Minute Mindset

There are certain phrases, that when spoken, everyone knows what the phrase is related to. One of the most famous statements is, “Gentleman, start your engines!”

Anyone who has heard that statement realizes it relates to the world of auto racing. The statement is the signal that things are about to happen. All the work that has been done in preparing the car for the race, all the hours of team preparation and all the experience of the driver is about to explode and be defined by what happens on the track.

If you have ever been to a NASCAR race or watched a race on TV, when those words are spoken, “Gentleman, Start Your Engines,” the energy goes through the roof!

The cars roar, they make their way around the track, the pace care drops out, the flag is dropped and the RACE is on! Not all the cars that start the race are going to finish the race. Some will have engine problems, and there will be crashes. For those who don’t finish, all the hard work...

Recently I asked a young man named Alex to define the word “relax” for me. He looked at me with puzzlement and just stared at me for a few moments. “I’m not sure what it means,” he said. “It’s one of my great challenges in life. I find it very difficult to relax. It seems my mind is always working, and I can’t seem to turn it off.”

The more we talked, the more he understood what his inability to relax did to him mentally, emotionally, and physically. It made it hard for him to focus, and many times it left him emotionally exhausted and kept him physically tired.

Alex is like so many people today who find it challenging to relax. Each day they find themselves wrestling with all that life is handing them. But the ability to relax is one of the ways you learn to control your stress level.

In working with human behavior, I find most people don’t know how to unwind. You know this as well as I do: Wind anything tight enough, and...