Many Gen X grew up in divorced single-parent homes.So they were forced to be self-reliant and unsupervised early on. They want independence to get it done their way.

Motivate Gen X with two phrases, “Do it your way” and “Don’t sweat the rules”

Gen X grew up with email - but before SMS or apps.Their teachers stressed correct writing, too.Poor grammar drives Gen X nuts.

Send your Gen X colleagues well-written emails

They will love you.Gen X wants to know who is responsible at all times.They grew up when institutions weren’t to be trusted.

Acknowledge Gen X's emails quickly.

Not seniority, effort, or hours worked.You’ll often hear Gen X say, “If someone gets the job done in half the time, that’s fine.”

Focus with Gen X on mission and results.

Gen X grew up with workaholic Boomer parents.Seeing that, Gen X thinks work is part of life but not why they live.

Allow Gen X a balanced life

Not as part of a tribe (Millennials) or institution (Boomers).Institutions from Gov’t to marriage showed they couldn't be trusted during Gen X's youth.

Bond with Gen X as individuals

Give them data.Gen X says “Tell me how it is!” and cuts out the fluff.For generations like Millennials, this is hard.Millennials want the “shit sandwich” for feedback.

Be direct with Gen X

Gen X feels forgotten.Only 20% of the population.They’re also the people in your org with their heads down, getting stuff done.But, take them for granted and they can bolt.

Just acknowledge Gen X exists

Boomers/Millennials grew up in ages of abundance.Gen X is the first generation to NOT do as well financially as their parents or kids did.

Expect Gen X to be pessimistic

Expect them to be friendly but not “friends” at work.Unlike recent generations who bring their personal life to work.

Expect Gen X to want work-life separation

<ul><li>Say "Do it your way"</li><li>Use well-written emails</li><li>Say "I got it!"</li><li>Focus on the mission w/ them</li><li>Allow life balance</li><li>Bond as people</li><li>Be direct</li><li>Acknowledge they exist</li><li>Expect pessimism</li><li>Expect work-life separation</li></ul>

TL;DR: Win by doing these things with Gen X:

Michael's hit the bloody mark on this one: 9/10, nailed almost everything for me (even though I'm a Millennial, but barely). Definitely a huge help when dealing with Gen X'ers, even though this won't hit the sweet spot all the time (especially for those closer in age to either Boomers (born 1946-64) or Millennials (born 1981-96).

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

communication

Communication

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

10 mind hacks to use with Gen X

During the height of Ancient Greece’s influence, one could go to Delphi and visit the renowned Temple of Apollo. It was one of a series of temples built around 550 BCE. Unfortunately, it was destroyed under the influence of Roman emperor Theodosius I, around 390 CE.In one of the pillars in the forecourt of that temple were carved, 3 maxims — said to have been the best advice of the revered 7 sages of ancient Greece. They were:<ul><li>Know thyself.</li><li>Nothing in excess.</li><li>Certainty brings ruin.</li></ul>

Great Advice On Temple Inscriptions

Self-improvement is actually just ongoing, iterative self-discovery.We can’t improve what we don’t understand. And so many of us don’t understand ourselves nearly as well as we think we do. And it’s often during the process of trying to simply find out who we are that we stumble upon the very things that will propel us to incredible personal development.That’s why reflection is such an important part of the journey of self-improvement. But it also explains why so many people are frustrated by that journey.

Know Thyself

Because situations are constantly changing, we also change, knowing yourself is not a one-and-done achievement. Rather, you learn, revise, and rediscover things about yourself. Again, this is why reflection is so important. The less you really know yourself, the less you can trust in yourself to follow through on things. And if you can’t trust in yourself, you don’t have much going for you.

Change Is Always Happening

There’s a theory that dates back to the days of Aristotle that says that any virtue is simply the midway point between two extremes. An excess of something or a deficiency in it ends up being a liability.While people tend to understand that you shouldn’t have too much of anything, they tend to forget that the opposite is true as well. We can get into mindsets where we believe the answer is to impose harsh restrictions on ourselves. No more eating this. No more drinking that.  But this mindset is also an example of excess. It can very quickly backfire on you, even with the best of intentions.

Nothing in Excess

All things being equal, we humans crave certainty. We don’t tend to take risks regularly, and we long for sure things. But anyone who’s thrown down the yokes of comfort to pursue serious personal growth can tell you what happens when you cling to the sure things: stagnation. That stagnation comes by way of dependence.The way it happens is: You get dependent upon the comfort of the sure things. And after a while, you close yourself off to anything that seems to risk that comfort.

Certainty Brings Ruin

For all the ways the world has changed in the last 2,500 years, there are principles from that time that still represent the best advice for modern living. The 3 discussed here are by no means all-encompassing. But they’re at the very least universal.Many of the principles and values we adopt can be derived from these three. Alternatively, following these principles can be gateways to finding the specific values and principles that drive our individual lives forward.

The Bottom Line

During the height of Ancient Greece’s influence, one could go to Delphi and visit the renowned Temple of Apollo. It was one of a series of temples built around 550 BCE. Unfortunately, it was…

philosophy

Philosophy

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

The 2,000 Year Old Temple Inscriptions That Sum Up How Self-Improvement Works

During the darkest time in German history, incited mobs threw stones into the windows of innocent shop owners and women and children were cruelly humiliated. A young German Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer began to publicly speak against the atrocities. After years of trying to change people's minds, Bonhoeffer was arrested and sent to prison. Here, Bonhoeffer reflected on how the poets and thinkers of his own country had turned into a collective of cowards, crooks and criminals. He finally concluded that the root of the problem was not malice, but stupidity.

Bonhoeffer proposes his theory

Bonhoeffer argued in his famous letters from prison that stupidity is more dangerous than malice because one may protest against evil, and it can be exposed and prevented by the use of force. But we are defenceless against stupidity. Protests or force can do nothing, and reasons fall on deaf ears. Facts that do not fit a stupid person's prejudgment are ignored or pushed aside as inconsequential or incidental.  However, being easily irritated, this stupid person becomes dangerous by attacking. Therefore, great caution is needed when dealing with a stupid person.

The theory of stupidity

To get the better of stupidity, we must try to understand its nature.  Stupidity is not an intellectual defect but a moral one. There are many intellectual people who are stupid and many intellectually dull people who are not stupid. Stupidity is not a congenital defect, but people are made stupid or allow this to happen to them.

How to get the better of stupidity

Individuals that are in groups manifest this defect of stupidity more often than people who live in solitude. Every strong upsurge of power infects people with stupidity. It seems that when there is a rise in power, humans are deprived of their inner independence and give up an autonomous position.

The stupid person is not independent

When conversing with a stupid person, you will notice that you are not dealing with him as a person but with slogans and catchwords that have blinded him. He is under a spell, misused, and abused in his being.  Having become a mindless tool, the stupid person is capable of any evil and incapable of seeing that it is evil. Only liberation, not instruction, can overcome stupidity. However, internal liberation is most often only possible if external liberation precedes it.

Liberation from stupidity

Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility. The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer argued that stupid people are more dangerous than evil ones. This is because while we can protest against or fight evil people, against stupid ones we are defenseless — reasons fall on dead ears. Bonhoeffer's famous text, which we slightly edited for this video, serves any free society as a warning of what can happen when certain people gain too much power. #stupidity #sprouts SUPPORT us to hear more about inspirational figures like Bonhoeffer. https://www.patreon.com/sprouts 🐦: DOWNLOAD video without ads and background music 🤫: https://sproutsschools.com/video-lessons/ SIGN UP to our mailing list and never miss a new video from us 🔔: http://eepurl.com/dNU4BQ SOURCES and teaching resources 🎓: https://sproutsschools.com/bonhoeffers-theory-of-stupidity/ VISIT our website www.sproutsschools.com THANKS to our patrons This video was made with the support of our Patrons: Adam G, Alejandro Canet, Andrea Basilio Rava, Badrah, Beth Roberts, Bettina Kind, Broke, Cedric Wang, Daniel Kramer, David Markham, Denis Kraus, Don Bone, Enrique Arellano Farias, Esther Chiang, Gatsby Dkdc, Ginger, Marq Short, Jeffrey Cassianna, Joanne Doyle, John Zhang, Judy RolandSergei Kukhariev, kritik bhimani, Mathis Nu, Muhammad Humayun, Nancy Bueffler, Raman Srivastava, Scripz, Si, Shao Xiang, Tetiana Gerasymova, Tsungren Yang, Vishruth Harithsa, and all the others.Thank you! To join them visit www.patreon.com/sprouts CHAPTERS 0:00 The Darkest Chapter 0:55 Letters from prison 4:29 About Bonhoeffer 5:19 Our Patrons 5:28 Subscribe and support COLLABORATORS Script based on the work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer Editor: Jonas Koblin Artist: Pascal Gaggelli Voice: Matt Abbott Coloring: Nalin Editing: Peera Lertsukittipongsa Production: Selina Bador Production Assistant: Bianka Proofreading: Susan DIG DEEPER Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Final Words - This Day in History Dietrich Bonhoeffer Quotes SOURCES Dietrich Bonhoeffer, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_Bonhoeffer Original Text http://southsidemessenger.com/bonhoeffer-on-stupidity-entire-quote/ Bonhoeffer Pastor, martyr, prophet, spy (Student edition) https://books.google.co.th/books?id=PRmMBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA170&lpg=PA170&dq=bonhoeffer+%22arrest%22&source=bl&ots=QPUYQtpnHn&sig=ACfU3U0_B2plpEAqox7NfoMhC4p4MD09FA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj43u-mrtHsAhUPfX0KHUY2BU0Q6AEwBXoECAMQAg#v=onepage&q=bonhoeffer%20%22arrest%22&f=false CLASSROOM EXERCISE How would you define Bonhoeffer's version of stupidity? Work together as a class to devise a definition. What qualities must someone possess, or lack, to be considered stupid as Bonhoeffer describes it. In what type of situation would someone display their stupidity? What can we do to avoid stupidity in today's society? Discuss with your class and let us know in the comments below what they think.

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Videos

Dietrich Bonhoeffer argued that stupid people are more dangerous than evil ones. This is because while we can protest against or fight evil people, against stupid ones we are defenseless — reasons fall on dead ears. Bonhoeffer's famous text, which we slightly edited for this video, serves any free society as a warning of what can happen when certain people gain too much power. #stupidity #sprouts

SUPPORT us to hear more about inspirational figures like Bonhoeffer. 
https://bit.ly/3xiypQ6 

DOWNLOAD video without ads and background music 🤫:
https://sproutsschools.com/video-lessons/

SIGN UP to our mailing list and never miss a new video from us 🔔:
http://eepurl.com/dNU4BQ 

SOURCES and teaching resources 🎓:
https://sproutsschools.com/bonhoeffers-theory-of-stupidity/

VISIT our website
https://www.sproutsschools.com

THANKS to our patrons 
This video was made with the support of our Patrons: Adam G, Alejandro Canet, Andrea Basilio Rava, Badrah, Beth Roberts, Bettina Kind, Broke, Cedric Wang, Daniel Kramer, David Markham, Denis Kraus, Don Bone, Enrique Arellano Farias, Esther Chiang, Gatsby Dkdc, Ginger, Marq Short,  Jeffrey Cassianna, Joanne Doyle, John Zhang, Judy RolandSergei Kukhariev, kritik bhimani, Mathis Nu, Muhammad Humayun, Nancy Bueffler, Raman Srivastava, Scripz, Si, Shao Xiang, Tetiana Gerasymova, Tsungren Yang, Vishruth Harithsa, and all the others.Thank you! To join them visit www.patreon.com/sprouts 


CHAPTERS
0:00 The Darkest Chapter
0:55 Letters from prison
4:29 About Bonhoeffer
5:19 Our Patrons
5:28 Subscribe and support

COLLABORATORS 
Script based on the work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Editor: Jonas Koblin
Artist: Pascal Gaggelli
Voice: Matt Abbott
Coloring: Nalin
Editing: Peera Lertsukittipongsa
Production: Selina Bador
Production Assistant: Bianka
Proofreading: Susan

DIG DEEPER
Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Final Words - This Day in History
Dietrich Bonhoeffer Quotes

SOURCES
Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_Bonhoeffer

Original Text
http://southsidemessenger.com/bonhoeffer-on-stupidity-entire-quote/
 
Bonhoeffer Pastor, martyr, prophet, spy (Student edition)
https://books.google.co.th/books?id=PRmMBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA170&lpg=PA170&dq=bonhoeffer+%22arrest%22&source=bl&ots=QPUYQtpnHn&sig=ACfU3U0_B2plpEAqox7NfoMhC4p4MD09FA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj43u-mrtHsAhUPfX0KHUY2BU0Q6AEwBXoECAMQAg#v=onepage&q=bonhoeffer%20%22arrest%22&f=false 

CLASSROOM EXERCISE 
How would you define Bonhoeffer's version of stupidity? Work together as a class to devise a definition. What qualities must someone possess, or lack, to be considered stupid as Bonhoeffer describes it. In what type of situation would someone display their stupidity? What can we do to avoid stupidity in today's society? Discuss with your class and let us know in the comments below what they think.

We make educational videos  about psychology, pedagogy and child development. We publish them on Creative Commons so students, teachers and parents can to use for free. To download our videos go to www.sproutsschools.com. To support our work go to www.patreon.com/sprouts

Sprouts

Bonhoeffer‘s Theory of Stupidity

Being shy and being introverted are often used interchangeably. But many introverts do not define their personality as shy. Instead, introverts will tell you they can indeed interact and socialize comfortably with others, but it’s just not their preference. The intro in the term introvert is the key. <a href="https://everydaypower.com/power-of-introverts/">Introverts are typically very introspective </a>: they spend a good deal of time in self-analysis. They examine their own thoughts, preferences, perceptions, and observations to gauge their life’s direction and make life choices..

Introverts 

The first piece of advice to introverts who aim to develop a forceful personality is to <a href="https://everydaypower.com/reasons-to-accept-yourself/">accept your personality type </a>and work with it. Don’t try to change the basic tenets of your personality.You don’t need to become an extrovert. Don’t try to become a social butterfly or the life of the party! Any such attempt is bound to explode at some point, as it will take way too much effort and energy to keep up the facade.Instead, mold the star qualities you possess. Work hard to strengthen your positive characteristics and keep your weaknesses in check. Become an expert in areas you care about.

1. Self-Acceptance—“ If it doesn’t fit, don’t force it!  ”

Another way that introverts can quietly become take-charge leaders and display a strong personality is by using active listening .Active listening is the ability to focus full attention on what is being communicated, such that you remember all of it and can ask questions. This ensures you have a full understanding of the information presented and its intent.This shows the person you are interacting with that you are engaged and aware of what they are trying to communicate; building trust and alliance.

2. Take advantage of your innate ability to listen actively.

Introverts will admit that they are not spontaneous individuals. Instead, they respond more effectively when they can prepare and plan. This is strength, so use it!Document your ideas, thoughts, and concerns. Don’t be afraid or ashamed to analyze your efforts. Map out the steps that lead to “how” for those things you desire to accomplish. But remain cognizant so that you don’t go overboard or get mired in details and stress on potential obstacles.When your analysis gets too complicated, breathe. Step away from it, and remind yourself that simple is best. Still, be sure to prepare as much

3. Prepare but stop over-thinking or over-analyzing situations.

Introverts prefer one-on-one interactions or small group socializing. So, solidify and bolster advocacy by using some skills we previously discussed (active listening, expertise building, and preparation ).You should take hold of every opportunity for individual exchange to sort out those with whom you are most comfortable, and with whom (based on your assessment ) you are not only compatible with, but feel a natural affinity.Once you have done that, <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3041774/7-key-habits-for-building-better-relationships">cultivate strong relationships with these individuals </a>.

4. Build a small but strong support circle.

Recharging andreplenishing are activities that many introverts need to do in solitude so that they do NOT become overwhelmed.The recharging effort helps bring introverts back to a calm state where they feel rejuvenated and ready to face the ongoing challenge of socializing and interacting in a group or social situations.Introverts should try to set specific recharge times and opportunities for themselves. But you must be honest with yourself and never use the need to recharge to avoid interaction or socializing. While your solitude is necessary, you have too much to offer to hide out from wor

5. Be present – don’t isolate yourself.

5 ways that will help Introverts to develop 

Introverts can have a powerful personality, too. By developing their strengths, they can rise to take charge of any situation. Here's how.

5 Ways Introverts Can Develop a Strong Personality

Wilderness therapy has grown in popularity since the first wilderness therapy program was founded in 1988. This program was called the Aspen Achievement Academy and was located in Loa, Utah. This type of therapy is conducted outdoors and has been widely used with adolescents and young adults deemed “troubled”; many adolescents who attend wilderness therapy programs are referred from juvenile courts or have emotional and behavioral issues.

Wilderness Therapy: Description, Types, and Benefits

Wilderness therapy combines psychotherapy sessions and wilderness, and uses an outdoor milieu that is structured to provide a safe environment for clients to develop coping skills.

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Health

mentalhealth

Mental Health

Wilderness Therapy: Description, Types, and Benefits - The Human Condition

Modern day vampires are people around you filled with toxicity and often leaves negative impact on you or end up exhausting your energy hence the term "ENERGY VAMPIRE"Energy vampires are people who — sometimes intentionally — drain your emotional energy. They feed on your willingness to listen and care for them, leaving you exhausted and overwhelmed.

Vampires Exists But They Are Not Who You Think.

What makes energy vampires so toxic is that they can be sources of chronic stress,. Especially if the energy vampire is someone you can’t avoid such as friend,a parent,boss etc. constantly having your energy drained by that individual is a stressor,that type of chronic stress is well known to have pretty bad effects on multiple systems in the body, including the immune, cardiovascular, neuroendocrine and central nervous systems. Evidence shows that people under chronic stress are at a higher risk of chronic problems ranging from autoimmune diseases to heart disease, obesity and depression.

Spending Too Much Time With Them Is A Health Hazard

1) Be clear about your boundaries with them.2) Adjust your expectations.3) Be intentional about how much space they have in your life.4) Don’t engage energy vampires.5) Do not overreact.6) Say No nicely.7) Cut them out of your life if you can.

Seven Easy Steps To Deal With Energy Vampires In Your Life.

Read about how to identify people and who to steer clear from in a bunch of really wise articles and it helped me spend my emotional energy a little less.

Energy vampires are people who drain your emotional energy. They feed on your willingness to listen and care for them. They leave you feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. Starting to sound familiar? Here's how to identify and respond to this toxic behavior.

loveandrelationships

Love & Relationships

Vampires walking around you.

It can be hard to disentangle whether effort is a cause or a consequence in a given situation. But we can look at effort through a feedback loop that looks like this:Effort > performance > pleasure > motivation > effort.

The Link Between Effort and Performance

In reality, one’s ability to put in an effort typically arises as a consequence of something, not as a major cause.<ul><li>To accomplish something, making an effort depends more on the right time and right place, rather than being the focal point. </li><li>It’s also a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy: If we believe in our abilities to accomplish something, we are more motivated, then we perform better, which feeds our belief in our abilities, and so on and so forth, leading to an ongoing cycle of effort-as-a-consequence.</li><li>Exerting effort is not always something that we can do over long periods of time.</li></ul>

Effort-Consequence Instead of Effort-Cause

The trick is to refrain from seeing effort as a cause or as a consequence, but rather as both. By seeing it this way, we can organize performance over the long term and generate an "addictive loop"—meaning a drive to repeat behaviors that are pleasurable by themselves.This approach counters the tendency to overestimate our ability to both make an undesired effort as well as resist the temptation of alternative pleasurable activities. An addictive loop approach avoids those two obstacles by aiming for activities that generate pleasure—hence our desire to make an effort, hence more activities.

Keeping Up the Good Work: Behavioral Loops and Pleasure

The role of leaders is to put in place a system of efforts-as-consequences, generating a spiral where outcomes get bigger and better as time goes on.<ul><li>Don’t neglect indirect activities that create pleasure, like giving feedback and offering training sessions. </li><li>Avoid a “no pain, no gain” mentality. </li><li>Grant people autonomy. </li><li>Leverage psychological drivers. For instance, the Pygmalion effect - people perform better just by feeling that their leader believes in them.</li><li>Orient discreetly through a gentle nudge. </li><li>Use social validation.  </li></ul>

Lessons for Leaders

Individuals can consciously organize themselves into performance-effort loops. <ul><li>Build an identity. Our actions tend to align with how we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us. </li><li>Make it a habit. Your brain is a creature of habit, and science has therefore identified habit formation as a key for success.</li><li>Be playful. Pleasure and play are linked—and if we frame something as a game, it can be more engaging and less depleting. </li><li>Break it down. If a large, long-term project is too overwhelming, break it into smaller tasks.</li></ul>

Lessons for Individuals

Such extrinsic motivation schemes—where effort is forced by external rewards—have been shown to lead generally to undesirable outcomes. While we can’t ignore them as short-term tactics, they only work in limited contexts, and only if properly inserted in a scheme balanced with intrinsic motivations.

Avoid Forced Effort

Viewing effort as part of a feedback loop could help us enjoy the process.

How to Get Hooked on Making an Effort

As children, our environments (parents, schools, friends) usually determine our actions, but later we might realize our family’s bloodline (natural skills or abilities) has already decided for us. Both sides of this coin are powerful motivators, but there’s a third option: self-reliance.You learn to make decisions independently when you grow older and wiser. You realize that destiny is perhaps more in your control. Such autonomy is important, even life-changing, no matter what driving forces have influenced your life to that point.

Nature Vs Nurture

Physical input affects our senses. Our physical memories affect how we react to similar items or events later in life.Mental or intellectual input affects our education. Formal schooling lasts for about 17 years, depending on personal, societal, and financial expectations or desires. Parents, teachers, friends, and strangers help expand our general knowledge. Emotional input affects our attitudes. From intimate relationships to exciting travels to frustrating computer apps, limitless experiences bring us the joys, sorrows, and thousands of other emotions that make life worth living.

The Three Types Of Environment

Our daily physical, intellectual, and emotional changes can bring good or bad results. It’s up to us to react accordingly to create the best situations for ourselves.Not every situation is controllable, but we do our best to avoid or prepare for them. People make this decision every day, and it’s their choice.We each have internal forces to deal with as well.

Environmental Control

While environment (external influence) is in our lives to varying degrees, heredity (internal influence) genetically provides physical traits or mental characteristics. If you inherit specific <a href="https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/genes-and-genetics">genes</a> at birth (colorblindness, deafness, psoriasis, etc.), you experience the world from a particular unavoidable perspective through no fault of your own.So, we’ve got external and internal controllers, but we’re not entirely at their whim. Most of us have an ace in the hole.

Heredity

Our environment may surround us, and heredity may lie within us, but don’t forget that we also have initiative. We can make decisions if we wish to change. It’s not always easy — damned hard, sometimes.But we humans are too full of knowledge, dreams, and spirit to float through life, always at the whim of other forces.We begin life as products of our environment, but we grow and experience and become self-reliant, sometimes overcoming incredible odds.

Self-Reliance

We begin life as products of our environment, but we grow and experience and become self-reliant, sometimes overcoming incredible odds. With some exceptions, we can safely and responsibly use our environment to improve our lives or those of our peers.

In the 1983 comedy Trading Places, the millionaire Duke brothers conduct an experiment that swaps the lives of commodities broker Louis and streetwise conman Billy Ray. All due to a bet on heredity…

parenting

Parenting

Self-reliance May Be Your Unsung Hero

"In helping humans perform, psychology is the software, but biology is the hardware."

To really make the most of the final moments before you perform, reducing anxiety isn’t enough. You also want to build positive emotions, such as confidence, self-efficacy, and power.

The rush of fear and anxiety we feel before a big presentation or interview is caused by adrenaline being dumped into our system. Originally quite helpful when confronted by a dangerous animal, in modern days we are stuck with the racing heart, sweaty palms, and frozen brain of the “fight or flight” response. How we speak to ourselves in the moment can make a difference.

Leverage biology

As a leader, you can help your teams achieve better results by introducing them to pre-performance routines.<ul><li>Research shows that getting together to perform seemingly-silly ritual actions such as handclaps, foot stomps, and huddle-style “Let’s go!” before embarking on a task can improve a team’s performance.</li><li> Is there a ritual you can invent to accompany your customers’ experience? Think of Walmart greeters or the actions a good salesperson takes when they prepare your dressing room with the clothes you’ve selected. These enhance the experience, build loyalty, and boost sales.</li></ul>

Pre-performance routines

<ul><li>Try one of these: have your team, colleagues, or worker-bees journal about their past successes before attempting today’s challenge. </li><li>Frame reminders of past work on the walls. Take and share a photo of the team flush from a past success before they climb the next (metaphoric) mountain. </li></ul>In experiment after experiment psychologists documented enhanced performance when workers were exposed to reminders of positive performance like these.

Priming

Before an important event:<ul><li>Remind them why it’s important.</li><li>Tell them why you know they can do it.</li><li>Have them pause and think about what they have accomplished together.</li><li>Exhort them to go and do it.</li><li>Just don’t tell them to “calm down.” That’s not realistic and that emotion is too different from their agitation.</li><li>And while it seems helpful to describe what might go wrong and why the world will keep spinning if it does, now is not the time to introduce negative thoughts to their consciousness.</li></ul>

Tell your team what they are being asked to do

For example, one study compared the performances of people who said, “I’m so excited” vs. those who said “I’m so nervous” and those who said nothing before going on stage. The people who said they were excited, and thus reappraised anxiety to excitement, performed the best.Why does this help more than not saying anything at all? Because transitioning from anxiety to calm is very difficult, as the two emotions are very different. Transitioning from worried to excited, however, does not take much effort at all.

Deal with performance anxiety by reappraising it 

This is another essential technique in calming performance anxiety. You can center yourself by breathing deeply and concentrating on your breath while releasing all muscle tension. Imagine all the energy in your body moving into one point, the belly button. Once it’s all there, visualize releasing it. Using this technique before an important event will help you regain focus and kick anxiety to the curb.

Centering yourself

Regardless of what you choose to do before your performance, however, there is one thing that should always happen: consistency.Studies back up the effectiveness of athletes’ routines before a game, for example. Athletes are aware of this and do what they can to prepare.

Rituals can improve your performance

When it comes to performance, competition and rivalries are a great thing. Studies show that competition dramatically enhances performance.The feeling we get when we are racing against others and someone is right on our tail drives us to do better, to prove ourselves. Cyclists do better when competing rather than beating the clock, and the same goes for other sports as well. Furthermore, fighting against a rival, or someone you know, rather than a stranger, boosts your abilities even more.The motivating effects of competition help not only in sports but in the business world as well.

Competition will improve your performance

Closing the sale. Asking for a raise. Nailing the big presentation. Of the 2,000 hours you work every year, your success or failure is determined in the couple of dozen crucial hours when you need to bring your absolute best. Will you? The last few minutes before a major challenge can be terrifying. Ever wished you knew how to make sure you ace the make-or-break test, audition, or interview? We often feel the most powerless just before we’re expected to act powerful. As you’ll learn in this life-changing book, practice might make perfect, but perfection is useless if you can’t summon it when it counts. Pulling off a great speech or the pivotal at bat also requires the right kind of mental preparation. In Psyched Up, journalist Daniel McGinn dives into the latest psychological research and interviews athletes, soldiers, entertainers, and others who, despite years of practice and enviable track records, will ultimately be judged on their ability to delivera solid performance when it’s their turn to shine. For instance, he reveals... • How Jerry Seinfeld’s jacket and Stephen Colbert’s pen help them get laughs. • What General Stanley McChrystal said to Special Forces before they entered the battlefield. • Why the New England Patriots hired the DJ from the Red Sox to help them win. Among other counterintuitive insights, McGinn reveals why trying to calm your backstage jitters can be worse for your performance than channeling it into excitement; how meaningless rituals can do more to prepare you in the final moments than last-minute rehearsal; and how a prescription from your doctor could help you unleash your best skills. Whether you’re a sportsperson or a salesperson, an actor or an entrepreneur, one bad hour can throw away months of hard work. There’s so much conflicting popular advice that we often end up doing the wrong things. McGinn separates the facts from the old wives’ tales and shares new, research driven strategies for activating your talent, optimizing your emotions, and getting psyched up to take the spotlight.

books

Books

Closing the sale. Asking for a raise. Nailing the big presentation. Of the 2,000 hours you work every year, your success or failure is determined in the couple of dozen crucial hours when you need to bring your absolute best. Will you? The last few minutes before a major challenge can be terrifying. Ever wished you knew how to make sure you ace the make-or-break test, audition, or interview? We often feel the most powerless just before we’re expected to act powerful. As you’ll learn in this life-changing book, practice might make perfect, but perfection is useless if you can’t summon it when it counts. Pulling off a great speech or the pivotal at bat also requires the right kind of mental preparation. In Psyched Up, journalist Daniel McGinn dives into the latest psychological research and interviews athletes, soldiers, entertainers, and others who, despite years of practice and enviable track records, will ultimately be judged on their ability to delivera solid performance when it’s their turn to shine. For instance, he reveals... • How Jerry Seinfeld’s jacket and Stephen Colbert’s pen help them get laughs. • What General Stanley McChrystal said to Special Forces before they entered the battlefield. • Why the New England Patriots hired the DJ from the Red Sox to help them win. Among other counterintuitive insights, McGinn reveals why trying to calm your backstage jitters can be worse for your performance than channeling it into excitement; how meaningless rituals can do more to prepare you in the final moments than last-minute rehearsal; and how a prescription from your doctor could help you unleash your best skills. Whether you’re a sportsperson or a salesperson, an actor or an entrepreneur, one bad hour can throw away months of hard work. There’s so much conflicting popular advice that we often end up doing the wrong things. McGinn separates the facts from the old wives’ tales and shares new, research driven strategies for activating your talent, optimizing your emotions, and getting psyched up to take the spotlight.

Daniel McGinn

Psyched Up

When we say, Im fine or Everythings fine, we’re denying our true feelings and experiences; we’re hoping to convince ourselves and others that everything really is okay.

We pretend to be fine to avoid conflicts. Sharing our true feelings or opinions might cause someone to get angry with us and thats scary or at least uncomfortable.

You also may have learned in childhood that you shouldnt need anything. Again, you may have been punished when you asked for something or your needs may have been ignored. When this happens repeatedly, we learn that we shouldnt ask for anything because no one cares about our needs and they wont be met.

Related to this is our desire to be easy going or low maintenance. Again, we dont want to be difficult (that might lead to a conflict) and we dont want to be a burden or need anything because that might drive people away. A history of dysfunctional relationships and fragile self-esteem has led us to believe that people wont like us (and perhaps theyll abandon or reject us) if we ask for too much or have complicated feelings. It feels safer to pretend were fine and be a dependable, cheerful friend or an easy-going daughter-in-law who never complains.

Why We Say, “I’m fine” When We Aren’t: Codependency, Denial, and Avoidance

Why We Say, “I’m fine” When We Aren’t: Codependency, Denial, and Avoidance Im fine. We say it all t

Why We Say, "I'm fine" -- When We Aren't

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