In the Zone

Aug 11 2016

To Plan for the Future You Must Live In the Present

The Downside of Do More Faster

When I first qualified as an attorney 25 years ago (a barrister at the English bar wearing a fancy wig and gown), my prime directive was something like do more faster. This seed was probably sewn when I was a young boy obsessed with the amazing abilities of the bionic Steve Austin (AKA the Six Million Dollar Man) who became ‘better, stronger, faster…’.

Fast forward ten years later as an attorney having done a lot more, faster and longer but beginning to experience the negative side effects of stress along with wondering where the years had gone, I began my quest for a better way of living. Meditation and mindfulness were just two of the practices I discovered, trained in and continue to use and share with the family, friends and clients.

The purpose of this post is not to outline numerous well-researched and proven benefits of meditation and mindfulness but to address the myth that mindfulness is at odds with living in the fast lane. If, however, you are not yet aware of the benefits including improved cognitive ability, stress-management, reduced blood pressure and improved emotional regulation see here ‘Why Google, Target, and General Mills Are Investing in Mindfulness’ or ‘7 Ways Meditation Can Actually Change The Brain’.

But I Need to Be Eddie Morra

The impetus for the post arose when a client was resistant to my suggestion that he explore meditation and mindfulness as one way of alleviating the extreme stress he was experiencing. His objection was based on the fact as CEO, he was primarily responsible for setting the strategy for the company and that meant he needed to keep his mind on the future and operating with speed. His misunderstanding was that being mindful meant only living in the present, always proceeding slowly.

Despite the dramatic increase in mindfulness meditation by high performance individuals ranging from CEO’s of some of the largest companies in the world to Special Forces operators, a perception remains that being a mindfulness practitioner means leading a life similar to that advocated by ‘Master Po to ‘Grasshopper’ in Kung Fu.

How Being More Present Can Result in Better Strategy

Mindfulness provides you with one way of effectively dealing with the relentless challenges and distractions of the present. I have always thought of my days as similar to the experience of standing in the middle of an 8 lane freeway facing oncoming traffic (I accidentally tried this in my teens). I, like so many us, often find myself subjected to an ever increasing number of emails, texts, calls, notifications and meetings. This can greatly undermine clarity of thought and energy.

Mindfulness facilitates the ability to enjoy the best parts of the present e.g. moments with family and friends and positive experiences while being able to step back, create some white space and not simply be reactive. It also enables you to operate at a higher and more effective level when you need to move up a gear or three.

Steve Jobs, used a meditation and mindfulness practice to enhance his creative insight in planning, and legendary investor Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Capital uses meditation to gain greater clarity. He has stated that the practice is the most important ingredient in his success.

Planning and strategizing for the future places a heavy load on our pre-frontal cortex. In other words it is seriously hard work. By ensuring you are less drained and less stressed by the demands of the present and by equipping you with greater clarity of mind and creativity, mindfulness enables you to both more effectively live in the present and plan for the future.

Martin Soorjoo works with teams and individuals helping them increase their performance and resilience.

Mar 08 2016

In Defence of Winning

In recent times, competition and winning have got a bad rap. Some argue that competition is destructive and undermines cooperation and respect within society and organizations. It’s not the winning but the participation that matters, is a justification frequently advanced for not succeeding. In schools nowadays we see prizes being awarded for coming 10^th.

While winning isn’t always everything and attempting to win at everything, aside from being an ego driven strategy, is a surefire way to achieve burnout, there can be little doubt that succeeding in what’s important to you, matters greatly.

Winning On your Terms

Whether it’s getting the job offer or promotion, raising venture capital or a family, winning in the boardroom or more importantly on the battlefield, winning can be the difference between depression and happiness, bankruptcy and solvency and in some cases life or death. The harsh reality is that there are rarely any meaningful second prizes for simply participating or practicing.

Remember Enron and Armstrong

This is not to say that attempting to win by ‘any means necessary’ is acceptable.

Playing by the rules and respecting your competitors provides valuable learning and growth and helps maintain stability within societies and organizations. Cheating is nearly always ultimately destructive – just think of Enron and Lance Armstrong.

The ‘Win Win’ of Competition

Competition is the route to winning and of itself provides many benefits including being an engine of the global economy, raising standards and quality and spurring innovation. Studies have repeatedly shown that in a competitive environment, most people improve their effort and performance.

Attempting to win means we get better as we inevitably try harder and perhaps more importantly, we inspire others to seek to do better. We just need to remember how inspired we feel when we watch an Olympic athlete win the gold medal or our team win the Superbowl. We admire their mental toughness, resilience and determination.

When we have the courage to go for gold and be the best that we can, we and others win, even when we lose.

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

Jan 09 2016

A New Dawn in Human Performance and Productivity

The New Competitive Edge

We’re currently experiencing an unprecedented focus on pushing the boundaries of human performance and productivity.

This has come about, partly as a response to economic challenges and the increase in communication and information channels, but it’s also driven by the human desire to progress.

These are exciting times where the previously perceived limitations on what we are capable of are frequently smashed. Barely a day goes by without research emerging from the fields of Neuroscience, Performance Psychology, Technology or Bio-hacking (to name a few) educating and empowering us with new techniques, tools, apps or supplements that can significantly increase our performance, productivity and resilience. Some of them are extremely effective and are proven to enable us to increase our performance at work by 500% or more. Others are just like the latest new diet. Shiny and exciting for a bit but long term they consistently fail.

The most promising developments and discoveries (and sometimes re-discoveries) include brain entrainment, mental conditioning processes previously only used by Special Forces operators and world class athletes, technologies that rapidly facilitate recovery and enhance focus, mindfulness and meditation, next generation Smart Drugs (Nootropics), seemingly endless productivity apps and much more. These advances are only the tip of the superhuman iceberg.

While individuals have for millennia been interested in personal development in its various forms, for the first time, we’re experiencing a deep and growing interest by organizations in the latest research in human performance. This growing focus is entirely consistent with the pursuit of profit and success. Happy, healthy, high performing individuals are able to work longer hours, be more effective and creative, have less sickness and manage stress.

Zen and Productivity

Increasing our performance and productivity can, however, no longer be about doing more, faster. Our increasingly fast, always connected world undermines focus and effectiveness , primarily through an endless stream of notifications and interruptions. As a consequence we become more stressed and unable to think with clarity and creativity. We need some peace. So while the search for new ways to do more faster continues, companies and individuals seek out ways of slowing things, looking to both old (e.g. Yoga, Mindfulness) and new solutions (e.g. Brain entrainment and HRV) to slow things down and reduce stress.

Thousand year old practices such as meditation, yoga and mindfulness are now widely accepted as powerful tools for increasing resilience, productivity, creativity and clarity of thought. According to research, approximately one quarter of all major American employers now deliver some form of stress management training and support. These companies include Apple, Nike, Google, McKinsey and Yahoo. Special Forces operators and athletes have long used various relaxation techniques to improve performance and resilience.

Flow and the 5x Factor

By way of example, let’s focus for one moment, on one of the most exciting performance advantages – flow. First coined by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, flow is the state of complete immersion in an activity. Individuals in flow experience intense focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.

A person experiencing a state of flow is able to achieve far more than they could when out of flow; sometimes more than believed humanely possible. Flow it is the ultimate state of peak performance. The significance of flow is such that business leaders and scientific researchers are taking serious note of the state and its profound implications.

A McKinsey study that found that top executives in “flow” are five times more productive, than out of it. Achieved by a combination of old practices and new technologies, flow is quite possibly the ‘ultimate state of peak performance .

The ‘Limitless’ Executive and Entrepreneur

It remains to be seen how far our quest for advancing human performance will take us. What is clear, however, is that for those seeking to get ahead, the time management strategies of yesteryear are no longer sufficient or relevant. We need to increase and manage our focus and energy. So if you’re aiming for success at the highest levels, give careful consideration to purchasing a yoga mat instead, getting into a state of flow and using brain entrainment technology, instead of a game of squash or round of golf.

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

Dec 26 2015

How to ‘Flow’ More and Stress Less

When was the last time you were so focused on producing great work that you lost track of time?

Athletes call this mental state being in ‘the Zone’ or the ‘sweet spot’; psychologists call it “flow” or a peak state.

Being in a state of flow is when we produce our best work and perform way above and beyond our normal levels of productivity and effectiveness. Being in flow facilitates greater job satisfaction and job performance. It’s an experience we’ve had but mostly don’t know how and why it occurred.

In flow we are fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, being present with full involvement and engagement in what we are doing. The ability to get in to a state of flow makes the difference between an average day and a great one.

In a state of flow we make new connections and insights, achieve breakthroughs and push the limits of what is possible for us and sometimes, for the human race. It is flow which enables many athletes break new record (for more on this aspect see ’Flow in Sports‘ by Susan Jackson and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and ‘The Rise of Superman’ by Steven Kotler).

The benefits of flow are not, however, exclusively for world-class athletes. Business leaders and companies are exploring the uses of flow states in the work place. A McKinsey study found that top executives in a state of flow are five times more productive then when not. The implications of this study against the backdrop of the remarkable achievements by athletes in flow are staggering.

From 6BC to the Present

Flow is not a new concept and has existed for thousands of years under other guises, across the world. Lao Tzu, the ancient Chinese philosopher, described flow as the art of “doing without doing” or “trying without trying.”

The Yerkes–Dodson law was identified in 1908 by psychologists Robert M. Yerkes and John Dillingham Dodson. The law states that performance increases with physiological or mental arousal, but only up to a point. When the level of arousal is too high, an individual’s performance decreases. The Yerkes–Dodson law is demonstrated by the following diagram

The actual term flow was first coined by Hungarian Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Csikszentmihályi described flow as completely focused motivation. The key characteristic of flow is deep focus on nothing but the activity; not even oneself or one’s emotions. This engagement can provide a sense of deep joy, albeit there is often a degree of frustration en route.

Csíkszentmihályi identified six factors as encompassing an experience of flow.

1. Intense and focused concentration.
2. Merging of action and awareness.
3. A loss of reflective self-consciousness.
4. A sense of personal control or agency over the situation or activity.
5. Ones experience of time is altered.
6. The activity is intrinsically rewarding.

Flow is the sweet spot between boredom and anxiety. The challenge or piece of work must not be too hard, but not too easy. The objective is to keep learning and creating with a degree of frustration, but not too much. Flow occurs when you find the perfect balance between these two extremes.

The Flow Model

In 1987, Massimini, Carli and Csíkszentmihályi published their model of flow. The model depicts the range of experience that result from differing levels of challenges. Flow is more likely to occur when the activity at hand is a higher-than-average challenge (above the center point) and the individual has above-average skills (to the right of the center point). The center of this graph represents average levels of challenge across all activities that an individual performs on a daily basis

Creating the Conditions for Achieving a State of Flow

We now know that being in a flow state is not random but is a state of ultimate performance that we can consciously activate.

In order to achieve flow, Csikszentmihály contends that the following three conditions must be met:

1. Goals are clear.
2. Feedback is immediate.
3. There is a balance between opportunity and capacity.

While achieving the highest levels of a flow state requires an analysis of the individuals circumstances, abilities, experiences, environment and objectives, taking the following steps will help cultivate the conditions for achieving a state of flow.

1. Set a Clear Goal. The goal must something you can achieve within your ‘flow session’ and must be difficult enough to challenge you, but not so difficult that you feel overwhelmed. This is not as easy as it seems, as make the goal too easy and you will not be sufficiently engaged, make it too hard and you will experience frustration and overwhelm.

2. Identify Your Optimum Time. Everyone has a time they produce their best work. In my twenties I seemed to produce my best work at 2am. Nowadays its around 5.30-8am. Your optimum time for achieving a state of flow will be influenced by a range of factors including family commitments, distractions at work, circadian rhythms’ and energy levels. Keep a diary or journal for a couple of weeks and you’ll be able to identify your highs and lows.

3.Create the right Environment. Our environment can significantly impact our performance. Clear the clutter and make your conditions as supportive for great work as is possible e.g. comfortable seating, a clear desk and good lighting. Many (including myself) find natural or blue light in the daytime helpful for increasing focus, alertness and energy.

4. Eliminate Distractions. At the heart of flow is focus. Focus cannot coexist with distraction so turn off your mobile, shut down your email and all notifications, block out as much noise as possible and consider wearing noise canceling headphones. Clear your workspace of anything that might distract you e.g. unpaid bills or our outstanding tax return. Lastly, ensure no-one interrupts you until you have completed your task.

5. Get into the Right State. Emotions have a significant impact on your ability to get into flow. Give yourself a head start by feeling good and energized before you start. You can do this by a brisk walk around the block, some caffeine (but not too much) or playing some music that leaves your feeling inspired and raises your energy. Make sure you have plenty of water before and during your flow session and are not hungry as this will distract you.

While there are advanced tools and strategies that will enable you to achieve the highest levels of flow, following the 5 steps above will, with practice, persistence and consistency, enable you to enter the flow zone and achieve new levels of performance and productivity.

A word of caution. It is not possible to be in a state of flow all the time. Flow is addictive and like most things in life, you can have too much of a good thing. A recovery period is essential. Attaining a state of flow on a regular basis is, however, quite possibly the most significant step we can take to achieving greater productivity, effectiveness and happiness.

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

Dec 12 2015

4 Easy Ways to Optimize Your Brain’s Performance

There has never been a time in the history of the human race that our brains have needed to perform as optimally as they need to today. A combination of the increase in perceived stressors, rapid acceleration of technology and our ‘always on, always connected’ world means our brains feel fried with stress and exhausted on a regular basis.

Advances in Neuroscience have given us a deeper understanding of how our brains work and we now know that key practices, strategies, routines and technologies e.g. flow, brain entrainment and Neurofeedback to name a few, can increase our mental performance and productivity by anything up to 500%.

If, however, you’re simply looking for a moderate boost in your brain’s performance and resilience, here are 4 easy to implement strategies that will rapidly make a noticeable difference.

Disengage

Many people make the mistake of focusing for too long on solving a particular problem. Invariably they become exhausted and frustrated as the solution seems to evade them.

Stepping back and disengaging enables your brain to calm down and recover. Research shows that staring out of the window at nature or doing something physical like walking round the block or washing the dishes, not only restores your cognitive function but will often enable your sub conscious mind to achieve the break through that your focused mind failed to.

Get Physical

The same principle that applies to our muscles applies to our brain – use it or lose it. Exercise benefits the brain in numerous ways. It increases our heart rate consequently pumping more oxygen to the brain. It stimulates the release of hormones which are essential for the for the healthy growth of brain cells.

Furthermore, exercise increases brain plasticity by stimulating growth of new connections between cells. Studies have also show than exercise reduces stress and has an antidepressant effect.

And it doesn’t take much exercise to produce noticeable benefits. Even a few minutes a day of moderate exercise can lead to an immediate increase in your performance and productivity for several hours afterwards. We are more alert and more able to focus.

Connect

While there is a significant cognitive downside to being continually digitally connected, research overwhelmingly demonstrates that for the vast majority of us our social connections are critical for good mental health. Social connections are at the core of primate life.

People with poor social networks are more prone to mental illness (McGuire & Raleigh, 1986). In 2008 research by Ybarra demonstrated that showing that socializing had equivalent benefits for brain function as mental exercises. Ideally maintain those social connections by meeting your friends and family, but even a short call gives your brain a boost.

Sleep

A consistent lack of good sleep wreaks havoc on our physical and mental health. Sleep has important restorative functions and clears out harmful toxins from the brain.

Insufficient sleep undermines our ability to reason, problem-solve, focus and maintain attention for long periods of time. Sleep is the opportunity for the brain to store new information into long-term memory, which is critical to learning.

The amount of sleep that is necessary varies from individual to individual, however, there is a broad consensus amongst sleep experts that most people need a minimum of 7 hours daily. Factors such as timing, blue light and caffeine and other forms stimulation can greatly undermine the quality of sleep and must be taken into account.

Martin Soorjoo is the founder of 3XP Performance Coaching.

Jan 14 2015

A Better Target than Work-Life Balance

While for some, the concept of work-life balance is a reality or aspiration; for many leaders and high achievers it is a myth or false ideal. On those rare occasions that work -life balance exists, it’s usually temporary. For years, both as a high -flying attorney and then as a coach, work life balance was something I aspired to but never quite achieved.

The work-life dichotomy was invented in the 1800s. The expression “work–life balance” was first used in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and in 1986 in the United States to describe the balance between an individual’s work and personal life.

More recently, the concept of work-life balance, or its absence, has received greater prominence due to work encroaching on all areas of peoples’ lives to an unprecedented degree. For many nowadays, life often feels like all work and no play.

The Price of Globalization and Technology

There are two primary, and overlapping causes for this. Firstly, increasing globalization has meant that for many, a working day can and often does span 24 hours. Secondly, advances in technology mean that employees and the self-employed are often expected to be connected and available at all waking hours. Companies use email and provide smartphones to facilitate this.

The above should not be taken as implying that everyone is working round the clock because their employers have a gun to their head. Executives will often put in the hours because they have their sights on promotion. Leaders will do so because they believe that it what is expected of a leader and that it sets an example for their team. Finally entrepreneurs and self-employed professionals will continually burn the candle at both ends because that is the trade off for being your own boss.

The reality for many leaders, executives, entrepreneurs, managers and professionals is that, whether the motivations are intrinsic or extrinsic, there is a high price to pay for spending a continuous disproportionate amount of time working. Consequences for the individual include:

* High stress levels which impact on mental and physical health.

* Exhaustion and burnout, often resulting from inadequate sleep.

*Impaired performance and inefficiency.

* Drug and alcohol misuse.

Furthermore, it is not in a company’s best interests to have their senior employees always connected and working round the clock, as the impact on the people expected to drive growth and innovation ranges from impaired decision making and strategic thinking to poor emotional intelligence and a lack of creativity.

Corporate awareness of the problem is growing as reflected by many companies introducing meditation programs for their employees

A More Realistic Approach

Rather than pursue something that I no longer believe is realistic, I apply and work with clients to implement a strategy that yields the same perceived benefits of ‘work-life balance’ but is more compatible with a modern working environment. Elements of the approach include:

Going with the Flow. Proceeding with the expectation that there will be times that work takes priority and a disproportionate amount of your time but deciding to ‘go with the flow’ rather that resenting and resisting is less stressful and more realistic. The precondition to embracing this approach is a commitment to invest scheduled time in your family and personal life.

Time blocking. The above step only works if you are fiercely protective of the non-work time you have scheduled. You must be brutal about segmentation. This means that when its time for the family day out or workout in the gym, turn your smartphone off and be ‘present’ and fully focused on the activity or people at hand. If you need to, let your colleagues know you are not contactable at certain times. Train them to respect your personal time. It’s rare that something or someone can’t wait till you are available.

Be Zen. The numerous and well-documented benefits of mediation and mindfulness practices cannot be overstated. A few minutes invested in some form of mediation will yield benefits in all areas of your life that increase over time. It is no coincidence that some of the most successful people in world (e.g. Hedge fund manager Ray Dalio, Legal Sea Foods CEO Roger Berkowitz, Salesforce’s Marc Benieoff, Linkedin CEO Jeff Weiner and Arianna Huffington) engage in some form of daily meditative practice.

Sleep.For too long insufficient sleep has been a badge of honor. For many years as an attorney I prided myself of producing my best work at around 2am. I look back and realize how misguided I was. As research from across the world makes clear, the impact on health, performance and productivity resulting from consistent, inadequate sleep is catastrophic.

And sleep is not simply an issue of quantity. High quality sleep is necessary for real recovery and restoration. This can be achieved by having no caffeine after 3pm, a regular sleep schedule, total darkness, no TV in the bedroom, not eating a meal more than 2 hours before bed and blue light blocking glasses for the evening.

There are many other steps that can be taken that will increase your ability to enjoy a more fulfilling personal life, while improving your performance and productivity in your work life. Start with one or two of the recommendations from the above list and you soon realize why, for an increasing number of high achievers, going with the flow is more realistic and beneficial than pursing the elusive work-life balance.

Martin Soorjoo is the founder of 3XP Performance Coaching. Martin works with his clients to help them consistently perform at their best.