“I’m in a high state of arousal and if I can have a relaxed receptivity and stay present to it, then I’ll be in flow.” – George Mumford

Often executives share with me that they need help managing the stress of success, that is figuring out to how stay present, engaged, and grounded when they feel an upswing in their energy levels (e.g., anxiety) that results from meeting new challenges and opportunities.

George Mumford, author of the Mindful Athlete and meditation teacher to Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and countless other NBA players, is grounded, practical, and inspirational.

He explains how your mind can trip you up or make things better – and how to be more mindful, in the moment, and in the zone. Mumford talks about the stress of success in terms of the anxiety associated with talent, freedom, and possibility. He calls this dizziness of freedom and goes on to say that you can manage the stress (and anxiety) through mindfulness and ultimately, find your greatness, something he calls your own Michelangelo masterpiece within.

Key concepts:

• We don’t know when flow is going to happen
• Mindfulness makes you flow ready but you need the right conditions for it to occur
• Conditions include being present, creating space, having a relaxed receptivity, proper mindset, right effort, and making wise choices

He also shares his four tips for optimum brain growth, something he calls his Brain Fitness Program.

1. Oxygen levels have to be high enough to generate new brain cell growth, the process of neuroplasticity.
2. Easy does it. New challenges have to be done in an incremental fashion. I often say to clients, incremental success is more important than ambitious failure.
3. The challenge must be doable but still out of your comfort zone. In other words, the new challenge should feel like a stretch but not so much that it is a strain.
4. There must be enough personal interest to stimulate the motivational circuits in the brain

Click here to watch this short, inspirational, 3 minute video by George Mumford, The Sports World’s Mindfulness Whisperer!

For a deeper dive, click here to watch this inspirational 15 minutes video: Mindfulness, Sports, & Performance with George Mumford and Rich Fernandez.

For a really deep dive (one hour 17 minutes) and click here to watch this interview with Dan Harris and George Mumford – from the 10% Happier podcast!

Or visit Amazon for Mumford’s book: The Mindful Athlete: Secrets to Pure Performance with Foreword by Phil Jackson (another mindful athlete master!)