when we want, provides freedom and enhances capacity to move up the pyramid. Here too, the need for self-actualization is essentially related to self-efficacy i.e the ability to influence one's life. The problem starts when a child feels they cant please their parents no matter how hard they try, or when an employee feels he can't ge...

Stress and Anxiety can put us in the extreme state of ‘fight or flight’ which prepares our body for short bursts of high intensity. However, the body undergoes considerable stress and therefore requires a counter state to balance and heal the body and the mind.   According to the book ‘Relaxation Response’ by the Harvard physician Herbert Benson, we can help our body relax and take it into a ‘rest and digest’ state. This helps the body and the mind manage stress. This essentially is the principal of most forms of meditation as well as prayer. One of the simplest ways to initiate a ‘Relaxation Response’ is simply to focus on one's breath for a prolonged period of time. As the mind wanders, one brings it back. For me, I can categorically feel when my body’s relaxation response is triggered. Regularly triggering a relaxation response can help overcome most of the scars caused by day to day stress and therefore help us become happier and more productive. Umair Usman ...

Exercise is necessary to maintain good health, there are no doubts about that. However many of us find it difficult to stay motivated to exercise long term. However what if there was a way to make exercise more palatable and enhance its benefits even further? Enter Active Alert Hypnosis. A little known and sparsely studied form of hypnosis that is essentially induced with vigorous body movement rather than relaxation. While regular hypnosis helps you ‘ focus and relax ’ , active alert hypnosis helps you ‘ focus and arouse ’ .  It is simple to induce. While exercising, focus on body movements and tell yourself you are becoming ‘ active ’ rather than ‘ relaxed ’ . It will help you go in a sort of ‘ zone ’ while exercising and while in this ‘ zone ’ you can exercise and perform sports activity better. Theoretically, you can also include other hypnotic suggestions as well that have to do with the activity you are doing or anything else So there you have it. Using Ac...

Everyone talks to themselves. Some do it loudly, others do it in the mind. Some consciously and some unconsciously. What we tell ourselves shapes our whole life. Nothing is more important than making sure we tell ourselves the right thing. This is an important aspect of performance psychology as well. When a student is studying for an exam, they might tell themselves that their struggle makes them a loser.  An Athlete may be going through a bad patch. and tell themselves they don't have it anymore. A person sitting bored in an office may mistake his boredom as anxiety as there is nothing to do.  So what to do?  When we are not taking action, we are telling ourselves something wrong. Adjusting our self-talk, therefore, helps us not only feel better but take actual action. The student can look at their struggle as a normal aspect of preparation, the athlete can tell themselves that success is right around the corner, while the office worker may build a...

Anxiety is everywhere and for some people all the time. We get anxious if we have to talk in a social setting, anxious for assignments, anxious sometimes for no reason at all. However, there is a way to use anxiety for our advantage. A wonderful 2014 research study by Alison Wood Brooks from the Harvard Business School revealed something very interesting. Alison asked participants to either say and feel, ‘I am anxious', ‘I am excited’ and nothing at all, before a task. The results were shocking. Those that were asked to say and believe that they are excited we're able to perform better on various tasks, from singing to a math problem. According to Alison, it is easier to go from one arousal state (anxiety) to another (excited) rather than cooling down and therefore this helps individuals perform better. Now this research can be critiqued for many reasons, however, the implications can be impressive. When feeling anxious, all we need to do is to say out loud, and b...

Failure is inevitable. I have seen many wonderful and talented people be surprised by failure. No matter how good of a student you are, or how good of a sportsperson you are, you will face failure. You will have a bad day. That is the nature of life. Those who do not accept it, are ignoring reality. This can have a disastrous effect on people’s stress levels as well as self-worth. High performing individuals equate their self-worth, their purpose, from doing well. The day they fail, and sometimes they go through a prolonged period of failure, they lose self-esteem, confidence and sometimes even the will to continue. But when we realize that failure is as much a part of life as a success, we can carry on working towards our goals. It is easy to see that even the highest performing athletes, businesspeople, etc have gone through failure. It is they who everyone remembers. In any scenario, we can only control our actions, not the outcome. Therefore we can only try our best...

There are few things that are as important to health, as what you eat and drink. It directly affects your weight, mood, blood sugar and so much more. Yet, most people look for quick fixes. They want to lose weight do so by going to extremes diets that are unhealthy and unsustainable. Unless one is being offered millions of dollars for a photoshoot, why would someone use unhealthy methods to lose as much as weight possible as quickly as possible? The reason is that they ‘hate the way they look’. It's not health or fitness but their ‘looks’ that are the motivation.   Being motivated to be fit in order to  look good is fine, but being motivated to ‘not to look bad’ is something entirely different . Its the route to being  unhappy, to take risks with one’s life  and end up on unhealthy quick fixes . We cannot forget that the most important opinion of themselves comes from themselves and not other s . Only when we accept ourselves wholly as we are. Onl...