eTip #612 The Four R's of an Olympian Mindset

The Four R’s of an Olympian Mindset

By Liz Scavnicky-Yaekle

 

The 2016 Summer Olympics are a reminder that the ability to bounce back from setbacks is a key characteristic of top performers.  Dale Carnegie said, “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.”   Here are four R’s of an Olympian mindset worth adopting.

Right work ethic- Many people approach their professional roles with a ‘good enough’ attitude wherein as long as they are completing the majority of their responsibilities on a regular basis, they are satisfied.  Some employees believe that should they go above and beyond their regular roles, they should be compensated for each action.  This belief system is the exact opposite of the Olympian mindset.  Dale Carnegie’s 19^th Human Relations principle, ‘Appeal to nobler motives,’ implores people to strive to be their very best—to do even more than what is asked by anticipating needs both internal and external to the organization, and delivering accordingly.  Olympians don’t have to be asked to go above and beyond because doing so is inherent to their belief system.  How can you step up your game in the workplace?

Rely on top performers- Young athletes leave their homes to train with top performers.  They understand that isolating themselves among world-class athletes will enable them to improve their focus and performance. Olympic training is draining.  These stellar athletes rely on their teammates for emotional support during the peaks and valleys of both training and competing.  When you are unable to perform to the best of your ability, do you ask for help?  Is there someone on your team in whom you can confide or a top performer who could possibly mentor you to achieve your ultimate potential?

Responsive to coaching- Dale Carnegie’s book, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, offers insights for effectively managing criticism.  Mr. Carnegie said, “Analyze your own mistakes and criticize yourself,” which concurs with the Olympian mindset.  Top athletes rely on criticism from coaches, experts and teammates to improve their game.  Instead of being discouraged by criticism, they are eager to hear it.  Olympians understand that feedback is intellectual capital—expertise they use to excel.  When someone offers you constructive criticism, are you open to it?  How can you use feedback to improve your performance? 

Rest and recovery- Unlike most American employees, Olympians consider breaks mandatory.  Research shows that only 1 in 5 five people steps away for a midday meal.  Without a break, our brains are unable to maintain a high level of productivity.  Only when we rest and return to the task at hand can we approach it with renewed and laser-sharp focus.  Olympians rest during and in between training.  Equally important, when they experience set-backs, they rely on their support teams to help them recover and rebound.  If you don’t step away from your desk for lunch or a quick walk, you are undermining your mind’s ability to optimize throughout the workday.

Tip #611 Leaders Must Encourage Employees to Grow or They’ll Go

When Gallup asked employees who were considering a career change or had recently switched employers to rate particular factors that influenced their decisions, the results were a bit surprising.  Most employers assume that the primary motivator for a career change is increased income, however as the results show, other factors are more important.  According to the study:

For workers who had switched jobs in the past three months, increased income ranked as the third influencer.

The number one reason for seeking a new job was because workers want to do what they do best.

Employees who have worked at a company for less than three years, compared to those employed with a company for ten or more years, strongly agreed that they were given opportunities to learn and grow. They also shared that someone had discussed their progress with them and encouraged their development, compared to workers employed for ten or more years.

The impacts of low retention are systemic and costly. In fact, a study by the Society for Human Resource Management found that employers spend the equivalent of six to nine months of an employee’s salary to procure their replacement.  This means that an employee with an annual salary of $60,000 will cost the organization between $30,000 and $45,000 to hire and train a qualified replacement.  Other research conducted by the Center for America Progress revealed that losing an employee can cost anywhere from 16% of their salary for hourly, unsalaried employees, to a whopping 213% of the salary for a highly trained position.

Stellar leadership is the key to retaining employees.  When employees feel comfortable discussing their progress and are encouraged to grow by their managers, they will thrive versus simply survive until the next job opportunity comes along.  Unfortunately, many managers are so busy micromanaging employees, they often forget to praise them for a job well done.

Dale Carnegie’s 27^th leadership principle is, ‘Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement.’ He also said, “Be hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.”  Praising employees demonstrates appreciation and respect, and helps foster feelings of ambition and competence.  According to another Gallup study, employees who have supervisors that care about them, e.g. discuss their career progress, encourage development, and provide opportunities to learn and grow—have, “lower turnover, higher sales growth, better productivity, and better customer loyalty than work groups in which employees report that these developmental elements are scarce.”

’Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person,’ is Dale Carnegie’s 24^th leadership principle. Reinforcing trust and respect before offering negative feedback will soften the blow while still instilling the correction(s) that must be made.  Providing constructive criticism is never easy no matter how long a leader has managed employees—unless the leader has acquired strong leadership skills. 

If you recognize the need for improved leadership skills personally or within your organization, check out the Dale Carnegie Leadership Training for Managers course.

Liz Scavnicky-Yaekle

Tip #610- Four Reasons Your Brain Wants You to Book a Vacation

If you’ve ever driven a vehicle to your vacation destination, at some point, you had to refill its tank.  Likewise, if you don’t refuel, you will come to a complete stop.  The same can be said for your brain—if you don’t take a vacation, eventually you will deplete your brain’s reserve pool of power.  Dale Carnegie’s third principle for How to Stop Worrying and Start Living is, ‘Remind yourself of the exorbitant price you can pay for worry in terms of your health.’

Here are four reasons your brain wants you to book a vacation before the end of the year.

Your brain requires time off to help you reboot your concentration and satisfaction.  77% of HR professionals believe that employees who use most or all of their vacation time are actually more productive on average than those who don’t. Moreover, in a 2006 Ernst and Young study, researchers found that every ten hours of time off resulted in an 8% increase in performance reviews for the following year.   

Dale Carnegie’s first principle for Cultivating a Mental Attitude that will Bring You Peace and Happiness is, ‘Fill your mind with thoughts of peace, courage, health and hope.’  It’s impossible to fill our brains with hope and peace when constantly working.  We must literally unplug from our professional roles to allow our brains to recharge because our mental reserve pool of power is finite.

Use or lose your vacation time—and your mind!  According to the U.S. Travel Association, workers typically fail to take even five vacation days a year.  In another study, 57% of workers had unused vacation time at the end of the year.  Another Dale Carnegie principle is, ‘Try to profit from your losses.’  If you’re guilty of leaving vacation days on the table in previous years, set a goal to use most of them by the end of this year.  Plan a vacation even if it’s a ‘staycation,’ so you can return to work rejuvenated and refreshed. 

Brain performance improves when it is not tackling tasks because it can focus on connecting current ideas with previously acquired knowledge.  Whether your role is in sales, customer service or even focused on serving internal customers within an organization, the ability to problem solve is critical.  Taking a break enables our brains to disconnect from the day-to-day to reconnect current and prior knowledge.  This enables our brains to consider both the macro and micro perspective of challenges, thereby making it easier to problem solve.

New skills are more easily acquired when your brain is completely relaxed.  In 2009, experiments conducted by the Harvard Medical School proved that a relaxed brain consolidates power making it easier to memorize new skills learned the week before.  A relaxed brain is also better able to stimulate creativity and help generate new ideas. 

The next time you worry about whether or not you can afford to take a vacation, ask yourself if your brain can avoid not to take one.

By Liz Scavnicky-Yaekle

Tip #609- Four Ways to Conjure Confidence

Do you wish you felt more confident when speaking one-on-one or to a large group of people? If so, you aren't alone. According to the Wall Street journal, public speaking is the #1 fear in America.

Graduates of the Dale Carnegie Course for Effective Communications and Human Relations Skills for Success report that they are much more confident after learning the tools taught in the course-especially because they are able to practice and apply them in eight successive weeks.

Here are four easy ways to begin developing your confidence from this effective course taught in 85 countries around the world.

1. 'Smile,' is Mr. Carnegie's fifth Human Relations principle. It sounds so simple, yet smiling at another person is so very effective. In his best-selling book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, he said, "Actions speak louder than words, and a smile says, 'I like you. You make me happy. I am glad to see you." Smiling at another person assumes you are making direct eye contact which is critical to invoking confidence. Retaining eye contact while smiling shows you are paying attention to the other person, which simultaneously raises their confidence in you. Some studies have concluded that making eye contact enables you to appear more trustworthy and decisive as well. Whether speaking to an individual or in a group, be sure to smile and make solid eye contact.

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Tip #608- Three Healthy Ways to Handle Stress

There is hope for insomniacs and the super stressed thanks to the mental health movement called positive psychology.  Proponents of this movement contend that the stress itself is not the culprit of ill effects such as insomnia, but how people think about it and their resulting reactions.  Dale Carnegie said, “It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.”  Psychiatrist and director of the Pediatric Psychiatric Clinic at the University of Vermont Medical Center, David Rettew, M.D. concurs having stated, “How you think about a situation can drive how you behave, and even how the body responds.”

Here are three healthy ways to handle stress.

1. Choose wisdom over worry. It’s been said that worry is like reverse prayer.  Instead of hoping for the best outcome, we dive into the realm of everything that could go wrong.  Dale Carnegie’s Human Relations principle, ‘Break the worry habit before it breaks you,’ underscores the negative consequences of stress—both physiologically and psychologically.

People who suffer from insomnia often lament that they were, “up all night running through every scenario in their heads.”  The universe is full of infinite possibilities and considering all of them will take much longer than one night!  If you choose to worry, you are deliberately increasing stress.  Instead, repeat what your ideal scenario for any situation would be softly to yourself and imagine yourself in the picture of the outcome you have painted.  Focusing on the positive—your preferred outcome will thwart worry and the act of repetition will help you fall asleep.

2. Cooperate with the inevitable. After conducting research on a million employees, TalentSmart found that 90% of the top performers are skilled at managing their emotions in times of stress in order to remain calm and in control.  If you miss a work-out, instead of beating yourself up about it, accept it and move on with your day.  If not, the likelihood you’ll miss another work-out skyrockets.  Stuff happens to everyone, however the difference between successful and stressful people is whether or not they are adept at managing their emotions.

3. Pass up pity parties.  Misery loves company so it’s natural to share struggles with co-workers, friends and family.  It’s quite common to wallow in worry around the proverbial water cooler, however this behavior only amplifies stress.  As each participant presents her plight, the sense of overall stress soars.  Dale Carnegie’s first Human Relations principle is, ‘Don’t criticize, condemn or complain.’ If you find it too difficult to avoid commiserating with malcontents, ask the complainer how they plan to solve the problem or help brainstorm paths to resolution instead of feeding into the negative frenzy. 

Instead, stress solo.  Talk a walk alone; do some breathing exercises or take a break with a co-worker without focusing on what’s going wrong.  Allow your mind to recalibrate by doing soothing activities instead of sadistic ones.

By Liz Scavnicky-Yaekle