Fight Your Fear and Win

1. Master the Seven Skills for Peak Performance Under Pressure

"Literally thousands of people have put my exercises to the test and found them effective."

The Seven Skills framework. Dr. Don Greene's approach to peak performance under pressure is based on seven essential skills: Determination, Energy, Perspective, Courage, Focus, Poise, and Resilience. These skills are interconnected and can be developed through targeted exercises and practice.

Practical application. The book provides a comprehensive set of strategies and techniques for each skill, allowing readers to systematically improve their performance in high-pressure situations. These range from centering exercises for managing energy to visualization techniques for building confidence and mental rehearsal for enhancing focus.

Customized approach. Greene emphasizes the importance of tailoring the program to individual needs. The Seven Skills Survey helps readers identify their strengths and weaknesses, allowing them to focus on the areas that need the most improvement.

2. Harness Your Energy: Transform Stress into Focused Power

"Under extreme pressure the human body reacts in predictable ways."

Understanding stress response. Greene explains the physiological and psychological effects of stress on performance, including increased heart rate, shallow breathing, and negative self-talk. This understanding is crucial for learning to control and channel stress effectively.

Centering technique. The book introduces a powerful seven-step centering process derived from aikido. This technique helps individuals quickly shift from a state of anxiety to one of focused calm, allowing them to perform optimally under pressure.

Energy modulation. Greene teaches readers how to modulate their energy levels, either up or down, to match their optimal performance state. This skill is essential for maintaining consistent performance across various high-pressure situations.

3. Cultivate a Winning Perspective: Confidence, Self-Talk, and Visualization

"What you feel about yourself and your prospects, what you tell yourself, and what you expect are what determines outcome."

Self-confidence building. The book provides strategies for building self-confidence, including accumulating small successes and taking "right actions" that reinforce positive self-belief.

Positive self-talk. Greene emphasizes the importance of monitoring and changing negative self-talk. He offers techniques for reprogramming internal dialogue to support peak performance.

Visualization techniques. Readers learn to use mental imagery to enhance performance, including creating "highlight films" of past successes and using mental rehearsal to prepare for future challenges.

4. Develop Courage: Overcome Fear and Take Calculated Risks

"Courage is feeling afraid and taking action anyway."

Understanding fear. Greene breaks down the nature of fear and its impact on performance, helping readers recognize that fear is a natural response that can be managed and overcome.

Risk-taking strategies. The book provides practical exercises for building courage, including keeping a Courage Journal and Courage Log to track instances of bold action and risk-taking.

Acting "as if". Greene introduces the powerful technique of acting "as if" you already possess the courage you desire, allowing readers to step into a more confident and capable version of themselves.

5. Sharpen Your Focus: Achieve Mental Clarity and Sustained Concentration

"Focus has four aspects: Presence, Intensity, Duration, and Mental quiet."

Four aspects of focus. Greene breaks down focus into four key components: presence (staying in the moment), intensity (depth of concentration), duration (ability to sustain focus), and mental quiet (minimizing internal distractions).

Practical focus exercises. The book offers a range of exercises to improve each aspect of focus, including techniques for eliminating external distractions, creating attentional boundaries, and achieving mental quiet.

Pre-event routines. Greene emphasizes the importance of developing personalized pre-event routines that help shift the mind into a state of optimal focus before important performances or tasks.

6. Maintain Poise: Excel in Decision-Making, Negotiating, Presenting, and Multitasking

"Poise is how we describe those who perform with ease under fire."

Four key performance areas. Greene identifies decision-making, negotiating, presenting, and multitasking as critical areas where poise is essential in the business world.

Right-brain approach. The book emphasizes the importance of engaging the right brain's intuitive and creative capabilities for optimal performance in these areas, rather than relying solely on left-brain analytical thinking.

Practical strategies. Greene provides specific techniques for each performance area, including mind-mapping for decision-making and negotiation, visualization for presentations, and rapid attentional shifting for effective multitasking.

7. Build Resilience: Bounce Back from Setbacks and Fight for Your Goals

"Resilience, the final factor in the success equation, consists of three qualities or skills: The ability to recover, quickly, from a mistake, and not bog down in anger; The ability to fight for what you most want or what you believe in, especially when the chips are down or the odds seem stacked against you; Mental toughness, the ability to hang tough, mentally, no matter what assault is made on your confidence, no matter what setback you've suffered, no matter how late in the game you commit to winning it."

Five-step recovery strategy. Greene outlines a powerful five-step process for quickly bouncing back from mistakes, including accepting the error, refocusing on the present, and using process cues to get back on track.

Harnessing anger constructively. The book offers techniques for channeling anger and frustration into focused energy that can fuel a comeback or power through adversity.

Cultivating mental toughness. Greene provides strategies for developing the "fighter within," including visualization techniques and inspirational storytelling to build resilience and determination in the face of setbacks.

Last updated: October 3, 2024