In my work both for the company I work for and the
smaller coaching practice I run on my own, I have this discussion with so many
people. What do you focus on? Where do
you put your energy?
I have found a common thread through many successful and
high performing individuals and that is: they
know exactly where they energy and focus goes and it is a deliberate choice.
And often the exceptionally high performing are additionally able to identify what is important to them is also where their
energy is being expended. Their values and behavior are very much in line with
their actions
And when they are not-they feel less peaceful and not in
sync in their lives. Out of balance. These people also know how to recover on a
daily basis. What they need to do to sustain their energy over time (which is
largely what the book I am contributing too is about)
I like working with these types of people. This is what
really energizes me. I am lucky to be surrounded my many of these high performing
people in any given day. I count myself as blessed for this. I truly work among
geniuses. And I am not kidding. The cream of the crop in terms of brains are
attracted to pharmeceuticals.
And then there are the people we meet every day who are
not in sync with what is important to them and have no clue where their energy
is going. The ones that seek out help are the smartest ones. The ones who don’t
often burn out over time sadly as it is not sustainable in the long term.
And then there is my pet peeve which I have no tolerance
for. Wanting your cake and eating it too (does this cliché even make sense?)The
people who make a choice but then can’t live with the natural consequence of
that choice. That really gets to me for some reason. If you are doing something
deliberately and consciously; then accept the consequences of it.
If you are not watching your food intake and working out a
lot you may not be Miss America no? If family is super important to you and you
go home for lunch to eat with the kids daily-you may not be on the senior leadership
team. If you volunteer all your time at the school baking cookies but don’t have
time to host a day party for you kid-she might be upset. If you stay late at
work aimlessly until 8pm and miss most dinners-you
may get a divorce. If you treat your friends less importantly than any other
priority in your life-you may not keep many or you will piss off the ones you
do keep. If you ignore your wife often-she may leave you for another man. If
your don’t brush your hair you will have knots in it. If you don’t call your Mom on her bday day-she
may not like you as much as she likes your sister who is much more attentive to
her.
So if you are going to focus in an area-be prepared to
let others slide. Decide what is really important to you and go for it.
Hopefully there are many things important to you-and go for them all if you have space and enery.. Try to balance out the rest and at
least be mediocre in most. And expect you might even suck in some areas-but be prepared
for the repercussion of those choices.
But don’t whine and complain ok? That is just not high
performing at all.
I have learnt so much working among very successful propel.
People much more successful than I could ever hope to be. And I adore getting curious
and finding the common threads between them.And wondering-how did they get exactly to where they are today?. It’s an amazing
process to uncover and one that will lead one day to my own ultimate success.
For the moment I am happy to bask in the brilliant light
of so many of my esteemed colleagues who above all have taught me…that
performance and success is very rarely luck.
It is a deliberate choice-just like anything else in this
world.
So make sure you know where your energy is going and most
importantly ask yourself “is this the right place and the place I want and need
to be?”
