Focus & Meditation

Question 1

Full Engagement: What are the four sources of energy that we need to draw from?

Answer 1

Physical, emotional, mental and spiritual

Question 2

Full Engagement: Why must we balance energy expenditure with intermittent energy renewal?

Answer 2

Because energy capacity diminishes with both overuse and underuse, we must learn to balance energy expenditure with intermittent energy renewal

Question 3

Full Engagement: How do we build energy capacity?

Answer 3

To build capacity, we must push beyond our normal limits, training in the same systematic way that elite athletes do

Question 4

Full Engagement: What is the key to sustained high performance?

Answer 4

Managing energy, not time; positive energy rituals (highly specific routines for managing energy) are the key to full engagement and sustained high performance

Question 5

Full Engagement: What are the greatest barriers to high performance?

Answer 5

Negative habits that block, distort, waste, diminish, deplete and contaminate stored energy

Question 6

Full Engagement: What is the fuel for high performance?

Answer 6

High positive energy flows from the perception of opportunity, adventure and challenge; negative energy is precipitated by the perception of threat, danger and fears about survival (avoidance)

Question 7

Full Engagement: What are the primary capacities and supportive habits of physical energy?

Answer 7

Primary Capacities: Cardio, Abs, Shoulders & Back, Legs, Arms
Secondary Habits: Sleep, Exercise, Diet, Hydration

Question 8

Full Engagement: What are the primary capacities and supportive habits of emotional energy?

Answer 8

Primary Capacities: Self-confidence, Self-regulation, Interpersonal-effectiveness, Empathy/caring
Secondary Habits: Patience, Openness, Trust , Enjoyment

Question 9

Full Engagement: What are the primary capacities and supportive habits of mental energy?

Answer 9

Primary Capacities: Focus, Realistic optimism, Time management, Creativity
Secondary Habits: Visualization, Positive self-talk, Positive attitude, Mental preparation

Question 10

Full Engagement: What are the primary capacities and supportive habits of spiritual energy?

Answer 10

Primary Capacities: Character, Passion/commitment, Integrity, Service to others
Secondary Habits: Honest, Integrity, Courage, Persistence

Question 11

Full Engagement: What are the 10 most important physical energy management strategies?

Answer 11

1. Go to bed early and wake up early
2. Go to sleep and wake up consistently at the same times
3. Eat 5 to 6 small meals daily
4. Eat breakfast every day
5. Eat a balanced, healthy diet
6. Minimize simple sugars
7. Drink 48-64 oz. of water daily
8. Take break every 90 minutes during work
9. Get some physical activity daily
10. Do at least 2 cardio workouts and 2 strength workouts a week

Question 12

Search Inside Yourself: What are the five domains of emotional intelligence?

Answer 12

Self-Awareness — Knowledge of one’s internal states, preferences, resources, intuitions
Self-Regulation — Management of one’s internal states, impulses, resources
Self-Motivation — Emotional tendencies that guide or facilitate reaching goals
Empathy — Awareness of others’ feelings, needs, concerns
Social skills — Adeptness at inducing desirables responses in others

Question 13

Search Inside Yourself: What is the process of mindful meditation?

Answer 13

Intention — Create an intention, a reason for wanting to abide in mindfulness (e.g. reduce stress, increase well-being)
Follow your breath — Attention may gather and you’ll find yourself in a state where your mind is calm and concentrated
Distraction — Then we fall into distraction
Regain attention focus — By bring attention back to the breath; remember that this process of bringing a wandering attention is like flexing a muscle; become aware of your attitude towards yourself and shift towards self-directed kindness.

Question 14

Search Inside Yourself: What are the three competencies of self-awareness?

Answer 14

Emotional awareness — Recognizing one’s emotions and their effects
Accurate self-assessment — Knowing one’s strengths and limits
Self-confidence — A strong sense of one’s self-worth and capabilities

Question 15

Search Inside Yourself: What are the two practices of developing self-awareness?

Answer 15

Formal body scans — Bring mindfulness to your body and emotions all the time
Journaling — Writing to yourself to discover what is in your mind that is not in a clear, conscious view

Question 16

Search Inside Yourself: What are the five self-regulation competencies?

Answer 16

Self-control — Keeping disruptive emotions and impulses in check
Trustworthiness — Maintaining standards of honesty and integrity
Conscientiousness — Taking responsibility for personal performance
Adaptability — Flexibility in handling change
Innovation — Being comfortable with novel ideas, approaches, and information

Question 17

Search Inside Yourself: What are the four practices for dealing with distress?

Answer 17

Know when you are not in pain
Do not feel bad about feeling bad
Do not feed the monster
Start every thought with kindness and humor

Question 18

Search Inside Yourself: What are the five practices for dealing with triggers?

Answer 18

(SBNRR = SiBerian North RailRoad)
Stop (sacred pause)
Breath
Notice
Reflect
Respond

Question 19

Search Inside Yourself: What are the three practices for self-motivation?

Answer 19

Alignment: Aligning out work with our values and higher purpose.
Envisioning: Seeing the desired future for ourselves
Resilience: Ability to overcome obstacles in our path.

Question 20

Search Inside Yourself: What are the three elements true motivation?

Answer 20

Autonomy: Urge to direct our own lives
Mastery: Desire to get better at something that matters
Purpose: Yearning to do what we do in service of something larger than ourselves

Question 21

Search Inside Yourself: What are the three ways we can train resilience?

Answer 21

Inner calm: Once we can consistently access the inner calm in the mind, it becomes the foundation of all optimism and resilience
Emotional resilience: Success and failure are emotional experiences
Cognitive resilience: Understanding how we explain our setbacks to ourselves and creating useful mental habits help us develop optimism

Question 22

Search Inside Yourself: What are five ways to practice empathy?

Answer 22

“Just Like Me / Loving Kindness” (based on Metta Bhavana)
Establish Trust
Practice Empathic Listening
Praise people skillfully
Practice Political Awareness

Question 23

Search Inside Yourself: How do you practice empathic listening?

Answer 23

Begin by thinking, “I want this person to be happy”
Remind yourself to listen for the other persons feelings; be curious about what he or she may be feeling and give him/her plenty of airtime
If the situation warrants it, you may say “I hear you are feeling…” and generously allow him/her to respond
If appropriate, initiate a meta-conversation by asking, “was this conversation helpful to you?”
Strengthen by: Mindfulness, Kindness, Curiosity, Practice

Question 24

Search Inside Yourself: How do you practice political awareness?

Answer 24

Maintain rich personal networks within your organization, especially with allies, mentors and groups who will support and challenge you. To do this, care about people, help people, and nurture relationships. Pay attention to one-on-one relationships, as well as relationships with key groups - your team, other management teams, customers, stakeholders, etc.
Practice reading the underlying currents of your organization. Understand how decisions are made, and who is most influential in making them.
Distinguish between self-interest, interests of team, and organization’s interest.
Utilize self-awareness to better understand your role in the web of personalities and interactions. Make frequent use of empathic listening to understand how people feel about situations and about each other.

Question 25

Search Inside Yourself: What are three ways to practice leadership and social skills?

Answer 25

Lead with compassion
Influence with goodness
Communicate with insight

Question 26

Search Inside Yourself: How do you practice leading with compassion?

Answer 26

Compassion is a mental state endowed with a sense of concern for the suffering of others and aspiration to see that suffering relieved. Compassion has three components:
I understand you (cognitive)
I feel for you (affective)
I want to help you (motivational)
Great leaders, in addition to being highly capable, have great ambition and personal humility - the focus of their ambition is for the greater good

Question 27

Search Inside Yourself: What are the five domains of social experience that the brain treats as primary rewards or threats (SCARF)?

Answer 27

Status — relative importance, pecking order, seniority
Certainty — Uncertainty takes away brain resources
Autonomy — The degree of control one has over one’s environment
Relatedness — Perception of whether another person is friend or foe
Fairness — Humans will voluntarily injure their own self-interests to punish the perceived unfairness of others

Question 28

Search Inside Yourself: How do you practice influencing with goodness?

Answer 28

Know that you already have influence; it is a simple matter of improving what you already can do
Strengthen self confidence; the more you are aware of and comfortable with your own strengths and weaknesses, the more confident you become and the more effectively you can influence people
Understand people and help them succeed; you can influence people more effectively if you understand them and help them achieve their goals in ways that also help you achieve yours (remember SCARF)
Serve the greater good

Question 29

Search Inside Yourself: What are the key insights to remember when entering a difficult conversation?

Answer 29

1. Impact is not the intention
2. Beyond the content and emotions in every difficult conversation are issues of identity - recognizing this, a skillful communicator makes sure he is aware of the identity issue and addresses the when appropriate

Question 30

Search Inside Yourself: How do you conduct difficult conversations and communicate with insight?

Answer 30

1. Prepare by walking through the three conversations: What happened? What emotions are involved? what does this say about me - my competence and my goodness?
2. Decide whether to raise the issue
3. Start from the objective “third story”
4. Explore their story and yours
5. Problem solve