How do you enjoy higher levels of business performance?
More importantly, what story do you tell yourself when you “fail”?
My son’s powerlifting fail
My son competes in powerlifting. It’s not for monetary gain; he does it for himself. He likes pushing the limits of what’s possible.
I cheered him on in a competition this week end.
Here is the video of one of the three lifts: a squat. The bar is loaded with a certain amount of weight–in this case 407 pounds. Once the bar is balanced on the lifter’s shoulders, the judge issues the command, “squat.” The lifter lowers his hips and then stands back up.
Three judges view the lift from three different perspectives. Each judge gives the lift a green light or a red light. The lifter needs to get two green lights for the lift to be successful.
Here’s the video.
If you watch until the very end, you will see my son gets three red lights. Even thought he successfully squats and returns to an upright position, he loses his balance at the very end. It’s a “fail” in the powerlifting books.
Business Performance and Powerlifting: What Happens When You Fail?
Your efforts to achieve higher levels of performance in your business and my son’s efforts to break powerlifting personal records follow similar paths.
Client acquisition requires many steps. Each step must be mastered. There will be fails along the way, and it’s often for reasons you didn’t anticipate.
What do you do when you get red lights?
Here are some questions for you as you achieve the next level of business performance:
What are your measurable business goals?
My son is always trying to beat his personal records.
What personal business record are you trying to beat?
One of the most frequently asked questions I get, for example, is, “How do I get my message in front of more doctor prospects?”
You might decide that one of your business goals is bringing down the cost of lead generation. You might come up with three or four possible ideas, and you decide to try one.
Have you tried trying?
You might notice the text at the top of the squat equipment, “Have you tried trying?”
Our human brains have an interesting quirk; they want to be efficient. They don’t like taking on tasks that they do not believe they can accomplish.
Sometimes your human brain will placate you when you offer a challenge. It puts in the minimal effort to show you, “See, it really is not possible!”
When you’re moving towards your higher levels of business performance, have you really tried trying?
You might not get the results you want the first try. Or the second try. Or even the third try.
What do you do then?
What’s your score?
How do you decide whether your performance on any given day earns a red light or a green light?
My son successfully squats and returns to an upright position. However, he loses his balance once he’s upright. That means that he gets three red lights.
How will you measure your level of success as you work towards higher levels of performance?
What do you tell yourself about any individual performance?
I have to admit that I was concerned about long drive back home from the competition. What story would my son tell himself about his three red lights on this lift?
There was a time in which he could spend hours beating up on himself for a “bad lift.” And his criteria for a “bad lift” was highly subjective. He could say, “This is hopeless. I’ll never get stronger with the squat. I’m going to give up trying!”
Fortunately, his investment in self-coaching is paying off. He was able to say, “That was weird. I lost my balance at the very end. How can I avoid this in the future?” He had confidence in his ability to make the required adjustments so that he would be successful next time.
How frequently do you ask, “What can I learn from this experiment? How can I do better next time?”