In the Zone

Aug 13 2017

Success and The Upside of No Plan B

Get That History Degree

Responsible people and organizations always have a plan B. This approach is instilled in us from an early age. You may want to go to Hollywood but just in case, have a backup plan and get that history degree.

While there are clear benefits to the safety net of a plan B, there is a significant downside. The safety net may end up being a noose. From a psychological standpoint, if you know you have a backup plan then you cannot be 100% committed to plan A.

Not having a plan B is an approach that many successful individuals have intuitively understood is a key to winning. Elite athletes are well known for putting all of ‘their eggs in one basket’.

“The dangers of life are infinite, and among them is safety.” Goethe

According to Research…

Recent research from Wharton has confirmed the downside to making a backup plan. The process of considering a backup plan may result in less effort being invested in the primary goal, inevitably reducing the chances of success.

Professors Shin and Milkman, detail their findings in “How Backup Plans Can Harm Goal Pursuit: The Unexpected Downside of Being Prepared for Failure”.

The researchers found that simply thinking about a plan B, without actually creating it, was enough to cause people to lose focus on their goal. According to Milkman

“When people were prompted to think about another way to achieve the same high-level outcome in case they failed in their primary goal, they worked less hard and did less well.”

To be or Not to Be Responsible?

So do we play it safe but lessen our chances of winning? To some extent this depends on your ability to tolerate risk and the consequences of losing, in addition to the importance of your goals. Milkman and Shin suggest delaying making a backup plan until after you have done everything you can to achieve your primary goal, however, the reality is that sometimes this will be too late.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” — Mark Twain

Aug 08 2017

Pressure Management – Beware the ‘One Shot’ Mindset

If You Had One Shot

Managers and coaches will frequently try to motivate individuals and teams by stating that this is ‘your one big shot’, its ‘now or never’ etc. Individuals also frequently engage in this form of self-talk. While the intention behind this approach is positive and understandable, it’s nearly always counterproductive as it intensifies pressure by increasing feelings of potential risk and loss.

When One Shot Thinking Backfires

While pressure can be useful as a trigger for getting started on a task e.g. where someone is procrastinating, the research is clear that for the vast majority of people it undermines their performance.

The problem with feelings of loss and risk is that they have a strong negative impact on our thinking and behavior. Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman has demonstrated that we are twice as averse to loss as we are to making an equal gain. This results in ‘playing it safe’ and as we sometimes see with sports teams, ‘playing not to lose’.

When working with clients who have an important negotiation, presentation, interview or other high consequence event, I always remind them while it is important they prepare to win, the reality is that there is nearly always another shot. This simple pressure management reality check typically results in an instant exhalation of breath and relaxation of posture and facial expression. The pressure is instantly reduced and performance capability consequently increased.

Martin Soorjoo works with individuals and teams to increase their Performance, Focus and Ability to Manage Pressure

Aug 06 2017

How to Stop Being a Slave to Your Emotions and Change How Your Feel

Slaves to Emotion

There is a prevalent view in Western societies that it is ‘normal’ that our emotions and feelings influence and in many cases drive our actions. Excuses and justifications from ‘I didn’t feel like doing it’ or ‘I couldn’t help myself’ are the norm and often viewed as acceptable responses and justifications.

We believe that our emotional state is critical to whether we succeed or fail because, so the flawed reasoning continues, because our emotions influence or determine our actions.

Taking this reasoning to its logical conclusion, it is sometimes assumed that emotions ultimately determine our identity e.g. ‘I felt angry (emotion) and lashed out (action) and consequently I am an angry person (identity). We and others identify ourselves by our feelings and behavior.

The Prevalent But Flawed Model

Acting As If

The above approach not only undermines our ability to influence or determine our future but it overlooks the fact that our actions change how we feel. Psychologists have known this for centuries. William James, regarded as the founder of American Psychology, believed that emotions arise from the physical actions we take in response to what is happening in our lives. In other words, behavior creates emotion.

In recent times psychiatrists have started encouraging patients suffering from depression to smile for a few minutes at a time. One recent study found that smiling can double the chances of recovering from depression. You don’t need to feel happy, just make smile irrespective of how you feel inside and your emotions will soon start to match your external representation. Similarly, it has also been repeatedly demonstrated that exercise or even movement changes our emotional state both for the short and long term.

The 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Professor Zimardo powerfully demonstrated when people took on certain roles and acted in a certain way they began to feel the way people in those roles felt and began to act consistently with those roles.

Over time, the more consistently you begin to act and consequently feel a certain way, the more you will take on that desired identity. To bring this point to life; if every morning you tackled your most important task first, worked through your priorities using the Pomodoro technique and blocked out distractions with noise canceling headphones and turning off all notifications you would be plainly be productive. If you were consistent in this behavior, over time your would begin to define and be defined as a productive person.

A Virtuous Cycle

None of the above should be taken as suggesting that emotions are irrelevant to our ability to succeed or fail. People often achieve greatness when they are fueled by emotion – both good and bad. By understanding and utilizing the power of action to influence emotion you can create a virtuous cycle where your actions determine your emotions and over time begin to shape your identity.

Martin Soorjoo works with individuals and teams to increase their Performance, Focus and Ability to Manage Pressure

Jul 10 2017

How to Be Who You Want to Be

By now you will have set your plans and goals and identified the habits, rituals and routines you need to succeed, but by the end of the year there’s a good chance you will have failed. We’ve all been there too many times.

And while there may be many reasons for being in this position (again) one thing is clear: if you haven’t made sure the right ‘you’ is on board to make it happen, then it won’t.

Who Are You?

How we define ourselves determines our perception of what we believe we are capable of and ultimately our actions. This is because we always act in accordance with our self -image. So, for example, if you believe that you are a person who struggles to lose weight, then your subconscious mind will try to ensure you act consistently with that self-image and sabotage your 2016 exercise and diet plans. Put simply, our identity is our OS.

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.” Henry Ford

Our current identity and self-image is the result of inputs of data from multiple sources over a period of time going right back to childhood. These inputs include how others describe us (in particular parents and teachers) and our experiences, including successes and failures.

A person who has had many failures may choose to define themselves as a failure, rather than look to the example of Richard Branson and recognize they are in good company. A more empowering description is that of someone who is working towards success and has failed along the way. Given the critical importance of ‘active optimism’ this is plainly a far more empowering and useful self-image.

“I think therefore I am” Descartes

The views of others can have a powerful impact on how we shape our identity and perception of our abilities. The ‘Pygmalion Effect’ refers to the phenomenon whereby higher expectations lead to higher performance. Several decades ago the authors of ‘Pygmalion in the Classroom’ demonstrated that when teachers expect students to do well and show intellectual growth, they do; when teachers do not have such expectations, performance and growth is low.

Upgrade Your Identity

Your identity, like your beliefs, is not set in stone. You may have previously decided you are someone who cannot lose weight or cannot make your business profitable, until you do. And the moment you do, you prove your previous belief to be wrong. Rather than wait, take responsibility for defining who you are and reap the benefits of believing you are capable of great things.

The following process will enable you to upgrade your identity.

Get Clear on Who You Think You Are today. The first step is to get clear as to how you currently perceive yourself. Set aside some quiet time and create two columns on a sheet of paper and in the left-hand column write down (your brain prefers this to typing) the key elements of your self-image.

Challenge the Assumptions. In the right hand column, prove those negative aspects of your self-image to be wrong. Challenge the foundation for the assumptions e.g. if you have defined yourself as a failure because you have failed in the past, demonstrate the flawed logic of ‘Failing = Failure’ by simply acknowledging the fact that most successful people have failed many times.

Create Your New Self-Image. Now write out a new identity for yourself that reflects the person you need to be in order to achieve what’s most important to you. Write as though you are already that person e.g. ‘I am focused and driven’. Your identity statement need only be a few sentences. Ideally do this step of the process when you’re feeling good. If necessary, make yourself feel good by playing your favorite music track or doing whatever works for you.

Once you’ve created your identity statement, read it out aloud once a day, ideally in the morning. Stand strong when you’re reading it and say it like you mean it. Engaging your body and emotions while reading your statement out aloud is the most effective way of installing your upgrade. If you can do it like these guys then all the better.

Reinforce. To make this upgrade as effective as possible, there are two further steps you should take. The first is to visualize. Visualization is a highly effective process for rewiring your brain and is widely used by athletes and the military. Spend 3 minutes at the end of every evening visualizing yourself acting in accordance with your new identity. It’s important that you do not focus on your desired outcomes but on your actions and behaviors.

Although this process is short, you need to make sure you are somewhere quiet and won’t be disturbed. The key to effective visualization is making it as real as you can in your mind. See, hear and feel yourself acting in accordance with your new self-image. The more you visualize, the easier and more effective it becomes.

“If you want a quality, act as if you already had it.”

William James, Pioneering American Psychologist, 1842-1910

The second technique that will reinforce your identity is ‘acting as if’. William James, regarded by many as the father of American psychology is credited with first introducing the concept of ‘acting as if’ in his lecture ‘The Will to Believe’ published in 1897.

When you ‘act as if’ you already have the quality you desire, your Reticular Activation System which resides in your brain, directs your behavior to narrow the gap between your present situation and the desired situation.

Now you know how, upgrade, enjoy and win!

Martin Soorjoo works with individuals and teams to increase their Performance and Resilience.

Dec 14 2016

05 Nick Littlehales - Using Sleep to Maximize your Performance and Productivity

Today’s guest is sleep coach to elite performers and the leading sport sleep coach in the world, Nick Littlehales.

Nick is the author of the phenomenal bestseller Sleep: The Myth of 8 Hours, the Power of Naps, and the New Plan to Recharge Our Body and Minds.

He is also the former chairman of UK Sleep Council, and his clients range from international sports teams and athletes to major companies. Today I’m talking to Nick about how to make sure our sleep provides us with maximum recovery so we can perform at our highest level.

You can Subscribe and Listen to the Podcast on iTunes, and be sure to leave me a Rating and Review!

“It is still a little bit of a void in our days, in our weeks, where we wander into this area, and once we’re in it we have no control over what we’re going to get.” – Nick Littlehales

Show Notes:

How Nick became the guru of sleep
The importance of understanding sleep
How important sleep is for performance
The problems you’ll face if you don’t get good sleep
The most common myths about sleep
Why we believe we should only sleep in one block
The danger of trying to catch up on sleep
How blue light helps and hinders us
Why you can’t overstimulate your brain
The importance of planning and creating a routine
Why naps are worth taking
Why it’s important for your bedroom to be cool
What is the R90 sleep system?

“When you keep pushing blue light into your system, you’re just looking in the mirror and saying ‘stay awake.’” – Nick Littlehales

Links Mentioned:

Get Nick’s book Sleep
Learn more about R90 Sleep Coaching
Connect with Nick:

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Website

“Every ninety minutes throughout the day, give your brain a chance to download and deal with all the information you’re getting.” – Nick Littlehales

Aug 24 2016

Solving Stress the Easy and Enjoyable Way

While research continues to highlight the benefits of stress (for more on this read Kelly McGonigal, PhD’s excellent ‘The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It’), the position remains that some forms of stress e.g. long-term chronic stress can be destructive to our physical and emotional well-being.

The Problem With Standard Solutions to Stress

Although there are 101 strategies and techniques for addressing stress issues, people often perceive the solutions as being ineffective, drawn out and just another list of tasks to add to their already stressful to-do list and busy day.

An example of this was provided to me by a client who told me that her attempts last year to address her stress issues involved two CBT meetings a week, travelling 50 miles each trip. Her demanding role as CMO at a fast growing company meant that this ‘solution’ left her feeling exhausted and more stressed.

Feeling Good About Dealing with Stress

The implications of the above means that those working in the field of stress management must provide solutions that are easy to integrate into busy lives and result in the recipients feeling better, not worse.

The easier to implement and more enjoyable the solution the more likely it is to be adopted and result in a successful outcome. The following three ‘techniques’ that I use and recommend to friends, family and clients fall into this category.

Develop and Maintain Meaningful Friendships

Our brains rightly perceive our social networks as being essential to survival. Extended periods of loneliness and isolation consequently trigger our stress response. An extensive Harvard study concluded that a lack of strong relationships increased the risk of premature death by a staggering 50%.

Making and enjoying real and meaningful social connections (not a shallow social media interaction) reduces stress and anxiety as a result of the release of the powerful ‘feel good’ hormone, oxytocin. It’s important to note that what matters is the quality of the relationships not the quantity.

Be Grateful

In order to ensure we survive, our brains are hardwired to notice and focus on the negative. This is one of the primary reasons that media coverage of the news focuses on the negative. It goes without saying that operating with a negative focus goes hand in hand with being negatively stressed.

Research has proven that regularly acknowledging and feeling grateful for the people, experiences and things in our lives that we value, reduces stress and improves our overall well-being.

There are a number of effective ways to practice gratitude including:

Writing in a journal several times a week, three things you are grateful for.
Sharing three things you’re grateful for with a loved one or close friend.
Letting people know that you value and appreciate them.

While the research is clear as to the benefits of a gratitude practice, there are differing conclusions as to the appropriate frequency. Experiment with which practice and frequency works best for you, making sure you are connecting with, and fully expressing your feelings of gratitude and not simply ticking three things off as though they were items on your to-do list.

Embrace Rather than Fear Stress

In The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It’, Kelly McGonigal identifies the many proven benefits of stress. Stress can improve your ability to perform and make you happier, smarter and stronger. McGonigal lays out a compelling argument based on extensive research, that choosing to embrace stress can result in you feeling more empowered.

Simply by changing our mindset and perception towards the stress we may experience, can have significant benefits for our health and happiness e.g. having a positive outlook on ageing can add an average of eight years to our lives. In short, how we choose to perceive something can transform its effect on us from negative to positive,

While there are specific mindset interventions for changing our perspective, it’s important to recognize that we change our opinions, beliefs and perspectives on a frequent basis. An obvious example occurs when we feel angry or disappointed at someone who has kept us waiting for a long time. We might initially think they are inconsiderate or inefficient. If, however, we subsequently discover they have an extremely good reason for being late, that belief is instantly dispelled. We can and must do the same when it comes to our perception of stress.

Martin Soorjoo works with individuals and teams to increase performance and resilience