Assassin’s Creed…and why I’ve discovered you don’t need the Animus VR machine to find your genetic code

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I watched Asssasin’s Creed today and apart from the stunning performances by Michael Fassbender and Jeremy Irons there was also something very evident from what I saw.

The film uses futuristic technology to take present day Michael Fassbender’s character Callum back to his 15th century descendent Aguilar, who is the leader of the Assassins who are the defenders of Free Will. This free will genetic coding comes from the Apple and the moment of the first disobedient behaviour by Adam and Eve, and is now viciously sought after by the Templars (rulers of religion and money and now science) who seek to control mankind.

Despite an intricately woven storyline which I loved, there are huge parallels in this idea of our genetics going back hundreds of years which I am cracking with the genetic tools I am using with my coaching today. I can see so much relevance to looking back to our ancestry to be able to unravel the shackles that hold us back to fully embrace our very own performance potential.

I’ll give you an example. When we can truly understand our genetic coding which we can by looking to our parents and theirs (see Eckhart Tolle for more on ego, over thinking & becoming present), we are then able to accept EVERYTHING we do in life is conditioning – i.e. Our behaviours are not our own, we actually have no free choice a lot of the time as we are acting out habits built by childhood reactions to situations, this is known as conditioning.

The beauty of coaching allows us to become aware of the limitations of our ancestry; but more so important allows us in the moment of choice (in our response lies our growth & our freedom, Viktor Frankl holocaust survivor), to see when we are reacting and then “recode” the new behaviour we want to model.

In the story the Templars wanted to control and manipulate this “free will”, however, there is a lot more sophisticated way of dealing with disobedient or unworkable behaviour and this is what I trade in.. Showing someone their genetic code/conditioning and then allowing them to choose or rewrite their future. The next bit requires extreme discipline as you build a new code and remodel behaviour, breaking old habits is hard as the left brain wants you to remain safe and hates change.

This is a slow process of back re-engineering (see Neurogym by John Assaraf, New York Times bestseller), whereby you create a new future with new behaviours and visualise, affirm daily but making sure your left brain is aligned. This is something I have struggled with for the last few years as my beliefs were so cemented in that I wasn’t the one.

There’s so much science, social psychology, business studies here that I could share with you right now, but rather than that I’d like to leave you with a few tools that will allow you to access your genetic coding. Re-coding is a whole different ball game, and if you’re not willing to play then no point me talking. So I’ll let you decide…

1/ Recognise we are the sum of our history

2/ The brain will always keep you safe and away from change

3/ If your left brain (analysis) is not congruent with your right brain (creation memory) then change and forward goals will not be achieved

4/ Create optimal environments for your right brain to flourish (these are just a few egs):

-Be positively proactive with your language, create daily small actions that forward your goal – MEASURE – AND REPEAT WHAT WORKS

-Do things that make you feel good – exercise, hydrate, listen to music, paint, play (or whatever makes YOU feel good). The key to remember is what works for one doesn’t work for another

-Believe and you will see

-Most of all be true to your real genetic coding (you will know when it feels right) and never blame your environment, you are responsible and the master of your future

-Allow yourself to feel, when you feel and connect with yourself and others you will truly understand (that’s just the way the brain works- it’s electro chemical in nature which is where all our feelings are sourced)

We are only just beginning to understand the brain and its potential. But one huge discovery is the brain mirrors what it experiences from other people. With this in mind (lol) we truly can begin to see the huge imprint not only our forefathers have had on us; but that which we are making today on each other.

So be very careful what you say and do to everyone you meet as you are not only impacting yourself but the future of the world…

And this my friends is why I coach because I have the power to make the world a better place.

So go be a superhero today x

“As long as we haven’t run out of problems, we won’t run out of work.”

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This quote is courtesy of Nick Hanauer a venture capitalist and who was recently the focus of an article from Tim O’Reilly a Linkedin blogger.  This area fascinates me as a sole trader working for myself, because no longer are we limited to “a job for life” with one desk in a large faceless corporation.  The world of work has been changing over the last ten years, and is not only changing the way we work and live, but “jobs” are becoming a past memory of an industrial era that needed human beings to do tasks now done by computers.  “Value” will now become the currency and this will be bartered over many platforms with numerous value receivers.

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I’m sure like me you have seen many articles on how we are transitioning from a post-industrial age into a “worker age”.  We have pretty much replaced the need for most traditional jobs, and because of the flexibility of the internet and technology such as webinars, conferencing and job sharing the limitations that were once a job for life are no longer there. At first glance this may be a scary concept to many people who have always had the security of a job and a desk for life, and still seemingly many who expect that to stay the same.  This will be impossible to maintain with an increasing need to take care of our environment, find alternative fuel sources, and new ways to support a top heavy older generation with a smaller younger generation.  You also just have to look at the increasing requirement for companies to be a lean financial machine and extremely adaptive in the way they function, because the reality is a volatile world where markets can change over night.

So what does this mean… Well as Tim O’Reilly posts out it will be about fine tuning the mechanisms that connect the people and organisations to the work that really needs doing, and we can already see this with the on-demand revolution with the likes of Uber, Task rabbit and the many crowd sourcing sites that are springing up seemingly overnight.  I believe at the moment we have only touched the surface of what this era of technology and demand actually means to us as a culture and in the way we live.  I can foresee companies not only lift sharing and people sharing, but also building and infrastructure sharing.  You may have to change weekly where you sit and indeed work, but as the mechanisms catch up and increasingly companies need to justify each action, it will be more critical than ever that we as people understand what “unique” value we bring to an increasingly open source market, and be prepared to be savvy in representing ourselves to a multitude of bosses who will be our salary payers.

In fact, you could say the market itself will be paying us based on the real instant value we can bring, and for those of us adept in these skills already, they are well placed to leverage from this new emerging marketplace.

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How Superhero’s Access their Latent Energy

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Now recently as a Superhero’s coach and single parent (AND fiercely independent), the temptation on school holidays to get distracted and even a bit low in energy with all the extra things going on is a constant. However, what I’ve learnt over the last few years allows me to continue working and not beating myself up if I have to reset a task, or move a few things around that I had planned, and here’s what I know..

It’s easy to say “just do it” or “avoid the obstacles” but sometimes the craters are coming at you thick and fast and as a Superhero you accept that this is to be consistently in action, just hoping you make it to the next level, and if you do that’s great and if you don’t you get back up again. And, a lot of us get stuck on replay, and even rewind because it’s easy to do the same thing rather than have to risk doing something new and look bad. But even then, telling someone what you think they should be doing is not even going to make any difference. Firstly you don’t know actually what’s going on, but they have to see for themself and make the change.. SO what is it that has someone see their hidden powers. As I said there is an emerging formula I am now using as a go to and it’s something like this:

1/ Have a strong context for your life that empowers you

2/ Acknowledge, Accept and Appreciate

3/ Build effective daily habits

4/ Challenge yourself constantly to feel alive

I’m finding that when I feel like my Superhero powers are dwindling a little it is because one of the four above are missing. Plus if it’s feeling uncomfortable you’re definitely doing it right and it’s when it starts to feel a little routine that that is when you need to go back to “GO” and do not collect £200.

To be honest, each of the 4 elements above is a days work in the Superhero’s Bootcamp; and for all of us each one needs revisiting on a regular basis.. Like really! if we all were really practicing acceptance and appreciation the world would look a HUGELY different place; and if we constantly challenged ourselves then hell yeh those spandex pants and costumes would be regular occurrences for us all.

#FeelProudToday

Watch this space for complimentary places to my Introduction to Superhero’s Bootcamp..

6 Discoveries for Lifelong Brain POTENTIAL

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More from Dr Sandra Chapman of “Make Your Brain Smarter,” for you all.. It is as essential to monitor our brain health as it is our physical health.  Yet the physical fitness industry is booming and very few are aware that the brain should regularly be given a workout also.  This is because it was always seen that the demise of the brain was out of our control and now Neuroscience discoveries reveal the opposite is actually true.  Not only do we have here and now the potential to increase brain power, but there are 6 important discoveries that show the crucial importance to slowing and even eradicating mental decline by maintaining brain health..

1/The Brain continues to make new cells everyday we live

2/The Brain can form complex connections throughout life

3/The Connections between neurones can be strengthened against weakness

4/There is No time limit to brain repair as previously thought and this can be greatly improved if higher level demands are put on the frontal lobe skills

5/Restorative Brain training practices share benefits across injuries, diseases and age related decline

6/Advances in Brain imaging technology allow us to view changes in the activation of the brain regions which are acquiring new knowledge.  There is more activation in areas where there is new learning and as the brain works harder in that area it requires more glucose.  However, as it masters the skill it needs less activation.  All of this information provides us now with a cognitive index of brain functionality which will allow us to benchmark brain health and any weaknesses, which we can then take steps to regain that functionality.

How are you training your brain everyday?..

Have we Flatlined?.. Here’s how to self-defibrillate!

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“People are on a Highway to Fear & Dirtroad to Happiness”, Tony Robbins..

Did you know that America represents 5% of the population and consumes 80% of the worlds cocaine.  Why this doesn’t surprise me is because I coach people regularly who are not happy enough that it’s too worrying or sad enough to do anything about it.  And this is because most of us are running round with stress levels sky rocketing as we are not taking time to figure out what really matters to us and then consistently doing that.  Now saying that comes as no surprise to you all, and that’s the more worrying thing, because we have the information and STILL choose to add distractions of food/stimulants or a better job, car, relationships thinking that will work.  WRONG..  You won’t escape your way to joy.  So if even the rich successful people cannot master the game how can anyone master this.

Self-Defibrillation:

1/Feed, Strengthen, Focus your Mind – if you say till you believe it you will thrive in any environment

2/Strengthen your Body – all about the physiology of the intensity of breaking through, running those extra few minutes, or stairs

3/Role models – we all need to see examples of what works

4/Plan & Massive Action – it will never be perfect and the key is passion & consistency

5/Deciding on Beautiful State – this is the key really as Robbins has seen from his life’s work that it is a human tendency to always compare or make wrong and when we trade our expectations for appreciation and the focus is no longer on our self this is the highway to happiness.  And not only that when you are happy you WILL attract success.

So why wait, try these out, what are some actions you could take to fulfil on this?

Energy = Profit.. Simples!

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I attended a seminar yesterday by english Neuroscientist Prof Paul Brown who is a Consultant Neuroscientist and Change Management specialist.  Prof Brown has an excellent way of communicating and linking the value of understanding our “control centre” (the brain) to how it plays out in the organisational realm.

He states that for the latter part of the 20th century the hugely varying psychological models have not benefited our understanding of who we are and where the latent potential is for our huge diversity in organisations and teams. Up till now companies have adopted rigid structures and controls to box employees into their set expectations, which considering the ground breaking findings of the last ten to fifteen years is almost alien to the way the brain actually flourishes.  As Prof Brown says, we are all made up of energy (electro-chemical) and to gain the best from our systems (collections of people, technology) we should be enabling and allowing the energy to flow.

The business arena traditionally has organisations structured in a mechanical fashion rather than an organic structure, yet our thoughts and actions are dictated by a wholly organic system.   Plus this system is not actually controlled by the thoughts we have, it is the 8 emotions behind these thoughts that all humans possess and indeed inform all of our actions.  These emotions are either under the category “escape avoidance” or “attachment” and our experiences are then coloured by one of these 8, like painting by numbers and literally choosing how we would like to think about our thoughts based on our “feelings” about each experience.

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Where this can add huge value to business, is when Prof Brown rightly questions why large companies hire expensive talented experts and then restrict them to processes that kill their passion; and then all the adaptive capacity they have paid a premium for is gone.  For you as a business owner/manager this could be applied to everyone you work with/for and taking the time to understand where their skills lie and where their “profitable energy” can be focused.  Other important neuroscientific applications could be focusing team strengths, complimenting diversities, aligning team and individuals values and ensuring the company is aligning with its employees.  Also introducing neuroplasticity exercises (using a talented coach) whereby you can look at stuck neuropathways, and reforming new behaviours.  And lastly making sure leaders have integrity in what they do and this inspires the people who work with them.

What have you learnt that you could implement today?..