The Science of Self-Improvement: Evidence-Based Strategies for Success

Aiming for that C-level position? Want to beat your best time? Want to pass that exam? The materials may differ, but the methods remain the same; success is a process.

Let’s clarify evidence-based

When I talk about evidence-based I talk of lived experience meets R&D.

Evidence-based strategies stand as the cornerstone of any optimisation strategy. They are the amalgamation of reputable, scientific research and personal success stories.. “barry666 from North London” on Twitter is not a reputable source (neither our half of the world’s major publications ) For me, the WHO carries a little more gravitas!

Secondly, ?it has to have worked in my life, or been a successful strategy for the client’s coaching. What works for one person won’t for the other. So if I talk it, I’ve walked it.

We need to make room for implementing the new evidence:

Epictetus says “It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows”.

Prepare to find out you are wrong and be happy about it!

A weird way to become a mental fitness coach

My journey into a professional role in the “health and wellness industry” and later as an Executive coach was not a typical one. I started as a biochemist (the science geek) and then developed a career in IT (computer geek) and then realised I needed something a little extra (geek gap). ?Later some people said “Can you help us with all that”

In February 2020 I was the CIO of a travel company and we just approved a 3000-person day cloud migration project. ?I had team members in India, Melbourne, Singapore, and the UK. The plan and budget were set, then the pandemic kicked in, and then everything went sideways.

It tested leadership and resilience, leading to a discovery of the power of emotional support and servant leadership.

Consider life, then the project, then the plan

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” ?Socrates

Hint: even the best orchestras tune their instruments every time they play together. Same people, different day, different sound. ?I leveled up my performance when I got my morning routines right.

If we want the best out of whatever we are doing, then we need to be at our best to do it. No use burning out in week nine of a three-month deliverable.

Plans have to fit in with life. My daughter is in high school and uses the https://au.elevateeducation.com/?techniques to create balanced study timetables. It’s project management for homework.

We identify her “why” (her social and sporting timetable). Then we work out what she needs to do to do (homework) if she wants Daddy to drop her off.

Defining success - vision, dream, the granular target

Willpower and self-regulation? Change the trigger, avoid dopamine hijack

I was doing an eight-week fitness program to level up my spartan training. I was doing 17 sessions a week (on top of building a new business, pitching to venture capitalists, studying, helping with the homework…)

Every Thursday, I could not get past buying two delicious craft beers. I would drink the two beers and of course, it was then easier to eat a bit more crap.

This did not align at all with my elite performance mindset behavior.

I had a training session that finished at 6 PM and I ran home past the bottleshop; ?tired, hungry, and thirsty and it was the end of the week…. My willpower felt like my quadriceps on leg day. It was never going to win.

The science is all about dopamine and it's integral to how we think, plan, and respond to the world around us. In particular our reward and pleasure mechanism. It began hijacking me the moment I left the gym and ran towards the bottleshop, giving me a little teaser of how good those beers would be… ?

I changed the environment and removed the trigger, by running home by a different street and I never looked through the door of “The Black Sheep” bar.

The reward? I still head down for a glorious point most Fridays. Got to live.

The vision and goal formula: Agile Meets Health and Wellness

It’s a basic blueprint and it works whether we are helping clients meet their wellness objectives or managers articulating a dream to the team and showing them how to get it done.

Just as agile methodologies prioritize adaptable planning and iterative progress in software development, they can also guide personal and professional growth. Setting clear visions, defining success, and committing to small, consistent actions create a pathway to achieving even the most ambitious goals.

Affirmations, self-talk, prayer, and mantras

I had a horrific, painful interaction with someone who is an important part of my life. It came as a horrible shock. I was broken for months. Losing sleep, constantly triggered, the negative thoughts banging around my head, losing more sleep, desperately unhappy, ruminating, no resolution.

I found a solution.

Every time the thought process started I repeated my mantra 10 times. I might need to do it again 10 minutes later. Then it stretched to every hour

I journaled and on day 11 my notes said “It’s okay it’s in the past, so I can’t change it, it happened, I choose to look forward to the time when it fixes.”

When I became a “Quality Mind Mentor” it was called “thought shopping”. Name a problem, find the trigger, break down progress into small increments, then apply positive thoughts to rewire our reaction to the trigger and it becomes a positive.

Success, failure, lessons to improve from

Stoicism, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, and Japanese psychology converge on the idea that growth comes from facing challenges head-on, learning from each step, and maintaining focus on the present.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb has one of my favorites '...avoidance?of small mistakes makes the large ones more?severe.' He later goes on to talk about making mistakes small enough.

Japanese psychology tells us that sadness and anger are when we think of the past, and anxiety and fear are when we think of the future. In both cases, we can change neither. The only time we can get anything done is right now.

My quotation? “The work I’m doing today is a step towards my vision of tomorrow”.

Mental Health America Health Coaches Australia and New Zealand Association Wellness Coaching Australia Australian Healthcare Week LinkedIn News Australia Bridges Health Partners in the News Mental Health Training Corporate Leaders Groups

#evidencebasedcoaching #successhabits #mentalfitnesscoach #personaldevelopment #lifelonglearning #stoicism #socrates #nassimnicholastaleb #japanesepsychology