What's Wrong with Work?

Getting away from it all

I am about to go away for three days with some chief executive colleagues "on retreat". If this conjours up images of meditation, green tea and tai chi think again. It will be more "rigorous debate, black coffee and a trip to the pub".

Our purpose is to step away from our businesses to get some perspective. By inviting trusted colleagues from other businesses to listen, challenge, feedback and encourage us, we all hope to gain better clarity about an issue facing us in our business. 

Each of us will bring an issue we want to explore to ensure we all get something tangible and valuable from the retreat. But the real value isn't the time spent on your own issue. The real value is stopping and thinking for a change. Discussions over dinner may be more important ultimately than the "proper discussions" we have during the day. A revelation while someone else is exploring their issue may offer more value to you than the time you spend exploring your own issue.

Whatever happens, each of us is guaranteed to come away with a real benefit in terms of our mental well-being, clarity of thought and motivation.

It couldn't come a moment too soon! I feel very fortunate to have this outlet and look forward to it all year. But surely it should be the norm for teams, friends, business associates, to spend time away from their businesses thinking about life the universe and business. Yes, it can be a logistical problem - who will answer all the emails while I am away? What if there is a business related emergency? But the benefits far outweigh the difficulties.

Next time you get the chance to step back from your work, let me know. Was it time well spent? I think I can guess the answer.

Forever young?

Anyone who was in any doubt that state of mind played a significant part in our experience of life should catch The Young Ones on the BBC iplayer.

For a week a group of elderly celebrities lived as if it were their hey day - 1975. They had to behave as they would have done then: doing up their own shoe laces, making their own tea, taking dogs for a walk, dancing, working, being social.

The results? They were more alert, confidence, fit and fulfilled by the end. 

This has implications, not only for our attitudes as we get older regarding ourselves and our increasing years, but demonstrates how (in the short space of a week), changing the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves and about the world (our Rulebook) has a dramatic effect on every aspect of our lives.

If people in their 70s and 80s can re-write their Rulebook and get an immediate impact, surely we all can.

What stories do you tell yourself about yourself and your abilities? For one week, change the Rulebook and see what impact it has.  

It could be worse...

 

Talent or Practice?

What does it take to achieve an exceptional goal? What does it take to succeed?

A lot of people will cite talent as the big decider. And this is very convenient. Because talent is innate, right? So either you are born with it or you aren't. Nothing you can do to change it.

But I don't believe talent is the be all and end all. What we often think of as talent is actually practice.

And not any kind of practice - deliberate practice. This means focusing your time and energy on improving the parts of your game which need work rather than just repeating what you do well.

It is much easier to practice what you do well, isn't it? Much more fun! But that isn't how you improve. You have to do the hard bit - working on what is difficult, uncomfortable, painful. And that's why so many people give up. They aren't willing to do the hard bit.

So that's good news if you are determined enough not to give up. As you watch your competitors drop out of the race you start to feel even stronger, even more determined to reach your goal.

The CEO of my company, Jim Lawless, has just won the UK record for No Limits Freediving, diving to a depth of 101 metres on one breath of air. Incredible. But does he just have a talent for holding his breath? No. In fact, he only started truly training for the record attempt 8 months ago. You can read about his journey on the Taming Tigers blog at http://www.tamingtigers.com/blog/ 

There are many aspects of life which are out of our control. Raw talent is one of them. But the real differentiating quality of successful people is that they practice.

A budding professional violinist asked his tutor how much practice was enough because his friends were practicing more hours than he was. His wise tutor told him - "If you practice with your fingers, no amount of practice will be enough. If you practice with your mind, two hours a day should be sufficient".