The final step in The Lovett Method is to elevate your life through mind training. We say it all the time here at WSSA and I wanted to take a minute today to give you some examples of how this has affected me personally. If the concept of mind training is new to you, I suggest reading Lee’s latest book How to Stop Stuttering & Love Speaking for an in-depth look at what I’m talking about here.
I do mind training on a daily basis, usually in the morning and then again in the evening. Some days I get distracted or forget, but I try my best to be consistent. I usually start with some general positive affirmations to calm down and get myself in the right mind set. Then I get specific with whatever I feel needs attention. For instance, I will start with repeating “when I speak calmness floods my body” or “I am 100% fluent in all situations”. Then I’ll get specific like “I will be patient with my coworkers today” or “I will be calm when I talk to my boss today”.
When I first started mind training exercises I didn’t see much difference for the first few weeks. Then, things started to change. I began remembering my training when it counted and was able to implement it at a moment’s notice. I became better and better at using mind training in everyday situations as well, not just in the morning and evening. Throughout the day whenever I needed to adjust my mental state I could. It was pretty awesome; kind of like a superpower.
A few weeks ago I took a test for my job. I am a building inspector for the city and this test would be a huge step forward in my career. It would put me on a list of only a couple thousand people in the nation to achieve this certification. I studied hard for it and felt I was ready, but I was still nervous come test day.
I got to the testing center early and waited to get signed in. On that particular day there was also a big medical exam happening, so the lobby was full of doctors and medical professionals. The testing center got behind and was taking their sweet time getting people signed in. I had a solid 30 minutes to sit there and get all caught up in my own head about failing and what questions I should have studied harder.
I realized quickly that that was a terrible idea and I was going to psych myself out before I even saw the first question. Right there in the lobby I stared at the floor and began repeating positive affirmations over and over again. I started like I always do by calming myself down with general affirmations. Then moved to things like “I will have a clear mind”, “I will be able to recall information clearly”, and “I will focus 100%”.
I was able to lower my heart rate, clear my mind, relax, and calm myself down considerably before they called my name to take the test. It was rather magical. And if you’re wondering if I passed… yes, but not until the second try. That day I blew it. Calmly blew it, mind you, but blew it nonetheless. They let me take it again 7 days later and I passed it. I am now an International Code Council Certified Combination Building Inspector in both residential and commercial construction.
Just the other day my wife and I decided to go skydiving. That’s right, skydiving! We wanted to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. We bought tickets and showed up an hour early for our “Jump School” training. This was basically someone telling us what to expect and what not to do when they push us out of the plane.
We boarded the plane and began our ascent to 14k feet above the airport. It took about 15 minutes to reach altitude. On the ride up, as expected, my heart rate began to rise with every thousand feet we climbed. I decided this was a perfect time to do some mind training and relax a little before the unavoidable sheer terror of free-falling 10k feet. To be honest, this situation was a little harder to focus on mind training than the waiting room for obvious reasons, so I tried to keep it simple. I just did some general affirmations to try to keep my cool. When it came time to jump certainly wasn’t calm, but I wasn’t panicked either. I was eager for the ride of a lifetime and excited to do it. I was ready.
I honestly can’t recommend mind training enough for everyone. It has been a wonderful thing for my life and I know it would be for you too.
On a side note. Skydiving was truly a once in a lifetime experience that I highly recommend. If you ever get the chance to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, you should.
