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Create your own FlowCode / Flow Golf Podcast Episode #28

Welcome back to the Flow Golf podcast Rick. So excited for another conversation as always, really enjoy these. So today, I mean, this is the Flow Golf podcast, so I really want to talk about how our listeners can create their own personal flow coach and really what that means essentially.

So I know flowcode, one of our main philosophies is that we provide a framework and we want all of our members to create their own personal flow. What I love about what we do is that we don’t put every single person into the same bucket. 

We understand that there are differences between individuals and and even at the top level of any sport, you see differences in people’s personalities, their traits, how they train and all this stuff.

And I think in today’s world, where we have so much access to our role models, potentially to high performers, whether it’s on YouTube, in podcasts, in so many different arenas, it’s very easy to kind of become that follower and just copy what other people are doing. 

But I really think that having self-awareness about what works best for you is so important in understanding how you can perform your best.

So something that I always reinforce when people ask me what it is it you do with flow code? Essentially? And I say, look, we help people identify their optimal style because that can be different. Mine is different to yours, Rick, I’m sure. 

And then we also help people train that optimal state, and that’s an important component as well.

What we do, the mental game, it’s trainable and I think a lot of people don’t understand that. So I kind of want to put it to you, Rick, and just ask from your standpoint, what does your optimal state look like for the listeners to hear? And then also what are some of the things that you do that help you get into that optimal state?

What are some of the things you train?

Sure. And again, what we love talking about is, yes, we’re using golf as an example of being at your best, but we know that flow can occur at any time during the day. It can occur as a business professional, as a spouse, as a friend. And part of that is understanding that everybody’s flow is about being fully absorbed in the present moment.

That’s the number one thing. And so what can drive attention to the present moment is what everybody needs to first ask. Then I believe there’s an emotional part of that that I want to actually show up to that present moment. I actually want to be a part of something that I think is crucial, too. So I love what you said.

Is that like being a swing instructor or I made a horrible mistake early in my career of trying to fit everybody into the same swing model. The first few years of my coaching, and that was disastrous because people have different physical abilities and they have different ways that they want to hit golf shots. It’s the same thing with the mental model here, right?

We have different personalities, different behaviors, different experiences that we bring to the golf course and we need to know that. And so, you know, for me, my own flowcode has a lot to do with identifying what some of the optimal emotional state you’re in. 

So sometimes you and I will help our players understand what’s the emotional state they’re in when they’re at their best.

Now, mine happens to be engaged. That’s the word I use. I have other people who use the word creative or peaceful or relaxed or calm or there’s hundreds and hundreds of emotions. Everybody. But think back when you played your best golf, how were you feeling on the golf course? And that is a really telltale sign of how we can get back into that.

So for me, being engaged is not only being focused in the present moment, but there’s a certain emotion about being engaged. I can’t wait to be part of this that I think is important. If I’m not engaged, I’m not going to be in a flow state because I don’t even want to be there. Right. So I think it’s a connection between our emotions and our attention.

Another thing that helps me personally get into a flow state is curiosity. And this is something I’ve studied a lot because I’ve been a curious person, so I seek out these answers. 

Something that I learned from some other training is that, you know, when we’re fearful, we back off away from it. I don’t want that. But if I’m curious about something, I want to take it on.

I want to ask questions, I want to figure it out. Curiosity to me has helped me break through some fear based stuff. It helps me get excited about what’s going to come. 

It doesn’t mean it’s always going to be a good thing, by the way. But I’m curious about this next step. I’m curious about this next shot. I’m curious about keying it up on this first hole in this tournament.

It is a heck of a lot different than being fearful and hoping that this doesn’t screw up. So my combination is curiosity, engagement and having a clear goal. What’s my intention with this shot? What’s my intention with this round of golf? 

What’s my intention with this podcast? Right. And part of that we can get into a big, deeper rabbit hole of how you want to show up is a lot about intention and that’s about your values, that’s about how you want to contribute to the moment.

So I keep going on and on and how I’m and there’s a bunch of different weeks all about triggers and stuff like that. But for me personally, if I’m curious if I’m engaged, wow, I feel like I’m ready to go at that moment.

Yeah, no, I love that record. And obviously there’s so many other ways as well that I’m sure you kind of create routines and processes that help you get into a flow state as well. And I’d love to dove into that in a second. 

What are some of those habits that you implement, whether it’s part of a morning routine, whether it’s part of a even a kind of pre performance routine, whether that’s and we say performance, but you’re performing as a coach when you go one on one in sessions or whether when on the rare occasion you step onto the golf course in that situation of course as well.

So from my standpoint, just share mine as well. I think there’s a few that really stand out in me and I’ve shared this, I think, on a podcast a few times, but I really and this is how I know I’m in flow, but I really love to engage in things that bring me more energy than what they train me off.

I’ve done so many things in the past where they really drive me to energy and I know it’s not. I’m, of course not in my optimal state, but that doesn’t necessarily always have to be something that isn’t physically exerting or even mentally exhausting. Actually, I feel more energized sometimes even off doing something that is really kind of full on, really full on.

I’m fully engaged and I feel more energized after. So I think that’s a really important thing for everyone listening to understand this doesn’t mean like I’m going to gain energy, so I need to just be relaxed and chilled and all this kind of thing. Knowing, being engaged, having a clear goal can actually make you feel more energized after than what you first have before.

Not. I remember a specific experience. I was still at university at this time and I remember I was doing some university work in the morning and then I had coaching sessions with clients in person later on in the afternoon and the university work, let’s put it that way. It wasn’t that engaging. It wasn’t something that I was, let’s say, enjoying to the full extent.

But it was okay. And I finished that university work and I felt drained. I felt like I had very little energy, essentially. And then I went to my sessions, my coaching sessions, one on one in person, quite, quite full on. And I finished that 3 hours of sessions and wow, my energy levels were just through the roof.

And that’s when I knew whatever that was made up of all of these different components of focus, engagement, clear intention, all of these different elements. I needed to do more of those things because they bring me more energy than what they train. I think you mentioned a few there, but definitely from my side, having a clear intention, understanding what I’m trying to achieve because I am quite a structured person.

I enjoy that side of things, right? We want to achieve this now. Let’s reverse engineer. But okay, well, if we want to in a month’s time achieve that goal. Okay, what do we need to achieve in the next week? Okay, that’s a week away. What do we need to achieve the next day? Okay, that’s a day away.

What do we need to achieve right now? Well, in the next hour and if I understand that, I can really start to map this process to that end goal. And I think that really gets me engaged and understanding that I’m on the right path, essentially. So that’s super powerful from my standpoint. Definitely curiosity as well. Curiosity, you mentioned it’s the same for me, 100%.

That gets me engaged, that gets me interested. And then I’m not aware of anything else that’s going on. I could be in a conversation even now on these podcasts and I completely lose the concept of time. I’m completely in the present moment and this is already I’ve already been probably rambling on for a long time. But again, because I’m curious, I like to hear what you think.

Rache and I like Eric most. What, what I’m curious about and what I enjoy talking about as well and then getting into the routines. So those specific techniques that really do help me as well, especially as I get them as part of my daily routine. So breathwork is super powerful. 

Obviously inside FlowCode Golf Academy, we have tons of breathwork, we have slow breaths which are fine, super powerful to help change my sight in the moment.

So if I notice that I’m potentially a bit agitated or I’m losing focus, I’m slightly distracted whether I’m doing work on my laptop or if I’m about to go into a coaching session, then a short three minute, nothing more. 

Three minute, slow breath, exercise. It really brings me back into that present moment and into the state that I know I need to be in in order to do my best.

So I find that super powerful. And I’d love from your standpoint, Rick and I mentioned it before, I kind of went into my story, but to know a little bit more about some of the techniques that you implement, whether it’s before your coaching sessions or in the morning, to prime your state for the day ahead, essentially.

Yeah, and I love that word priming in our life. We’re very reactionary stimulus response beings and unfortunately we’re letting society tell us how we should or should not feel. 

And I want to take more of that, empower myself to say, wait a second, I have a choice in how I want to show up to this next podcast, this next phone call, this next coaching.

I want to take that back. Now, I have been reactionary in the past. I have had somebody cut me off in traffic and get mad and all that stuff or oh my gosh, you look at the news, everything’s terrible, right? And we’re allowing our environment to affect how we are feeling. And so years ago, I decided I’m not watching any more news.

I decided that somebody cut me off in traffic. I’m going to say, well, thankfully they didn’t hit me and I have different mindsets and perspectives. So the thing that has changed for me in the last ten years is your perception, your reality. So I’ve looked at what are my perceptions that are leading to different emotions, right? And so I like to look at it as two different buckets.

I look at it and we talk about framework all the time. What’s the framework that I can start with for the day and for me Gratitude Journal having clear intentions, connecting with my values creates a foundation for the day. So one of my highest values is to be of service. And if I’m out of service, I’m already connecting to a flow state.

If I’m grateful and I’m putting a framework of I’m grateful for these three things this morning, it puts me in a different mindset. Having an intention of what I want to achieve this day helps my focus, and it’s a mindset. 

Those are what I call overarching ideas that can help me get into a flow state. But I think what you and I talk about a lot, especially with flow code, is that there are things that can shift state in the moment.

We can have a breath that has different ratios of inhale exhale to change how I physiologically feel, which now can help my behaviors in my emotional state. One quick thing that I have used on the golf course, everybody is something called an anchor and I use it. 

And some people call it a trigger. I use it from the NLP days, neuro linguistic programming days . When I put my thumb and forefinger together it literally reminds me of a shot I hit in 1994.

Now that’s well before you were even born, Hal. I know that, but I don’t remember guys. But well, I remember the shot that I hit in this tournament, and it felt like the best. And my gosh, that ball went far and it felt in my body like it was effortless, yet powerful. And I’ve played that shot over hundreds of times.

And when I play it over, I put my thumb and forefinger together. There becomes a neurological connection. Okay. And so now in my pre shot routine, I could put my thumb and forefinger together. It helps me recall this great shot, not only the memory of what it looked like, but how it felt. And in that moment, I have now shifted my state and shifted my focus.

So at the moment I use anchors and different triggers that can change state in that moment. So that’s how I look at it as a framework. First of a foundation to set intention. 

And then in the moment, as you mentioned, there could be breathing, there could be anchors, there could be different things that could shift state. But something that you talk about a lot that I want the listeners to understand is we can have all these triggers and all these anchors, but if you’re not self-aware enough, you don’t even know you need it in the moment because you might in your head you may be stressed out.

And if you don’t call a timeout on yourself to really take inventory of where you’re at, none of this stuff is going to matter. So I know you talk a lot about self-awareness. We both start with self-awareness before we can go anywhere else, right?

Otherwise you can’t make a change. You can’t change something you don’t know even exists. Right? So I actually want to. I’m just going to put it up here 1/2. 

We have an assessment inside of a FlowCode golf academy, and it’s a very simple assessment, but it’s actually something I’ve taken quite a few clients through recently. I just again want to get that initial self-awareness of How am I even feeling?

What state am I even in right now? Or What state did I generally feel I was in today and across these different components? Because once we are first of all aware of where we are, we can then find the route to where we are, we need to know where we want to go and then we can map the route between those two points.

And this is a really simple assessment we have in life, like a golf academy, but sometimes the simplest things are also the most powerful. So one of the assessments that we have, obviously, is looking at a score from 1 to 10, and we have then different elements. 

So, for example, one being relaxed and then ten on that same scale being nervous, another one confident, being one panicked, being ten patient being one, impatient being ten.

Now the key that I want everyone to understand and this is about self-awareness, first of all, where are you on that scale? 

Across these different topics, across these different subject areas, but then also understanding that not to be fearful or trying to pretend you’re not panicked or pretend you’re not impatient or pretend you’re not nervous is actually accepting the fact that you are and then understanding that you have the tools in order to actually move into a different state.

And I think most people’s struggle is that they don’t actually have the tools, they don’t have the knowledge and understanding and also the tools in their toolkit to move from a panicked state to a confidence state. 

So something that I have utilized with some of my clients in the past is actually going through this process initially, really simple right result oriented to process oriented or panic to confident or impatient patient.

Could you genuinely move yourself from one of those to another right now and they give me different ideas? Yeah, I think what I would do is this and then I ask them, Do you genuinely believe that would make a difference? 

And if I get a yes, fantastic, that’s great. And I’m actually reinforcing that they do already have the toolkit that sometimes is part of it is just them understanding, Oh, okay, I do have the skills to do the things that I need to do.

So actually my fear for those states, my fear of being nervous for being panic drops completely because I have what’s required to move into a confident state or a focused state or relaxed state. I think that’s super important. So if we then fill out this one lacking like so actually not I have no idea what I would do in the moment to move from a panic state to a relaxed like.

Okay, fantastic. Well, let’s discuss some different options. Again, not one single answer for every single person is going to be different potentially for every single person. So we experiment with a few different ideas. Is it breathwork? Is it a gratitude journal? Is it a simple meditation? Is it listening to your surroundings and taking in the noises in the environment?

There’s so many different channels that we experiment and then as soon as they understand, like, Yeah, okay, I’ll get that now I can move from this state to another. Wow. Is that a game changer for that not only performance on the course, but also just how they interact with life in general when they get calm? Okay, cool. I’m aware, I’m angry.

I now have the tools in my toolkit to move to a more calm, relaxed state. I think that’s super important.

Exactly. So we have a self-awareness, but like you mentioned, now that I’m aware, I’m frustrated on the golf course. We now need to go, well, where would I want to take this to write? Oh, you and I are both about not saying that we’re always positive. I don’t think that’s helpful. I think that being in denial and delusional is no good.

And I think some of those other emotional states can serve us quite well. They’re a signal, right, of our environment. This is signaling something in me that’s making me feel uncomfortable. Awesome. Now, what do we do with that again? Becomes part of our own code of how do we shift it? Now, I want to make this very clear to all the listeners.

I’m not saying we immediately go from fear to flow in one step, but if we know there’s a continuum of being able to go from. For me, for instance, frustration used to be my go to emotion on the golf course. Now I want to get disappointed, which has less intensity. Then I get to neutral, then I get to refocus.

There is a continuum in a spectrum that I can work off of and there’s different techniques and tools along the way. To me, that’s empowering. That means I know part of you and I have talked about that in flow training. Part of it is what we call your locus of control. If you actually believe you can do something about it, you are awesome.

But if we’re on a golf course and we’re confused and we’re helpless, good luck. Okay? It ain’t going to work. So we’re saying let’s empower ourselves with self-awareness. Let’s say that we know we can do something about it. 

And then, yes, we’re going to have these different tools that we’re going to experiment with. That’s what I’m so excited about, with flow code is that we’re providing a lot of these different triggers and frameworks and stuff and the other person gets to create their own recipe for success.

What’s the ingredients that’s going to help them get to that end goal? So again, I love awareness. I love being able to now say, where do I want to go with this? Instead of, Well, that’s how I always am and that’s why I can’t do anything about it. Then you’re right, you can’t do anything about it. It’s like.

Actually, no, I love it, Rick. And I’m super excited for all of our members that are already gone through and experimenting with their flow code to create their flow state. So thanks everyone for listening. Another really positive episode. Love, love talking about creating your own flow code. And it’s something that I know we continue to do on a daily basis.

So we are so passionate about sharing this with everyone else because it’s something that we notice a difference with in our coaching and running our business in all of the different areas, in understanding what this is, where I am and I can train my own flow coach. And I think that’s a powerful message for everyone’s takeaway is that this is trainable and it’s also unique to you.

It’s something that you can experience for yourself.

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