Activating a psyche of success

Toni Gaddie is as a clinical and sports psychologist, and co-founder of the Champion Academy. She assists national and international sports champions and business leaders in becoming  “whole champions” and maintaining their status. 

What are the mental qualities that you need to be successful?

Just recently, I was interviewed on Business Day TV about the psyche of success. The interviewer requested me to analyse the many successful people that the Champion Academy has studied in sport, business and the arts. After analysing these “whole champion” people, I looked for the common processes and qualities that make up their psyche. When I watched the interview later, I realised that we all possess what is needed to activate a mindset for success.

The magic of activating these qualities lies within the workings of three processes that are common to many whole champions and great leaders. These important processes are self-awareness, intuition and attention.

• Self-awareness allows you to observe that which you are thinking, speaking and doing, which either serves or does not serve your success.
• Intuition gives you the capacity to tune in to your instincts and to know or do something instinctively, without reason or logic. Intuition enables you to take action with trust and without knowledge of the outcome.
• Attention is the key to mobilising momentum on any successful path you embark on. Are you placing your attention on the vision, planning and appropriate action steps that will move you closer to your goal?

The synergy of using these three processes of a successful psyche, combined with nurturing eight specific seeds of success, will lead you on the path to activating your own psyche of success.

The eight seeds of success are:

1. Desire – a feeling of excitement about something you want to accomplish. Give yourself permission to want to achieve, accomplish or have whatever is important to you.
2. Worthiness – a feeling of knowing that you have strengths and value, and that you can express these to get what you want. Pat yourself on the back for what you do well.
3. Appreciation – a feeling of gratitude for the resources, conditions and support that move you forward in the direction of fulfilling your desires.
4. Faith – a feeling that everything will work out for you in the end. The universe is on your side.
5. Normalising doubt – a feeling of understanding the normality of doubt, anxiety, stress, fear, tension, etc. that emerges as you push yourself out of your comfort zone. All champions have this feeling; you need to affirm the normality and even the usefulness of these human feelings.
6. Courage to act – a feeling of boldness that you want to stretch yourself and put yourself into unknown territory for the fun of it, for growth, discovery and excitement.
7. Enjoying the journey – keeping the challenges exciting, the obstacles light and learning to love the risk of refining new resources.
8. Always learning – this is the feeling of humility; owning up when you have made a mistake, staying open to continuous learning despite your success. Your potential for growth in many aspects of life needs to be ongoing.

Plant the eight seeds of success into your psyche regardless of whichever area of life you want to achieve success. Feed them with self-awareness, intuition and attention, and you will enjoy reaping what you have sown and continue to sow.