Lighten Up

As a coach, I work with top performers. They invest their time and money because they want to be the best they can be. Here’s a consistent challenge with top performers; they are driven for results. That’s why they are top performers. It’s also why they have plateaued.

Frustration, irritation, aggravation, dissatisfaction. These emotions weigh you down. To increase effectiveness, you need to lighten the load and focus on performance, not personality. The key to dealing with frustration, anger, upset, and irritations is understanding the source. Anger is an emotion that is a physical response that comes from thought – typically critical and judgmental thought about yourself or others.

The key to eliminating the weight of negative emotion is to reprogram the thoughts that causes it and direct that energy to improving the performance. This shift of thinking occurs by objectively understanding that critical, judgmental, destructive thinking about yourself is destructive, not constructive.

Critical thinking needs to be directed at the actions and performance, not the person. Always attack problems, never people. Choose to lighten up concerning people. They’re not perfect, and that is OK. You’re not perfect, and that’s OK.

Smile, dance, laugh, and then help your team improve. Have some fun. Enjoy the game, and drop the shame. Your performance will improve much quicker if you’re not so serious!!