We’re often enamored with the idea of expanding our consciousness beyond the parameters of what we would consider to be the normal or default modalities of thinking, especially when it comes to sportive or physical output.
We want to think how elite-level athletes think - that unrelenting thought-process that has only one destination: absolute success.
Modern investigations into consciousness have revealed a lot of possibilities for us to make good use of when it comes to tinkering around with the way we think. For instance, new realizations regarding neuroplasticity have shone a bright light on the fact that we really can reformulate thinking habits that consecrate into real and permanent results, whether we're talking about overcoming addictions or maintaining motivations.
Understanding this can help in the development of something that can be referred to as a second-tier awareness — multi-level thinking patterns — whereby a more constant method of higher thought is not only achieved but also sustained and established as a default mode of conscious awareness.
Why is it critical in any kind of sportive context?
As soon as we can begin to employ this higher level perspective/awareness during a performative activity, we can elevate our physical output to unprecedented levels - a technique used by the highest strata of athletes and performers of any physical discipline.
It can be likened to having a second mind, one of self-observance, operating during any physical activity; it's not focused on the immediate discomforts or gains but, rather, the long-game, the subconscious, the deeper stuff that effectively enhances our performative output like nothing else.
Idealize it all as something of a split screen that, on the one side contains whatever surface interactions we’re engaged with (our reps, our distance, our hydration, our diet); on the other side is a higher mode of thought, something of an operating system that we typically don’t access unless we’re prompted to or unless we really put in the kind of effort that isn’t generally sustainable - our motivations, our purposes, our intentions.
We can bring that operating system from the back burners of the mind to the foreground in a way that allows us to supplement our routine interactions with deeper perceptions — to blend the two forms of focus into one comprehensive modality of thought.
While we do this naturally to some extent — say, to think about why we’re having a certain conversation for a hundredth time with someone — we often lack either the intent or the control needed to utilize such potential for more productive or desirable endeavors — or we don’t employ this as a constancy, and it’s not generally part of our default mode network (“DMN”).
But it can be.
Not only from a soft-science psychological perspective, but also from a hard-science neurological angle as well.
Academics of today and yesterday have developed innumerable mechanisms to define this quality — Abraham Maslow and his idea of self-actualization, for instance, or almost all of Carl Jung’s work in some capacity can serve to reflect this notion of synchronizing the surface and the subconscious modes of thinking.
Many more iterations on this subject have been presented under a variety of different contexts and for different purposes, few of which seek to lean into the element of efficacious permanency or self-sustaining efficiency.
What it all boils down to, however, is the simple and powerful idea of greater awareness - something that we've had difficulty with using on a daily basis.
Life has gotten rather noisy and we've invested much of our attention into the things that deliver more rapid and ostensible results - the protein powders, the creatines, the amino supplements - all fine and great but unable to really take us as far as we can truly go when we're equipped with the right intangible foundation.
Our self-awareness, on an immediate and surface level as much as on a deeper and more subliminal level, is critical and requires daily configuration and maintenance.
This is why Endorf has brought forward a comprehensive approach which addresses the intangible side of our development - one that curates a higher level of self-observation and allows for the flourishing of a second-tier awareness.
Because the most ambitious pursuits have to be approached from a holistic and comprehensive angle, they can't just be purchased or installed. Our default mode networks require quite a bit of work to optimize and Endorf is committed to uncovering the best ways to achieve the kind of all-encompassing optimization that we seem to be after.