Pressure Is A Privilege
“Pressure is a privilege.” This famous quote by Billie Jean King seemed to be the theme of Wimbledon this year. It came up so frequently that my husband even used it in his toast at our daughter’s wedding in July. The idea is this: when we feel pressure, it’s because what we are doing has meaning.
How Arrogant of You
“Do you think other people are better than you?” This was the question executive coach Chris North asked a participant during a workshop for the Meta Performance Institute. The person being asked replied, “Yes.” Shocking all of us, Chris responded, “How arrogant of you.”
How Do You Take Your Dopamine?
Dopamine levels influence our behavior, but it also works the other way around: our behavior influences our dopamine levels. We can spike dopamine before the task, during the task, or after the task. And one of these times has a dramatically better effect.
When Will You Complete That By? Could You Do It Sooner?
Recently, a good friend of mine shared that one of the best professional mentors he ever had was a former boss who would ask him two questions during their weekly meetings about projects:
When will you complete that by?
Could you do it sooner?
How to Train Your People
You are an environment that trains the people you interact with. The way in which you are treated by others is due, at least in part, to how you have trained them to treat you.
Drastically Underestimating God
How we think about the future actively shapes the way our lives unfold. Jason Jaggard, the CEO of Novus Global, has an excellent short article on how this plays out in leadership. He shares that the two greatest leadership challenges are:
Every leader drastically underestimates what they’re capable of.
Every leader drastically underestimates what their team is capable of.
Do You Practice on a River or a Lake?
A group of people stood at a scenic lookout. They peered down through the trees at a long stretch of the Shenandoah river and one of them said, “This would be a fantastic place for crew practice. It’s great because you’d get a chance to really work on something without having to stop and turn around.”
The Illusion of Mastery
It is easy to imagine mastery as the end of the road. A master has arrived—he has become the best he could possibly be. MLB pitcher R.A. Dickey offers a different take on mastery. (You can hear the full interview on which this article is based here.) During the first peak in his career, R.A. Dickey succeeded as a closer throwing a fastball. But as he aged his speed began to decline. He could have quit, but instead he reinvented himself as a knuckleball pitcher.
Five Questions That Shape Our Lives
Our futures are shaped by the questions we ask regularly. This is the topic of Jason Jaggard’s inspiring talk, 5 Questions Shaping the Trajectory of Your Life. I highly recommend that you listen to the full talk here. The five questions that Jason shares are:
What can I do to stop the pain?
What can I do to feel good now?
What do I want?
What am I capable of?
What are we capable of?
What Got You Here Might Not Get You There
As we move through life, we develop ways of being, beliefs, and behaviors that serve us in the particular stage we’re in. As toddlers, we might learn that throwing a tantrum gets us what we want. In elementary school, we discover that what worked while we were toddlers is no longer effective in our new environment. And so we adapt and grow into new ways of flourishing. Or at least we hope that’s what happens.
An Extravagant Gift
When a pebble is cast into a pond, it creates ripples that spread through the whole body of water. Similarly, we affect the people around us, and our impact ripples through society. We are made to love and to be loved
The Problem with Using Fear as Fuel
The common phrase, “I didn’t feel like doing X,” is a testament to how powerfully emotions influence our behavior. If we don’t feel like doing something, often we don’t follow through. And vice versa. When we feel like doing something, it is much easier to finish a task.
Gathering Data for Judgements About Yourself
We like to think that we use our imagination, but often our imagination uses us. We tend to view ourselves as objective observers of reality. We believe that we gather evidence and make reasonable conclusions. What we tend to ignore is that very often the reverse is true.
Small Things As Leading Indicators
In exercise physiology, pain is considered to be a possible leading indicator of poor mechanics. If you are on a run, for example, and you notice a slight pain in your knee, this can mean that you are not moving with proper form. Leading indicators signal a call to action before things become catastrophic failures.
Why I Never Do My Best
I want to tell on myself: I never do my best. My theory is that you don’t do your best either. Before you proceed, I invite you to notice what thoughts are coming up for you as you process the two sentences above. It might even benefit you to write these thoughts down. OK. Ready? Here’s why I never do my best.
Vision vs. fantasy
“Dreaming or fantasy conceals from us what resources are available, but vision reveals provision.” What’s the difference between fantasies about the future vs. a vision for the future?
Pre-crastination
The word “procrastinate” comes from two Latin words: pro meaning “in favor of” and crastinus meaning “pertaining to tomorrow.” Someone who procrastinates favors putting something off to tomorrow. Often, this comes with an excuse. “I’ll exercise tomorrow. I’m too tired.”
Give Your Word Like a Mountaineer
How well do you steward your word? Do you launch it out there like a cannon ball, and hope that you keep it; or do you give your word like a mountaineer, with foresight and care?
The Problem with Solutions
Most people spend their lives solving one problem after another. As soon as a problem is solved, a new one pops up. In high school, your problem might be getting into a good college. In college, your problem becomes getting a good job. After getting a good job, you want to get married. Once you’re married and have kids, you have to buy a house. Once you have a house, you focus on retiring. And so on and so forth until the day you die.
Tolerating Tepid Water
I turned the unfamiliar dial all the way to the left and the water was still lukewarm. “I guess that will be good enough,” I said to myself. I was away from home. I wasn’t sure what to expect regarding water temperature. Midway through the shower, I started to get cold. I gave the shower dial one more try. I turned the dial harder and lo and behold, it moved! The water was no longer tepid, and I was able to take a nice hot shower.