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.

Thinking Backward to Move Forward

When it comes to Personal Development you likely have a laundry list of things you'd like to do, things you think you should do and things you think you'd better do. There is seemingly never a shortage of actions we could take that would 'improve' us, our careers, our lives in some way. The challenge, of course, is that we can't actively work on them all. In which case, we need to choose what to focus on to move us forward.

The best way to move through the clutter of improvement projects is to consider...

If you were looking back at your life two years from now, what would you have done over those two years for you to feel good about yourself and your achievements?

This question is designed to help you clear your way through all of the mind-clutter and to hone in on those actions that will net you the result you desire. The reason this technique works so well is that looking forward is difficult while looking backward is easy. Looking forward means that we are peering into the unknown, which can cause us to hesitate in making choices in case we choose wrong. We don't want to waste the next two years working on something that doesn't move us in the desired direction and we therefore fail to commit to taking action.

However, when we look backward we are typically reviewing fact. We are able to discern what actions we took that led to the results we achieved. Placing ourselves two years into the future and directing our minds to look back over the past two years, to review what actions we would have taken to achieve what we did, plays upon that fact-based mind-set we expect to have when looking backward. It again helps us to reduce the list of possible actions to those that will make the difference for us.

Being in that fact-based mind-set also helps us to recognise the actions we need to take from those we are comfortable in taking. This technique therefore helps to shift us out of our comfort zone by acknowledging the actions we need to take to reach our desired goal.

When we look forward to our desired goal we may be able to identify the steps we need to take but we are then also faced with doubts as to our capability.  However, when we start at the end and look back our mind is already viewing those same actions as steps we have already taken and therefore builds our confidence and capability. This simple redirection of thought breaks down our barriers and self-doubts rather than building them up.

We know that our mind is a powerful tool that will help us to achieve what we can conceive and believe.  Starting with a vision of the successful future you desire, and then looking backward at what you have done to get there, trains your mind to believe in the possibility.

1. What does your desired future look like 2 years from now?
2. What steps did you take to get there?
3. You've got your action list, start making it happen.

Three steps to ensuring that you are doing what you need today to have the life that you want and envision tomorrow. There's really nothing like thinking backward to help you in moving forward.

Values & Beliefs - a Call to Action

Our values form the foundation for not only how we ultimately view the world around us, but the
yardstick by which we measure everything - our relative success, happiness, etc. Your values, what is important to you, will differ from mine if only as a result of the fact that you and I are different. Each of us faces a similar challenge though, to try to live a life that is in balance and alignment with our values. The closer our actions 'fit' our core values the better we will feel about ourselves, our relationships and our lives.

The  bigger the gap though the more likely we are to experience dissatisfaction and distress. A disconnect between our values and our actions leads to a sense of disconnect with our lives which, in turn, can lead to lacklustre on-the-job performance.  It is challenging to remain focused and motivated to engage in work and activities that fail to support our personal values. The more dissonance we experience the greater our motivational challenges likely will prove.

It is this gap, between our actions and values, that leads us to choose (whether consciously or unconsciously) to under-perform. The resistance we experience comes from that values disconnect. Generally speaking there tends to be two key reasons for the existence of the gap. Either...

• We have no clue as to what we truly value in life and are therefore living in a hit and miss fashion, sometimes gaining satisfaction with a hit, sometimes being dissatisfied because we miss, or...
• We have chosen to live, whether consciously or unconsciously, by someone else's prescribed values

There may be other reasons but these two are key and often interrelated. If I am unable to articulate what my key values are in life, what is truly important to me, I am far more likely to be swayed by someone else who has clarity, whether that is a relative, friend, celebrity or corporation. The difficulty with this lies in what happens internally to me should there be a gap between my true values and my adopted ones. If they are out of sync I will likely experience dissonance and discomfort.

Someone else's value may be a more positive, powerful and fulfilling value than my own, but if I haven't taken the time to consciously acknowledge and challenge the validity of my own limiting values and beliefs, and replace them with the stronger and more positive one, then I will still continue to experience that sense of dissatisfaction with my life. 

Unfortunately, we have a tendency to wait until we are at a 'low point' in our lives and emotions to take stock of our lives. Why wait for that? Work now to ensure that you have a clear and conscious understanding of your personal values by questioning the beliefs you hold. What are the beliefs you hold that serve to influence the choices you make, the behaviours you engage in?

All too often we act in ways that support beliefs we feel we 'should' have, regardless of whether or not those beliefs support our values. We are guided by the opinions of others more than we are guided by our own internal interests, wants and beliefs. Getting in touch with what really matters to you will highlight how much of your life you have devoted to satisfying other people's values versus your own.

Once you are clear about what truly matters to you, what you value, you need to reconcile the choices you have made in your life with your values. How much do those choices work in support of your values, how much do they pull you away from them? Are there gaps that you need to work at narrowing to increase your comfort and self-satisfaction?

I have had clients who discovered a great dissatisfaction in their lives because...

• they had bought a 'big' house in a prestigious area because that was where someone of their level and stature 'should' live, but paying that big monthly mortgage meant little money left over for travel and adventure, both of which they valued highly
• they worked 60+ hour weeks trying to satisfy a parent and make them proud, rather than living to their own value of what being a 'good' parent to their own children meant to them
• they had always wanted to start their own business but never attempted it because others around them didn't think they had what it takes to make it

What values and beliefs do you have that you are not living to? 

What would your life look like if you did? 

What's stopping you from taking action?

For those of you hesitating to take the action you need, Stephen Levine offers the following words, to give you perspective and to take that first step...

If you had an hour to live and could only make one phone call... Who would you call, What would you say, And why are you waiting?

  

When Comparing Ourselves to Others Goes Wrong

How do you know when you're doing well?  Or poorly?

How do you measure how successful you are?  There are no real objective measures to this, it is a subjective evaluation only.  In the absence of objective measures, we tend to use comparisons to determine how we are doing.

It is almost essential to have something to compare our performance to if we are to understand the relative success of that performance.  When viewing the performance of an athlete, it is only by viewing their performance in comparison to others that we are able to determine their success. The Olympics model is predicated on this system of comparison as are all sports rankings.  A professional baseball player's number of home run hits per season has no context without comparing it to how many home runs others in the league are hitting.

At the personal level we compare ourselves to others constantly as a means of creating a personal sense of context. How fast we are, thin we are, smart we are, successful we are is all determined by viewing ourselves in comparison to how fast or slow others are, how thin or fat, rich or poor, smart or dumb, serious or funny.  Good or bad it serves as our way of understanding our place in the Social World.

Back in 1954 Leon Festinger established Social Comparison Theory to explain the tendency for people to be constantly making self evaluations.  We determine our own social and personal worth based on our perception of how we measure up against others.  There are two basic directions for such comparisons,

• Downward
• Upward

We are more likely to make downward comparisons when our Self Esteem is threatened.  When we aren't feeling good about ourselves we are likely to compare ourselves to someone less well off to make ourselves feel better. We do so as a means of  reassuring ourselves that things could be worse.

When we compare ourselves to someone we perceive as 'better off' we are making Upward Comparisons.  These comparisons can serve as inspiration, helping motivate us to achieve more. However, they can also fuel our envy or have a negative impact on our self esteem by creating unrealistic expectations and standards of success.  

Making these comparisons is a natural process that serves to provide us with useful information. However, if we dwell upon it too much it can become problematical.  

• If our self esteem is low we may find that we become overly reliant on the misfortune of others to give us a boost.  We may then be constantly looking for the negative, downplaying the success of others which can have a very strong negative impact upon our relationships.
• If we focus only on the perceived gap that exists between us and someone we see as being above us we may begin to feel the gap is insurmountable and give up rather than be motivated to persevere

All of these comparisons also rely on our view of self.  If our perception of our abilities is skewed then so too will our comparisons.  You see this on competition shows such as Idol every season, those people with clearly limited vocal talent who have no accurate understanding of their current level of skill. 

Given that we are making these comparisons continuously anyway, is there any way to use them positively?  The good news is that research suggests that yes, we certainly can, it is just a matter of perspective. Social comparisons typically focus on our differences, on highlighting the gaps, but it can also be used to identify our common humanity, which can then be used to establish a greater understanding and connectivity.

In its most simplest form our Social Comparisons serve a useful purpose in helping us to understand what we're good at and what we're not. 

• Build a life and career around what you are good at relative to others and hire those who are good at what you are not.  
• Use those who are better than you as a motivator to get better at something you want but use your own progress as a benchmark of improvement.  

You don't need to be the best in the world at everything you do, you just need to be better. Maybe the best comparator after all is whether you are better today than yesterday.  

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.  

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.

5 Tips for Getting More Feedback

We would all love to get feedback on our performance more regularly than we do. Regular feedback is an important way for us to improve our performance at work. However, it is not unusual for many in the workplace to receive feedback only during their annual performance review. The feedback they receive is not timely enough and likely not specific enough to prove truly helpful in positively impacting performance.

Given that many of us have managers who dread having to complete an annual review, let alone sitting down for performance dialogues more regularly, how might we arrange to get the feedback we need, when we need it, to help us improve our performance faster?

1.  Ask.  This may seem like an obvious point to start with but that doesn't make it any less effective.  And, despite its obvious nature, it doesn't tend to be something that people do consistently, if at all.  Don't sit complacently by, assuming that no news is good news.  Ask people how you are doing.  If you feel this is a little too self-directed then ask people what you might have done differently or better to have met their needs. People will not only open up about your performance, but will offer suggestions you can use to please them better in future. It's your choice as to whether you fulfill those needs or not, but it will tell you a great deal about not only how best to serve others, but about what motivates them also.

2.  Question.  Don't simply take the first response you get.  We often interpret someone's feedback through our own personal filters which may lead us off the track they were highlighting.  Before you invest your time and effort in improving in a direction you believe they wanted, ensure you take the time to clarify what they shared.  Get a clear picture and specific suggestions before you begin to take action.

3.  Listen.  People give you feedback continuously, whether you ask for it or not.  However, we are typically too caught up in our own thoughts, wants and needs to pay attention to it.  Even when others are venting about a project, or the direction it has taken, they might be sharing some feedback for you regarding your role in it.  And, it should go without saying, that if you've asked for feedback then you need to listen to what people share with an open mind.  Don't rationalize the feedback, don't become defensive and don't shut down.  This is information you need to improve; accept it graciously and decide later what value it brings you.

4.  Observe.  Pay attention to the reactions and behaviours of those around you.  You can gain a tremendous amount of feedback just by taking the time to focus on and observe others.  Are people looking away and yawning when you are delivering a speech?  Are you being sought out for your advice and help or are others being sought out instead?  Do people share confidences with you or only talk about the weather? People's actions and behaviours around us tell us a great deal about what they think of us, how we make them feel, what their level of trust is.  Take the time to observe others for trends that are trying to tell you something.

5.  Learn.  Learn from your successes.  Learn from your failures.  Learn from your observations.  Learn from the observations of others.  Your experiences provide you with some of the best feedback that there is, but you need to take the time to assess the messages, learn from them and alter your approaches and behaviours accordingly.

Our performance is our responsibility and is our ticket to more.  Waiting for a once-a-year performance discussion, to ascertain how you are doing, is not going to enable you to improve as quickly as you could if you were receiving feedback in a more timely manner.  Certainly seek more frequent feedback from your manager, but don't limit yourself to their insights.  Broadening the scope of the feedback will provide you not only with more feedback, but will enable you to understand which actions would positively impact more people and therefore more opportunities.  Take charge of your personal improvement plan by taking a more active role in getting the information you need to improve.

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.


  

Building Habits - One Step at a Time

If you're like most people, you've likely got some bad habits kicking around that you would like to change,
or perhaps have some 'good' habits you'd like to adopt.  Possibly you have even tried stopping a bad habit in the past (or starting a new good one), only to abandon the attempt as it proved too difficult for you to achieve or stick with.  For some people, the all-or-nothing approach works.  They define the 'new' habit or system they want to adopt, replace the old ineffective one with it, and... keep doing it until it is comfortably ensconced as the new habit.  They make it seem easy.

For many of us though, it's much more of a struggle.  We want to lose weight, exercise more, stop smoking, meditate, read more, get up earlier... we have endless lists of things we'd like to do that prove almost impossible for us to make happen.  We then get demoralized by our attempts and settle in trying to 'live with' the fact that we just aren't cut out to be thinner, healthier, smoke-free...

In these cases, we need to try a different route to our end goal, not to abandon it as unobtainable.  We need to take a more counter-intuitive route.  Consider the following.  When IBM had the most dominant sales force of any organization, they did so by assigning their team the lowest sales quotas of any of their competitors.  The thinking was to give their sales force quotas that weren't daunting.  They wanted their people to feel that the goal was obtainable, not to be too intimidated to even begin.  They found that not only did their sales people pick up the phone and start calling, they worked to exceed the assigned quota.

The idea then is to start small.  Give yourself a target that is so easily achievable that you can't help but to exceed it, creating an instantaneous win.  By the time you have reached that point you have likely created enough momentum that you continue a number of steps beyond your target.  Reaching a goal is always motivational.  Exceeding your targets... more so.  It becomes self-perpetuating.

If you want to... start flossing your teeth every day, start out by planning to floss only one tooth.  Odds are... once you've flossed one, you can't help flossing them all while you're at it.  Finding the time in your morning routine to floss your teeth every day can seem like too much time that you don't have.  Flossing one tooth?  Much easier to fit into your schedule.

If you want to... begin running 3 kilometres every day, start out by planning to just run around the block.  Odds are... you'll begin to find that once you're dressed and out there, you'll run further.  Perhaps not every day to start but you'll hit days where the sun is shining, your stride feels smooth... and away you go.

If you want to... write a book, start out by planning to write 2 crummy pages a day.  Not good pages, crummy pages.  Who couldn't write two bad pages?  Odds are... once you sit down to write you'll find you hit a groove and write more, and better.

In each example, we have set a low enough target that it is not intimidating.  Often, the biggest hurdle for people to face is simply in starting.  Make the target low enough that beginning isn't an issue, that you are excited to start because you think... 'I can do that!'  Once we start the second biggest hurdle kicks in which is sticking with it.  When the goal is set too high we can easily become discouraged or demoralized.  It becomes easy to abandon our attempts, believing we'll never make it, that we aren't cut out to do it.  We quit before the new habits have a chance to take hold.  If we get our wins early in the game though, if we build it in such a way that we exceed our expectations consistently, then we have built in the positive reinforcement of our efforts.  We continue.

When we're looking to change our habits what is important is not how fast we make it happen, but that we make it happen.  If the all-in approach works for you... great!  If not, try the approach described above.  Both paths get you to the same end destination.  Which route you take to get there will only be questioned by those who want to replicate your success.

Our 'First' is Usually our 'Worst'

Many people avoid trying new things, picking up new skills, attempting new activities because they know
they won't be great at them.  Note that they usually omit an important corollary to this statement and its omission is huge.  Rather than saying 'I won't be great at that', it should read (and be said) 'I won't be great at that... at first!'  The first statement implies you will never be any good at it - ever -why bother trying at all.  The second statement acknowledges that you won't be good at it to start, but the implication here is that you will improve.

Our first attempt at anything is always going to be our worst attempt. We lack the skills and the knowledge of how to make things happen; the finesse that comes with repetition.  Know  that your first won't be your best but that it's worth the attempt. There is much to be learned about ourselves and the world around us by trying something new.  Often we have skills that have been hidden from us to-date simply because we haven't had the opportunity to give 'em a try.

We tend to avoid what we believe we aren't good at.  Then we get pushed into doing it and... guess what?  We're not good at it.  This tends then to confirm for us our belief and we don't try again.  However, developing the mindset that 'Of course I'm not that great at it (yet), it was only my first time!' opens up total new possibilities.  Instead of avoiding that activity in the future, you take your current experience, determine what you learned from it, what to try differently next time and move forward.  The second time?  Better.  The third?  Better still.  Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers, says that it takes over 10,000 hours of practice to truly master something.   No athlete got to his current level of performance by doing nothing.  They missed more than they hit or sunk or dunked or caught.  And then they did it again.  And again.  And again.

What areas in your life could stand a second try?  (I call this Taking a Mulligan... my favourite golf move!)
What things are missing in your life because you have avoided giving them a first try?

Pick something and give it a go.  You now are armed with your follow-up line should things not turn out as planned...  'Awww... it was only my first time.'  Following that...  'Awww... it was only my second time'.  And, my favourite all encompassing statement...  'I'm still new to this!'  You may not be interested in putting in your 10,000 hours to truly master a particular skill (take me and golf... 10,000 hours... soooo not happening!) but it needn't prevent you from getting out there and trying something new.  You just might find yourself enjoying the process!

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)

Investing in... You!

If you want to be wealthy and happy, learn this lesson well:  Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job.      Jim Rohn

Many people in business make the mistake of believing that the company will take care of their development.   After all, it's part of that yearly 'plan', part of the 'review' process isn't it?  Consider though, whose best interests does the organization truly have in mind?  Are they looking to your growth or their needs?  Don't think for a second that they are always synonymous.  Consider also the commitment the company has to your growth when training budgets are being cut or what happens to your development when the money has been spent. That's it for you for the year? No more learning?

Don't leave your growth and development in the hands of someone who in no way could possibly care about you and your future the way that you should.  All too often I have clients who say that they aren't personally going to pay for a course because that's the company's responsibility.  If 'they' aren't paying for it then 'they' aren't going to benefit from it.  But who really benefits?  Warren Buffet puts it this way...

Generally speaking, investing in yourself is the best thing you can do.  Anything that improves your own talents; nobody can tax it or take it away from you.  They can run up huge deficits and the dollar can become worth far less.  You can have all kinds of things happen.  But if you've got talent yourself, and you've maximized your talent, you've got a tremendous asset that can return ten-fold.

Investing in yourself is the single most important investment that you can make in your lifetime.  If you want to have 'more' in your life than you currently have, in any facet of your life, you have to become more than you currently are.  We shouldn't consider that we are students only when at school.  Life is the biggest school that there is and we are therefore all students as long as we continue to breathel.  Start living your life as a student, become that life-long learner.

Focusing on your development means that you are constantly evolving and creating opportunities for yourself.  Many of those opportunities are ones that you likely wouldn't have envisioned for yourself previously because you didn't 'know' what was possible.  Uncover your possibilities by using some of the following suggestions to contribute to your growth.

• Take a course.  On line, in person... it doesn't matter.  What's something that you have always been interested in?  Go out and take a course in it, learn about it.  There are tons of free courses offered by many universities, even MIT offers free open courseware.  How cool would it be to take a course from MIT?
• Read a book.  You want to play with the big-wigs around the senior table?  Read what they are reading.  Learn the latest buzz words and theories.  Bring something new to the table by getting a jump start on something still in their 'to be read' pile!  Look for new ideas that could be applied to your area. I typically have 3 books on the go at once and am never without at least one in my briefcase (more if I have my ipad with me!).  If I find myself with downtime because a client is running late I spend time with a book rather than checking on the latest facebook post.  
• Follow blogs.     Many subject matter experts are writing regular blogs where you can follow some of their latest thoughts.  Consider subscribing to their feeds or set yourself up on something like alltop.com where you can key in what your interests are and what blogs you'd like to follow.  They compile it for you on your personalized home page, making it a one-stop resource.  Add and delete as your interests and focus shifts.  When you find yourself with a moment or two, check out some of the titles, and read a post that hits home.  Not sure what or who you'd like to follow?  Give Stumbleupon a try and see what you come across.  Follow or bookmark sites that interest you.
• Create learning files.  I love using a 'shared' system like dropbox for this.  Whenever I am browsing for one thing on the internet, I inevitably stumble across an article, website, resource relating to something else.  Instead of getting pulled off track or losing out on the new information, I save it to my dropbox file so that I can return to it when I have a moment.  This means that whenever I find myself with a moment or two (waiting for appointments is always a popular one!) I access that file from any device and catch up on items I might have missed otherwise.  Sometimes important and informative, sometimes merely interesting, they often come together down the road in unexpected ways.
• Listen to books.  Many people don't like reading themselves, in which case audio books are a great alternative.  I love reading, but I listen to books in my car all the time.  If you spend time in a commute, spend time in the gym or on long runs, want to listen to something while you work on finishing that car engine or jigsaw puzzle, consider listening to a book, lecture or training program rather than music.  Use the time you have to learn something you might need.
• Check out TED talks.  If you haven't already you should.  Here you can listen to talks from the best of the best.  If you only have 5 minutes, do a search on 5 minute talks.  Search by topic, see what's new.  I have watched some talks on topics that I didn't think I'd be interested in only to be fascinated by new science, new technology, new research.  A great resource to access and a great platform for learning.  Or give youtube a closer look.  It is much more than simply a place to watch viral videos or talking animals.  

 Become what you need yourself to be to achieve what you want.  It's that simple and that challenging.  It does require you to start though.  Do one thing each day to move you forward.  Reading this was a good place to start.

Beware the Critics!

Have you ever received 'constructive' feedback that truly wasn't that constructive? Feedback that was more of a critical diatribe than anything practical or useful?

All too often people today are quick to criticize but slow to offer any truly constructive suggestions for improvement. Doing so would mean having spent time thinking about solutions for you and most people just aren't willing to invest the time. Talking about what's wrong, what doesn't work for them, what they don't like is easy. Being clear about what they want instead... well... that takes some thought. Unfortunately, many of your biggest critics don't happen to be the biggest thinkers.

The truth is...if you do something poorly... people will criticize you.
The truth also is... if you do something well... people will criticize you.

Your challenge, of course, is recognizing which critics to pay attention to. True feedback will always come with a clear understanding of not just what was 'wrong', but what is 'better'. Criticism without direction is simply an attack and more likely to stop you dead in your tracks and prevent forward movement then it is to create a course change and spur your momentum.

Additionally, those offering their critical insights often do so from a completely different world view than your own. Any behaviours that deviate from their view of what's 'right' must therefore be 'wrong' and corrected.  Listening to this feedback and making adjustments to your direction as a result of it only serves to take you from your chosen path and shifts you onto theirs. You must be diligent in ensuring that any critics you listen to are those that will serve you in moving further in your desired direction... not theirs.

Criticism that serves you is helpful. Criticism that serves the other party is useless.  It's critical for you to know the difference. Pay close attention to the critic. If they are neither someone you like or respect, that's a good starting point for knowing you should probably ignore their input. Listening to, let alone acting on, anything they have to say will likely prove a waste of your time and talent.

Improve your Health - To Increase your Success!

We all know - intellectually at least - the benefits of a balanced diet and exercise to our over-all health and well-being. They serve to: lower the incidence of heart disease, diabetes and strokes, reduce cholesterol, blood pressure and stress, boost the immune system and brain function.

Generally speaking though, this is a business blog. I share information, tips and techniques you can use to aid you in your career journey. What does your health have to do with your success? A great deal, as it turns out. Here are my Top 3 reasons why you should focus on Improving your Health to increase your Success:

1. I've written in this blog before about the benefits of focusing on increasing the energy you bring to your tasks in order to heighten your productivity, as opposed to focusing on strengthening your organizational skills to get more done. (see: Turning Energy into Time, March, 2010). Research is now conclusively demonstrating that the quality of the energy we put into our tasks and activities has a direct correlation to the quality of the output. Want to accomplish more in less time? Forget about managing your time better, manage your energy better! The healthier you are (through effective nutrition and exercise), the higher the quality of energy you bring to your tasks. Tasks don't drag out as long, you don't waste as much time trying to motivate yourself to get started (yep, procrastination has some foundations in energy as well!) and you're able to stick to tasks a little longer.

2. Guess what? You're smarter when you're healthier. No... your IQ doesn't increase, but your mental acuity, your clarity and focus of thought is heightened. In short... you make better decisions when you are rested, healthy and alert. Yes, I know this seems to make common sense, but we don't tend to openly acknowledge that what we put into our bodies, what we do to our bodies, has an impact on the quality of our thoughts and decisions, and we certainly don't hear about it as a strategy for improving our success. A resucent study showed a definitive correlation between good nutrition and cognitive performance finding; nutrient markers in the blood accounted for 17% of the variation in the tests of thinking and memory function, nutrition accounting for 37% of the variation in brain volume.  Ever had a hangover? Were you at your most productive, most decisive at that moment? Extreme example perhaps, but it does serve to illustrate what happens to our productivity when our brain is deprived of the nutrients it needs to function efficiently. Even a small deprivation every day can have a cumulative impact on your overall efficiency and effectiveness over the long term.

3. Statistics show that 'fit' people get promoted faster and further than 'fat' people. Now, the definition of each of the terms fit and fat are based simply in the perception of the observer, but those qualifications are made by us all of the time (whether we openly acknowledge it or not). Certainly we speak about this issue in my Executive and Leadership Presence seminars, because it matters. How you look makes a difference to how people perceive you. Studies show that the more overweight you are, the less people trust in your ability to get things done. (note that this is regardless of whether you actually get things done or not). Additionally, people are attracted to positive energy. People rarely are motivated to follow those that can't seem to muster up much enthusiasm for what they're doing. Instead, they seek to follow those who have energy to spare, those who seem like they can not only get the task at hand accomplished, but have the energy to keep going, to continue the drive forward. This helps earn you the 'leader' title and helps get you the promotion.

For those of you that may find your New Year's resolutions to 'lose weight' or to 'get fit' flagging at this point in the New Year - use the above to provide you with more incentive to stay the course and not abandon your efforts. There is more riding on your efforts than you may have first thought... your career just may depend on it!

Cultivating a Success Mindset

According to a study* in the journal Psychological Science, they have found evidence suggesting that those individuals who believe that they can improve their level of intelligence are more likely to be successful over the long run.  Hmmm.

In the study, subjects wore a special 'cap' that recorded their electrical brain activity while completing certain letter puzzles.  These puzzles were specifically designed for participants to make mistakes.  What researchers found was that when participants made mistakes, their brain sent two quick signals.  The first was a quick recognition of the error (what Michigan State University psychology professor Jason Moser refers to as the 'oh crap response') and a second signal that indicated a willingness to get it right. 

Those participants with a growth mindset, a belief that their hard work will pay off for them in the long run, had a much stronger second signal and were more likely and willing to correct their mistakes.  They saw a net advantage to doing so. In essence, this group saw their errors as opportunities to grow, improve and learn, rather than an indication of their lack of capability.

It is this belief, that you can continue to learn, grown and improve that serves to establish that Success Mindset.  Successful people do not look to their failures and indications of what they can't do, but at learning opportunities.  They recognise only that their errors are indications of what they didn't know, but need to learn... and then they go out and learn it!

The Work:

• Consider what your typical response is when you fail or miss the mark at something.  
• What is your self-talk like immediately following such an event.  Are you more likely to to use the event to validate why you shouldn't have tried in the first place, or is your self-talk affirming instead a belief that you can do it in future with a little more direction, information or coaching?
• If it's the former, we need to work at rewiring your belief systems, to shift your perspective to that Success Mindset.  Instead of believing your intellect is entirely predetermined, recognise that you can develop and grow your intelligence through hard work.  If you are willing to put in the work, you can decrease your margin of errors in the future.

I read the above study shortly after reading on a facebook posting the following quote.  The two fit perfectly together, and I invite you to consider this quote the next time that things don't go according to plan...

Instead of beating yourself up about the past and saying  "Damn, what was I thinking", ask a better, kinder question... "What was I learning"?

Works for me, let's see how it works for you!

* study... "Mind Your Errors:  Evidence for Neural Mechanism Linking growth Mind-Set to Adaptive Post error Adjustments" 

Living on Auto-Pilot

We are all creatures of habit. Our habits are time and energy savers and, in general, serve us well. We can engage in activities throughout our day, expending little conscious thought in accomplishing these tasks. Our unconscious, habitual autopilot takes over for us and we are able to think of other things while performing these tasks.

• In the shower, we tend to wash ourselves in the same way, same order of body parts, every time

• We dress by putting our pants on the same way, same leg first

• Ever drive on autopilot, coming back to yourself just as your exit comes up? (or...worse still...just as you pass your exit?)

Much of our everyday lives have been condensed into habitual rituals that save us from having to be consciously aware of each moment needed to complete them. This frees our mind to be present for, and focusing on, different things. The downside, of course, is that we can get locked on autopilot for various activities and we then fail to question the 'why' of the behaviours we engage in. We therefore fail to learn or to grow by attempting to do differently.

In organizations we see this all of the time, processes that are running not because they are efficient but because they reflect 'the way it's always been done'. It is only when someone new enters the picture and challenges the status quo that we begin to question these processes ourselves and search for improvements.
How many of these opportunities do we miss for ourselves, those potential moments of possible growth and improvement simply because we live too much of our lives on auto-pilot? Sometimes the biggest thing holding us back from taking a chance on something is our belief that 'it's not the way things work', or that 'it's not how things are done'. Perhaps it is time for us to challenge some of those assumptions by telling ourselves instead... 'that's how it was but it isn't necessarily how it has to be'.

This point came home to me this weekend when I went to see the movie 'Moneyball' with Brad Pitt.  In this true life story, he plays the Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane, who is legendary for having rethought (and revamped) the way that baseball players are selected.  He faced tremendous criticism (perhaps most notably from baseball scouts) who were all quick to tell him that it 'wasn't how it's done'.

Tim Ferriss, in his best selling book The Four Hour Workweek also gained notoriety for completely shifting the assumptions we had about the way we view and structure 'work'.  Tim constantly explores and challenges 'the rules', looking for ways to reorganise, restructure or flat out work around the way things have been done to get more done, in less time.

Take a lesson from Billy Beane or Tim Ferriss...open yourself periodically to switching things up a little, trying a new way of doing something. You just might find a better path, a new interest, develop a skill or just streamline a process. Maybe instead of not doing something differently because you’ve always done it a certain way, your new reason for doing different is simply BECAUSE you have always done it a certain way.

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.

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!

Why Keeping Your Eyes on the Prize May Make You Miss It!

We are all taught that we not only need to have goals, but that we need to remain clearly focused on them. There is research that would indicate though that our ability to focus and concentrate intensely on a task may blind us to everything else going on around us, thus limiting the quality of our end result.  We have all experienced this phenomena in some respect...

• When asked at work how many yellow Volkswagen beetles we passed on our way in, we reply none.  We assume that we didn't see any because there were none to see.  We're surprised driving home because we see seven. 


• Police Officers take down the eye-witness accounts of an accident that occurred directly in front of three different witnesses, each of which report different facts.


• We are talking to a colleague at work about a need we have for a special project we are struggling with when another colleague approaches and comments on the new haircut of the first.  We hadn't noticed until it was mentioned by the second person.

In a study of this phenomena, known as Attention Blindness, researchers showed an entire audience a video tape of six people passing a basketball.  The audience was tasked with counting the number of passes that occur between the three people wearing white t-shirts, not black.  The intent of course is to get the audience focused on the task of counting.  Most people in the audience count correctly and are pleased with having done so.  Imagine their surprise when asked if they had noticed the gorilla walk onto the screen, walk amongst the tossers, and walk off.  Few see it until the replay when, to their astonishment, there is a large gorilla clearly walking amongst the group of six.  This is the result of attention blindness. 

Typically, those amongst the audience that notice the gorilla were those that did not get the number of passes correct.  They either hadn't bothered to try, got distracted by some other stimuli (cell phone vibrated, fly landed on their nose... something!) and then looked back to the screen.  Because they weren't focused on a task directly, they were more open to other input. 

Each of us sees the world from a different perspective.  Our perspective can leave us blind to the perspectives and insights that others may have.  It is impossible for us to see everything because every time we are looking, we are programmed already to 'see' from and through the perspective of our wants, needs and goals.  Our focus has already been determined by our need. 

In business this may mean that we indirectly limit ourselves from being as creative, arriving at the best solution, or in fully seeing and anticipating potential barriers and issues.  However, by virtue of them 'seeing' differently than we do, others may be in a better position to point these blind spots out to us.  Our challenge of course, is to remain open to listening to their input.

What can we do?

First of all, acknowledge that more exists beyond what you can see.  Getting another pair of eyes to review your project, your solution, your direction may catch things that you overlooked.  Getting this insight before you have finalized your direction is definitely preferable to realizing, after implementation, that you overlooked something.  This may mean that you deliberately add people onto your team specifically for the different perspectives that they bring to the table.  If everyone sees and thinks the way you do then you are automatically limiting the result from the outset.  Embracing differences in perspectives is not always easy, but it almost always proves to have value.

Secondly, recognise the differences in people's perspectives and assign elements of a task according to the strength of that perspective.  Know that your people will see what they are instructed to see.  There may be value in not limiting the direction of their sight, by asking someone to be responsible for seeing what others are missing.  In other words... if you're responsible for doing the counting, assign someone else to watch out for the gorilla!

This is just as relevant for you to consider at a personal level.  Don't allow yourself to get derailed from your goals simply because you failed to notice an upcoming roadblock.  Take the time to periodically bounce your goals and chosen direction off of someone else, for their insights and perspectives.  They are likely going to see pending potholes and roadblocks that you have failed to, allowing you to plan another route to your success.