{"id":37966,"date":"2017-10-17T00:04:14","date_gmt":"2017-10-17T05:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michaelhyatt.com\/?p=37966"},"modified":"2017-10-17T00:04:14","modified_gmt":"2017-10-17T05:04:14","slug":"snap-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/snap-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Need to Hit Pause to Keep Moving"},"content":{"rendered":"

After conducting an in-depth study of seventy-two high-performing CEOs, Cornell University researchers reached a surprising conclusion. The key predictor of success for leaders wasn\u2019t grit, focus, education, decision-making skills, a knack for strategic planning, or even IQ. It was self-awareness.<\/p>\n

Many experts would say self-awareness is simply the ability to monitor and regulate our thoughts, feelings, and actions (and the effect they have on ourselves and others). I half agree. In my experience cultivating and practicing self-awareness requires we identify and challenge the bogus unconscious beliefs underlying the ways we think, feel, and act.<\/p>\n

While writing my book The Road Back to You<\/a><\/em>, I devised a practice to help people surface and neutralize their self-limiting beliefs<\/a>. Based on the acronym SNAP, this practice has helped me wake up to know when self-limiting beliefs have taken the helm of my life. Here\u2019s how SNAP works.<\/p>\n

1. Stop<\/h3>\n

Every four hours, a notification comes up on my iPhone reminding me that it\u2019s time to stop for two or three minutes to give my full attention to whatever\u2019s happening in my life at that precise moment. Sounds easy, right? Forget it. Everything in our frenzied, goal-oriented world militates against pausing even for a few minutes to switch off autopilot<\/a>, and consciously come home to ourselves. But we can.<\/p>\n

To stop, take four or five deep, prayerful breaths to ground yourself in your body and return to the present moment. The purpose of this step is simply to wake up and bring your awareness back to your immediate experience.<\/p>\n

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2. Notice<\/h3>\n

Often we get swept up in the rush of daily activities and habitual reactive behaviors, but rarely do we step back to observe and learn from them. Once we\u2019ve come to a full stop, we look around to see what we\u2019ve been missing while we were lost in our thoughts or absorbed in our work.<\/p>\n

Is the environment around us calm, or burning to the ground? How are we connected to what\u2019s going on? Are we personally in a good space, or do we notice we\u2019re caught up in outmoded, habitual perspectives and behaviors<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Whatever you discover, make sure as you notice or observe what you\u2019re feeling, thinking, and doing in the moment that you do so with compassion! No labeling, analyzing, criticizing, or trying to fix anything. Your job right now is to simply notice, nothing else.<\/p>\n

3. Ask<\/h3>\n

Now that you\u2019re awake to what\u2019s happening in the moment, you can ask yourself three questions that will expose any self-limiting beliefs and get you back on track if you need it. Let me illustrate how these questions work with an example from my own life.<\/p>\n

Once, while working against a tight book deadline, I came down with a case of writer\u2019s block. I stared at the blank page on my computer screen for hours until I became an anxious wreck.<\/p>\n

Then the notification on my iPhone came up reminding me to stop and practice SNAP. Stopping work was the last thing I wanted to do given how far behind I was, but I yanked myself away from my computer, and asked myself the first question: “What am I believing right now?”<\/p>\n

This is a powerful question. After only a few minutes of quiet reflection, the unconscious beliefs fueling my anxiety and writer\u2019s block surfaced.<\/p>\n