Elevating Consciousness Elevates Performance
For most of my life, I have worked hard towards happiness, which we’re taught comes with success, which comes from high performance. So I checked those boxes that were said to be the ones to check: get educated, become financially independent, have a career that earns you recognition, buy a house, etc. I checked those boxes effectively and early, primarily by using discipline, optimizing my intellect, and prioritizing physical health. Eventually, I made it to the top of the mountain - it was disappointing. Empty. Success without joy isn’t success. That bit of emptiness sent me on a path to figure out what was going on, what was missing. After a few years of searching, I found it (because many other people before me figured it out and they wrote about it).
Our checklist is wrong. Our American recipe for success is incomplete. Achievement alone isn’t the thing that will bring you the highest level of success (just as discipline alone will not bring you freedom). Equal in importance to high achievement is high awareness. This means expanding your awareness of your internal world - emotions and intuition - as well as the external world - the people, events, and things happening around you. To expand awareness is to expand consciousness. The traditional recipe for high performance has been to optimize ourselves physically and intellectually, dismissing the value of optimizing ourselves emotionally and spiritually. I found that working on expanding my consciousness led to not only a massive improvement in my emotional and spiritual health and depth, but a massive improvement in my performance, both intellectually and physically.
Consciousness has always been a bit of a mystery. It's the innermost workings of our mind, and it's where our thoughts, emotions, and perceptions come from. We haven’t been able to measure it, and so we haven’t thought much of it (plus the hippies gave it a bad name). We've prioritized external factors like hard work, talent, and luck over the inner workings of our consciousness. But in the last 20 years or so, scientists have been able to study and measure it, and one thing is now abundantly clear: our mind is the most powerful tool we have. And by tapping into the concept of elevated consciousness, we can unlock our full potential and achieve tremendous success in all areas of our life and boost performance across a wide range of areas.
So, what is elevated consciousness?
Essentially, it refers to a state of mind where you are more aware, focused, and in control. It's a state where your mind is calm and centered, and you can better manage stress, make clear decisions, and perform at your best.
The benefits of elevated consciousness are not just anecdotal; there is scientific evidence to support this concept. Research has shown that when we are in a state of elevated consciousness, we can better regulate our emotions, stay focused, and make better decisions. This can lead to improved performance across various tasks and activities. In a study published in the Journal of Business Research, researchers found that employees who practiced mindfulness meditation showed improved job performance, reduced absenteeism, and increased job satisfaction. Similarly, in a study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, researchers found that athletes who practiced mindfulness meditation showed improved performance and were better able to manage their emotions during competition (Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, and LeBron James all prioritized mindfulness).
One study published in the Journal of Management found that mindfulness meditation, a practice often associated with elevating consciousness, led to significant improvements in job performance among employees in a high-stress work environment. The study measured job performance using objective performance metrics such as productivity, quality of work, and efficiency.
So, how can you elevate your consciousness and unlock your full potential?
Mindfulness is just one of many tools you can use to elevate your consciousness. The key is to experiment with different methods and find what works best for you. I found Transcendental Meditation to be incredibly effective for me, as well as Kundalini Yoga. Other methods include engaging in creative activities, spending time in nature, and cultivating a sense of purpose and meaning in your life. Engaging in creative activities like painting, writing, or music can help you tap into a state of flow, where you're completely absorbed in the task at hand. This can lead to a sense of fulfillment and can help you access a state of elevated consciousness. Spending time in nature will increase feelings of connectedness.
Cultivating a sense of purpose and meaning in your life is also key to elevating your consciousness. When we have a clear sense of purpose, we're more intrinsically motivated, focused, and driven. We're better able to stay on track and make decisions that are in alignment with our values and goals. This can lead to a sense of fulfillment and can help us access a state of elevated consciousness.
The US Military is frequently ahead of trends and tech, and that is also true with expanded consciousness and spirituality. Through mindfulness and meditation practices, the military is unlocking the potential of elevated consciousness to enhance the cognitive and emotional capabilities of its soldiers. The US Marine Corps, for example, has developed a program called Mindfulness-Based Mind Fitness Training, which teaches soldiers how to develop their mental resilience and cognitive performance through mindfulness meditation, breathing techniques, and other cognitive training exercises. This program has been shown to help soldiers manage stress, enhance their attentional control, and improve their decision-making skills.
The US Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences has conducted numerous studies on the benefits of mindfulness and meditation practices for soldiers. The Army has found that soldiers who received mindfulness training had improved cognitive and emotional control, as well as better performance on a cognitive task, compared to those who did not receive the training. The military is only just scratching the surface of this performance-enhancing strategy. Spirituality is now a part of boot camp curriculum.
Most organizations are way behind the curve on this approach, probably because it’s foreign and historically difficult to measure. However, the empirical evidence overwhelmingly supports the notion that elevating one's consciousness leads to a corresponding elevation in performance across a wide range of domains. Thus, individuals and organizations alike would be well-served to prioritize the cultivation of heightened states of consciousness as a means of achieving optimal performance, and leaders need to prioritize initiatives aimed at elevating the collective consciousness of their organization. It won’t just improve the performance of the team, but it will improve the level of joy within the team. I believe that expanding consciousness is the key to taking our country, and the world, to the next greater level.
