TEDxPortsmouth – Dr. Alan Watkins – Being Brilliant Every Single Day: (Part 1) (Part 2)

Your performance and results…

  1. … depend on your behaviour
  2. … which depends on what you think
  3. … which depends on how you feel
  4. … which depends on your emotions
  5. … which depend on your physiology

(…) the dominant factor in the thinking <=> feeling loop is feeling

(…) feelings are the awareness of your raw emotions

(…) think of emotion as e nergy in motion *
*

(…) the key data stream from the physiology level is the HRV ( Heart Rate Variability ), which alters brain function:

  • under pressure => HRV becomes chaotic
  • super chaos => shuts off frontal lobes
  • shutdown => DIY lobotomy (the " stupid " pils)

Key aspects of your breathing that you can regulate:

  1. Steady rhythm
  2. Smooth even breaths
  3. Through the centre of your chest

BREATHE =

B reathe R hythmically E venly A nd T hrough the H eart E veryday

So it doesn’t really matter whether the heart rate is 50 or 120, what matters is am I on the left [ coherent ] or am I on the right [ erratic ].

High rate, high adrenaline emotions (120 bpm):

  • Coherent — Passion, Determination, Focus
  • Erratic — Anxiety, Anger, Frustration

Low rate, relaxation emotions (~50 bpm):

  • Coherent — Contentment, Curiosity, Equanimity
  • Erratic — Apathy, Boredom, Detachment, Indifference

(…) regulating your physiology will get you to the mid point [from erratic to coherent].

See also Dr. Alan Watkins’ book Coherence: The Secret Science of Brilliant Leadership