When working on our wellness goals, it's easy to forget we all have both an inner coach and an critic inside our mind. The inner coach encourages us to do our best, while the critic can shut us down- dissolving our state of flow.

 

"There's a voice inside of all of us that tells us to accomplish what we desire and never quit. This is our inner coach. This is a voice that tells us to believe in ourselves." - Jeff Grant

 

Fortunately, we have the power to bring out the best inner coaches within us and soften our harshest inner critics.

On this episode of Wellness Force Radio, coach, mentor, writer, and ultra-endurance athlete, Jeff Grant of Hillseeker,  shares several hacks on how we can tap into our mind and emotions to become better athletes and more productive.

Our emotions can easily distract us, but with the right mind tools, we can learn to use those emotions to our advantage.

 

Owning Your State of Flow

 

"In positive psychology, flow is the mental state of operation in which a person who is performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment during the process of the activity.” - Jeff Grant

 

Being in the mental state of flow means that we are both amazed and inspired to be our your best. It's the natural high we feel when we're on a mission or have completed a goal such as completing a great work out, finishing a race, or finalizing a project at work.

Experiencing a state of flow means that we are present in the moment.

It can be difficult to get into a state of flow, but there are several tools that we can use to help cultivate more flow into our lives. Once we understand what helps us get into the state of flow, we can jump right into it when we want or need it in our lives.

When Jeff finds flow during a run or through music, he tries to transfer it to another part of his life or within his work as a coach and author.

 

The Four Stages of Flow

 

To find flow and stay within it, there are four steps: Struggle, Release, Flow, Recover.

1) Struggle

To begin our state of flow, we need to struggle on purpose. We can do this by taking ourselves out of our comfort zone and placing ourselves in an unfamiliar place, situation, or thought.

Once we have struggled, we can release.

2) Release

We can release ourselves from our struggle by finding something to laugh at or something that distracts us from it.

3) Flow

This state of release places us in a state of natural flow and euphoria. When we're in the state of flow, we can find immense happiness and feel like anything is possible to achieve.

4) Recovery

Once we're in the state of flow, we never want to let go of it again. We think that we always need to have this euphoric sensation 24/7, but recovery is part of the proce