Peak Mental Fitness: Becoming Your Inner Jedi

It’s happened to you.  An email suddenly drops into your inbox from a co-worker who has a so-called “concern.”  Immediately, the email sends your mind and emotional state into a tail spin.  

This co-worker might be putting the brakes on work you have been advancing or they might be seeking to intervene on a decision you made.  Or they might be gearing up to critique work you’ve been doing. You’re past experience with this co-worker has caused you a lot of grief.

Whatever the case, their to you email triggers you.  Instead of feeling calm, you are flooded with negative emotions.  Frustrated.  Defensive.  Anxious.  Angry.

When things like this happen, your day is side-lined.  You mind spirals.  You are distracted.  You become anxious.   Your mind is swirling with thoughts like:

“This is going to make things really hard for me.”

“Now, this project is going to be harder.”

“I’m going to hate working on this project.”

“My co-worker/boss is going to ruin everything.”

How your brain self-sabotages: your inner Darth Vader

When that email comes in and triggers you, you’re well aware your thinking about this situation isn’t helpful or productive.  This thinking is channeling your inner Darth Vader. 

Indeed, within you lives inner Jedi and an inner Darth Vader.  The Darth Vader works to sabotage your thinking.   

What is going on when your brain is sabotaged?  First and foremost, you feel a flood of negative emotions. And those emotions are driven by how you are thinking about the situation.

For example, your thinking might be judgment.

“John is a horrible boss.”

“Judy has no idea what she is doing.” 

You might also be judging yourself, “I’m such an idiot!” 

“Look at what a failure I am!” 

And finally, you can sabotage by judging your circumstances. 

“I’ll never be happy until this situation is resolved.” 

“When I finally get that job/relationship/money/ideal life, then I’ll be happy.” 

The judge isn’t the only saboteur of your thinking.  Other saboteurs might show up in sneaky ways. 

One saboteur who is hyper vigilant worries about what could go wrong and keep you in a state of high anxiety.

Another saboteur, a people-pleaser, will push you to bend to the needs of others so you are liked even when it doesn’t work for you.

A very tricky saboteur keeps you chained to achievement and ‘success’ at any cost leaving everything else – you, your friends, your family – behind.

These saboteurs channel your inner Darth Vader with thoughts that neither serve you and leave you feeling terrible.  This thinking can lead you to take actions that make the situation worse.  Indeed, you thinking drives your  happiness, performance, effectiveness, and relationships.

To learn more about your saboteurs, take the Positive Intelligence saboteur assessment HERE.

How to unleash your inner-Jedi

While we all have an inner Darth Vader, the good news is that within each of us, we have an inner Jedi. 

Your inner Jedi is that wise voice that helps you navigate challenges with a calm and confident mind.  You know you are being led by your inner Jedi when you are not flooded with negative emotion.

What I’m talking about is your mental fitness.  Mental fitness is about your capacity to respond to life’s challenges with positive rather than a negative mindset.

When you truly invest in your mental fitness, you are operating at peak performance – your highest mental fitness.  And mental fitness means you are operating from an inner wise voice – your sage.

You know you are tapping into your inner-Jedi (we call this your sage) when you are coming from a peaceful, calm, clear-headed, curious, creative, or big picture perspective. 

Tapping into your inner Jedi

So let’s go back to that email that dropped into your inbox.  How can you tap into that inner Jedi and quiet the inner Darth Vader?

Tapping into your inner Jedi takes means starting with a calm mind so you will want to know how to move from the fight-fight-freeze part of your brain (your survival brain) to one that is driven by a calm demeanor (your prefrontal cortex).  You can do this through deep breathing, mediation, or other ‘mind clearing’ activities.  If you are challenged by a consistent meditation practice, watch this video here with very simple techniques to tap into your inner Jedi mind.

Once you are able to get into a calm mind you will remind yourself of one thing:  Every outcome or circumstance can be turned into a gift and opportunity.

In the case of this email dropping into your inbox, your inner Jedi will not decide the situation is bad.  Instead, this inner wise voice might adopt the following thinking:

“This email is an opportunity because I can learn about the concerns of my co-worker and understand things from their perspective.”

“This email gives me an chance to learn how to overcome these types of challenges and challenging people.”

“This email is a gift because it helps me reflect on how to communicate and build support for this project taking it to another level.”

Meanwhile, your inner Jedi is reminding you that the email does not mean you or your project is derailed or that the project is sunk.

Remember, your thinking is a self-fulfilling prophecy.  When you say, ‘this is bad’, then your experience of the situation will be bad.  If you are tapping into your inner Jedi, or sage mode, then you will shift your thinking to looking for a gift or opportunity.  And then your experience of that circumstance will shift, your energy will shift, and likely how you show up to engage will shift for better.

Shifting from your inner Darth Vader to your inner Jedi takes practice. Mental fitness doesn’t happen overnight but it can be a game changer for how your effectiveness in your career and in life.