Tip Thursday - Performance Improvement

Priming is the psychological term used to describe our increased sensitivity to a stimulus that happens NOW, due to an experience or stimulus that happened in the recent past. For example, students asked to unscramble words related to the elderly (such as... Florida, retire, wrinkle) tended to walk significantly slower when leaving the testing room than did control subjects.

This is all a non-conscious activity. We are all unconsciously primed by events and experiences around us all the time. Knowing this we can then work to deliberately prime our unconscious minds to increase our performance.

Surround yourself with pictures and memorabilia of high performers that you admire and respect to influence what you do. Really be clear though about who and what truly inspires you, not just what you 'want' to inspire you. It must be personalized specifically to you for it to work its subtle unconscious effects.

Finding Your Flow

We all have an optimal state of focus at which we are our most productive.  These are the moments inThe Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance...which we are fully immersed in what we are doing, allowing us to get further and faster.  This is what is referred to as being 'In Flow'. According to Steven Kotler, author of

"Flow is an optimal state of consciousness, when you feel and perform your best.  It's the moment of total absorption. Time speeds up or slows down like a freeze-frame effect. Mental and physical ability go through the roof, and the brain takes in more information per second, processing it more deeply."

There is over 150 years of research in the study of flow, which professional athletes have long taken advantage of. They are typically extremely skilled at deliberately creating a state of flow, to enhance their performance in real-time moments of need.  Given that a gallop poll suggests that the average business person spends less than 5% of their day in flow we all have room for improvement.  Imagine if you were able to increase your moments of flow to 15% .  Just that shift would serve to double workplace productivity.

Use the following insights to help you learn to Find Your Flow more consciously and strategically...

Challenge Yourself.  For flow there is a clear balance that must be struck between Challenge and Skill. Too little of a challenge and boredom will set in.  A challenge without the needed skillsets to accomplish it will lead to anxiety.  The ideal is a high level of challenge where your existing skills are also high.

Take Risks.  All risks require focus.  Even emotional risks require concentrated effort.  Keep the above point in mind, looking for risks that present a challenge for you, a step outside of your comfort zone, but that fall within your skillsets.

Clear Distractions.  It will prove difficult, if not impossible, to work in flow if you are constantly being interrupted. Block off time, shut off electronic devices and close your door!

Use your Senses.  The deeper your level of engagement, the more of your senses you are likely using. Open your senses to immerse yourself more fully in the task.

Change the Environment.  Your workplace environment can drive comfort and complacency, which may work against your finding flow. A more complex environment, with a certain element of novelty can demand your focus, making it far more difficult to simply 'walk' through your day, since your habits and routines won't fit these new and challenging situations.

You'll know that you're in flow when you find yourself so absorbed and involved in what you are doing that you lose your sense of self and time to the task.  You will experience greater clarity, motivation and satisfaction from the work.

Given that your best and most productive work comes out of your moments of Flow, it makes sense to learn to cultivate these moments. Use the tips above to help you take your productivity (and success) to the next level!

    

Mondays Got You Down?

Ahhh... the weekend!  Many spend their week in anticipation of their upcoming weekend, their time

away from the grind of their workweek, only to find themselves spending half their weekend - Sunday - counting down the minutes until Monday once again arrives.  Research has indicated that people legitimately suffer from the Sunday Blues, anxiety that is brought on by thoughts of having to head to work the following day.  

The largest reason cited is that Mondays are typically the most stressful day of the week. Anticipating and worrying about how 'bad' heading back in to the office will likely be creates negative emotions that often lead us to be less productive on Monday, adding to our negative view of the day itself.

Psychology shows us that our current emotional state not only has a huge impact on our performance and productivity but that it also influences and impacts those around us.  So, our negative emotions don't just bring us down, but they drag down those around us!

Alexander Kjerulf, an international author and speaker on Happiness at Work (yes, it's possible!) says that the Monday Blues are so prevalent that they have become a cultural phenomenon that describe feelings of depression, tiredness and a sense that work is unpleasant and unavoidable. However, there are definitely ways that we can help to start our work week on a more positive note.  The following are 6 top suggestions from Happiness experts.

1.  Prepare Ahead.  Prepare for a positive Monday on Friday.  Leave yourself as few dreaded tasks, carried over from Friday, as possible. This not only helps your transition into the new workweek go much smoother but it also allows you to relax more fully over the weekend, which also de-stresses you.  Use Sunday night to prep ahead to, getting yourself organized to avoid the last minute rush that tends to spike those feelings of stress and anxiety.

2.  Focus on Positives.  Often we are focused solely on all of the difficult and tough tasks in store for us that week, failing to balance them with all of the activities we are excited about.  Start off the week by listing all of the things you are looking forward to that week to keep your energy up.

3.  Dress for Success.  Give yourself the boost or lift you need on Mondays by reserving your favourite or new outfits for those days.  Use the boost they give you to kick-start the week and snag a few compliments along the way.

4.  Schedule Light.  Knowing that Mondays can be hectic and stressful, don't add to them by over-booking your day.  Deliberately leave it a little lighter to give you room to manoeuvre.

5.  Plan Your Weekend.  Give yourself something to look forward to by having something positive lined up for the weekend.  If your weekend tends to serve only as a holding pattern in between work weeks then you are not allowing yourself time to decompress, to recharge, to experience some fun. If you can't build some fun into your workweek (which is also highly recommended) then make sure you give yourself something fun to look forward to over the course of the week.

6.  No TV on Sunday Night.  Although Neilson research shows that people watch the most television on Sunday nights, typically watching a lot of drama, it is not likely to be the best way to de-stress. Enjoy a relaxing dinner, go for a walk, read a book...  engage in activities that don't get your brain focusing on the tension and drama that may be in store for you in the workplace.  The better you are able to forestall worrying, the lower your anxiety likely will be.

Think of each work week as a new beginning, with Monday signalling your fresh start.  This opens up new positive avenues for you to let go of anything you've been beating yourself up over and to engage in more positive action.  Reframing Monday so that it represents beginnings and opportunities may be just what you need to stop hitting the snooze button and to jump into your week smiling.

Creating a Sense of Progress

Perhaps one of the biggest and most consistent leadership challenges that my clients face is the

puzzle of motivation.  They all struggle with how to motivate their people in an effort to keep them focused and producing.  They play with recognition and reward systems in an effort to keep productivity levels up.  Despite their inventiveness and creativity in whatever reward systems they create though, they continue to face challenges in motivation.

Taken down to the personal level though, individual clients also complain of a lack of motivation, often putting it down to the need to get too much done in too little time that they feel burnt out.  It is hard to get motivated to keep slogging when there is just so much more left to do and the end is not in sight.

As it turns out, this last statement is the key.  We are so caught up in being busy that we have lost sight of the 'end', of what it is that we are trying to achieve. We therefore are left at the end of the day having invested 8 hours (or more) of our lives, without any sense that we have made a difference, that we have completed anything of value. Researchers have found that giving people a clear Sense of Progress is more effective at getting people enthusiastic about what they are doing than giving them goals, incentives, recognition or any other kind of reward.  

In fact, this finding was so important that it was recognized as Harvard Business Review's number one breakthrough idea of 2010.  However, it seems that most of us didn't get the memo.  Perhaps because the Progress Principle really isn't all that sexy sounding even though it is effective.  

Progress Principle:  The more that people experience a sense of progress, the more motivated they will be to accomplish more. 

Marketers have long embraced this concept, using it to influence our buying patterns.  A Columbia University study determined that the closer we are to 'earning' a free coffee, the more frequently we start buying coffee. It seems simple enough, but upon closer examination, this is the Progress Principle at work.  Loyalty cards track our purchases, providing us with a method for tracking our progress toward the achievement of a goal, typically a 'freebie' of some kind. 

What's also important to consider is that our goal progress can even be 'illusory' and it will up our motivation.  Consider the impact of two different loyalty cards...

1. A 10 stamp card - in order to get a free coffee
2. A 12 stamp card, with the first 2 stamps 'given' to you as a bonus - in order to get a free coffee

In essence the two cards are identical, buy 10 coffees, get the next free. However, in studies, the owners of the second card purchased their 10 coffees faster than the members of the first loyalty card. Those two bonus stamps made people feel that they had already achieved some progress toward the goal, which left them feeling more motivated to take further action to complete the task.  The Sense of Progress is so powerful that even of Illusory Goal Progress motivates us forward.  

This is an important point to consider, especially after the completion of a goal.  In the first example above, when you redeem your card you are given a fresh, blank card to begin again.  However, research shows us that motivation and performance slow down appreciably right after a goal is achieved.  That blank card is a 'start again' moment that is disheartening, not motivating.  The 'Bonus Stamp' card though has already got a start made.  It already has a couple of small achievements noted that prove motivating toward taking the next steps. It helps get over the motivation drop following goal completion.

Interesting... but how can we use this and apply it to our own goals and challenges in order to up our productivity?

1. Chunk a large project down into smaller goals.  It is far easier to monitor your progress using those smaller steps, which helps keep your motivation up.
2. Each of your chunked project steps, when completed, become 'Bonus Stamps' for the next project chunk.  Your first couple of steps for a goal will always have some early components to it that are already done,  Typically we leave these off of the plan, because they have already been handled.  Instead, include them in your plan, giving yourself recognition for them and some 'Bonus Stamps' for the next phase. If they were steps someone else took before handing the rest over to you, include them anyway.  We know that Illusory Goal Progress works, get it working for you.

Loyalty cards are simply progress tracking systems. Ensure that you have systems in place that help you to track your progress.  Build your own personal system to help you track and reward your progress. We already know that we can be influenced by such systems to help others achieve their goals, why not put the same principle to work to help us stay on track and meeting our goals? 

Creating a Sense of Progress is far more effective at getting us enthusiastic about what we're doing. It serves to catalyze and nourish our motivation and spurs greater progress. We can easily see where our work has made a difference, helping us to feel more purposeful and valuable. If you feel that your motivation seems to have taken a vacation (if not relocated permanently to another city), build your own Big Project Loyalty Card system and see what tracking your progress more actively does to help bring your motivation back online.  

Tip Thursday - Success

Truly successful people are extremely good at one thing you and I may overlook. They are very conscientious about managing their energy. They understand what gives them energy and work to increase those activities, while also being clear about minimizing their engagement in activities that reduce their energy. Know what feeds you, what depletes and... who feeds you, who depletes you.

The energy you have determines how much you do. Successful people tend to get more done often simply because they have the energy for it. Manage your energy like the critical resource it is!

Managing our Emotions and Driving Performance

We all have our off days.  Those days where we seem to lack the interest, energy or motivation to get out there and make things happen.  If our off days are significantly outnumbered by the days that we feel 'on', we likely don't worry about them too much.  However, when our 'off' days seem to be gaining a foothold or seriously begin to outnumber the good days, we may find ourselves becoming concerned over the potential impact of these days on our short and long term success.

We know that we perform better when we are in a positive frame of mind. It's a simple equation: when we feel good we are more likely to engage in good work.  When we feel bad though, our work suffers.  Unfortunately, many of us don't know why we feel bad, why we feel angry, sad, anxious, or nervous and, even if we do, we believe ourselves to be at the mercy of the emotion.  We don't control our emotional responses.  Or do we?

There is an emerging new field of study - Emotional Body Language - that is investigating this more fully, but know that it is based on studies that have been taking place over the past 20 years highlighting the interrelationship between our emotional and physical states.  In fact, Amy Cuddy's top TED talk of 2012, Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are, is a prime example of the work done in this field.  In her study Cuddy focused on the impact of Power poses on participant's physiology.

We know that our emotions drive our body language.  When we are sad it shows in our facial expressions and the way that we move and carry our body.  When we are angry that translates out into different expressions, gestures and movements.  So too when we are happy, disgusted, surprised or fearful.

What is important about the work of Cuddy and her team, and so many other studies, is that the reverse of this is also true.  You can consciously create an emotional response by engaging in certain body movements and postures.  You want to feel more confident and powerful?  Adopt stronger more powerful body language.  You want to feel happier?  Adopt the body language of happiness.

"We don't laugh because we're happy, we're happy because we laugh"  William James

Our body language drives certain autonomic and hormonal responses within our bodies which, in turn, drive the corresponding emotional reaction.  You want to feel more confident?  Stand, sit and move with confidence. The feeling will follow.  This is referred to as Self Generating Emotion.  You create the emotion you want to experience.

Certainly this is something that requires a little more than simply 'telling' yourself to be happy.  You must first understand what your body typically does when it's happy.  How do you carry yourself when you are happy?  How do you move?  How do you gesture?  What facial expressions do you engage in?  The better you understand this, the better able you are to replicate it.  The better you are at doing so, the clearer the message you send to the brain, which reads the happiness signals you are sending and creates the Autonomic and Hormonal responses that support the state you are creating. You now feel happy.

As with all things worthwhile to perfect, this takes some preparation and practice.  Two important steps in this process.

1. Build Awareness.  You need to develop your conscious awareness of what your body does when angry, when confident, when happy.  Whatever emotion you are looking to replicate.  The easiest way is to 'dissect' your body language when you find yourself in a situation when you are experiencing the desired emotion. When you are in a situation in which you feel happy, consider how you are gesturing, how you are walking, how you are moving.  What is the position of your shoulders?  What is your facial expression?  The more detailed you can be the better and clearer the message you will send to your brain when you want to replicate this emotion.
2. Practice.  Try adopting the behaviours and body language of Happiness (or any emotion of your choosing) when you are not feeling particularly happy.  Walk around the room in the same way you do when happy.  Replicate all of the behaviours you identified in the first step.  Try this for two minutes and then assess how you are 'feeling'.  If you've done a good job in the first step then you will be feeling and experiencing more of the desired emotion. The good news is that once you are 'feeling it', your brain will assume control of your body language, making it fit the new emotion.  You no longer need to manage it consciously.  If, after a couple of minutes, you are not experiencing any emotional shift then go back to Step 1 and assess and dissect your movements again, adding more details.  If you can arrange for video to review even better.

The positive message for each of us is that we are not at the mercy of emotions.  When we are experiencing an emotion that isn't serving us (perhaps nervousness or anxiety) we have it within us to change that emotional state to one that does (confidence).  A little upfront homework can pay off huge dividends for us by helping keep us in the emotional mindsets that assure us productivity and peak performance.  Definitely a recipe for success!

Tip Thursday - Breaking Bad Habits

Breaking bad habits can prove difficult and frustrating.  One great tip to use in helping you gain control over some of yours is to use the Strategy of Inconvenience.  We are, in general, influenced by the ease with which we can accomplish something. The more convenient, the easier it is to do, the more likely we are to do it. Therefore, by making our bad habits more 'inconvenient' we will be far less likely to engage in them. This may be the first time ever that you can benefit from taking advantage of any inherent laziness!  To stop checking your phone all the time put it in a locked drawer. To avoid constantly hitting the snooze alarm in the morning, put your alarm across the room. What's convenient likely gets done.

Why Your Best is One of the Best Success Strategies

We are all, by nature, creatures that want to do our best.  We thrive in environments that allow and enable us to operate at our optimum.  It is when we are doing our best work that we are the most fulfilled and satisfied.  Doing anything less than our best has a way of eroding our confidence and sense of personal value.

Why then do we settle for less?
Why do we offer up less than we're capable of and then lament receiving less than we desired in return?

Doing our best does not mean that we need to be or do perfect.  It simply means that we are doing the best we can, with what we've got, in the current situation.  Giving our best will vary from day-to-day because we are not the same each day, nor are our circumstances.  However, when we offer our best we have no reason to judge ourselves harshly or to feel guilt or shame for having offered less than we were able.

It is those people that are giving everything they do everything that they've got that can expect the biggest rewards and best opportunities.  As Oprah Winfrey once said...

Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment

Doing your best is more likely to position you favourably for new opportunities than doing less ever will.  Wanting the best of everything that life has to offer you requires you to give life the best that you have to offer.  It's an even trade. In order to prepare yourself for the best future possible then, you must be doing everything you can today to prepare for it.  Giving whatever task you are engaged in the very best you can creates a mindset of excellence that helps your best to grow and improve. Use some of the following suggestions to help you to recognise and grow your best.

Let go of the thought of perfection.

Striving for perfection can be one of the biggest barriers to doing our best that there is.  Perfect is elusive and unobtainable.  Therefore, we are never happy with what we are producing, continually wanting to tweak it, improve it, make it better.  However, doing our best allows us to let go of projects, recognizing that it is as close to perfect as we can make it given our current skills and abilities, the deadline we face and the circumstances we are producing it under.  Letting go of the thought of 'perfect' allows us to complete things, learn from them and move on.  This allows us to get better, our 'best' to improve and therefore our value to grow.

Be open to learning.

Opening ourselves to new thoughts, ideas and ways of doing things allows us to continue to contribute at our highest level.  It is when we close our minds to  learning anything new that 'doing our best' becomes an excuse rather than a goal.  We must be committed to excellence, committed to the view that our 'best' is based on the potential within us which must be nurtured and challenged and developed.

Gauge your feelings.

How we feel about the work that we have done is a great indication of whether we are truly operating at our best or not.  When we feel excitement and pride we are more likely to be operating at our better and higher levels of performance.  However, when we experience disappointment in the outcome of a task it often relates back to the fact that we did not do everything in our control to contribute to it. We don't get the results we long for but we likely got the results we deserved.  Use your feelings as a gauge to determine whether you are giving something your all or are holding back.

No limits.

'Doing your Best' is not intended to be a limitation.  The offhandedly delivered 'oh well, I did my best' phrase, after not achieving what you had hoped, often describes a situation in which we truly didn't.  It is a pacifying phrase meant to excuse the result you achieved.  If you are operating at your best, each and every day, then there is notable improvement that is taking place.  There will be a passion and excitement, a positive energy that you are applying to your actions and the work that you are doing.  In this mindset of excellence you will not be brushing off lack-lustre performance or results but will be already planning on how to improve it.  Doing your best is therefore not limiting, but empowering.

Our personal goal should be to live each day such that we can end each day saying with confidence and pride - "I did my very best, there was nothing more I could have given".  Imagine how we would feel about our lives, about our selves, if each day we were ending it this way.  This is a goal worth striving for and a life worth living.

6 Steps for Overcoming Laziness

We all feel lazy sometimes and we all have days where we want (and perhaps need) nothing better
than to kick back and do virtually nothing that day.  This is not the 'laziness' that I am addressing in this blog though.

The laziness I'm referring to is that overwhelming feeling of inertia that prevents us from moving forward on tasks that we know are laying in wait for us, the type of laziness that keeps us glued to the couch even when thoughts of what we should be doing, could be doing and perhaps even need to be doing dance through our heads.

So when those 'lazy days' are too frequent, or they occur in the face of pressing obligations, we just might need a little help to get up and get moving.  The following tips will help you to overcome your laziness and get on with getting things done.

1.  Focus on the end result, not the process.

Seeing the desired end result feels good, while the process we need to follow to get there may not. Since our 'pain' is centered in the process, it is likely what we're looking to avoid.  Focusing on the end result therefore can give us the motivation we need to manage the process related pain better.

2.  Start Small.

Sometimes our laziness is due to a sense of overwhelm.  The project in front of us is just too big to get our heads around or the list of to-do's waiting for us is too long to believe we'll ever get through it.  It's the sheer size of the task that is daunting.  Instead of focusing on the 'whole', break your project or your tasks down into smaller steps and just do one thing.  Promise yourself you will just work for 5 minutes, or accomplish one small task. It won't feel nearly as overwhelming.  Creating a little forward movement is often all that is needed to motivate ourselves into taking another small step, and then another...

3.   Work the Cost of Laziness.

Create a list of the disadvantages of being lazy today, and putting everything off, versus the advantages of doing it Now.  Often our laziness is an avoidance behaviour; we are putting off doing something that seems undesirable.  Creating greater clarity over why being lazy right now is actually undesirable, and why taking action now is more desirable, can help you break out of your laziness rut.

4.  Rest.

Let's face it, sometimes our laziness is born out of sheer exhaustion.  If you have been burning the candle at both ends then your desire to sit back and do nothing may not only be well-deserved but may be necessary.  Get the rest you need to rejuvenate your focus and your drive.

5.  Schedule your Laziness.

You schedule your work, building to-do lists and project plans.  Maybe you need to consider building in time to just sit back and do nothing... without guilt.  Often we decide we are deserving some do-nothing time only to be racked by constant thoughts of what we 'should' and 'ought-to' be doing.  Our lazy day then doesn't serve to relax or recharge us the way it could if we entered into it knowing that it was okay to do nothing today - that it was all part of the plan.  Give yourself permission by planning for your lazy moments.  You'll be surprised by how powerfully effective this can be.

Feeding Your Performance

Your performance on the job is a factor of many variables.  Do you know what to do?  Do you know how to do it?  Do you have the necessary skills to do it?  Is training and support provided?  Are you capable of learning it?  Are you interested in learning it?  All of these elements will influence your performance and productivity.

Additionally, we know that your physical health is also associated with your performance; those in good physical health tend to out-perform those who are not.  Let's face it, to get things done you have to have the energy to do it.  But we also need to have the right mental mindset to get things done, which means that your mental health and well-being is also a key factor in determining your success, in life and at work.

New studies published from the University of Warwick Medical School demonstrate a high correlation between the amount of fruit and vegetables consumed and your level of Mental Well-Being.  Yes, it turns out that your mother was right to admonish you to eat your vegetables.  In a study with over 14,000 people they determined that those participants deemed to have a high level of mental well-being consumed more fruit and vegetables each day than did their low mental well-being counterparts.  In fact, of those classified as High on the mental well-being scale, 33.5% consumed 5+ fruit and vegetables per day and 31.4% ate 3-4 portions.  Those in the low well-being group typically consumed little to none.

It seems that, along with not smoking, eating fruit and vegetables is the behaviour most consistently associated with maintaining a high degree of mental well-being.

If you consider that previous studies have forged a firm link between low mental well being and mental illness and mental health problems, then we definitely want to ensure that we fall on the opposite end of the scale.

High mental health and well-being is associated with feelings of optimism, positivity, happiness, higher self-esteem and better relationships.  These are all typical characteristics of high-performers. Top athletes know that they need to consume the right fuel for their bodies if they want it to perform at its peak, but they also know that their success is determined as much by their 'mental game' as their physical.  However, as it turns out, eating right for their physical conditioning already helps them improve their mental game.

For those of us that aren't requiring our bodies to 'perform' for us at that level, we may not be as consciously focused on the connection between our diet and our on-the-job performance. Research such as the above makes it clear that what we fuel ourselves with each day not only has an impact on our physical capabilities but our mental capabilities as well.

Really, as it turns out it is quite a simple equation.  Do you want to be happy?  Eat your broccoli!

When being the Best isn't always the Best thing to be!

We are often told that, if we want to be successful, we should do what successful people do.  It would seem to make sense then to sit down with the expert, the person who is a 'pro' at what you want to do, and find out how they did it.  If you can dissect their actions, then you will be in a position to replicate their process and achieve similar results.  

This, however, is often proven to be better in theory than in actuality.  It seems that those who are great at what they do may not truly understand how they did everything to get them there.  This is as true in business as it is in sports.  In the film clip below, Malcolm Gladwell discusses why a Professional Tennis Player may not be the best person to ask in determining 'how' to become a great tennis player.



As it turns out, the sports Pros may not be positioned well to teach you what they do because they do it instinctively.  It isn't a rational decision they make, it's a reaction or response to stimuli.  What Gladwell doesn't mention in this clip though is that there are people who are positioned to help you improve your game.  Those people are the coaches.  These are the people that have broken the moves down, who have studied what it takes to succeed; which is why they are there coaching the pros.

When you are looking for direction on how to become the best, your time may be better served in learning from those that helped the Best in Class get there, than in questioning those who have made it.  Look to those who have guided the success of others, and not just themselves, for they understand what is necessary and are better positioned to help you find ways that will work for you.  Most pros know what it took for them to get there but are not well-positioned to offer you alternative routes.  

We see this happen in business where, for example, you have a sales rep out in the field who is just killing it.  They are by-far out-selling all others and so, naturally, they get promoted.  The assumption is that they will now teach those reporting to them 'how to do it'.  The organization is hoping to now not just have one person in the field selling like crazy but a whole team of 'em.  But... it just doesn't happen.  Turns out... that sales rep turned manager doesn't know how to describe what they do to create rapport.  They can't truly explain how the 'magic' works.  Sure, they make up stuff to share and to get others working on replicating, but it turns out like that recipe you got from your grandma where it seems to be missing that one ingredient!  Getting there and explaining 'how' to get there are not the same skill.  Sometimes it it better to leave that amazing, exceptional person alone, doing what makes them amazing and exceptional and promote the person who understands the steps to helping others be amazing and exceptional.  

Being the Best is an admirable goal.  But, if you are looking to help grow and develop others, you don't need to be the Best at what you coach in, you just need to be the best coach.  Two different skills.  Make sure that you get what you need from those better positioned to give it to you.


  

The Attraction of Distractions

Let's face it, even before technology came along and made it easier, we had little difficulty in allowing ourselves to become distracted from seemingly 'important' tasks.  Now the advent of the internet and the advancement of technology have allowed our distractions to become just one click away!  Enough so that I have heard productivity consultants refer to our electronic devices as 'Weapons of Mass Distraction'!

We have, in fact, become so obsessed with these devices that recent reports have found that 67% of cell phone owners checked their phone for missed calls/messages/alerts - even when they had received no notice of any being received.  Additionally, more than half reported sleeping with their phone by their bed so that they wouldn't miss any calls or messages while they were sleeping.  In becoming more 'connected' through technology we are becoming more disconnected with our work and what drives our success.

If we think of a Distraction as being anything that pulls us away from our Purpose, as opposed to simply our Task, the need to minimize and/or control our distractions becomes more important.  How then can we control our distractions to increase our productivity? The following five tips are key for controlling the siren call of your favourite distractions.

1.  Stop Multi-Tasking.  I have written before about the dangers of multi-tasking (see Multitasking - Friend or Foe).  Recent research has now found that your IQ points will drop for any day that you change tasks more than 10 times over the course of it.  5 full points for Women and 15 points for Men.  Yes, sorry guys, but research does show that you have more challenges with multitasking than women.  In essence, multitasking itself is proving to be a distraction, often negatively impacting both quality and quantity of work produced.

2.  Plan Backward.  Many of us schedule our time wrong and create To-Do lists with too many big-ticket items on it.  Merely looking at it is overwhelming.  Instead, we should start with our final objective in mind and work it backward.  Start with the goal, break it down into milestones and then individual tasks.  Put the tasks on your To-Do lists.  Looking at smaller items on your daily lists seems less-daunting and increases the likelihood of getting it done.  Additionally, the more we can break our objectives down into smaller bites the less prone we are to interrupt them with distractions.

3.  Establish Routines.  Having established routines and times set for handling mundane items (such as emails, returning calls, checking on your Facebook status) prevents you from doing so constantly.  You know you'll get to it, you know it will be waiting for you, but you will now be checking it on your time, not on someone else's posting schedule.

4.  Own your Agenda.  I love the quote... "An emergency on your part does not constitute and emergency on mine", and it is fully applicable to this point.  You need to set boundaries and guard your schedule and timelines.  Other people have their own Agendas and will be working toward fulfilling them.  Your agenda can quickly become 'busy' with simply getting things done for everyone else.  They get to check off items from their To-Do list but yours remains intact.  Ensure that you recognise that their Agenda is no more important than your own.  I'm not saying to not be responsive to others, but don't feel that you need to drop what you are doing every time that someone else has an 'emergency'.  Assess then respond.  Often 'later' still works.

5.  Work in Chunks.  Research indicates that our productivity remains highest when we work in 60 to 90 minute intervals, scheduled with short recuperative breaks in between.  This is how our body was built...  learning to work within its normal and natural rhythms helps us to maintain our productivity, focus and, most importantly, energy.  (more information on this can be found in the article...  Turning Energy into Time, or by taking a look at our ebook on the subject)

Forget what your IQ says; how's your Successful Intelligence level?

You have likely heard the saying... 'Common Sense isn't so Common', but have you ever really wondered about the impact of common sense on our success?  Psychologist Robert Sternberg has been conducting research that does just that.

Sternberg always found the belief that Intelligence tests could accurately predict business and personal success to be flawed.  Most standard IQ tests measure a very narrow range of abilities, many of which aren't strong indicators or predictors of success itself.  He therefore has begun presenting his thoughts on what he calls Success Intelligence, the ability to think in ways that help you to develop your personal excellence and to ultimately thrive and excel at work.

Your Successful Intelligence is made up of three key ways of thinking:

1. Analytical Thinking, which is the ability to solve problems and judge ideas
2. Creative Thinking, the ability to come up with new and innovative solutions to problems
3. Practical Thinking, the ability to use and implement your ideas effectively.

Your level of Successful Intelligence is greatest, and most effective, when these three key types of thinking are operating in balance with one another.  People with high levels of Successful Intelligence know how to make the most of what they have and are able to actively find ways to work around any of their limitations.  In essence, this is very much in alignment with what I share with clients all of the time: the need to focus on developing your strengths, while finding ways to minimize your weaknesses.

J. Robert Baum, Director of Entrepreneurship Research at the University of Maryland, says that your learning orientation has a direct impact upon your entrepreneurship success.  Those that don't learn much from their past experiences don't tend to gain much in the way of Practical Intelligence, thereby seriously impacting their ability to start or run successful new ventures.  Those with high Practical Intelligence though, tend to learn best by doing and not by watching or reading, providing them with hands-on, practical experience they can apply to a variety of different opportunities in future.

Your Successful Intelligence, and in particular your Practical Intelligence, is completely separate from your IQ, which is why some with very high IQ levels can prove to be unsuccessful in business while those with comparatively lower IQs might enjoy a great deal more success.  He and his group ran a number of experiments in which they determined that Practical Intelligence was a key determining factor in entrepreneurial success, rating much higher than IQ.  

The implication for each of us is, of course, to let go of any notion that we might not be 'smart enough' to take on new tasks or roles and that we should consider whether we have Analytical, Creative and Practical Intelligence needed to be successful.  

From childhood we have gotten too hung up on the concept of IQ being the indicator of how far we will travel in life.  Today we are coming to recognise that there are a significant number of other factors that contribute to our overall success, IQ is just one, which helps explain why that 'guy' who kept getting A+ grades all through school may just end up reporting to you, despite your solid B-level grades.  Turns out there's more to it, and to you, than previously was known.

The Art of Mastery

What does it take to achieve true mastery, whether in a skill, a subject or an activity? The answer seemingly is straightforward and simple...practice. What is not so simple perhaps is the amount of practice required. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book The Outliers, speaks about the 10,000 hour rule. Studies from various disciplines show consistently that 10,000 hours of practice are required to achieve the level of mastery needed to be considered a world-class expert in anything. 10,000 hours.

In fact, no one has yet been able to document a case of someone whose mastery was achieved in anything less than that. Practice is therefore the key to becoming truly excellent at anything requiring:

• Clarity of intention
• Dedication of effort
• Focus of mind
• Commitment to achievement

What then for those of us that are only beginning our journey into mastery? Do we feel weighed down by the seeming impossibility of ever achieving that magical number of 10,000 hours and give up before beginning? I believe this question should be answered with a clear and resounding NO!

 “ The Master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both. -- Zen Buddhist Text

The important catch-phrase in the 10,000 hour rule, that most seem to miss, is that it is a requirement for achieving 'world-class' mastery. Your goal of personal mastery can be something less than world dominance in a field. In fact, you need only look to your field and strategically plan for 20%, perhaps 10%, better than those around you to be considered an expert. Let's face it, even doing 1% better, knowing 1% more, achieving 1% greater results can often be enough to put you ahead of the game being played by those around you.

Regardless of your target though, mastery both begins and ends with practice. You have to put in the time to net the results and it is this time that separates the achievers from the non-achievers. Those that are truly dedicated to gaining a level of mastery over a subject, a discipline, an activity, will invest the time needed to learn and develop an area.

I heard an alarming statistic this weekend. The average American tends to spend 4 hours a day watching television. This is 4 hours a day that they are not working on or practicing their mastery of anything. 4 hours a day that they choose not to dedicate toward becoming excellent at something. To take this statistic even further, consider that if you take someone in their teens, through to the age of 66, those four hours a day turn into 13 years. 13 years of your life that you have devoted yourself to watching television rather than devoting yourself to your development.

A further thought...the biggest reason I am given by clients as to why they have not taken action on a desired goal is that they did not have time. My follow up question of course is whether they had watched any television in that same week in which they had not found any time to work on their stated purpose. (and yes, YouTube counts!) The answer of course was that they had. Could you have responded differently?

I'm not suggesting that you run home and sell your television sets, but I am suggesting that you take a serious and long look at where and how you could be investing your time to develop your level of expertise. The fastest way to a promotion and increased career opportunities is to become better at what you do, to develop your level of mastery. Even small investments of time can accumulate big results.

For instance...

1/2 hour per day spent in study and practice would give you a total of 78 hours of study over the course of a year. Given an 8 hour workday, this represents the equivalent of just under 10 business days of focus and growth.

Would you not be significantly ahead of your competition at the end of a year in which you set aside just 30 minutes a day to practice, hone and refine your craft, to dedicate to extending your level and area of expertise? The answer seems pretty clear to me.

Your choice then...Master or Disciple? How you choose to spend your time will contribute greatly to the answer to this question not to mention what you achieve and experience in your life.

Multitasking - Friend or Foe?

Given the workplace of today, we are all guilty of trying to get too much done each day.  We over pack our schedules in an effort to 'keep up' and we use technology as a tool to help us keep track of if not complete, multiple tasks simultaneously.  Who hasn't been guilty of reading an email or text message from one person while speaking to another?  When accused of not listening or paying attention we confidently assure them we are, that we are simply multitasking and can pay equal attention to both activities simultaneously.

Our ability to multitask successfully is much lauded and sought after during recruitment.  However, as it turns out, there is a very narrow window of activities that allow us to truly multitask.  In fact, two key conditions must be met for us to multitask, to truly engage in two separate activities simultaneously...

1. one of the activities must be so ingrained, so well learned, that it is now automatic and habitual.  This means that there is no conscious thought required for you to engage in the task (think walking or eating here)
2. that the activities you are looking to engage in use completely different types of brain processing.  For example, you can read and listen to instrumental music because they involve different parts of the brain.  However, your comprehension and retention of information you're reading drops significantly if you read while listening to music with lyrics.  As soon as the lyrics are added you are asking the same part of the brain (language center) to attend to two different sources of information simultaneously... and it can't.

As soon as our multiple activities stimulate and require the same brain area or function, we are no longer Multitasking, but 'Serial' Tasking.  Our brain continually shifts from one task to the other, in very rapid succession.  As much as this might seem like a significant difference, research is now showing us that there is a high price to be paid in productivity for Serial Tasking. It seems that, despite how it feels, our brains are not able to shift smoothly and seamlessly from one task to another.  There is a lag time in which our brains detach from the current task and attach to the new task.  If we are constantly shifting from one to another, this can add a significant amount of time (up to 40%) on completion time, versus single tasking.

• in studies testing multitasking capabilities, those who rated themselves as chronic multitaskers actually made more mistakes, cold remember fewer items and took longer to complete single-focused tasks than those who rated themselves as infrequent multitaskers.
• other studies have definitively shown that children perform worse on their homework if it done while watching TV (thank god my mother never saw this but then, my children didn't appreciate the fact I had!)
• and again, research shows that employees are more productive when they don't check their email frequently

I know that when I have a new program that I am writing, I will pack up cases of my research notes, a million and one sticky notes, flipcharts and markers and head to the cottage for a couple of weeks.  Minimizing my distractions and immersing myself in the subject truly allows me to gain greater clarity, finish faster and develop a far superior product than had I stayed back at the office fielding calls and interruptions.

I know that this isn't an option available at all times though, so what are we to do when life seems to scream at us to multitask all of the time?

1. recognise that life is rarely asking us to multitask.  Instead, it is simply coming at us with simultaneous demands.  Rarely do our task have to be accomplished simultaneously, they simply have to be done by the same time.  Staging our activities in a priority order truly helps us in single tasking more efficiently.  Maintaining our focus on one activity, for a set period of time, can help us accomplish it faster.  At the end of the day we just need our list completed.  How we have managed that is less important.
2. although we can't pick up and head to the cottage to work every day, we can block out moments in our day that help us to really focus and concentrate on an important task.  Close the office door or move to a meeting room, shut off the phone, the blackberry, turn off the message received notification on your computer.  In order words... minimize all potential interruptions and distractions.
3. consider making some changes on an ongoing basis that do the same.  Turn your desk so that you do not face directly out of the door.  This prevents you from seeing movement going past your door that draws the eye and breaks focus.  Turn off the message receipt sound to your email and only answer it at scheduled points during your day. (same with other devices!) 
4. when focusing on a task schedule a set amount of time during your day for working on it.  Just the fact that you know you have 30 minutes set aside for a task allows you to feel comfortable spending the time needed on it, rather than feeling guilty about the time it takes.  This helps you to relax into the activity and not have part of your brain focused on how long it is taking and reminding you of everything else waiting for you. 

When we have so many things, and people, screaming for our attention throughout the day, we may find that the key lies not in learning to multitask better, but in simply learning to focus on one thing at a time better!  Breaking away from the myth of multitasking may prove to be the biggest productivity booster that you have implemented yet!

Picture your Performance

We experience thousands of influence attempts a day, whether via sound (conversations with friends, family, coworkers; advertisements on radio, TV, Internet; sirens as we're driving; etc) or through visual means (television and TV, billboards and posters, magazines, friends, family, coworkers, etc.).  Regardless of the source, we are bombarded with messages and attempts to move and sway us in one direction versus another.  Why can't we then jump on the influence bandwagon and work to influence ourselves in a desired direction?

It sounds like a logical idea and yet, few people deliberately and strategically structure their environment to influence their thinking and behaviour in a specific direction.  If we look at your work environment in particular (but know that the same would apply for any space that you occupy with any regularity), you likely would be interested in increasing your productivity.  Research shows that surrounding yourself with pictures and memorabilia of people you admire and respect has a positive influence on your productivity and performance. 

In basic terms, the brain doesn't know the difference between the picture and reality.  Therefore, looking at pictures that are motivating, that represent a specific and positive message, influences who you are and what you do.  You need to be very clear about who and what inspires you though.  Consider... what will ALWAYS drive and push you forward.

Just as we know that certain colours work to soothe and comfort, while others increase our feeling of stress and anxiety, so too do we now know that pictures can create certain responses in us as well.  Bear in mind too that these images are highly personal.  What works for the guy sitting next to you may be and feel totally irrelevant to you.  The more open and honest you are with recognising what people and things inspire you, motivate you, drive you, the greater the influence of those images.

One caveat though.  There should be NO family pictures in your work space.  Nope... none!  Pictures of your family - especially your children - drive different behaviours that are often at odds with those that enhance your performance.  I know that I will likely get push back from many who feel that they 'do it all for their kids'...  but research shows us that looking at pictures of our kids may lead us to temper our performance drive rather than rev it up. 

It's up to you to decide what you're trying to accomplish, whether on the job or life in general!

Turning Energy Into Time

If you are anything like me, then you likely find yourself overloaded with more things to do in a day than can possibly be accomplished.  We use technology more to stay on top of things, and to keep in touch with everyone, than to free up our time.  We try to cram as much as possible into our workday, to be as productive as possible, in the vain hope that perhaps we won't have to work late or take work home to catch up.

Is it little wonder then that we are always on the search for the latest tool or tip that helps us manage our time more efficiently?  After all, that's the real issue, isn't it?  Not having enough of that precious commodity - time.  Or... is it?

Maybe, instead of continuing to work at managing our time and tasks more effectively, we need to reframe our thinking.  The issue with time is that it's finite.  No matter how you do the math, there are only 24 hours in a day.  Instead of learning to manage your time more efficiently you have to learn manage the Energy you bring to your tasks.

Much of the early research on energy management comes to us from the world of sports, but it is just as applicable to our day-to-day work lives.  Heck... to our lives in general!

As a professional athlete, it is essential to understand exactly what it takes to achieve consistent, peak performance.  Research has shown that though it is important to hone the technical skills each athlete brings to their respective sport, it is essential that they maximize the Energy output in order to increase performance.

We may not be operating our daily lives at the same physical level as professional athletes, but the machines we're using to accomplish our work (our bodies) are the same.  The challenge for us though, is that we are typically asked to 'perform' for 8 hours a day, a minimum of 5 days a week, without the benefit of the knowledge or training that athletes receive.

A key training method of elite athletes is known as Periodization, first introduced by the early Greeks.  Periodization is the concept of improving performance through balancing periods of activity with periods of rest.  Consider your typical work day though.  You likely...

• Wake up to an alarm clock blaring at you
• Race through your morning routine to get out the door as quickly as possible to beat the traffic
• Move from one task to another, one meeting to another, with no pause
• Take lunch at your desk so you can continue to work... you wouldn't want to 'waste' time!
• Race home, work tucked under your arm
• Fix dinner
• Spend time with the kids (that all-important 'quality' time!)
• Squeeze in a little more work
• Collapse in front of the television to 'vegetate'
• Drag yourself to bed so you can get up tomorrow to do it all again!

Where was the rest, the renewal, in your day?  Oh... right... it's called vacation and it doesn't come daily, it comes annually!  We live in a world where 'busyness' is worn like a badge of honour and where renewal and recovery get ignored.  However, our ability to be fully engaged at work, to be optimally productive, depends upon our ability to periodically 'disengage' successfully.

Building moments of recovery into your work day will enable you to engage in your tasks more fully and passionately.  Research has clearly shown that productivity increases when people build in periods of renewal into their work day.  Even though they are 'breaking' more, they get more done than those choosing to work 'flat out'.  Some of the most creative thinkers (such as daVinci and Einstein) were strong advocates of breaks, to allow their subconscious minds to work out the problem at hand.

I have clients that will not schedule any meeting exceeding 90 minutes in length, without scheduling a break, recognizing the link of our energy levels to our body's natural Ultradian Rhythms.  And... really... most meetings run needlessly long anyway!

Consider breaking your day into 90-120 minute blocks of time.  Rather than fighting these natural body rhythms, defer to them instead.  A break needn't be long in duration for it to provide you with enough of a rest for your energy and focus to improve.  Potential ideas for workday renewal breaks?

• take a walk
• read a chapter of a book, or listen to one
• listen to music
• do some light stretches
• prepare and eat a light, healthy snack
• work on a puzzle, crossword, sudoku

You get the idea!  Whatever activity would work best for you and relieve you of some of the physical and mental stress you've experienced so far.  Allow your mind to switch gears, take a break from the task at hand, so that it can be more focused when you return.  Odds are that the solution to the problem you were stuck on before the break, is waiting for you upon your return!



(if you are interested in learning more about the idea of Managing your Energy to increase your time effectiveness, send us a blank email with Energy Ebook in the subject line.  We'd be more than happy to forward you a pdf of our ebook... enjoy!)