The Maximal Life

Many of us have conditioned responses to the challenges in life. Cultural conditioning has us perceiving every change as a stress, every challenge as a problem, and every stranger as a threat. As Maximal Achievers, we seek to ascend cultural conditioning because we see through this scheme. We have debunked the myth of stress and proved that stress is just energy that we can harness and benefit from. The simplest and most powerful way to position our mindset for maximum results on a daily basis is to smile. The simple act of smiling releases neuropeptides, which boosts your mood and alleviates negative stress.

Several studies have proven that we are better looking and treated differently when we smile. We are regarded as more attractive and sincere. If you haven’t smiled in a while, you can “fake it til you make it.” Stand up tall and act the way you would if you were feeling great, even if you aren't. You will find that your feelings will follow your behavior. Take advantage of your own power to create happiness. Your family, colleagues, and sometimes the world, will smile with you. Leading a Maximal Life means leading a happy life.

People boast about pulling all-nighters and burning the midnight oil. Not sleeping enough has come to be associated with strength or superhuman ability. However, when we are sleep deprived we function as if we are drunk. We have impaired memory, difficulty concentrating, High stress, lower actual productivity, and slower response times. The real issue is that you may not even know that you are sleep deprived. We become a danger not only to our own wellbeing with issues such as obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, and kidney disease but also to the safety of others.

Re-examine how much you sleep at night, and if it is enough to give you the rest and rejuvenation that you actually need. Make the changes that you need to get the sleep your brain and body need. Go to bed and wake up at the same time each day, even weekends. Reduce ambient noise and light disturbances. Nap smart with only 20 to 30-minute naps, more will disrupt your nighttime sleep cycle. Avoid caffeine, alcohol and heavy meals at night. Exercise during the day. With sufficient sleep, you can go strong as ever, and sustain your success for the long game.

Do you feel like you are tired and out of energy, even when you first wake up in the morning? There are a lot of pressures on your time, and as a Maximal Achiever, there are a lot of things you are responsible for. Sometimes you may try to tackle the seemingly endless challenge of managing both time and energy.

The fact is that there are only 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week. This will not change. The number of items that you need to keep on top of will also not change. Energy is what determines the quality of our time. The solution is to take time out during the day to recharge your energy throughout the day. Professionals and athletes maximize their productivity by doing interval training working in focused 90-minute sprints, then reward yourself with a short 20-minute break. Taking a break from productivity actually improves productivity. Make sure you take time out for lunch and eat mindfully. Give your body the proper nutrition it needs. Take time out for exercise and recharge your energy. When you are flowing with positive energy you know that you will spend your time well, and you will make your time count.

If you love your morning coffee and find that it helps you get down to business first thing in the morning, then go ahead and enjoy. However, if you are relying on a constant drip feed of caffeine to get through the day, then you may be in an energy deficit. It may be time to raise your standards of energy. Remember, your body is a reporter which is always honest, and will always tell you what you need to be the Maximal You.

Coffee has great health benefits which can reduce the risk of Type 2 Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease, Parkinson's Disease, and can even reduce inflammation and ease low-level bouts of depression. Yet all of these health benefits can be obtained from decaffeinated coffee as well as regular coffee. Studies show that caffeine does not add to your energy levels. It merely masks our symptoms of fatigue and exhaustion. Caffeine causes our adrenal glands to flood our system with stress hormones. Caffeine is counterfeit energy that only masks fatigue. If you feel like to NEED caffeine to start your day, what you REALLY NEED is more rest and renewal. When you heed your body’s report, you will be living the Maximal Life.

In our modern world, our brains are bombarded with the equivalent of 174 newspapers of data every day. There is a growing study that indicates that brain fatigue has become the norm as we are more and more disconnected with nature. “Nature Deficit Disorder” is a brain disorder that can be eliminated by spending time outdoors, surrounded by nature. According to an emerging field of study known as eco-psychology, that while our brains may be adapting to our fast paced world, it’s original function, and our natural instinct, is to respond to, and connect to nature.

Our immune systems fight off illness and keeps us healthy. A study shows that people took a 2 hour walk through the forest came back with a 50% increase in natural killer cells. These cells circulate throughout the body killing bacteria, viruses, fungi and other invaders. And these benefits last for more than a week. Maximal Achievers need to take the next step in their Maximal Life and immerse themselves in nature as much as possible. Even if it is a 10 to 15 minute walk you will still experience a measurable improvement in energy, a decrease in frustration, worry, and fatigue. So if you want to feel better, just get outside.

The chemicals released in our brains when we are excited are the same ones released when we are nervous. The only difference is the thoughts we assign to the experience. So if your thoughts are positive, you experience joy. If your thoughts are negative then you experience nervousness and anxiousness. All of these experiences are necessary to stretch the boundaries of our comfort zone, and personal growth. We can alter the reality in which we exist by simply altering our thoughts. Maximal Achievers pay attention to the direction and progression of their thoughts.

When we are feeling uncomfortable in our body, it may mean we are becoming sick. When we are feeling uncomfortable emotionally, it may mean we are braving uncharted territory, and about to make a breakthrough in next-level achievement. This is a sign that you are on the right track. Your body becomes your thought monitor. Maximal Achievers learn to harness that thought monitor and apply their Maximal Self as the witness and the final word in how to proceed with those reports. Every moment presents a choice to either expand or contract. We have the ability to align our energy, feelings, and actions to our innermost potential.

What is one of the most valuable assets we have to contribute towards our success? Our Attention. Our attention is under unprecedented attack. Recent marketing data shows that from the 1970’s to today, we’ve gone from being exposed to about 500 ads a day, to as many as 5,000! I’m talking about a virtual tsunami of commercials, print ads, labels, Facebook ads, pop-up ads.

Attention is focus, and what we focus on is what directs our growth. this virtual tsunami of ads steals our attention and in exchange for what? Nothing really. And they do it largely, without our consent. Is “Attention Theft.” too harsh a term? Well, in today’s culture of Go Go Go and Buy Buy Buy media, the attention thieves lurk in every corner. Our brain is a bank. We can only withdraw what we deposit. Not everything we desire, can be purchased with money, and not everything that can be stolen, can be replaced.

Attention is the currency that we can exchange for lasting success, innovation, crisis prevention, imaginative solutions, a deep sense of satisfaction, those little details of a treasured memory, and the warmth and affection of those we hold most dear, just to name a few.

Financial Affluence is to be in the present. After a certain level of affluence, beyond basic needs, begins a cycle of diminishing returns. You start trading minutes for money. Have you become so busy making a living that you forgot to live? After you have provided a comfortable life for your family, then do not take time to enjoy it because you do not have the time, you are really telling yourself that it is not a priority. Change “I do not have the time” to “It is not a priority” in your mind and see what happens. It is not a priority to eat lunch. It is not a priority for me to schedule my physical, it is not a priority to call my wife to let her know I will not be home for dinner.

Time Affluence is to be in the achievement. Having enough time is a state of mind, and the reason you believe you do not have enough time is because you tell yourself you don’t. It is time to change your mind. A true and lasting quality of life is determined by the quality of your relationships with yourself and your loved ones. It is the quality of experiences shared that creates your Maximal Life.

We listen to news reports every day, good and bad, and we trust their opinion. Our bodies are our reporters who never fail to report what is important to our health and well-being. It makes every effort to tell us what we need to know when we need to know it. It is up to us to listen, understand what it is telling us and for us to act upon it. In this confusing world of competing for food recommendations, many of us have become deaf to our bodies reports when it comes to our need for protein. To be our Maximal Self and maintain peak performance, we need the right kind of protein.

Maximal Achievers process the signals that we receive from inside and decipher what it is that we really need. They make sure that they take in the proper high-quality protein and nutrients, not empty calories. We accurately learn to recognize the feeling of fullness so that we stop eating. We create a craving response time and take the time to explore what our body really needs. Also eat mindfully, taste and savor each mouthful, and you don’t need to clear your plate. Maximal Achievers listen to the messages their bodies tell them and live the life everyone aspires to live.

When we want to get ahead it’s vital to look at the inequalities in the distribution of almost everything in life, economics, software, science, and even sports. 20% of the population has 80% of the wealth, 20% of landowners own 80% of the land, etc. This inequality is called the Pareto Principle. This principle will help to illustrate how it is possible for you to get the edge, we call the incremental edge.

It’s powerful to know and recognize that only a few people produce the majority of the results on your team. Those who succeed have made small adjustments and tweaked their systems just enough to give them the Incremental Edge. What begins as a small advantage can be converted to a massive advantage through the Incremental Edge Rule. To gain the advantage you only need to be incrementally better than your competition. Then you can guard that advantage and build on it to gain the incremental edge. Look beyond the obvious to recognize the opportunities that others cannot identify. And if something is not working, cut out those processes. Remember if things don’t work, those are not your failures, those are merely experiments that gleaned valuable information.