Need that quick boost of courage? Along with mantras and breathing techniques, anchoring can be a great method to help tap into your most courageous self.
You’ve probably seen anchoring techniques practiced by athletes or martial artists before they perform an action or enter combat: a tap on the shoulder, a bump on the chest, a finger pointed to the sky, and so on.
If you didn’t didn’t know what they were doing, you might mistake the action for a twitch based on superstition.
But they’re really anchoring themselves: performing a small physical action to get themselves in the right mindset to approach the task at hand. They’ve trained their minds to react to this physical action, so that whenever they perform it, they bring themselves into the right frame of mind.
You, too, can create an anchor to tap into your inner courage – just make sure it’s something personal to yourself, and a movement that you are comfortable performing.
How to create an anchor to unlock your inner warrior:
- Think of a time when you displayed great courage, or a moment when you were especially proud of yourself.
- Develop a small physical action that you can perform to remind you of this moment. Bonus points if you can directly connect the physical action to your moment of courage.
- This action now recalls your inner warrior. Each time you perform it, you will remember feelings of being courageous or brave.
- Practice this action often, even during times when you don’t need to be especially courageous. Make sure that every time you perform it, you remember that positive moment and receive an instant boost of confidence.
The anchoring technique is unique to each person, but fist pumps and taps to the heart or head are common anchors used to trigger memories and enter the correct frame of mind.
It might help if you can directly correlate the movement with an action that you performed at the time.
For example, if your anchor recalls a sports achievement, the movement can be directly tied to the same type of action you performed during a moment of heightened courage.
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We believe that anchoring can be a quick prompt to bring you into or maintain a peak state of emotion, just like a powerful piece of music can be used as stimulation.
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The anchor can be a body movement, a consumable placebo, a word, or anything else — but it should be specific to you and recall a specific emotion.
You can use the technique described above to help develop the right anchor that’s tailor-made to your own specific needs — and have fun experimenting with different anchors to help find the perfect one for you.
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