NLP Weekly: Making your leadership & performance second nature.
Performance: Bring the Joy and DGAF.
Our lives are short. Hilariously short. If we live for 4,000 weeks, we live to be 80. I want to enjoy the weeks, the days, the minutes.
Yesterday when picking up my daughter from pre-school we were invited to go watch the "big kids" show off their Halloween costumes in the gym. Naturally the costume parade didn't begin on time. The walls of the gym were lined with parents and younger siblings waiting.
A couple of toddlers were running in short bursts into the empty space.
"Dada, I want to run."
"Okay. You can go run."
"No. I want to run with you."
"Awesome. But can you catch me?!?!" as I run off into the middle of the gym wearing cat ears being chased by a 3 year old in a white cat costume.
We ran, jumped, hopped, giggled and laughed all around the gym until it was time for the "big kids" to come in. It would have been very easy for me to say we needed to...
NLP Weekly: Making your leadership & performance second nature.
Performance: You make a decision every 12 seconds.
Okay, not exactly. I'm currently reading Endure by Alex Hutchison. It focuses primarily on human physical endurance - running, mountain climbing, adventure pursuits, explorers, etc.
In Endure, Hutchinson discusses how any activity that lasts longer than approximately 12 seconds demands a conscious decision to continue. Once an activity exceeds that 12-second threshold, energy reserves shift. The brain steps in more actively gauging factors such as fatigue, pain, breathing, and perceived effort.
Your decision-making to keep going becomes an ongoing process, with the brain assessing how much energy and effort are available and weighing this against the potential for exhaustion.
“Endurance” is not just physical. It is a mental capacity to persist. The longer the activity continues, the more your brain engages...
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....
NLP Weekly: Making your leadership & performance second nature.
Performance: Glimmers > Groundbreakers
A gratitude practice is now recognized through multiple studies, "to benefit our mental and physical health, decision-making, metabolism, hormone regulation, and helps us in times of crisis." (Big Think, April 2020)
One of the recurring themes that I find when discussing with clients what they are thankful or grateful for is their initial inclination to identify one massive action or occurrence from the past few days that significantly and sustainably changed the trajectory of their life for the positive, forever.
Okay - a little exaggeration there, however, more often than that when someone is asked to pause and share for what they are most grateful from the past week, they struggle to identify something because they self-admittedly are searching for something that serendipitously entered their life solving their current biggest challenge or frustration.
A...
NLP Weekly: Making achieving your goals & being a great leader second nature.
March 22, 2024
Performance: Do Less. Say No. Achieve Faster.
Many of us feel an obligation to say yes to too many projects, people, commitments, etc. We aren't great at creating filters or boundaries that quickly eliminate options or ensure we stay focused on our most meaningful goals.
Oliver Burkeman in Four Thousand Weeks, writes about how we cannot possibly do all of the things that we say we want to in our lives. We simply do not have enough time. We are mortals who are not going to live long enough. We need to get clear about what is most meaningful and important.
Yes, you can pursue multiple things simultaneously, however you need to recognize that adding more to your plate means it will either take you longer to finish or some things will inevitably go unfinished.
So how do we gain clarity, prioritize, and achieve faster?
NLP Weekly: Making achieving your goals & being a great leader second nature.
March 8, 2024
Performance: Consistency Isn't Sexy.
The results definitely are though. Many of the things we want to achieve, change, improve, or create require consistent effort and habits.
This consistency can seem monotonous. It can feel boring. Motivation doesn't come easily, if it even comes at all. Worse, it may never seem like you're making progress.
Cultivate consistency by:
In general, it takes 66 days for a new habit or...
NLP Weekly: Making achieving your goals & being a great leader second nature.
March 1, 2024
Performance: Clarity’s Quick Wins
A common theme in client coaching sessions this week was a gap in the amount of clarity people have in their life and / or work. It’s not so much that people felt they were directionless rather they are operating and trying to “make it to Friday” rather than acting with intention. They’re closer to surviving than thriving.
Actively bringing intention to how you want to “be” and “show up” each day can have a profound impact on:
Which values provide the foundation for how you want to show up each day?
Pick 1 – 3 values or words that define the best of you are and want to be. Set an alarm in your phone so they pop...
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