Let’s talk about the phrase, cliche, Practice makes perfect.

Ask any musician, dancer, public speaker, etc, and you will hear that practice is absolutely required no matter how much natural talent one may have.  Also, most will say that much more practice, preparation, time is needed to produce even a very short performance.

One of the skills I am focusing on is public speaking.  I have personally found that I need roughly one hour of prep time per 1 minute of speech time.

Having said this, let’s look at the phrase more closely.

Perfect – is that really the goal?  It is a good goal but with the understanding that perfect isn’t required in most situations.  Excellent or near perfect can get one where one wants to be in many, many situations.  In business, 80% is often super.  If one is sucked into the trap of perfect, especially in business, the end product may never be brought to the world.

Practice – yes, practice is needed, but not any old practice.  It is really a combination of practice (trying to do something), feedback, and correction.  If you practice the wrong thing, you only make that wrong way of doing something harder to correct later.  This is why feedback is so important.

In speaking, if I practice only in my head by reading the speech, I will not hear the things that need to be reworded.  It works best if I can speak it out loud if only to my dog, but even better if I can practice with a friend.  My phrasing and flow of the speech improve each time I run through it out loud and make adjustments.  My friend listening can give valuable insight from the audiences perspective.  On the day of the speech, however, I can not focus on the exact words of each sentence otherwise I will come off stiff and uninteresting.  At that point, I am going for my best at that moment, not perfect.

So, yes, take the time and effort needed to perfect whatever you are doing but make sure you get feedback so that you can correct errors early on.

Don’t let striving for perfection stop you though – get your talents out into the world.

This morning I finally patched the paint on my office door.  It has “builder’s” paint which means if you ever put tape on it, when you take the tape off the paint comes off too.  It is a door I look at a lot during the day.  It needed to be painted for several months now.  It just never made it to the top of my priority list.

Well, yesterday when I was talking with my coach (yes, I have one too, grin), I finally put it at the top of my priority list and I committed to painting it this morning.  Which I have done.  It took all of 10 minutes, well 5 but I patched a couple other doors….

Maybe that is why it took me so long to actually do it.  I knew that if I fixed that, that I would find another spot to fix and I was worried of it cascading into a full morning of repairs.

Never fear, I was able to stop after about 10 minutes and I really do feel better for having done it.

See, each thing you have in your environment that isn’t completed zaps energy from you each time you pass it.  It might only be a tiny little tinge, but it is there.  When you address that item, you get a little bit of energy back.  This energy boost is not only when you initially do it but also for a little time afterward when you walk by and say to yourself, “ah that feels good to have that done”.

So, what little thing that you have been meaning to do, that will only take 10 minutes or so to do can you do?  Go do that, just that, and see how you feel…

Happy fixing!

I really like the concepts on change in this presentation.

I especially like the solutions Make the behaviors easier to do and A fixed period works better than “forever”.

It made me think on my recent behavior of getting back into the gym and doing yoga.  For me, easier to do was having a place close to home and at a place that the front desk person was a neighbor (welcoming person at the front door of the gym).  A fix period of time, for me, is focusing on just today and just showing up.  I know if I can do that, I will give my best in class and have a good workout.  If I focus on going EVERY week for the next year, it is too overwhelming.  I know I can handle “today” and the goal of “just show up”.  This also goes with the solution (in the presentation) of taking small steps, not giant leaps.

What goal can you break down into a tiny first step that you can do today?  Just focus on today and that first small step and see what happens.

With all the ways information can come to us, how do we avoid sensory overload?

With any big project we take on, how do we get out of the moments of overwhelm we will most certainly feel at some point or another?

The answer is surprisingly similar….

We need learn our triggers of overwhelm – is it thinking about all the items all at once?  is it thinking about all the “what ifs” on a situation?  is it worrying about something you have no control over and just have to wait?

Then by having a plan, directing our focus, and having a buddy, we can bring ourselves out of overwhelm.

Having a plan

- with information it is having a plan on what sources we are going to frequent and how much time we are going to give it.  There are so many sources of information that we are required to choose otherwise we risk mental shutdown.

- with a big project, we need to highlight the main steps.  Then we can take those steps and break them down into smaller steps.  The key is that we don’t HAVE to do it all at once.  This goes for making the plan AND working on the plan.

Focus

- with information, we get to choose if we are going to find positive, uplifting sources or negative, depressing sources.  It is not an all-or-nothing choice, but we need to be aware of the ratio.  I am going to suggest to have 80% of your input come from helpful, inspiring sources.  We also get to choose how much time we are going to focus on consuming.

- with projects, when the feeling of overwhelm is building, choose to focus on one main step in the plan.  If that is still stressful, chunk it down into a smaller task within that one step until to you get to a level that feels doable.

- in general, shifting our focus at the moment of overwhelm can move the brain into a more productive state.  This could be by getting up and walking away for a while, turning on some music and mellowing out, or just taking a few deep breaths.

Have a buddy

- with information, having someone to talk to can help us make sense of what we are learning.  We all can recall from school that having a study buddy improved our grades, so can it help outside of school.

- with projects, buddies can be helpers on tasks or accountability partners to help keep us on track.  We can call our buddy and just vent if we need to and then carry on with our project.

Photo Credit - Benleto

I have recently read that the best way to predict the future is to create it.  Now we all know that even that makes predicting difficult at best, but it is a good place to start.

It is a great way to shift your mindset from being a victim of circumstance to being an champion of the change you want to bring about in the world.

It reminds us that we are best served by visualizing what we want to see and then take action on that vision.

Change

Have you ever been accused of not liking change?  Is it generally by someone who wants you to change but the change isn’t one you would have chosen and presents you with little value?

I think we all welcome change we personally initiate and resist change that is thrust upon us.

Why is that?  It is because change, although can be simple, is at most times not easy.  We have to be able to define the change clearly and then re-work our habits.  Even on simple things like moving where the garbage can is located can be frustrating.  Try it sometime and watch how long it takes you to adjust and NOT throw the garbage where the can used to be.

Our habits are our shortcuts to getting stuff done.

I have recently read and tried in my own life that a shortcut to changing is to tie your new desired habit to something you are already in the habit of doing.  For example, reading motivational affirmations right after you brush your teeth.  I have put in more exercise by walking the dog after the kids get on the school bus.  The dog likes it and it takes away some of the excuses out.

What existing habit can you tie a new habit to?

We have all heard that knowledge is power.  Some of us have heard that knowledge is only POTENTIAL power.

I agree with the second statement.  Knowledge is POTENTIAL power.  You need two other ingredients for knowledge to be turned into power.

1. Attention – your knowledge has to be focused.  You get to choose where you put your attention: what subjects, what priorities, what tasks.  Until you do focus, you are like a boat without a rudder, just floating along, bouncing around in the sea of life.  This is fine if what you want to do is float and enjoy the sea.  This doesn’t work if you actually want to GO somewhere.  This leads me to the second ingredient…

2. Action - You have to DO something.  You can know how to do everything, but until you actually DO something with that knowledge, it is as useful as not knowing anything.  As with the boat, you have to direct the power of the sea by moving the rudder to focus it and thus moving the boat towards your destination.

So, where are you putting your attention and action?  Is it getting you closer to your goals?  If not, make corrections so you can get where you want to go.

Does the need for being perfect stop you in your tracks?  Do you have running in your head, well if I can’t be perfect why even bother?  Are you afraid of being mediocre?

Here is a secret – no one is perfect, we are all flawed.

Another secret – you have to start somewhere and you won’t be brilliant when you start.

Now, you might have a voice in your head scream, but what about “so-and-so” they just walked out on stage (or wherever) and was wonderful, perfect, fabulous.  I have 2 responses to that -

1. That voice in your head screaming that is a smoke screen.  It doesn’t want you to ACTUALLY confront your fears.  That would disrupt the status quo.  That voice LOVES the status quo.  It is the part of you that does NOT, under any circumstances, want you to change.  It is the part that sees the safety in the status quo and the risk in changing.  Let that voice say its peace, thank it for its input, and reassure it that you will consider the risks of any change you make.  Then carry on with your change.

2. The person who walks on stage (or wherever) has been doing their thing for a long time.  To be sure, there are very talented people whose learning curve is very short relative to the general public, but even they had to put SOME effort into their work.  Just because your awareness of them is right now, at their peak performance, doesn’t mean that they haven’t had to work at it and that they didn’t start somewhere that wasn’t perfect.

My point?  Start somewhere.  Start.  Then learn from the results of you attempt.  Repeat.

You can do it.

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If you like this, you may also like – Change Agent for Success and Ask a Better Question

What questions are you saying to yourself about your current project and goals?

Are you asking – Can I make it work?  This is most likely not productive because a common answer will be – No – from that nasty little critic that lives in our head.  You know the one, with that irritating little voice like nails down a chalk board.

What would happen if you asked yourself, instead, this -

How can I make it work? Ah, now that is going to get a more productive answer.  Your brain will now come up with ways that will help you do what you set out to do.

What if I can make it work?  That is an interesting one because it makes you face the fear of success AND the fear of failure.  Allow yourself to stay positive, in the excitement of it working and see what comes up.

Caution. Warning.  Be careful of -

Should I make it work?  Consider it to assess any risks you might need to, but Shoulding all over yourself gets you stuck in the paralysis of analysis.  It also sets you up for one of the worst questions out there….

What would have happened if I had made it work?  That one is full of regret and is usually going through our minds after it is too late.

So, look at your goals and plans and ask yourself – How can you make it work?  Get creative and have fun with it.

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You might also enjoy – Change Agent

What are you tolerating?

Tolerating Stuff -

What clutter do you have in your house that needs to go?  What clutter in your schedule needs to go?

The more we let this stuff just hang around, the more energy it drains from us and keeps us from working on our dreams and goals.

How can you let go of the past – because holding onto stuff that is just hanging around is hanging onto the past – and let go of the things that don’t serve you anymore?

How can you let go of the “what ifs” of the future – because holding onto stuff because you MIGHT need it in the future is just as draining as holding onto the past – and trust that if you truly need that item in the future, it (or something better) will come into your life?

I know for me, a helpful mindset is to look at the item and ask a few questions -

• Is it broken?  Out it goes.
• Have I used it in the past 3 years? No = out it goes.
• If I were to move, would it be worth PAYING someone to move it? No = out it goes.

I know this is difficult to do at times and I am by no means perfect on this one.  My weakness is on the side of “I might need it some day”.

Tolerating Habits -

Are you procrastining on a project that would make your life jump to the next level?  If so, why?

Are you allowing someone to treat you poorly?  How can you talk to them to turn that around?

Do you put yourself at the bottom of your priority list?  How’s that working for you?

Each of these will drain energy from you and keep you from your dreams and goals.

Take Action

Choose today to tolerate less.  Pick one item and work on that.  It doesn’t have to be big, just something.  You will instantly feel better.