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USE YOUR ANGER ENERGY!
by Lesley on September 12, 2012 2:28 pm.  
Filed under: All Articles
In earlier articles in this series, I explained that anger itself is not a bad thing. Poorly managed, though, it can turn really nasty. Let’s remember that there’s only one little letter separating anger from Danger! 
So, did you make your list? You’ll need that list of goals now because we’re ready to take the next step towards turning your anger energy into peak performance.
You see, the difference between performing your activities well and performing them at the peak levels of your ability is not always a question of talent. Very often it’s about discipline and staying power, sustaining the energy needed to see your goals through to the end. And there’s no better place to reap that type of performance energy than from your own anger.
In order to convert your anger into peak performance, we need to consider the stimulus-response model. It works like this. When someone pushes one of your anger buttons, this is a stimulus for you to become angry. And generally, when that stimulus arrives, we respond immediately with our usual anger response: sulking, yelling, covert action, even violence. Normal, but often unhelpful. Wasted energy is often the result.
But what if, instead of jumping into your usual angry response (and you DO have a choice here), you wait a moment? In that moment you can access your choice to do whatever you want to do with your anger. Instead of blowing your top, I recommend that you grab your goal list. Select the goal which is most important right now, and use the energy pulsing through you to take the next STEP towards fulfilling that goal. The goal may have many steps, but that doesn’t matter. You are just taking the next step.  
There are lots of things I have to do in my business which I don’t really like. They are necessary steps within numerous professional goals, but frankly – they suck! I use anger to push myself to take those less interesting steps, and this strategy has paid off countless times by really helping me reach peak levels in many of my activities. 
Using the stimulus-response model doesn’t remove the cause of your anger. That’s good, because if the source is serious, you will need to deal with it. But working with the model will help you distance yourself from the thing that has made you angry, and give you time to make sensible decisions on how to handle it. And in the meantime, instead of using your anger against yourself or others, you use it in an empowering way to do something for yourself. You become the winner rather than the victim. You use your anger to take the next step towards opening a door in your life.
The energy of anger is precious, so please don’t waste it. When that hot anger button is pushed, take steps to use your anger to fulfill cherished goals.
Tags: anger conversion, peak performance, respo