Isn't your life worth gold?

The 2012 Olympics are here. With it comes the demonstrations of our worlds finest athletes showing off in a matter of seconds, the fruit of a life-time of preparation.  As the multiple countries cheer on their champions, we are reminded through competition the commonality that borders can't erase, which is our humanity. No matter the flag that they represent, the back stories are all threaded with a common theme. Each athlete had to make the decision to wake up each day over the course of the last four years of training, and re-affirm their own exhausted nervous system that "this is worth it."

It's inspiring to us all when we watch others perform at their best. What we often forget is that their "best" performance had more to do with the multiple days in the dark where the only crowd cheering was the lone voice of self as a reminder to not give up. 

We can easily correlate hard work and self-sacrifice with athletic achievement.  However, when it comes to the "routine" measures of life, the correlation suffers to connect self-sacrifice to the value of personal achievement. Athletes, will say "No" a thousand times to the any decision that can be disruptive to the pursuit of gold, while others who compete daily in the zero sum arena of life may choose to flow like water and fall into the current of comfort and convenience.

Seek out gold with our lives, since a well-lived life is far more valuable and influential than a medal.  Each decision we make can alter our existence for the good or bad. Perhaps not for ourselves, but for for the loved ones who are counting on us. The sport of rowing is a great example of what it means to prepare, compete, and coordinate the actions of conscience. Below is a behind scenes look at the level of commitment and dependence that the Canadian rowing team had to give each day to be prepared for their next opportunity.  It is a reminder for us all that someone is counting on us today to be our best. Your life is worth gold...Win Today.

Win Today!

Victor

Fresh Eyes

Life guard on duty- Silive.com

Cooling off in a pool is a summer ritual for many of us.  Seeking out a little heat relief, my family and I spent last week doing just that.  During those pool outings I learned a valuable safety technique from the hotel's pool life guard team.  Having been too busy in my past vacations to have ever recognized this strategy, after the fact, I appreciated just how simple and intelligent the team's pool safety plan to be.  While what I am about to write may be common knowledge for some, for me it was a profound human performance learning moment.

Every 30 minutes, without leaving a pool unattended, the life guards would rotate duty stations at the various hotel property pools.  At first, the cynic in me thought the pool's budget crunch must have cut the hours down for their teenage workers.  Finally, after watching a full rotation of the life guard staff, it dawned on me...The lifeguard staff is rotating to maintain fresh eyes!  By rotating, the life guards were forced to re-examine each pool customer status and the over-all threat assessment of the pool environment.

You see, whenever we enter into an unfamiliar environment such as an office, house, social encounter, or in this case a pool, our alertness rises because our brain must re-assess the threats and opportunities.  Fresh eyes can pick up on details that the comfortable perceive as irrelevant to the mission. Once comfort and familiarity creeps in, we soon begin to tone down our alertness to the details. In the case of the life guards, the purpose of the rotation was to re-awaken the alertness of each life guard by forcing their minds to constantly reassess.

This raises the question of whether or not we are missing the details of life because of familiarity and routine. Whether it be relationally, work orientated, or even physically, our human performance can benefit by a set of fresh eyes.  You can come up with your own list of productive ideas once you give thought to the principle of fresh eyes, but for starters, here are some simple "Fresh Eyes" tips.

1. Take a different path home on your commute: You may discover a new restaurant, or just revive an appreciation for your community.

2. Re-arrange your office: The new desk, and or book shelf alignment can re-energize your thinking.

3. Get up and move: Getting up to move around every 30 minutes actually can reduce your risk for heart disease and diabetes.

4. Go for a walk with a loved one: If this is out of the norm, it may brush off the cobwebs in the communication portion of the relationship, because taking a walk provides the opportunity to experience new stimuli together.

5. Listen instead of having to have all the answers: Leaders have to lead. However, the trap that leaders often fall into is the feeling that they have to have all the answers.  Apply some fresh eyes by taking the time to genuinely listen with appreciation.  You can still make the final decision, but it will now be with the input of an additional vantage point that happens to be true for the rest of your group.  Often times, that additional information can be the freshen up seasoning that takes an idea to the next level.

Win Today!

Victor

Playing hurt...Don't get sidelined by a bruised ego. Part 2

The essence of effective leadership can be summed up as the ability to create perceived provisions of beneficial direction and solutions for the greater good of the mission. To do so, followers must believe their leader to be trustworthy. Nevertheless, trust equity never gets credited when the game is in hand. Trust can only be built when challenges arise, otherwise there is no need for your leadership.  How you handle your own emotional hurt when the challenges arise, will determine the ceiling of success for your group.

Playing hurt as a leader begins by understanding your own susceptibility to being emotionally hijacked. Emotions fuel immediate action.  However, immediate action by a hi-stake leader more often than not can leave a great deal of collateral damage.  When threats arise, the leader must learn to manage his/her own defense mechanisms which seek to serve self.  By doing so, a leader sets themselves up to demonstrate that go-to ability the group needs for mission execution.

The next time your ego takes a hit and would prefer the bench instead of the battle, try regaining your competitive edge by following these 4 steps to stay off the emotional stretcher.

1. Stop - Stop and review what just happened.  Unless you are in a physical threatening situation, you have time. You don't need to react immediately. Doing so will keep your neocortex (thinking part of the brain) engaged in order to slow down the emotional hijack.


2. Oxygenate - Breathe. Growing up we were always told to breathe and count to ten.  Breathing deeply will further engage the neocortex.

3. Appreciate - Mirroring neurons often serve to replicate the behavior of the threat. By doing so, you can by default become a thermometer instead of a thermostat. By appreciating the other side of the table even the least bit, you alleviate the combative element and activate some empathy for the perceived threat's position. It doesn't mean you agree, it just means you are able to operate from a more strategic vantage point.

4. Survey the landscape and focus on the facts - The military has an after the fact exercise that they call an After Action Review (AAR). By being able to review the scenario that triggered the hijack, you can then retrain you emotional toughness. The review helps you identify what triggered you and become more familiar with trigger situations in general.  As your training progresses, you will be perceived more and more as the leader that is calm under pressure.

At the end of the day, the bottom line is what most leaders will be judged by. Yet, what produces that bottom line is the very human followership that counts on you to stay in the game and provide the winning game plan.

4 steps are adapted from Sport New Zealand's ideas for game management.

Playing Hurt...Don't get sidelined by a bruised ego. Part 1

Kirk Gibson 1988 World Series home run

Athletic heroics are often tied to scenarios whereby a leader of a team refuses to give in to a physical hurt for the chance to keep competing.  Forgoing the bench, the hero plays through the pain that is all too common with competing at a high level. We often cite this as the ability to play hurt.  Injury mandates that a player is sidelined to prevent any additional harm.  "Hurt," on the other hand, calls into question the mental toughness of an athlete's ability to play through the inevitable twists, bumps, and bruises that come with the territory.  For leaders, ego twists, bumps, and bruises come with the territory when you are the tip of the spear. The cares and critiques of multiple stakeholders are constantly orbiting your day, and will call into question your ability to "play hurt."

Decisive moments are happening all day, everyday. In those moments, your ego will take a few knocks that can undermine your best impression management efforts.  Like the athlete refusing to allow a twisted ankle to keep them on the bench, all leaders must come to grip with their ego toughness.  If your day doesn't involve any such challenges, then you are most likely a manager instead of a leader.

Make no mistake, the athlete jumping back into the game is feeling discomfort.  However, instead of bowing out, he puts his own feelings aside for the mission's sake. This issue is the crux of why over 70% of leaders fail or derail in their careers. The leaders being promoted today for success as a specialist, are falling for their lack of the interpersonal skills (toughness) to serve a mission instead of themselves. 

In the fast paced and competitive world of today, a leader's ability to play hurt emotionally is an ever appreciating asset.  Ego toughness will determine whether or not their attitude remains functional, or falls prey to the dysfunctional. Exponentially, the same will hold true for the attitude of the organization as they follow the leader. 

Win Today!

Victor