Early man didn’t connect childbirth with  sex because the birth of the offspring came so long after the sex act that they weren’t connected. Modern man doesn’t connect the debilitating stress load he’s carrying to heart attacks, strokes, syndromes including IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), chronic fatigue syndrome, cystic fibrosis, PTSS (post traumatic stress syndrome), fibromyalgia and cancer for the same reason. The symptoms don’t manifest themselves for years!

Every cancer researcher knows that there is a connection between stress and most if not all forms of cancer. Stress wrecks havoc on the immune system so it isn’t able to do its job. People can carry a serious stress load with apparently no ill effects for years.

We’ve long realized that man could be pushed over edge mentally by stress, and we now realize that he can be pushed over the edge into an illness or syndrome as well. If a person is mostly generating beta brain waves and does not go into the extremely beneficial alpha and theta waves except for when he falls deep asleep, his body and mind are not able to be refreshed by the alpha and the theta brain waves. One simply cannot relax when the brain is in the beta mode. Ever. Stress is experienced only in the beta state. Don’t get me wrong, we couldn’t function without moving into the beta state, but a balance must be struck.

Stress lowers the immune system. The immune system is what the body uses to fight off infection, disease and these things called syndromes. Syndromes can be every bit as debilitating as a disease, but what is a syndrome anyway? A syndrome is a disorder with some common signs and symptoms that taken together are characteristic of a particular malady. Quite often it defies a positive diagnosis. Alleviation of some or all of the symptoms varies from patient to patient, and regrettably is all that medical science is able to provide at this point in time.

To fight off stress, one must drop down from the beta mode, which is a fully engaged state, into alpha and theta which are the relaxing, the reflective, the introspective and the creative modes. The creative modes are not just for the arts or inventions, they are where the mind comes up with solutions to the problems of life. When the answers to the problems are found – the stress disappears. These two modes, the alpha and the theta mode are where our mind is refreshed and re-energized.

Stress will most definitely make life less enjoyable and in many cases – unbearable. When we are presented with disappointment uncertainty or what seems like an unsolvable problem or a disaster – the most common reflex is to stress. But what if you instead reflexed to calm? What would that do for your life? Call Bob Crow at 404.277.1827 for a complimentary consultation.

Bob Crow is a behavioral therapist board certified in clinical and medical hypnotherapy. He practices in Atlanta Georgia working with those wishing to overcome stress, panic, phobias, procrastination and fears. With those that wish to perform better in sports, sales, public speaking, to stop smoking, to lose weight permanently, to quit sabotaging relationships and any other area of behavioral change that would make life more enjoyable.

Bob Crow 404.277.1827 www.bobcrowhypnosis.com bob@bobcrowhypnosis.com

This material is the sole property of Bob Crow and his heirs. Copyright 2010 Bob Crow. Copying, duplicating, reprinting or transmitting this material in any form or any manner without the express written permission of Bob Crow or his heirs is strictly forbidden and is in violation of US and international law copyright law.

I get a steady stream of both children and adults with their presenting complaints being ADD. Some are unaware that in many cases their own actions have brought the ADD syndrome on. Others feel that their (ability?) to multitask is cool and have not yet connected multitasking with their inability to focus and to stay on target with tasks or projects until they are completed.

Multitasking has become a buzzword, much like the cool sounding MBA buzzwords that populate so many of today’s conference calls and memos. Driving one’s car while texting and talking on the phone should be more correctly called conflict-tasking, not multi-tasking. Reading an email while simultaneously watching television and doing homework would be another form of conflict-tasking.

A businessman I was working with told me of an interview that he himself had experienced. An HR person conducted this businessman’s phone interview while the HR person was driving his car and hunting for a parking space at the airport! Many notions come to mind. Could there be another way for that HR person to communicate that my client was unimportant? Would there be another way that the HR person could demonstrate his lack of courtesy, class and good manners? Could he find another way to illustrate that he was an exceptionally poor ambassador for the company that he represented?

A person feels like they are getting more done when they multitask. This is because they are keeping themselves over busy, at least maybe slightly overwhelmed and most likely in a mild state of confusion. In reality, they are fatiguing their brain by causing it to keep connecting – disconnecting – connecting – disconnecting etc.  I am well aware that many people pride themselves on multi–tasking, but unless they have the brain of an alien from another solar system, they are simply deluding themselves and decreasing their efficiency.

Everyone’s brain is capable of holding onto only one thought at a time. Did I say everyone’s? When we call on our brain to multi-task we are asking it not to focus, but to keep switching it’s attention back and forth between those several tasks. When a person keeps themselves in a continual beta mode, they are not able to utilize the beneficial and vital problem solving alpha waves. They lay in bed at night trying to fall asleep, while with the problems of the day keep playing over and over and over in their mind. They keep themselves in a continual beta mode state until they drop into a fitful non refreshing sleep out of sheer exhaustion. Then the alarm goes off and they are out of the house in 35 minutes, attempting to catch up. But they never do… That lifestyle causes this individual that is unable to concentrate and unable to focus to be ineffectual – contrary to what his ego thinks! For additional source material check the blog page on my website. Some titles to peruse would be Stress, Sickness and Syndromes, The Mind and It’s Modes, Disconnect!, Reclaim Your Brain! and Mental fibrillation.

Want to have better focus? Want to be able to concentrate? Want to enable your mind to function on a higher level? Want to quit being in a stress mode going from one crisis to another? Call Bob Crow for a complimentary consultation.

Bob Crow is a behavioral therapist board certified in clinical and medical hypnotherapy. He practices in Atlanta Georgia working with those wishing to overcome stress, panic, phobias, procrastination and fears. With those that wish to perform better in sports, sales, public speaking, to stop smoking, to lose weight permanently, to quit sabotaging relationships and any other area of behavioral change that would make life more enjoyable.

Bob Crow 404.277.1827 www.bobcrowhypnosis.com bob@bobcrowhypnosis.com

This material is the sole property of Bob Crow and his heirs. Copyright 2010 Bob Crow. Copying, duplicating, reprinting or transmitting this material in any form or any manner without the express written permission of Bob Crow or his heirs is strictly forbidden and is in violation of US and international law copyright law.

I’m amazed at the number of people in sales, that are embarrassed to be in sales. They refer to themselves as advocates, as advisers, as counselors, as consultants, as account managers – as anything but a salesman. There is an old and true adage – “nothing happens unless somebody sells something.” That being the case, isn’t being a salesperson be something to be proud of?

So why are so many people that are classified as sales people reluctant to identify themselves as such? Do they themselves look down upon salespeople? Ahh… maybe we are on to something here. On my office wall are found these words. One cannot perform in a manner inconsistent with how they see themselves. If you don’t like the image of what you do and who you are, you will never excel in sales… or anything else.

One can’t be a par golfer if they see themselves as a bogey golfer. One can’t be thin if they view themselves as overweight. One can’t stop smoking if they see themselves as a smoker. And one simply cannot be a great salesman if they themselves look down upon sales as an inferior profession.  It is a conflict that is impossible to overcome when one wishes to excel at something that one hold in contempt.

Have you ever considered that it might not be what you sell, but how prestigious that you, not others perceive it is? Could it be that since maybe the item that you might sell is relatively small or common, that you have a lesser opinion of what you do? If you sold 8 million dollar business jets would you feel inferior or would you feel proud? How would you dress if you sold to the chairman-of-the-board of a truly large company? Would you wear a golf shirt? Or would you dress in the best that you own? Would you wear flip flops or would you wear a nice pair of pumps or highly shined shoes. Read the chapter in my book Harnessing Hypnosis entitled Business Casual??? It isn’t the fact that you are in sales has you bothered; it’s how you perceive what others think about you being in sales that upsets you on some level. Have you ever noticed how convinced you are that the current positive book you are reading hold the missing secret?  The facts are these, no amount of seminars, sales rallies, motivational speeches that you attend or hear… no matter how many and what positive books you read will enable you to make behavioral change. These tools only work in the conscious mind, and you can’t make behavioral change in the conscious mind… only in the subconscious mind.

Just as you were not born afraid of spiders, snakes, heights or public speaking, you were not born looking down your nose at selling. It was programmed without you even noticing it from movies, television, comedians, you mother not wanting to answer the door for door to door salesmen… but you were programmed about sales negatively. Now it’s in your cognitive maps. Those maps reside in your subconscious mind. No amount of positive thinking or motivation will make more than a couple of days dent in that erroneous opinion.  To change that concept you need behavioral change and behavior change cannot be made in the conscious or what is sometimes referred to as the analytical mind. Behavioral change can only be made in the subconscious mind, and the only way for you to access your subconscious mind is with hypnosis. Hypnosis is the bridge to the subconscious.

If you would like to investigate how you truly can excel in sales give Bob Crow a call for a complimentary appointment.

Bob Crow is a behavioral therapist board certified in clinical and medical hypnotherapy. He practices in Atlanta Georgia working with those wishing to overcome stress, panic, phobias, procrastination and fears. With those that wish to perform better in sports, sales, public speaking, to stop smoking, to lose weight permanently, to quit sabotaging relationships and any other area of behavioral change that would make life more enjoyable.

Bob Crow 404.277.1827 www.bobcrowhypnosis.com bob@bobcrowhypnosis.com

This material is the sole property of Bob Crow and his heirs. Copyright 2010 Bob Crow. Copying, duplicating, reprinting or transmitting this material in any form or any manner without the express written permission of Bob Crow or his heirs is strictly forbidden and is in violation of US and international law copyright law.

The pre frontal cortex is the part of the brain that has been attributed to positive attitudes, optimism, the ability to solve problems, and where one makes executive decisions and derives their cognitive functioning abilities. Reasoning, problem solving, planning complex cognitive behaviors and personality expression originate here. If you are a high functioning individual you will have a highly developed pre frontal cortex. Studies have proved that repeated hypnosis enhances the prefrontal cortex.

When a heart goes into atrial or ventricular fibrillation, the heart rate goes extremely high – 160 or higher. It’s pumping very little blood, if any; in fact it would best be described as twitching or quivering – not pumping.

Some individuals get stressed to the point of panic and they go into what I have termed “mental fibrillation.” The brain is running fast, in fact it’s in overdrive, but it is unable to pump out ideas and unable to resolve issues. What’s the solution?

Our two minds consist of our conscious or analyzing mind that provides us with our math, verbal and linear skills. Our 90% stronger subconscious mind is divided into two parts. The smaller part is the autonomic nervous system which controls digestion, breathing, eye blinking and pulse. We don’t have to think about these things, however we can override some of them like eye blinking and breathing.

The much larger part of the subconscious mind is the home of our habits, our moods, our memory banks, our behavior, our imagination, our creativity and our concept of who we are – our personality. The subconscious mind also houses our two problem solvers – our imagination and our creativity.

When we are confronted by a problem, a disappointment or uncertainty, the reflex action is to stress. But when one stresses, one is shut off from one’s only two problems solvers – imagination and creativity. When we panic or stress, the prefrontal cortex is playing an extremely diminished role, the imagination and creativity are effectively shut down. We are unable to solve problems or resolve issues. The normal reflex is to panic when we are overcome by circumstances and situations. And when we panic, we are in mental fibrillation. Our brain just keeps rehashing the problem instead of solving it!

When the heart is stressed and goes into fibrillation as on the television program House MD, defibrillation paddles are used to bring the heart back into an efficient and normal rhythm. But what if… instead of reflexing to stress, which drove the mind into mental fibrillation in the first place, one reflexed to calm? Hypnosis, which is a state of focused concentration, is similar to the defibrillation paddles used on hearts. It creates in our mind a relaxed, efficient and effective operating mode. One performs better in sports, public speaking and life when one is relaxed, not tense. Our mind just works better. When sensing that the load in life is too much, in hypnosis, you will be given a cue that will be your own personal defibrillator and keep you connected to your only two problem solvers – your imagination and your creativity.

If you want to reclaim your brain and all of its power and potential, call Bob Crow for a complimentary consultation.

Bob Crow is a behavioral therapist board certified in clinical and medical hypnotherapy. He practices in Atlanta Georgia working with those wishing to overcome stress, panic, phobias, procrastination and fears. With those that wish to perform better in sports, sales, public speaking, to stop smoking, to lose weight permanently, to quit sabotaging relationships and any other area of behavioral change that would make life more enjoyable.

Bob Crow 404.277.1827 www.bobcrowhypnosis.com bob@bobcrowhypnosis

This material is the sole property of Bob Crow and his heirs. Copyright 2010 Bob Crow. Copying, duplicating, reprinting or transmitting this material in any form or any manner without the express written permission of Bob Crow or his heirs is strictly forbidden and is in violation of US and international law copyright law.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, Aug

When the mind can’t solve problems unless it’s organic, it’s because the imagination is underdeveloped hence the creativity has little to work with.

We all have two minds, the conscious mind which is where we find our math, verbal and linear skills, and the 90% more powerful, subconscious mind. It’s in our subconscious mind where we find our moods, our habits, our memory banks, our behavior and our concept of who we are – our personality. The subconscious mind also houses our two problem solvers – our imagination and our creativity.

No one has solved a problem without the tools of imagination and creativity. Ever. And in order for the creativity to work, the imagination must be developed. A child is born with an imagination, but it is possible to stunt the imagination both in children and in adults. Some misinformed parents and/or family members actually deter the development of the imagination believing that it is somehow harmful for a child to have one. They ridicule the child. Unfortunately that continues into adulthood by “well meaning” friends and colleagues. “You need to get real.”

Years ago on one summer morning, my five year old son was riding a type of tricycle called a big wheel. I mentioned something to him about riding his big wheel and he corrected me and told me that “it was a jet airliner.” I watched him “take off” in our large driveway and he began to “fly.” I came back from the bank and he was still outside on his big wheel and I asked him if he was “going to come in for a landing in his jet.” He informed me that “it wasn’t a jet it was a tractor.” We lived on a street with very little traffic which terminated in a cul-de-sac. After lunch I happened to look out into the yard and there was Randy on his big wheel, but he had it parked behind a shrub next to the street with my large flashlight hooked over the handle bar and facing backward (his radar unit no doubt). He sat very quietly and pretty soon my daughter came down the street on her bicycle. As soon as she went past him, out he came making the noise of a siren and pulled his sister over to the side and “arrested” her for speeding.

That’s called imagination. My son saw his big wheel as an airliner, a tractor and a police car in a very short period of time with absolutely no problem in doing so. Of course he still has imagination, and is able to solve problems and strategize for the company he works for.  In my practice, I routinely see children as well as adults with little to no apparent imagination, and hence – no creativity. How can they solve life’s problems?

What could cause this? For some reason many parents feel that their children must constantly be entertained. Haven’t you come up behind a minivan at night and seen two or even three video screens on? The kids don’t even have to watch the same show! When we were children on a car trip we counted cows or horses or cars with only one headlight on. The child isn’t given any opportunity to think and imagine – only to respond to outside or artificial stimuli. My children learned to read when they were four years old. Reading stimulates the imagination! Continued TV or computer gaming or other machine driven sensory input does not allow one’s imagination to develop, to think, to initiate though – only to react. In fact, quite often they are barely able to keep up. They just hang on and the input device leads them and directs their responses and their thinking. Many kids are diagnosed with something called Attention Deficit Disorder or ADD. Here’s a thought. Could it be that when the outside stimulus is absent, there is nothing for them to respond to? And since their under developed imagination plays such a very small part in their lives – they just drift. Children spend hours in front of the television. When they get bored with the TV, there’s the game boy, the internet, and all of the 21^st century machine driven diversions we can come up with to take control of the mind, instead of developing the imagination. Those devices program the brain to respond rather than stimulate original thought.

We move into the difficult pre teen and teenage years. It gets worse. Now in addition to continuing to do little reading, there are still the hours in front of the TV, the game boy, the computer games, email, twitter, facebook and etc., the cell phone and… texting. Texting has been shown to access what is known as the brain’s addiction center. Texting has been found to be the ultimate way to disconnect. People don’t even need to speak. And what they write is cryptic – like;  “R U Cumng 2 NITE?” Wow! How cool is that? No wonder the upcoming generations can’t spell.

Many families don’t even eat dinner together, another lost opportunity for real communication. One has to have the ability to communicate with others. No matter how bright one is, no matter how brilliant their concepts are, if they are unable to effectively and confidently communicate their thinking and ideas to others by conversation or by writing them or both, their thoughts are lost. So instead of the family sharing, the father might be checking emails, the mother is on her cell phone. And absenting conversation from the parents, the boy is reacting to the cues on his computer game and the girl is texting to her new best friend. The word dysfunctional comes to mind.

As adults, life’s pressures – finance, jobs, family and relationships bewilder and bury people under a huge load. If their imagination is under developed, they do not have the ability to solve their problems. Often In their jobs, they have responsibility but no authority to get things done. This adds to the pressures. Endless consensus building meetings and responding to everyday minutia and CYA emails leave a person feeling frustrated. The good feeling of accomplishment is often missing. Many can’t even come home and point to something they did that day and say “I did this.” Instead, they drag themselves in front of the television and then drug themselves by watching the shows, or they waste hours on the internet. They go to bed with unresolved issues because their imagination and creativity are so atrophied that they are unable to solve the load that they are carrying.

Many seek diversions that they can lose themselves in. Drugs of choice which include but are not limited to alcohol, drugs, sex, affairs, pornography even spending money to make themselves feel better. Life’s problems overwhelm them, and the tools that will deal with these problems, the imagination and creativity are for the most part unavailable.

Many couples along with not eating together don’t even go to bed at the same time. One is still sitting in front of the TV or internet trying to escape by frying their brain. The other person lays in bed trying to go to sleep while their problems keep playing over and over again in their mind. The brain is running fast, but it can’t resolve the problems. This person is in mental fibrillation, and they wake up in the morning up tired and un refreshed. Mental fibrillation only occurs in the beta mode – our conscious or analytical mind, never in our alpha or theta states.

When a heart goes into atrial or ventricular fibrillation, it is beating very fast… but pumping very little blood. The mind goes into mental fibrillation when the imagination has atrophied or never developed to the point where it is not available to solve problems. Think of mental fibrillation as the panic mode. Oh it’s running fast, but it is not able to pump out solutions. .

Is there a solution? If so what is it? It’s hypnosis or hypnotherapy. Hypnosis can be likened to the defibrillation paddles mentioned by Dr.Oz or that are used on the television program House MD. Many people’s hard drive (the brain) is okay, but some of their software (imagination and creativity) are either corrupted or not even open. As we’ve stated repeatedly – the only two tools we have to solve problems are the imagination and the creativity located in our subconscious mind. Positive books and positive thinking, while non harmful can’t help make behavioral change because they work only in the conscious mind. Real and permanent behavioral change can only take place in the subconscious mind. Hypnosis is the only way to access our subconscious on purpose as hypnosis is the bridge to the subconscious mind.

If you would like to investigate bringing your problem solving abilities on line, call Bob Crow for a complimentary discussion of your objectives.

Bob Crow is a behavioral therapist board certified in clinical and medical hypnotherapy. He practices in Atlanta Georgia working with those wishing to overcome stress, panic, phobias, procrastination and fears. With those that wish to perform better in sports, sales, public speaking, to stop smoking, to lose weight permanently, to quit sabotaging relationships and any other area of behavioral change that would make life more enjoyable.

This material is the sole property of Bob Crow and his heirs. Copyright 2010 Bob Crow. Copying, duplicating, reprinting or transmitting this material in any form or any manner without the express written permission of Bob Crow or his heirs is strictly forbidden and is in violation of US and international law copyright l

Almost every time a person calls me about participating in my Become a non smoker_tm program, I hear something like that. They relate to me the number of times that they paused in there smoking habit for awhile, but if they are smoking again, then they never actually stopped. Through will power and discipline they took a break from smoking, that’s all, but the fact that they smoke now means that they were never a non smoker!

This writer is one of those that believe that there is some nicotine component to smoking, but if it were the end all and be all to stopping smoking, why do people smoke while on the patches, or chewing the gum, or taking the shots and medicine? It’s because those things only treat the symptom – not the cause.

Smoking is a habit that resides in the cognitive maps of the subconscious mind. That’s why when people attempt to stop smoking, having the next cigarette is all that’s on their mind! Their subconscious has that desire there all the time. It never leaves them! We have two minds, the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. The subconscious is 90% stronger than the conscious. The subconscious is where our habits, moods, behavior, memory banks, creativity, imagination and cognitive maps live. To stop smoking one must make behavioral change. It’s impossible to make permanent behavioral change in the conscious mind. Period. Behavioral change must be made in the subconscious mind. The only way to access your subconscious is through hypnosis. Hypnosis is the bridge to the subconscious mind.

If you want to become a non smoker for life – call Bob Crow at 404.277.1827 for an appointment.

Bob Crow is a behavioral therapist board certified in clinical and medical hypnotherapy. He practices in Atlanta Georgia working with those wishing to overcome stress, panic, phobias, procrastination and fears. With those that wish to perform better in sports, sales, public speaking, to stop smoking, to lose weight permanently, to quit sabotaging relationships and any other area of behavioral change that would make life more enjoyable.

Bob Crow

404.277.1827

www.bobcrowhypnosis.com

bob@bobcrowhypnosis

This material is the sole property of Bob Crow and his heirs. Copyright 2010 Bob Crow. Copying, duplicating, reprinting or transmitting this material in any form or any manner without the express written permission of Bob Crow or his heirs is strictly forbidden and is in violation of US and international law copyright law.

People come to see me because they want to improve some area of their life. Maybe they want to lose weight. Weight they’ve been trying to lose for years! To stop smoking, improve their golf, get better at sales or become a better public speaker. Maybe they even want to improve their relationships!

Everyone wants their life to improve. Many just don’t grasp that in order for their life to improve, they must change their behavior. Behavioral change must take place in the subconscious mind. Hypnosis is the only way to access the subconscious mind as hypnosis is the bridge to the subconscious.

Many people want their life to improve, without changing themselves. It won’t work that way! With hypnosis you’ll be able to control your subconscious mind which houses your cognitive maps, which in turn direct your behavior… automatically! You’ll be spending less time reacting to situations and fixing things that were brought about by either poor choices or procrastination – or both.

Long term behavioral change cannot be achieved with willpower, discipline, resolutions or good intentions. Any real behavioral change can only take place in the subconscious mind. That’s why self help books and such, which certainly won’t hurt you, have proven to have limited positive effect; they are trying to make the changes in the conscious mind.

The same behavior always yields the same results. No exceptions. Some people come to lose weight, but what they do, is to continue on their same old maintenance diet that they have for years. Their weight won’t come off and their life won’t improve until they change their behavior.

An individual has just come back from a motivational seminar. “He or she is all fired up.” They may even go out and spend some of their new prosperity that they haven’t actually earned or received yet. Three weeks later and things are just about as they were before the seminar. How can that be? They wanted the results to improve… without changing their behavior!

Bob Crow is a behavioral therapist board certified in clinical and medical hypnotherapy. He practices in Atlanta Georgia working with those wishing to overcome stress, panic, phobias, procrastination and fears. With those that wish to perform better in sports, sales, public speaking, to stop smoking, to lose weight permanently, to quit sabotaging relationships and any other area of behavioral change that would make life more enjoyable.

Bob Crow 404.277.1827 www.bobcrowhypnosis.com bob@bobcrowhypnosis.com

This material is the sole property of Bob Crow and his heirs. Copyright 2010 Bob Crow. Copying, duplicating, reprinting or transmitting this material in any form or any manner without the express written permission of Bob Crow or his heirs is strictly forbidden and is in violation of US and international law copyright law.

When is the last time that you were walking and you had to remind yourself – left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot – etc? Of course the answer is never. Our mind automates as much as it can. One of the reasons that it’s so hard to break a habit, is that when we do something enough times, it gets its own neuronal pathways. Each neuron learns to connect and fire with the next one down the line, and the behavior gets set.

When one wants to make behavioral change, we must unlearn the old behavior, before we can replace it with the new desirable behavior!

Wherever we are in life today is the result of our behavior. Much of this behavior is how we really see ourselves. We were born confident and unafraid. In fact the only two fears that we were born with were loud noises and falling backwards. Everything… everything else was taught and learned. We were not born afraid of public speaking. We were not born afraid of making sales calls. We were not born afraid of spiders, snakes or heights. It was all taught and learned. Taught for the most part by well meaning parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, friends, bosses and the list goes on and on. It’s interesting to know that most of the time that we were being taught/learning… we were unaware. Who among us would desire to be afraid of public speaking?

When I work with someone to overcome a phobia (a phobia is an unreasonable fear of something), they must first unlearn the fear that has resided in the subconscious mind. Repeating over and over again in the conscious mind “I’m not afraid of elevators” is useless. The only… the only place that one can make behavior changes is in the subconscious mind and hypnosis is the bridge to the subconscious mind.

Copyright 2010 Bob Crow

All rights reserved

Most likely when I attend a networking function these days, I’ll see a person that purports to be a “CEO” of a mortgage company or a financial planner dressed casually. They wear a golf shirt with their company name and logo on it! Wow! How professional!  Appropriate business wear? Maybe for installing satellite dishes or delivering pizzas. But for business? No.

Steve Jobs of Apple Computer_tm can get away with it, but some might argue that much of his market is expensive entertainment or novelties items sold to an extremely young, unemployed demographic group. To many of these young people he is a folk hero and dresses in a manner they approve of. Now I am not referring to the superb Mac computers that are in use by professionals and business people around the world. Those people will buy the Mac computers no matter how Steve Jobs dresses. The rest of us cannot afford to be making the statement that Steve Jobs does.

You are needing a cardiologist, a CPA for an important tax matter or a defense attorney and that person walks into the room where you are waiting for them wearing flip flops, a super bowl twenty-one tee shirt and a pair of shorts. What message are they sending to you? That they are sharp and competent? More likely it is that their approach to their work is likewise casual. That’s not the message most people want to receive! We cannot perform in a manner that is inconsistent with how we see ourselves.

I was sharing the elevator in my office building with a person that always wore a much worn sweat shirt and jogging pants. I inquired as to what he did for a living. He said “guess!” I said “landscaper?” He said “a mortgage officer.” I myself don’t want someone providing a professional service to me that has no pride in their personal appearance.

Many people emulate the clueless and classless appearance of the newer entrants into the entertainment industry. I had a forty two year old executive come into my office wearing a spike hair do that came to a point! He said that his superiors and colleagues didn’t take him seriously. I said “You have the right to wear your hair in any way that you want, however, the message that you are sending is that you are a techie. They will discount what you have to say about strategy.” A simple neat hairdo change solved his problem. Do you really think that most people want to take professional advice from someone that looks like they were on American Idol?

If a professional dresses this way, they are rationalizing that they can dress however they want to. And they can. But dressing in a casual manner in the market place, most often indicates a less than precise approach to one’s work. They mask their lack of confidence by under dressing. Gotta be comfortable. Right?

A chiropractor came into my office in very casual attire and said her name was “Doctor Tara.” She attended all the networking events but couldn’t get any business and said “I just don’t understand why.” I said “the intake history says your name is Tara Ledford. People want their doctors to look and act like doctors. Why don’t you call yourself Doctor Ledford instead of Dr. Tara and wear the white smock that established chiropractors wear? You don’t look professional. Why would someone seek your care?” At first she was upset. She wanted to dress the way she wanted to dress, but she repackaged herself as Dr. Ledford. She dressed like a Dr. Ledford would dress. She is now taken seriously and her practice is thriving. Not only will her present and future patients see her as a professional, but now she sees herself as a professional. Not as someone’s new best friend!

We can only make that first impression once, and remember – we cannot perform in a manner inconsistent with how we see ourselves.

Bob Crow is a behavioral therapist board certified in clinical and medical hypnotherapy. He practices in Atlanta Georgia working with those wishing to overcome stress, panic, phobias, procrastination and fears. With those that wish to perform better in sports, sales, public speaking, to stop smoking, to lose weight permanently, to quit sabotaging relationships and any other area of behavioral change that would make life more enjoyable.

Bob Crow

404.277.1827

www.bobcrowproductions.com

bob@bobcrowhypnosis

Use hypnosis to function under pressure.

Air traffic control …are you declaring an emergency Cactus 1539?

03:25:10         Captain                      gear up.

03:26:54         Captain                      flaps up.

03:27:07         Captain                      after takeoff check list complete.

03:27:10         Captain                       birds!

03:27:11         cockpit recorder        (sounds of thumps followed by         shuddering sound.)

03:27:14         First Officer               uh oh!

03:27:15         First Officer               loss of thrust – both engines.

03:27:18         Captain                      attempt reignite.

03:27:23         Captain                      my aircraft

03:27:28         First Officer               your aircraft.

03:27:32         First Officer               mayday  mayday  mayday  uh this is cactus 1539

hit birds – we’ve lost thrust both engines– turning back towards LaGuardia.

03:28:10         First Officer               unable to re-ignite engines.

03:28:14         First Officer               emergency power not online.

03:29.00         First Officer               we’re gonna be in the Hudson.

03:29:11         Captain                      this is the captain brace for impact.

When the average person is confronted by a problem, a disappointment, an uncertainty, a fear, or an emergency, their common reflex action is to stress or panic. And when a person stresses, when they panic, they are shut off from their only two problem solvers, their creativity and their imagination. Our creativity and our imagination are located in our subconscious mind – not our conscious mind. We don’t need to think about what’s in our subconscious mind – that’s taken care of automatically.

What if… what if? What if our reflex was to instead of going to stress or panic mode, we reflexed to calm? Our subconscious mind, which  is where our imagination and creativity reside, would allow is to see the problem and the solution with a clarity and an insight that is not available when we are in our stressed or panicked mode.

Can this be done? Yes, as a matter of fact it can done and it is being done every day.

How did US Air Captain Chelsey Sullenberger and First Officer Jeffery Skiles react when they lost both engines on US Air 1549 only minutes and seconds after taking off? We’ve all seen the footage and heard everyone… the passengers… Air Traffic Control… and LaGuardia tower, everyone remarked how calm Captain Sullenberger and First Officer Skiles behaved through the entire ordeal. Yes, they were very well trained. But all the training in the world would have been to no avail if they would have panicked or stressed out when they found themselves flying a 375,000 pound airplane carrying 150 passengers with the engines no longer providing any power whatsoever.

The principles are they same whether you have to make a speech, you are a salesman that has to make a sale, a physician, a parent, an athlete, someone needing to pass a test, a bride planning her wedding … it doesn’t matter. If you reflex to calm instead of panic and stress, your life will be much smoother! You will evaluate the problem and deliver a solution and still remain calm.

In my hypnotherapy practice in Atlanta Georgia, there is not a day that goes by without someone’s presenting complaint having a component that requires steadiness and the ability to make decisions under pressure. If you would like to reflex to calm instead of stress or panic in your life, call Bob Crow at 404.277.18287 for a complimentary evaluation.

Bob Crow is a practicing hypnotherapist in Atlanta Georgia. He works with those wishing to overcome stress, panic, phobias, procrastination, fears, to become better athletes, better public speakers, better salesmen, to stop smoking, to lose weight and keep it off, to save their relationships, to quit sabotaging themselves and any other area of behavioral change that the desire to make.

Bob Crow 404.277.1827      bob@bobcrowhypnosis.com