Shift Into a Higher Gear

Sharing my learnings from the book, Shift Into a Higher Gear by Delatorro McNeal II.

Shift Into a Higher Gear by Delatorro McNeal II

With close to two decades of experience working with high achievers globally, peak performance expert Delatorro McNeal II is passionate about teaching people how to live life full throttle. A motorcycle enthusiast, McNeal uses biking metaphors to vividly illustrate how to reject the monotony of living on cruise control. Packed with exercises, journaling activities, compelling questions, and thought-provoking stories, analogies, and examples, this book teaches you the psychology and methodology of shifting into a higher gear. Each of the twelve chapters starts with the word Shift and invites you to make a simple but profound change that will accelerate your results and expand the horizons of your possibilities. You’ll discover how to

•  Lean into the curves of life and business
•  Sever your dependency on the “kickstands of life”
•  Put your weight into the changes you desire most
•  Steer the flow of your emotional states
•  Shift your core relationships to invite the right posse to your biker club
•  Drive defensively to avoid the potholes that stop most people from succeeding

From the introduction all the way through to the conclusion, this book is a transformational seminar on paper. Join Delatorro McNeal as he takes you on the personal development journey of a lifetime.

• Delatorro McNeal II isn’t your typical motivational speaker. When he gives a talk, he doesn’t just walk out onto the stage. He brings his motorcycle with him. It’s a powerful symbol. Motorcycling has changed his outlook on life, and it’s provided him with a lucid metaphor for understanding how to navigate challenges, achieve personal and professional growth, and accomplish goals and dreams. 
• If you think of a motorcycle as a metaphorical representation of your life:
  • the rear wheel is your past: the skills, knowledge, and lessons you’ve learned from previous experiences. By leveraging the gifts you’ve gained from the past, you can move forward in the present 
  • the front wheel, which is your vision for the future – the goals and dreams that give you direction in life. 
• Unfortunately, many of us lose sight of our vision for the future and become preoccupied with the past. we end up trapping ourselves in backward-looking, self-limiting mindsets, attitudes, and beliefs. The solution? Turn around. Look ahead. Focus on the vision of the future in front of you, and let that be the wheel that steers you. Keep your past where it belongs: behind you, propelling you forward.
• One powerful technique is to practice cognitive reframing. That means taking a negative belief and recasting it in a positive way.
• negative belief are really just excuses. They’re ways of justifying why we don’t pursue our dreams. The answer comes down to a single word: fear. The antidote? Another word: faith. 
• Only two fears are biologically hardwired into us – the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. The rest have been programmed into us by life experiences and the society around us. And that means they can be resisted by counter-programming. 
• On a motorcycle, the kickstand not only keeps the vehicle upright when it’s parked; when the kickstand is down, it also prevents the engine from starting – a safety feature meant to avert accidental ignitions. To turn on a motorcycle, you’ve got to show the bike you’re ready to ride by putting up the kickstand. In life, the kickstand is your fears and excuses. They keep you safe – but they also keep you from going anywhere.
• massive, drastic changes are rarely sustainable. People might keep them up for a few days or weeks, but then they get worn out, give up, and go back to their old ways. Then they’re right back where they started. You can avoid this common mistake by trying to shift your habits, behaviors, and performance, rather than trying to leap to whole new levels in one bound. That means making small but steady changes.
• there are four gears you can shift among: park, neutral, reverse, and drive. Metaphorically speaking, many of us live our lives in one of the first three gears.
  • Some of us are coasting along the road in neutral – just going through the motions and doing the same old things in the same old ways through sheer inertia
  • Some of us have pulled over to the side of the road and shifted into park – completely giving up and coming to a standstill.
  • some of us are stuck in reverse – endlessly replaying the past, repeating patterns of behavior we developed years ago, and still feeling pain from old wounds that never healed. 
  • all three gears are unhealthy and unproductive. We need to shift out of them.
  • seek out and practice the self-care, forgiveness, or therapy you need to shift out of reverse and shift into drive
• motorcycles don’t even have a reverse gear. A motorcycle only “knows” how to move forward. You put up the kickstand, turn on the engine, and shift into first gear. From that point on, you’re always in some form of “drive” – shifting into higher and higher gears as you speed up. 
• When you’re living in drive, you’re moving forward with your goals, nurturing your relationships, growing as a person, and putting in the effort to improve in all these areas. This state of being comes with a slew of positive emotions. You feel energized, focused, productive, strong, and confident. these emotions aren’t just a nice side effect; they power you forward.
• on a motorcycle, you’re exposed to the elements – rain, snow, dust, wind, heat, cold, or whatever there might be. To ride a motorcycle, you’ve got to take your environment into account and drive accordingly. 
• The same is true of life: You’ve got to accept things the way they are and roll with them, even when they leave a lot to be desired.
  • Everything has two sides: the way it is, and the way it could be. You’ve got to see the hidden potential in things.
  • Don’t just see the problem. See the better house, better relationship, better grades, finances, mental health, career, or whatever it is you want to improve. and then, improve it!
• on a motorcycle, it’s a much bigger effort to turn to a direction. You’ve got to lean your whole body and shift your weight in the direction you want to turn. And if you’re riding with someone sitting behind you, it’s also a team effort.
• The same lessons apply to achieving our goals and dreams. Steering your life in the direction you want to go is all about where you’re putting your weight – and whether you’ve got a posse of riding partners who are leaning in sync with you. 
  • your weight is your time and effort. Wherever you shift your weight is where you’ll end up going. If you want to improve something in your life, you’ve got to invest more time and effort in it. 
  • Don’t just let your ideas float around in your head. Write them down, find some mentors who can provide you with guidance on how to execute them, and then dive in. 
  • In addition to mentors, it can also help to find some mates. These are people who are at similar stages of the journey you’re undertaking, and who can provide you with a sense of camaraderie and support.
  • pay all that support forward by finding some mentees – people at an earlier stage of your journey, to whom you can be a mentor. In teaching them, you’ll also be learning many valuable lessons yourself, as you review your past experiences and distill them into wisdom you can impart to others.