Perform at Your Peak Level with These 5 Mind-Sharpening Tips

Did you know your mindset and emotions are the gateway to your success? They hold the keys to unlock the innovation, ingenuity and potential you have within you, allowing you to overhaul and improve your business. How you think impacts everything, so it’s important to learn how to sharpen your mind.

From competitive positioning to impeccable leadership, mindset is the greatest dictator. Mastering your thoughts and cultivating superior thinking will serve your business well. Are you ready to harness your intellect and think big?

How to sharpen your mind

Try these five simple steps to upgrade your thinking and maximize your success:

1. Optimize your mind.

Optimizing your mindset lays the foundation for your success. It involves powerful mind shifts about who you are and what you can achieve. Just as athletes optimize their bodies, entrepreneurs should optimize their minds. Start by recognizing self-defeating and sabotaging thought patterns and replacing these patterns with powerful and confident thoughts that support your goals and objectives. Manage your mind, and refuse to allow fear and insecurity to contaminate your business.

2. Resist distractions to sharpen your mind.

Distractions are nothing more than roadblocks to your success. They impede your ability to think at a high level. Sharp thinkers are not victims of distractions—they don’t get sidetracked by non-revenue-producing activities. Business leaders and iconic entrepreneurs have a results-driven approach. By resisting distractions, they better command their time and increase their productivity.

3. Get more sleep.

Yes, running a business keeps you busy all day and up late at night, but don’t let your entrepreneurial pursuits deplete you. Sleep is a powerful business ally, and not getting enough can lead to unwanted consequences. According to the Sleep Foundation, “Trying to work while underslept can significantly impact job performance. Without enough sleep, processes throughout the body work suboptimally. Neurons in the brain become overworked, impairing thinking, slowing physical reactions and leaving people feeling emotionally drained. These short-term side effects of sleep deprivation can wreak havoc on a day’s work.”

These outcomes—including the impairment of your cognitive performance and ability to sustain attention—are counterproductive to your business. Shoot for at least seven hours of sleep a night to recharge your body and turbo-boost your mind.

4. Upgrade your circle to sharpen your mind.

The phrase, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another,” could not be truer when it comes to business. If you want to catapult your thinking and widen your perspective, upgrade your circle. When you surround yourself with power thinkers, you cultivate your brilliance. Don’t undervalue the pertinence of strategic networking and building relationships with extraordinary entrepreneurs. Research has shown that group diversity breeds creativity.

5. Stop everything and practice being still.

What would happen if you just stopped and did nothing for 20 minutes a day? Would you be able to do it? Could you surrender to silence without thinking about the next task or where you need to go and what you need to do? Resisting the need to talk, think or do is one of the greatest resources you have. Don’t let being busy stifle your genius. Once a day, just stop and repower your thinking with stillness and silence.

Are you ready to change your thinking and sharpen your mind?

This article was published in October 2014 and has been updated. Photo by Pheelings media/Shutterstock

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