self-development

By Linky van der Merwe

Recently I attended the Peak Work Performance Summit hosted by Dr Ron Friedman. Ron Friedman, PhD, is an award-winning social psychologist who specializes in human motivation and he’s author of the book: “The Best Place to Work”.

In the previous article: “What I Have Learned About Peak Work Performance” I shared some great takeaways from the speakers who were interviewed. In this article I’m going to share more views from well-known productivity experts.

Building an external brain

I was really impressed with how much I’ve learnt from David Allen, author of “Getting things done”. Here are two highlights.

He explained how we are bad at remembering, but good at recognizing. We need to clear internal mental space to make room for good ideas. Our head is for having ideas; not for holding them. That’s what he means by building an external brain – objectify it; get your head empty.

He’s also of the opinion that you shouldn’t take notes on a laptop. It’s better to write things down and to see lists visually rather than digitally.

Combat procrastination

People procrastinate because they feel out of control or uncertain about what to do or where to start. If tasks are described on a physical level of what to do next by using verbs, it’s much easier to have a kick-start. if not, you procrastinate and you have the nagging feeling of ‘when will I do this?’ So remember, put them all on your list with next actionable steps and review it regularly.

Essentials only

A few valuable lessons can be learned from Greg McKeown on determining what is essential and eliminating everything else. He authored the book: ‘Essentialism – Disciplined pursuit of less.

He explained that if you want to become distinctive; find out what makes you really good. Choose to be an Essentialist at work. Saying NO is a very important skill; but do it in a very polite way. Focus on what is essential, concentrate on getting that done well, as that will add most value.

Don’t use busyness as a badge of honour. When you are asked: ‘How are you? – choose to respond differently.

Instead of stating how busy you are and doing a million things, rather share a story from your life – like what you did yesterday with your children. Busyness may let other people feel you are more important, but could also make you look like you’re not in control.

Practices for the Essentialist

Create space to explore what is essential.
Every day write down the 6 things you want to do for the day; prioritise the list, cross off 5; focus on nr 1. Only work on what’s important now. When done, take the next thing.
Reallocate resources to the one thing that should get done; make it as effortless as possible

He’s starting a movement on how to become an Essentialist – so watch that space.

How to coach your teams

I want to conclude with the work of Michael Stanier, author of “The Coaching Habit”.

Learn how to coach your teams better by doing the following:

Listen a bit longer
Be slower to rush to action and advice
Probing more to find out what’s below the surface
Ask a question like: “what’s the real challenge here for you?” It puts the emphasis on the person, rather than the problem.

Look for leadership where you empower people to solve their own problems, and to be self-sufficient.

Have a few good questions. For example, in response to what a person is saying, encourage them by asking: “yes and what else?”
Understand the dynamics of behaviour change – habits are the building blocks.
Overcome the urge to give advice. Rather use the question: ‘what else?’ instead of telling the person what you think.

If you like the Peak Performance ideas and you want to know more, I have good news for you.

You can get Lifetime access to the ‘Peak Work Performance Summit’. You will have unlimited access to interviews with people who are sharing valuable information based on years of research for books and based on their real life experience.

Click here for the Peak Work Performance Summit Lifetime Pass.

By Linky van der Merwe

We all want to become healthier, happier and more productive, but we seldom address these desires consciously on a day to day basis. Recently I was so fortunate to attend the Peak Work Performance Summit hosted by Dr Ron Friedman. Ron Friedman, PhD, is an award-winning social psychologist who specializes in human motivation and he’s author of the book: “The Best Place to Work”.

Since I’ve learnt so much from each interview that Ron so masterfully conducted, I have decided to share a few takeaways with you. By simply applying some of these principles, I believe it has the potential to transform your life!

Find a 2nd article on Peak Work Performance here.

Pre-mortem instead of post-mortems

I loved this idea from Dan Pienk, an idea I have come across before, but I’m now more motivated to apply it at work as well as for personal growth.

He recommends doing a pre-mortem every six months asking:

What do I want to learn?
What do I want to achieve?
What are the pitfalls?

Like you can imagine, this can lead to much better goals that will be easier to achieve, since you are already addressing anticipated challenges even before they appear.

As for starting a new project, it’s a good idea to start with a pre-mortem so that the project can be setup for success, because it helps to think through what success will mean and it will identify possible risks or obstacles that may be blockers to successful delivery. Then a project manager and team can purposefully go ahead with the intention of solving possible problems even before they occur and continue to follow the markers identified for success.

Find out more in Dan Pink’s book: Drive by clicking on the image.

Reduce your focus to achieve better results

What Jay Papasan shared about the one thing that high performers do differently, is that it helps to reduce your focus to achieve better results. What does he mean by that?

It means that you focus on your one thing – the 20% that give 80% output. By doing one thing only, it could throw other things off and it may seem like the balance can go off, but in reality you are focusing on the one thing that will yield the biggest results. This can be applied at work, but also to your health, finances and family life.

Another interesting point he made, was to put being a husband or wife first, before being a parent, because you want to role model being good in marriage. Where else will our children learn to stay committed in marriage?

Find out more in Jay’s book: The one thing by clicking on the image.

For good fruit to grow, you need to be pruning

Todd Henry, who writes about creativity, productivity, and how to find passion for your work, shared an important principle. For good fruit to grow, you need to be pruning, like for a vineyard.

According to Todd, it’s important to learn to say NO to things. Build good practices around the domains you need to excel in. For example, establish blocks of time for study, reading or for writing, whatever it may be that you are doing.

Innovation happens in the gaps, in the quiet times. Create space in your life to bring the best of who you are to what you do. Personally, I loved this statement and as a working mom of 3 children, I constantly have to remind myself to carve out space in my life in order to be my best self.

Read Todd Henry’s books to find out more.

“The accidental creative – How to be brilliant at a moment’s notice”
“Herding Tigers – Be the leader that creative people need”
“Louder than words – Harness the power of your authentic voice”

Pillars of Success

Craig Ballantyne, coach to high-performing entrepreneurs and executives to get more done, have massive impact, grow their influence, and have a personal life, shared ideas to help you ‘own the day and control your life’. He shared five pillars of success:

Do better planning and preparation than ever before
Have a measureable outcome; have action points at the end
Positive social support – engage with people around you for support
Meaningful incentive that will motivate you
Self-imposed deadline and the power this has to help you stick to what you’re doing

Read his book: “The Perfect Day Formula” for more ideas on how to have the perfect day.

If you like the Peak Performance ideas that I shared in this article, I have good news for you.