Something More

SUPERWORKING – THE POINT OF INTERVENTION, THE RETURN TO BALANCE

Susanne Rix

Is there something “More”. And if there is, how can we experience it in our lives. Are you looking for something more in you life?

I certainly was, and by the sound of the cover story of the January 23, 2002 Business Review Weekly, I was not alone. The story captioned Goodbye rat race – why so many executives are quitting corporate life - “Executives are dropping out to find a new life. Is it a mid-life crisis or just common sense?” spoke to me. For me it happened somewhat earlier than the usual timeframe somewhere between 40 and 45. It hit me in my early 30’s. I was a manager at the Sydney Futures Exchange when “my spirit” really gave me a choice the article speaks of and asked “Do you want to keep on soldiering on with what you are doing… or do you want to give back a little?”

Because I was probably a little ahead of my time and with synchronicity being what it is, the course that caught my eye in one of the many magazines that crossed my desk, was possibly ahead of it’s time. The Australian Institute of Management were advertising a course called “Superworking: how to achieve peak performance without stress”, and after a closer look, something told me it might be worth giving it a go. As with the people interviewed in the story, I too feel I’ve got real balance in my life because of it.

Having completed the Superworking program ten years ago and experiencing it’s life-changing affects, I now find myself feeling somewhat excited and privileged to be back in the position of witness to report it’s effect, now so much a part of “me” and who I am, on an anticipatory group of people that have come together for this particular program. I feel as if I am almost privy to a special secret as to the outcome of this program, as I sit armed with the knowledge of how it has altered my own life and awoken extraordinary faculties within me that I’m glad I now know exist.

For me, the attraction to Superworking was “is this really all there is”. That familiar small voice that most of us don’t listen to that whispered to me from the core of my being. Although I was more or less happy and satisfied with my life and career in general, I knew there had to be something “more”. Superworking, surprisingly, was the door that opened that disquieting inner pressure that sometimes (hopefully) forces us to take a chance and seek a way out of an indescribable general malingering sense of dissatisfaction. Now I might call it a yearning for meaning.

At the time, I was generally interested in realizing more of my true potential in all areas of my life, especially in my career, instead of living what I felt was a only a meager half life. Or, as Einstein so succinctly put it, what I was looking for was, “the difference between genius mentality and lay mentality”. Einstein said that the only difference is “that a genius uses more of his mind and uses it in a different manner.” Perhaps being at the leading edge is about tapping our genius mentality or the “flow zone” rather than simply having the information at hand. What I have discovered for myself is that none of us are the person we or others think we are and we are truly in the flow zone when we are tapping into our own inner spirit.

And so day one of a four day programme, run over the course of a month, began. Executives began to trickle in from their usual jobs in a variety of levels of management and industry, slightly masked, apprehensive and a little stiff in an “operations normal” standard business mode. There wasn’t much interaction yet as people were still reserved amongst strangers, almost as if on the way to work, standing faced forward in a lift or sitting on a bus or ferry preparing to face just another day at the office. Once introductions were underway however, you could tangibly feel the energy levels heighten as individual, professional and personal agendas were put aside and the group began to connect like a buzz of swarming bees.

Each person had come with their own requirements, desires, wants and needs of what they would like to take away with them from this Superworking program. Would the program meet these expectations? The general consensus was that most had participated in numerous different courses and wanted something else, something new, something refreshing and practical that promised to make a difference. It was a big, bold and assuming ask. This group wanted the key to having an edge on their business competition and they wanted to change their own lives in the process. In return there was commitment to being open and to experiment and practice whatever new tools and different ways of thinking might come their way. Some felt like “old dogs wanting to learn new tricks”, others were looking forward to more energy, productivity, effectiveness, getting more done in less time and a better sense of balance in their lives. This group wanted to live and think differently. This was pretty close to my original assumptions and what I too thought I was looking for ten years previously.

The program promised to teach us how to tap into the best of ourselves, to teach us to live our true potential and how to practice sustained peak performance. We were to discover common core strategies and ways of thinking. We would learn what causes us to have peak experiences, what stops us having them and how we can practice a precise set of precursors to actually direct peak “flow” experiences. We would come away operating on a “better than normal” basis, rather than having peak experiences “by chance”. We would actually experience strategies and systems that would impact and change our way of thinking.

Peak experiences are the times we feel most alive, the most tuned in and balanced. It is when we are clear, free, unencumbered, living at our optimum potential, the best we’ve ever been. Emotions have the qualities of awe, reverence and humility. The world seems complete. Anxieties are momentarily replaced by fulfillment and great maturity. Peak experiences are our healthiest moments. We discover our answers in every ordeal and conflict in our ordinary lives.

Through Superworking tools and techniques, we learn how to harness these events by using them as raw materials in the process of self-transformation, not by escaping our daily ordinary life conflicts or making them go away. We learn new techniques in how we deal with and act within these events and how we perceive our circumstances with our thoughts, minds and behaviours. It’s all in the small things, starting in the here and now. The relationships, activities, burdens and hardships that we once thought intolerable become necessary pieces in life’s mosaic. We continue to fight the same internal battles but our approach changes considerably. Everyday experience becomes our teacher and the lessons somehow become simpler.

We started by defining what success and achievement meant for each of us individually, which confirmed how subjective such experiences are. We were given a structured method to examine our own personal priorities. My experience of Superworking is that it is a process, a preliminary which scratched the surface. Peak experiences were just the beginning, not an end. Like the light of a candle, not of the sun. Through Superworking techniques I have been graced with a foretaste to moments of ever increasing frequency of stages that are possible on life’s journey as I return to my center over and over again, each time a little more solid in myself.

Superworking works on the premise that it is emotional intelligence (EQ) that keeps high achievers ahead and well balanced rather than a brilliant mind (IQ) and we discovered that we already had many of the qualities to be peak performers. We then set about learning how to put it all together in a practical sense. To me this felt like a better definition of intelligence as it meant it was completely up to me, something totally within my control.

We looked at stress triggers and reactions in our everyday lives and how for most of us these days, our work requires us to be at our mental intellectual peak. Paradoxically, our reactions to the non-physical, mental stressors we are faced with each day tend to be physical in the now well known automatic fight/flight response (such things as high blood pressure and heart rates and decreased immune and recuperative functions). The Superworking program teaches how to lower the base rate that we operate from and we learned easy, practical and quick relaxation techniques to operate in a state of relaxed and effortless alertness even in the most stressful of circumstances.

We looked at where we spend our mental energy and how to create more balance to become “stress hardy” and resilient to changes that affect all of our everyday lives and how to be more passionate and energized about the priorities that we care the most about. The distinguishing features were surprising. It was all about shifting our priorities and perceptions about the factors that create a well-balanced and healthy life. We experienced personally that it isn’t so much about “what we do”, but “how we do it” and we learnt how to sustain our motivation to keep doing it. Over the four weeks we were able to observe the effects of our new behaviour. We unanimously agreed that when our lives are balanced, we are more likely to achieve sustained peak performance. We added some simple tools to increase our self-awareness to our tool kit to make this happen.

We were given scientific information on the top 21% of high performers and behavioural research and models on how they lead well-balanced lives. Interestingly, we discovered how they motivate and inspire others and rather than have power over others, they actually give power to others and have power over themselves. Balance, from a somewhat impressive and different approach was the key. Although not entirely new, the Superworking perspective on balance and how to achieve it is inspiring and informative and is put together with some interesting and personal insights from studies done with NASA astronauts and elite sports athletes.

After a week of practicing our new tools, by day two of the program nearly all of us were already starting to behave and feel more relaxed and in control. We were performing better and not getting as stressed at work or at home with daily problems, pressures and frustrations. The main observation was that we were aware that we could control our stress quite easily to measurably affect our state of mind and being if we “chose to”. We were becoming more self-aware and appreciating our own self-power. We had already started to do things differently with the three big differences, like the strength of a triangle, being that we had more energy, more alertness and better performance. This really seemed to be working as we were challenging our own individual beliefs and perceptions!

By the end of four days, spread out over four weeks, what stood out was how practical our new tool kit was and how many new tools we had up our sleeves. The new techniques we had learned were now ingrained and although quite simple, had such powerful effects on our lives. Some tools were so quick and easy and yet they really made such an incredible difference.

The program was life changing and we came away like elite athletes, feeling as if we could achieve absolutely anything we personally wanted to. It had given us a new lease on life. Even though I have incorporated the toolkit into my life for ten years, once again, I personally feel like a new person.

And so began the journey to a little understood destination, a destination rather different to the one I thought I was embarking on. In reality it was the beginning of a return to my center. The world is the same as it has always been. It’s just the way that I see it and myself and the balanced way I now live and think in it that has changed thanks to Superworking.

If you’re looking for something more, you might like to try it too.

Comments from some of the other Superworking participants were :

Superworking helped me achieve balance. I became more aware of thoughts and how they shape what happens in our lives. We shape our own lives and make things happen. We are in control of our thoughts and they have a powerful effect on our future.

At least one method used in the program will change how you think – surprisingly more than one will, as there are lots of powerful basic life skills. The course will benefit and improve every aspect of your life with tools to cope with every situation!

Suspend your previous beliefs and give it a wholehearted try – your arguments will crumble, your opinions will change and you will learn that those who believe in Superworking are justified in their beliefs.

Stop, take stock and absorb an arsenal of tools and excellent coping mechanisms to deal with the present and the future to solve problems, achieve goals and productivity. The course is liberating, educating and revealing – it opens doors and shows the way.

Keep an eye on physical things that impact our thinking and clarity to improve your effectiveness and lead a more balanced life. Our focus shifts out of the work environment and into the whole of our lives. Brilliant!

The results give you the motivation to keep applying these strategies in every day life to further our aspirations. They really work! I feel I know myself better and understand and relate to others better. I now have new tools and ways to perform better and achieve my own goals, without increasing stress levels.

Reverse negative ways of thinking and being and develop the weaker aspects of yourself to become more whole.

I feel challenged and motivated to use more of my brain.