Blog | Page 4 of 7 | Mastery to Success

Basis For Long Term Change

by Olivier Becherel | Aug 30, 2016 | Decision-making, Performance Management |

One thing is for sure in life is CHANGE.

It is inevitable and constant. Everything around us is always changing, and we are also always changing, that is true for the atoms and molecules that constitute our body, but also of our thoughts…

Sometimes we welcome change, at other time we fight against it.

However, often we consciously decide to change something in our life… It could be a habit, like going to exercise at the gym, stop smoking, starting a new hobby, a new behavior, etc.

In most cases, it lasts for about a week or two, and then the person comes back into its routine and pattern…

So if you’ve decided to change something this year, and didn’t manage to achieve what you wanted, or didn’t sustain the change, here is what you need to know to ensure effective and for long-term change.

Decide

Commit no matter what shows up…

Act NOW!

Focus on what you really want

Create a supportive environment by surrounding yourself with people that will raise the level of your game

Be curious about knowledge

If you follow these steps, you’ll be in a much better position for long-term change

One last thing is the change you want to make needs to be aligned with your values (the things that are most important and most meaningful to you). Otherwise, it will never happen and you’ll keep beating yourself up about it.

If you don’t know your values and would like some help to determine them, feel free to contact us. Once you know your values, you will gain clarity about your life, and why you do what you do and you will appreciate your whole life from a different perspective guarantee!

Dr Olivier J. Becherel

Co-founder of Mastery to Success - The Human Potential Academy

Dr Olivier J. Becherel is a Human Potential Activator who integrates Neuroscience & Human Potential to optimise performance and wellbeing. His mission is to help senior executives in the Health & Life Sciences industry realise their goals, stay cool under pressure, and break free from the invisible traps that can slow down and/or stall their performance, career and success.

To learn more, visit MasteryToSuccess.com.au

Below The Surface Is What Makes The Difference

by Olivier Becherel | Aug 23, 2016 | Performance Management |

There is an in born desire in human nature to strive toward excellence and mastery. Regardless of our field of endeavour, we rarely wake up in the morning and say “Today I just want to be less and smaller than yesterday…” No, we constantly push ourselves to grow above and beyond who we currently are. We are drawn to evolve, as Nature all around us does…

Therefore, we look for role models, hero, and gurus – people that inspires us and that we aspire to become.

We look for successful people we can learn from in order to mimmick their actions and behaviours…

However, a person is like an iceberg, no matter how well you think know and understand their life on the outside – the visible part, you can never truly grasp the hidden forces that shape their success and destiny… Because it all happens “under the surface”.

While habits and behaviours are certainly linked to outcomes, simply repeating those of “successful people” won’t necessarily work… for YOU!

And the reason is because habits and behaviours are not at the origin… They are merely by-products of deeper hidden individual unconscious desires and motives…

To really understand how successful people work, you need to dive under the surface, and probe deeper the depth of who they are to reveal their Core Drivers and Core Values. Those are the two key elements that dictate and shape their daily decisions, actions and behaviours.

The key to success does not lies outside of you, but rather within you…

Success only becomes possible once you have accessed your own and unique Core Drivers and Core Values…

While most people you meet will tell they want to be successful, very often they haven’t spend much time reflecting on what success really means to them. They often think of social ideals…

But success is something that is very personal and unique, because it relies on the meaning we put on it… and meaning is something that is like your fingerprint – no two people put exactly the same identical meaning on something – even more so on success.

So, if you never fully contemplated what success means to you, now may be a good time to pause for a moment and ask yourself that tough question (that you’ve been brushing away…)

What does success really means to me?
How does it look like?
How does it feel like?

Whatever answer comes out is the “right” answer for you. In actuality, there is no right or wrong answer, simply an answer that means a lot to you!

Once, you precisely defined the kind of success you’re looking for, the next step is to gain more clarity on what makes you do what you on a daily basis?

By observing what your life demonstrate, you’ll get closer to your answer, because your core values dictate how you use your most precious resources of time, space, energy, money and relationships.

So, be curious, look at what your life demonstrate, observe what you do daily and notice the things that spark joy in your heart, because the answer to your success lies in here, not in someone else’s life…

In Nutshell:

Your success lies within you, not outside of you, and the more you get clear on who you are and what drives all your decisions, actions and behaviours, the closer you get to your true success.

Be curious, study your behaviours and how you use your most precious resources.

Your actions speak so loudly that you don’t need to hear what you’re saying…

Dr Olivier J. Becherel

Co-founder of Mastery to Success - The Human Potential Academy

Dr Olivier J. Becherel is a Human Potential Activator who integrates Neuroscience & Human Potential to optimise performance and wellbeing. His mission is to help senior executives in the Health & Life Sciences industry realise their goals, stay cool under pressure, and break free from the invisible traps that can slow down and/or stall their performance, career and success.

To learn more, visit MasteryToSuccess.com.au

Follow Your Own Rhythm

by Olivier Becherel | Aug 16, 2016 | Decision-making, Performance Management |

Today’s insight comes from a personal lesson, something that could have had much more serious consequences that it did. The take home message is about the importance of listening to your own body and following your own rhythm.

Last Friday, while at the gym, I went to do a new class, a high intensity cardio, which I usually don’t do. I’ve been going to the gym for many years, but never been really into high intensity class. Anyhow, so last Friday I started the class, and as the class progressed, I could feel the heat inside, and the sweat was pouring down my face. At one point during the class, I took a little break and observed the rest of the participants that were still going strong.

Taking a break was a message form my body to tell to take a moment to recover, because it was unusual and high intensity… However as I saw the other participants, I thought in my mind that “I have to continue, I have to keep up with them, I can’t stop now”…

I’m sure you can guess what happened next…. I felt dizzy, fainted and hit the ground like a stone. Fortunately I didn’t sustain any major injuries, I didn’t hurt myself and I’m OK. However this little adventure to the ER reminded me of three important lessons I thought to share with you:

While in my mind I was concerned to “not lose face” in front of the others participants, knowing that I have been going to the gym regularly and I knew most of them, well… it didn’t ended up the way I thought… Passing out is pretty much similar to “losing face”…

So. let’s have a look at my three lessons.

Lesson #1: Your body gives you signs and symptoms to make you pay attention that something needs to change either in your mind, in your perception or in your actions. And trust me, from my own experience, you better pay attention to what your body is telling you than ignore it… I had signs from my body to tell me to stop, but I chose to ignore them… Consequences could have been much worse…

Lesson #2: You’re not in competition with anyone and your number one job in life is to make sure you respect, nurture and take care of your own body. It’s your only vehicle and it’s here for the long run… If you have a mission to achieve on this planet, like I do, well… it would be wise to make sure you take a good care of your vehicle…

Lesson #3: “Envy is ignorance and imitation is suicide” – Ralph Waldo Emerson. Being envious of others or trying to be like others is ignorance, and wanting to imitate them is suicide. You can’t be like anyone else, because you’re unique, and therefore comparing yourself to someone else is false logic. However, in the heat of the moment, we often do… It’s our natural tendency to compare ourselves with others and that is generally the source self-doubt, negative emotions, and sometimes can lead you to put yourself in danger… As I was trying to imitate others and keep up with the pace, it could have been my own suicide…

Envy is Ignorance and Imitation is Suicide

Here are three questions for your to ponder and reflect:

Are you following your own rhythm, or are you trying to fit into someone else’s rhythm? and at what price?
What signs are you ignoring right now?
How can you better take care of yourself right here, right now?

In Nutshell:

Pay attention to the life’s signals your body’s signals. Listen to them, don’t ignore them because they exist for a reason – your own good! – and be mindful in your actions.
Remember that envy is ignorance – ignorance of who you really are, a unique individual.
Imitation is suicide – trying to follow someone’s rhythm is unnatural. While you may follow it for a while and often with great difficulty, in the long run, you won’t… and you’ll revert to your own rhythm. Follow your own rhythm by discovering your most Authentic Strategies for success.

Dr Olivier J. Becherel

Co-founder of Mastery to Success - The Human Potential Academy

Dr Olivier J. Becherel is a Human Potential Activator who integrates Neuroscience & Human Potential to optimise performance and wellbeing. His mission is to help senior executives in the Health & Life Sciences industry realise their goals, stay cool under pressure, and break free from the invisible traps that can slow down and/or stall their performance, career and success.

To learn more, visit MasteryToSuccess.com.au

How can I better take care of myself and others

by Olivier Becherel | Aug 9, 2016 | Decision-making, Overcoming challenges, Staying cool under pressure |

In our fast paced technological society, people are finding more and more difficult to set some time aside to take care of themselves – physically, but more importantly mentally and emotionally. While many go to the gym to maintain their fitness and sculpt their bodies, they rarely dedicate time to maintain their ’emotional fitness’, also known as emotional intelligence.

Taking care of and developing your emotional intelligence is critical these days. As people reach more or less the same level of education and technical skills, success becomes less and less dependent on the those “hard” skills, but more and more on the intangible “soft” skills such a emotional intelligence.

Given that most people are time poor when it comes to taking care of themselves, allow me to share with you 3 simple ways you can use today to start taking better care of yourself emotionally, and in turn take better care of others…

1. Taking care of yourself may only take 1 minute, because in one minute, you can change your attitude and change your entire day. Everyday, take one minute for yourself.

Stop, look, listen and ask yourself:

Is there a better way for me to take care of Me right now?
Is there a better way to handle the situation and learn from it?
How does this situation serve me?

2. How you look at life is the single best way to take care of yourself. You have a perspective that either beats you up or builds you up. And you can choose your attitude. One thing you could do when you get rushed, feel overwhelmed, and lose your perspective is to ask yourself:

10 years from now, how much difference is this going to make?

3. Don’t be fooled by a bad mood, or by a good mood. The brain tend to focus on “either or”. It’s either “all good” or “all bad”. But in reality, it’s not all or nothing and not permanent. Like a magnet which harbours simultaneously a positive and negative pole, there are two sides to everything in life. While people often see only side in the heat of the moment, it’s important to ask yourself quality questions to balance your perception.

When you’re on a low, pause for a moment and ask yourself:

What’s the upside ?
How is what is happening right now serving me?

When you’re on a high, pause and ask yourself:

What’s the downside?
How is what is happening right now a disservice to me?

Remain aware of your mood, and balance your perception to make better quality decisions. Remember that foolish decisions are often made while riding the high and procrastinating on the important things often happens when you’re in a low.

The greatest reason for outer success – at work and in life – is inner success.

In Nutshell: So, everyday make sure that you take at least one minute to put yourself first and take a good care of yourself emotionally. Because if you don’t who will…

Stop, look, listen and ask a quality question.

By doing this, you’ll also give other people the opportunity to take a good care of themselves too!

Dr Olivier J. Becherel

Co-founder of Mastery to Success - The Human Potential Academy

Dr Olivier J. Becherel is a Human Potential Activator who integrates Neuroscience & Human Potential to optimise performance and wellbeing. His mission is to help senior executives in the Health & Life Sciences industry realise their goals, stay cool under pressure, and break free from the invisible traps that can slow down and/or stall their performance, career and success.

To learn more, visit MasteryToSuccess.com.au

3 Insights From Neuroscience To Improve Performance

by Olivier Becherel | Aug 2, 2016 | Decision-making, Managing Relationships, Overcoming challenges, Performance Management |

Today, I’d like to share with you 3 principles from neuroscience that can help improve your performance, decision-making, and your levels of satisfaction in life..

Principle #1: ATTENTION CREATES CHANGE

We are likely to “see” more of what we put our attention to… In other words, our attention changes our perception and in turn changes our perceived reality. Whether you chose to put your attention into the past or the future will change the way you feel about certain persons, certain events. Whether you choose to focus your attention on problems or on solutions will dictate whether you’re more likely to encounter more problems or more opportunities.

The second aspect of attention creates change is the literal aspect that attention creates change in your neurology, in your brain circuitry. That’s what neuroscientist call neuroplasticity. The more you focus on something repetitively, the more you create new neuronal connections and therefore new habits….

The key point here, is to choose carefully what you focus your attention on… because that creates your reality and the changes you observe…

Principle #2: RATIONAL IS OVERRATED

We tend to think that we are mostly logical/rational beings and we carefully think about the decisions we make. The reality is, only a very small portion of our brain is responsible for our rational thinking. It’s called the prefrontal cortex or PFC, which only accounts for about 2-4% of our total brain. The PFC is a brain region that is very energy hungry; it requires a lot of energy to function optimally. When the PFC is not active, it’s mostly our unconscious hardwired programs that are running the show – our habits…

In reality, we function most of the time on automatic programs, on habits that we have created because it’s much more energy efficient. It allows us to conserve energy. That’s why one of the primary objective of the brain is to hardwire everything it can, so it becomes automatic and doesn’t require to activate the PFC.

The key point here, the brain do its best to hardwire everything it can, and once it’s hardwired it’s very difficult to change that “habit” or pattern. So, instead of trying to break an old pattern, it’s much more efficient to create a new habit and then hardwire it through repetition and focused attention…

PRINCIPLE #3: SOCIAL IS PRIMARY

I’m sure you’ve heard before that “humans are social being”. What that means that our social needs are primary and they are as important as our physiological needs. That’s why we have an entire region of the brain – the limbic system – dedicated to process emotions and social cues. Social integration and the ability to identify and acknowledge emotions, to regulate our emotions and to establish relationships with other fellow humans is instrumental to optimise decision-making, improve performance and ultimately feel a sense of belonging, validation, recognition and significance. Those are major driving force behind our actions, decisions and results.

The key point here, the importance of our social world is often underestimated, especially the impact it has on our decisions, performance and level of satisfaction in life.

Remember to keep in mind that social is an important component in all your decisions, actions and behaviours… and that by simply being aware of it, you can better use that component in your day to day life.

The more you understand your brain – it’s regions and how it functions, the better you can use it to improve your performance, decisions-making, the quality of your relationships, and ultimately your level of satisfaction in life.

In Nutshell:

Attention creates change – what you focus on creates your reality (whether you like what you see or not) – it’s up to you to choose your focus. You always have the power to change your attention and focus…
Rational is overrated – it takes a lot of energy and effort to be rational and to conserve energy (just in case a danger may pop in – evolutionary survival rule), we function most of the time on automatic mode without thinking about it… Remaining mindful of that and noticing when we switch from rational to automatic can help you make better decisions and improve your performance. And by the way don’t get to stressed out about, it’s normal to function on automatic mode – it’s nature ‘s law of conservation of energy (the law of least effort).
Social is primary – there often a social component under our our decisions and actions. Identifying this component can help you perform better and find greater levels of meaning and satisfaction in life.

Dr Olivier J. Becherel

Co-founder of Mastery to Success - The Human Potential Academy

Dr Olivier J. Becherel is a Human Potential Activator who integrates Neuroscience & Human Potential to optimise performance and wellbeing. His mission is to help senior executives in the Health & Life Sciences industry realise their goals, stay cool under pressure, and break free from the invisible traps that can slow down and/or stall their performance, career and success.

To learn more, visit MasteryToSuccess.com.au

The two sides of the “Connection Age”

by Olivier Becherel | Jul 26, 2016 | Managing Relationships |

With the development of IT technology and the internet, we’ve moved from the ‘Industrial Age’ to the ‘Information Age’ and now the ‘Connection Age’ with the development and proliferation of social media.

This technological revolution has transformed and reshaped the way people communicate and connect with each other. Now, people from countries that would otherwise never have connected in the past (or with a lot of difficulties) – I mean before the Internet – can now communicate in real-time through social media and other applications.

The internet has wiped out the barrier of time and space between people and allowed people to build vast networks of ‘friends’. This is the first side of the connection Age. We now have ‘friends’ everywhere… We “known” someone in USA, Australia, South America, Europe, Africa , etc… someone that we have never met in real life (although some would consider the digital space real… ) but we have a e-connection.

What’s the good in this?

Well, we humans, are social beings and our brain is hardwired to process social information. Since the beginning of humanity, we have been focused and disciplined in building our networks to ensure our survival… Why? Because we have an innate needs to belong.

Our social needs – contrary to what Abraham Maslow proposed in his Hierarchy of Needs – are primary alongside our physiological needs. That’s why our brain processes physical pain and social pain the same way…

We have spent most of our resources (time, space, energy, money) to build networks and find ways to integrate ourselves in a bigger network – driven by our strong survival need to belong to a group.

The more connected we are, the better we feel… because we belong, we receive attention and recognition from our friends, and we can feel validated.

However, there is another side to social media and the ‘Connection Age’ that sometimes eludes us…

The more highly connected we are with others, the less we are connected with ourselves.

The greater our network, the more we tend to focus our attention outside of ourselves. This leads to us to grow our circle of concern (what we care and worry about)… much faster than our circle of influence (what we can do and influence) and is often a source of stress and anxiety for many…

The more you know (or think you know) what’s on the outside, the less you really know what’s on the inside…

I’m not saying that you should ignore others and solely focus on yourself. What I’m saying is rather to be mindful of keeping a balance between the attention & focus you dedicate to others and yourself.

Both extremes – altruism (selflessness) and narcissism (Self-centredness) – are maladaptive. A balance between self and other is necessary to survive and thrive…

Are you spending the same amount of time & energy to know, understand and appreciate yourself as you do to know, understand and appreciate others?
Are you mostly focusing on others and their concerns at the expense of yourself and what matters to you?

In Nutshell: The ‘Connection Age’ was born because technology allowed us to fulfill one of our deepest hardwired need: our need to belong.

The more connected we are, the better we feel… because we belong, we receive attention and recognition, and we feel validated.
On the flip side: The more highly connected we are with others, the less we are connected with ourselves.
Developing and maintaining a deep understanding of self and others is the key to survive and thrive…

Dr Olivier J. Becherel

Co-founder of Mastery to Success - The Human Potential Academy

Dr Olivier J. Becherel is a Human Potential Activator who integrates Neuroscience & Human Potential to optimise performance and wellbeing. His mission is to help senior executives in the Health & Life Sciences industry realise their goals, stay cool under pressure, and break free from the invisible traps that can slow down and/or stall their performance, career and success.

To learn more, visit MasteryToSuccess.com.au

The Optimism Bias… Is Necessary!

by Olivier Becherel | Jul 19, 2016 | Decision-making |

Our ability to anticipate what will occur in the future is a characteristic unique to humans and is critical to decision-making. This allows us to prepare our actions so we can avoid harm and gain reward.

When it comes to predicting what will happen to us tomorrow, next week, next month, next year or 10 years from now, we often overestimate the likelihood of positive events, and underestimate the likelihood of negative events.

This is the optimism bias – when expectations are better than reality. The optimism bias is one of the most consistent, prevalent and robust bias documented in psychology and behavioural economics.

How does the optimism bias work?

The optimism bias is maintained in the face of disconfirming evidence because we update our beliefs more in response to positive information about the future than to negative information about the future. By selectively updating our beliefs in response to positive information, it produces optimism that is resistant to change. In other words, optimism is tied to the failure to update from undesirable information regarding the future. Furthermore, optimism relates to a person’s belief in their control over future outcomes.

Is optimism optimal?
Why would a healthy brain exhibits mechanisms create optimistic beliefs?

Many evidences show that optimism is nonetheless advantageous compared to unbiased predictions. Indeed, the absence of positive expectations of the future is associated with mild depression and anxiety, and both of those are not good for mental health.

It seems like that optimistic illusions are the only group of misbeliefs that are adaptive. However, choosing to engage in an act that is rewarding at present but costly in the future can be partially explained by an excess of unrealistic optimism. The harmful influences of overoptimism can extend to collective behaviours and group… and the extent of unrealistic optimism increases with uncertainty.

When was the last time you were overoptimistic?
Was it in a situation of great uncertainty?

Here is the Gold nugget: We tend to show the largest bias in situations with the greatest unknowns… So, next time your find yourself in situation with lots of unknowns, remember that you are most likely to overestimate the positives in the future… And that can be dangerous. In that instance, it would be wise to look at at both sides of the equation to reduce your overoptimism and keep it “realistic”…

With the emergence of conscious foresight – or the ability to imagine one’s future – came the devastating understanding that old age, sickness, decline of mental power and oblivion await. On its own, this awareness would have definitely interfered with our daily function and may be even lead us to a stop, if it were not for the evolution of optimistic illusions alongside.

In Nutshell:

The optimism bias appears as an evolutionary process that has evolved as a learning mechanism to mis-predict (overestimate the positive) future occurrences because in many cases they lead to better outcomes than do unbiased beliefs… within certain limits of course!

Dr Olivier J. Becherel

Co-founder of Mastery to Success - The Human Potential Academy

Dr Olivier J. Becherel is a Human Potential Activator who integrates Neuroscience & Human Potential to optimise performance and wellbeing. His mission is to help senior executives in the Health & Life Sciences industry realise their goals, stay cool under pressure, and break free from the invisible traps that can slow down and/or stall their performance, career and success.

To learn more, visit MasteryToSuccess.com.au

Writing things down and manifestation

by Olivier Becherel | Jul 12, 2016 | Performance Management |

A few years back I wrote a quote that says “Writing is the bridge between the realm of thoughts and the physical world of manifestation.”

I only kept that quote in the digital space, however a couple of weeks ago a good friend of mine gave me an unexpected gift.

That gift is the photo you now see!

She brought my quote to life by moving it from the intangible digital world to the physical world.

Why am I telling you this?

Well, because it all started by writing something down… moving a thought/idea from my invisible world into something that can be seen and shared with others…

My point is that if you want to manifest something, you must first be able to describe it and then share it with someone.

Writing – or drawing – is the medium we use to clarify, synthesise and explain ideas and thoughts…

It allows us to access deeper levels of specificity and precision that renders physical manifestation possible.

Think about it this way… When you go groceries shopping, you first start by thinking what you need to buy, and often you make a list because you know very well that your mind cannot hold that much information without risking to forget something. Furthermore, if you don’t have your list, as soon as you enter the shop, there are so many “bright shiny” objects – so many new things you didn’t think of before – that you’ll have difficulty remembering what to take home…

There is too much sensory information and too many distractions…

Making a list allows you to manifest in the physical reality all the things you said you were going to buy…

Basically, it’s because you wrote it down that you can now bring it back home. You don’t have to think hard to remember it, you just need to read your list…

So, where am I going with this…

Well, two ideas:

First, writing things down allow you to clarify ideas and share them with others, and in turn increases your probability to manifest them – provided you find the right “partner” and the necessary resources needed.

Second, our brain is not designed to store information – we only have a very limited mental capacity to consciously remember things. We can at most keep 3-4 simple items in mind at any one time. Instead, the brain is designed to interact with information. Writing things down allows you to dump information, clarify it, organise it, and share it, making it possible that one day it could become part of your reality.

So, here is my question to you:

What is in your mind that you would love to bring into reality?

It may be time to write it down and start sharing it… because you never know, one day, someone will help you make it real…

In Nutshell: Writing is the bridge between the realm of thoughts and the physical world of manifestation.

Dr Olivier J. Becherel

Co-founder of Mastery to Success - The Human Potential Academy

Dr Olivier J. Becherel is a Human Potential Activator who integrates Neuroscience & Human Potential to optimise performance and wellbeing. His mission is to help senior executives in the Health & Life Sciences industry realise their goals, stay cool under pressure, and break free from the invisible traps that can slow down and/or stall their performance, career and success.

To learn more, visit MasteryToSuccess.com.au

It’s ALL about Values

by Olivier Becherel | Jul 5, 2016 | Performance Management |

The title says it all: It’s all about values…

It’s interesting to observe how people can suddenly change their attitude and behavior.

And the key element for that is values.

When someone is doing something that doesn’t match his/her highest values, that person tends to procrastinate, frustrate and hesitate, lacks energy, enthusiasm and motivation.

So what are values?

Well, values are personal, unique and individual to each person. It’s like a our fingerprint. No two person has exactly the same set of values.

Our values are what is most important and meaningful to us.

What make us tick and give us joy, inspiration, driver, energy and fulfillment.

Our values drive our behaviour, actions, and results.

Thus, someone that is doing something that matches his/her highest values, has energy, vitality, enthusiasm and is proactive.

Both can be observed in our society, however, there are a lot more people doing the first type of activity than the second.

Sometimes, you can observe sudden shifts in a person’s attitude and motivation. That happens when a person that is doing something that is not in their highest values sees how to link that activity to their highest values. Seeing this link can sometimes occurs spontaneously with minimal effort, and at other times, it requires personal work to align that activity with the highest values.

Being able to see how to link something that is not in our highest values to how it can help us fulfill our highest values is a very useful skill in life.

We don’t always start by doing what we love in life, but if we learn to love what we do (and appreciate how this activity is just a steppingstone towards what we would love to do), there are better odds for us to do what we love doing sooner than later.

Most people have no clue about values (theirs and the values of others), don’t care about it (mostly the values of others), and as a consequence wouldn’t understand such sudden change in person’s attitude or behavior. Those people would tend to overreact, criticize, judge and condemn….

However, there are people that know what values are and how they drive human behavior, and clearly understand what it is all about. Those people are the lucky ones, because they can adapt better, appreciate the person for who they are and tend to be more tolerant.

In Nutshell: Knowing the values of someone you care about is the most important aspect of communication and relationships, whether these relationships are casual, social, professional, intimate, or sexual.

Dr Olivier J. Becherel

Co-founder of Mastery to Success - The Human Potential Academy

Dr Olivier J. Becherel is an Executive Coach and Human Potential Activator. His mission is to help senior executives in the Health & Life Sciences industry realise their goals, stay cool under pressure, and break free from the invisible traps that can slow down and/or stall their career success.

To learn more, visit MasteryToSuccess.com.au

It’s just the way we think

by Olivier Becherel | Jun 28, 2016 | Decision-making |

Did you know that every time you think about something you engage different neural pathways depending on what you think about?

For example, if you are looking at a photograph of a person and thinking about it, you engage what scientists call the FAST WAY – intuitive and unconscious thinking. Impressions of what is happening in the photograph, what the person is conveying comes to your mind automatically, effortlessly and instantly. It’s the feeling that “I totally get it”.

On the other hand, when you’re looking at/or tackling a complex problem, you engage the SLOW WAY – deliberate and effortful conscious thinking. It usually takes time and a lot of attention and concentration.

The FAST WAY is always on, it’s the default information processing mode of the brain. It requires little energy – that’s why it’s always on. It processes vast amounts of information, but it does it on the background, meaning we’re not aware of what is happening and how it’s happening… (which I will discuss elsewhere).
The FAST WAY is robust and can attend to multiple “things” at anyone time.
The SLOW WAY, is either on or off and it requires a lot of energy to switch it on. When it’s on on, we know it because we often feel the need to get more energy – we need a snack, some food, or a coffee, etc. Furthermore, it’s easily disrupted by “bright shiny” objects – things and thoughts that pop in our mind and capture our attention.
The SLOW WAY is fragile, limited and can only deal with “one thing” at a time.

The FAST WAY and the SLOW WAY are not totally independent, doing things on their own and ignoring each other… They interact to divide labour in order to minimise effort and optimise performance. That’s because of Nature’s inbuilt Law of Least Effort – to achieve a goal, “we” will use the less demanding path to reach it.

When the FAST WAY encounters some difficulty in making sense of the world, it calls on the SLOW WAY at the rescue to overcome the obstacle – activating logic, planning and rational thinking.

This cooperation works well most of the time and we do make sense of the world and function pretty well overall.

In our brain there is a constant balance/trade off between SPEED vs. ACCURACY depending on the task or activity at hand.

The benefits of SPEED is that it’s quick, it doesn’t use up much energy and it allows us to get on with it and move onto the next thing…
The drawback is that’ it’s full of unconscious biases that can dramatically affect the consequences of our decisions and actions.
The benefits of ACCURACY is that it’s thorough, meticulous and it gives more depth, precision and clarity to address an issue and execute.
The drawback is that it’s time and energy consuming and it requires substantial conscious effort and discipline.

Why should you care about this?

Well, anything in life starts with awareness of what is happening overtly or covertly. If you want to improve your performance and apply the Positive Change Formula and Performance Formula I mentioned in previous posts, it’s important to understand what is happening under the bonnet – in your brain and what you’re dealing with/battling against…

In Nutshell:

We all have a FAST WAY and a SLOW WAY to make sense of the world and process information.
The FAST WAY and the SLOW WAY work together to accomplish goals.
There is a constant evaluation of SPEED vs. ACCURACY going on inside our brain based on the amount of energy we have available right now.
Our brain functions according to Nature’s Law of Least Effort.
Both the FAST WAY and the SLOW WAY have benefits and drawbacks.

To make better decisions and increase your performance, it might make sense to ask yourself these simple yet profound questions:

If I decide / do ____________, then what will happen / not happen?
Will this serve me / my family /my friends / my colleagues / my clients / my company?
How will it serve me personally / socially / professionally?

Dr Olivier J. Becherel

Co-founder of Mastery to Success - The Human Potential Academy

Dr Olivier J. Becherel is an Executive Coach and Human Potential Activator. His mission is to help senior executives in the Health & Life Sciences industry realise their goals, stay cool under pressure, and break free from the invisible traps that can slow down and/or stall their career success.

To learn more, visit MasteryToSuccess.com.au