Of Course It Does!!!

I had to laugh when I read the headline of the Harvard Business Review Stat of the Day: Wishing Someone Luck Can Improve Performance. Research has been done in Germany that showed that when people were told "my fingers are crossed for you" before attempting a task, the task took them on average 3 minutes. For the ones who were not given the encouragement, the task took an average of 5 minutes.

My thought was, "Of course it improved performance!" Unless someone feels patronized by encouragement, it always has the mental affect of boosting your energy and determination toward completing a task. You know you are not alone. Someone is counting on you-or believes in you. The person giving the encouragement is also creating a level of expectation.

In our training programs we hear that one of the biggest frustrations workers face in the fast-paced business environment is rarely hearing that they are doing a good job. Managers and supervisors think they are too busy to take a moment and thank workers for their efforts or offer encouragement. This study tells them that they may be dead wrong with that type of thinking.

If you go back and do the math, the workers in the study improved their performance by almost 40% just by having someone say something positive to them. Where else can you get that return on investment in your people? Take the time today to offer encouragement to those around you-regardless of how small it may seem.

Learning from Failure

What do you do when you fail at something? What do you do when you make a mistake or that things don't turn out the way they should?

Let's look back at the circus metaphor. You are an artist in the circus, you have a bad night and your performance doesn't go well. You could blame the ringmaster because he didn't create the build up to your performance that he should have. You could blame the crowd because they are not the refined (or maybe unrefined) individuals that they should be to truly enjoy your craft. You could also have the attitude of, "You win some, you lose some." Or, you could do something different.

The best performers are constantly saying to themselves, "How can I learn from the past and what can I do to create a better performance as a result." If something goes wrong and you don't get the standing ovation that you want, you should take ownership and fix it. There is the old adage that you can learn from history or be doomed to repeat it. What are you going to do to learn from your failures so that you don't repeat them and improve instead? Develop strength, persistence, knowledge, self confidence and courage. These characteristics will lead you to success even though you will meet setbacks along the way.

Evaluate Every Influence

Here's an earth shattering statistic: According to researchers at the University of North Carolina and Rhodes College, the increase in Wal-Mart Super Centers accounts for 10.5% of the rise in obesity in the United States since the late 1980s. The study is published in the Journal of Urban Economics. Their research found that it was due to the low cost of food sold at these super centers. In other words, since it's highly convenient and accessible, people eat more. Talk about stating the obvious.

In Juggling Elephants we talk so much about focusing on your purpose and not being distracted by emotion, laziness, convenience or other factors. There will always be negative influences (like inexpensive, highly processed food) around you that can take you off course (i.e. add to your waistline). The flip side of the Wal-Mart effect is that they offer healthy food at lower costs as well-people just tend not to buy them in the same volume.

The key is to evaluate every influence and determine whether it is helpful in moving you toward your desired outcome or pushing you further away from it. If you can't remove yourself from a negative influence, at least minimize your exposure to it. In other words, don't stand in the candy or snack aisle and say, "I can resist the urge to buy that 3 pound bag of chips." Spend more time in the fruit and vegetable area admiring the oranges and apples-and then buy some.

Pushing Yourself

I have a pretty good routine of getting up in the morning and going to the gym 4-5 times per week. It is a great time for me to get the blood pumping. I try to do 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of weight training. I am not saying that I am in great shape but I feel like I am doing pretty well...at least until last weekend.

I went on an "intermission" to a mountain cabin. The only catch with visiting this cabin is that in the winter you have to walk about 200 yards off the main road, uphill, through the snow to reach the cabin. This also includes carrying any clothes, food and other essentials that you are going to use during your stay. We arrived at the parking lot late (just as it was getting dark) and started up hill with a cooler full of food plus a bag of clothes and essentials. We soon found the snow to be quite deep and because of a recent warming trend, very soft. This meant that with almost every step you would sink "thigh high" in snow. This is too long of a story to get the point across, but suffice it to say, by the time we reached the cabin, I thought I was going to die! My heart was pounding, I was soaked with sweat and 24 hours later it was impossible to move because my muscles were so sore.

What had happened to all of my exercise and weight training? Wasn't I in "good" shape? I reflected on my strolls on the elliptical machine and the rides on the stationary bike. It seems that they didn't prepare me for the exertion of climbing up the mountain. I realized that my routine at the gym was not pushing and strengthening me anymore and that I had reached a plateau.

What about your self, work and your relationship rings? Are you just maintaining and doing the minimal in your relationships to just get by? Maybe you are not even maintaining (being a couch potato). What happens when difficult times come along at work and you are expected to dig in and exert yourself? Will you be prepared? You need to stretch and push and improve your skills, muscles and mind. Life in not about maintenance-it is about improvement. How will you improve? No pain, no gain!

Try Something Simple

While at a conference last week, I was talking with a couple of business people about what Juggling Elephants and some of the strategies we share in the book. One of the individuals said, "I heard a speaker on time management last year and they gave me the best advice." "What was it?" I replied. Her response was priceless: "They said I should keep one to do list instead of having multiple places where I write things down." I would have expected to hear that 20 years ago, but not today.

In a time when there are a bazillion techniques to improve how we manage our time, it's good to remember that the simple solutions often offer the greatest potential for improvement. Simple techniques like:

• Take 10 minutes to plan your day
• When making your task list, list things you WANT to do, not just what you HAVE to do.
• Before leaving work, clean your desk of clutter and items from the day.
• Keep a note pad and pen next to your bed. As you have thoughts you want to remember, write them down instead of trying to remember them first thing next morning.
• If there are physical items you can't forget to take to work the next day, load them in the car the previous night.
• Keep only one calendar
• Review your task list throughout the day-not just when you first make it.

What are some simple solutions you find that work for you?