NLP Weekly: 47 Seconds of Attention, Asking for Help, 30' of Darkness

NLP Weekly: Making your leadership & performance second nature. 

Performance: 47 seconds of attention. 

Get ready for this. In 2004, the average attention span on a screen was 2.5 minutes. (Facebook became available to everyone in September 2006.)

Dr Gloria Mark shares in her book, Multitasking in the Digital Age, that the average attention span is now just 47 seconds. The median attention span is 40 seconds, meaning half of the observed attention spans are 40 seconds or less.

Yes, seriously. Do not be dismayed at this. This is the level of your competition.

When thinking about your own performance, having the discipline to practice paying attention, the discipline to sustain focus will be a massive differentiator.

Imagine the impact on your performance of being able to listen for 2.5 minutes. More than 3X better than the majority of people (again your competitors).

Minimize distractions. Put the phone away. Turn off notifications.

Leadership: Help. Offer it. Ask for it.

At the leadership speaker series I lead for aspiring & inspiring leaders in Delta, BC, this past Wednesday we engaged in a conversation about how to create an environment where people feel not just comfortable but proactive in asking for it.

The simple advice is to offer help. A mindset practice I adopted many years ago for when my phone rings is to look at it, pause, look at the name, and say to myself "how can I help this person?"

As a leader (in any capacity), you know that your phone rarely rings unless someone is asking you to help them. Wear that recognition as a badge of honour. People trust and believe in you to guide them.

Our responsibility as leaders to help. So, when my phone rings and I answer it, I let the other person go through the initial pleasantries and then I ask with a tone of acknowledgement and recognition in my voice "How can I help?".

Declaring it out loud and inviting the other person to ask for the help, calms them, accelerates the conversation, and enables you to gain more context faster. The help you provide will be more impactful. The person will be more comfortable asking for help in the future.

Similarly, do not shy away from asking for help yourself.

My willingness to admit I didn't know certain things and asked for assistance, insight, understanding and clarification, was instrumental in helping me grow one of Western Canada's largest privately held insurance brokerages by a compounded annual rate of 26% over 4 years. (Their goal was 6% when I started the role. Further, I had absolutely zero financial services experience when I took the job. I knew I could lead and that leadership would get outsized results.)

Earlier in my career, when I knew that learning would be my sustainable competitive advantage, I asked the VP of Construction at the real estate development company if I could sit in his construction team meetings (clarity = I was a marketing coordinator). I offered to take the meeting notes in exchange for being in the room. I also asked for 30 minutes at 7:00am (the time he came to the office every day) to ask questions and get clarity on the things I didn't understand from the meeting.

Offer help. Ask for it. And accept it when it is offered unsolicited.

Nature: 30 minutes of darkness

We're at that time of year where the sunrises later and later each day. Soon, it will consistently rises after 8:00am every single day. Ugh.

Transitioning to this time of year, I have already identified my most important goals for the rest of the year and know that every single morning for the rest of 2024, the first walk of the day with my dog will be in darkness. I won't have the same ability to watch for potential wildlife predators.

30 minutes of consistent darkness, without an flash or burst of light, is enough time for your eyes to adjust to the level of ambient light. (This is why headlamps have a "red light" feature.) When your eyes adjust, you won't be able to see the same way as you can in the middle of a sunny summer's day but you will be able to see the things you couldn't see before.

Now, apply this as a metaphor to areas or occurrences in your life when you don't know what to do, you're not sure what options exist to move forward, you're not sure if any options exist to move forward. 

Hit pause. Wait 30 minutes. 

What options and possibilities do you see know? 

Who do you need to ask for help?

What do you need to focus on for 2.5 minutes to move this challenge forward?

be awesome today,

-Graham