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Mindset Grindset-Learning to love effort and the gifts it brings
Like any form of approach a ten minute Google of the words Growth Mindset can take you on a journey that becomes all consuming.
Mindset is highly valued in many areas today from work to sport and life in general .Everyone has their own take on it and how to build it, develop it and change it which leave some people a little overwhelmed and feeling like the best option is to run away
No need to do that! Stay here!
PPC likes to get to the nuts and bolts of how you can try to perform better and today we are going to try and map a short route to starting you Growth Mindset Journey
At PPC we preach Understanding+ Process +Effort
These elements are firmly rooted in Mindset and to get started try the following
1. Pick an area of self interest e.g. A work task, sporting goal or health goal2. Ask yourself why do I want this, what do I know about what I currently posses and have learned about this goal, there is Understanding3. Once you have identified where you currently sit and how much you want this goal ask yourself what do I need to grow towards this goal,how do I get it and who can help?This is planning Process4. NOW this is where we shift all our Mindset towards PROCESS5. Write out a routine that allows you to build the new skills and design it to constantly challenge you6. You have now got an UNDERSTANDING of yourself and your goal as well as PROCESS to work towards it 7.NOW the best part EFFORT8.If you know it matters to you, you understand what you already posses and how to obtain the rest all that is left is putting in the EFFORTStep 8 is often the stumbling block for people and this can be for a number of reason. Often times people measure the value of effort based on if it yields the result.
An example, how many times have you cooked a big meal and been disappointed with the final product and thought “that wasn’t worth the effort, I should have just gone to KFC”
As a Growth or Performance Mindset person rather than feeling defeated and as if the result defines the effort as a failure you can learn to be proud of many of the elements that went into trying to make the meal and develop the grit to try again
The easiest way to do this is to try and break down the the overall experience
Sure the meal tasted average but was that the only outcome from the cooking process?
Looking from a Growth Mindset point of view my responses would include
Did you learn anything about the cooking process? How to use a certain utensil, Time management, How to execute step 1 or 2 or 3 Was any element of the final product how you wanted such as the tenderness or smell?
Were you entertained while you tried to perform?
Is there a feeling of satisfaction from trying?
Do you think after trying you have a better understanding for next time?
Did this experience clarify that you don’t actually like cooking?
Did the meal still offer you a good feed?
Name 5 good things that happened during the process?
Tell me something that you learned that will help in the future?
ANY positive answer that came from those questions is a result of you putting in the EFFORT to try and acknowledging that it is ok that the task challenged you
With our system of Understanding +Process + Effort if you wish to try again you now have learned about yourself, your skill set and weaknesses and how the process was and needs to be.
All these lessons are the flip side of the coin to the old negative response of I didn’t get the end result so I failed.
Now you know all the things that came from daring to try, why wouldn’t you want to make the effort to try again? And the best news, the more effort you put in the more you can learn, succeed and be proud of yourself
Remember any time you give something all your effort there will be reward even if you fail at the end result it’s just up to you to decide if the effort matches how much it means to you and the process it takes to get there
It doesn’t make dinner taste better but it sure makes the effort feel better
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The Controllable Variables: Understanding, Process and Effort
We all love control
Sometimes you don’t want to be the one in control when everything around you is spiralling but in a perfect world we would all like to have a say in how our life goes
Maybe Im wrong but that is what I have seen my whole life.
It begs the question why are we so bad at taking that control?
As far as we are concerned at Performance Personal Coaching a huge step in answering that question lies with the word PersonalWe have all seen a friend or relative that wants to manage the world around them or we ourselves have been the person who wants to change someone else.
I guess you could argue that seems more confrontational as it involves going at the external but my opinion is it is far LESS confrontational and that is why we waste time and effort doing it
It takes courage and time to delve into our own feelings, beliefs and behaviours and hold ourselves accountable.When someone or something else is to blame its easier to say screw them or that but what do you say when you see it is you to blame?
Performance Mindset…that is what you say
By saying Performance Mindset you remind yourself not to feel useless or like a failure for being the root of a problem but rather feel empowered to change it and optimistic that you can
At PPC we regularly lean on the philosophies of Understanding + Process + Effort=Performance
This all starts with Understanding and if you can understand what is impacting you and how to map a path out of it then you can progress to the good stuff, developing a Process on how to do it and narrow in on making the effort
The key to the Controlled Variable as we have named them in this article is right there in the name…Controlled!
Rather than design a plan that depends on things out of your control or put all your effort into something that the result will be determined by outside influences the idea of Controlled Variables is to take our focus back to what we can influence
A great example is sport
I cant control the officiating or the bounce of the ball or the talent level of the oppositionI CAN control how prepared I am, how much effort I put in and my understanding of what I have and need to do for the best likelihood of success
Every time my mind wanders to “But he is too good” or “What if the referee does blank” I am spending time on something I cannot change and also reinforcing doubt
If I spend that time thinking “ I can be sure to” and “I am going to “ or even “I will try my best to” statements then in that performance I am using my efforts to their best potential
The above example is pretty clear and although as humans we do not always approach it that way for the most part we understand it .Where the real skill lies is in connecting the 3 elements of Understanding +Process +Effort in the day to day approach as we are always changing, goals are moving and we are facing new situations.
Our brains love familiarity as much as they do distraction and this can both serve as a positive or negative depending on how we manage ourselvesIF the familiarity we develop is misguided and focuses on elements beyond our control or to areas we don’t need to focus on it can be counterproductive and that is why Understanding is a key step
However........
IF we place emphasis on our Process and build in machinations that assure we stay in touch with our Understanding of ourselves then we can channel all our Efforts to the right place, that place being our individual internal needsBy learning to evaluate and trust your Understanding of you values, skills, needs and situation as a performer you can design a Process that is efficient for your specific needs and maximises the Effort you put in
It should be note that one of the great values of a Coach is sometimes controlling your Understanding of yourself is tricky as we all have blind spots and sometimes it is hard to get the courage alone to face some of the facts we know deep down. A Coach can guide you on that path.
Remember
Control what you can, accept what you cannot , it has been around since biblical times
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MeQ: Emotional Intelligence for Performance
Much has been made of the EQ Movemement and the value it can bring a person.
Many argue that having Emotional Intelligence(EQ) offers more value to a person that IQ and I tend to agree. Basically put EQ is described as the ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways with this ability involving Self management, Self awareness, Social Awareness and Relationship Management
For Performance at PPC we focus in on Self Management and Self Awareness as well as developing Self appraisal a combination we call Understanding and offer a slightly different view of EQ as a tool and how it impacts our performance
At PPC we refer to our version of EQ as MeQ and describe it as follows
MeQ is the understanding of what works and doesn't work for an individual as an emotional response that follows a given thought or scenario. By developing a greater self awareness of purpose, our attributes both strengths and weaknesses and developing a personal definition of success through mindset we aim our efforts in preparation and training refered to as our process ,to give a more likely positive outcome for our needs
FORMULA- Understanding+ Process +Effort = MeQ
To understand this we offer an example
if you are an athlete and the game is on the line in a pressure situation have your prepared yourself thru understanding ,effort and process to have an automated response that is more likely to undermine performance through panic and nerves or empower you?
By having a strong routine we believe that we can prepare you for different scenarios you may face and develop habits and beliefs that will be your instinctive response to the external factors
This may be very varied based on elements such as your trust in preparedness, developed habits that kick in for this scenario, less fear of failure due to mindset and understanding of self and motivations.
If as a performer you have worked with the above formula in those moments the expectation is you will perform stronger and manage the emotion of the outside pressures being created by the scoreboard, clock, crowd, opposition or magnitude of the game as the response will have been programmed into you and the response will hopefully match what you believe aka your thought.
Very simply put when you face a scenario in performance your brain moves from thought to emotion to response. MeQ focuses on changing the thought through development of confidence, trust and familiarity so that our thoughts trigger a good emotional response that leads to a great response.As a performance program we seek to build on the idea of EQ and include the actions that follow your understanding of self to make MeQ an experience that creates contestant feedback from start to finish to restart