How to sustain business performance over time? We can incorporate a principle from the elite sports environment into the business planning cycle.

Optimising Your Business Performance Using Sport Science

Sports and business are performed in vastly different physical environments, but there are massive similarities between them. Having spent time coaching both elite professional athletes and corporate leaders, I have seen success in both domains. The term I use for the business leaders I work with is…

What’s the similarity between sport and business performance?

Lee Eldridge with The Athlete Tribe explains Stress Resilience Vs Stress Management

Stress Resilience Vs Stress Management

Lee Eldridge is a leading human performance coach and the founder of The Athlete Tribe.<br><br>Throughout his 20-year career, he has worked with athletes and business executives in elite environments, including professional rugby and<br>football players, C-Suite executives, and senior leaders, some of the world's biggest companies.<br><br>He applies proven adaptive leadership and flow techniques, drawn from his extensive experience in professional sport to coach the Cognitive<br>Athlete: business leaders in demanding roles that require peak cognitive brain processing to perform consistently to their optimal potential.<br><br>His coaching has enabled senior business leaders to reach new levels of performance in both work and home life.

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<p>Close your eyes, and imagine you are a professional athlete or sportsperson heading into training. What do you think that day would look like? Planned or unplanned? Optimised for performance?&nbsp;</p><p>Of course, business is different. In the sports world, competitions are planned in advance. But there are ideas and things that we can do to take back control of the day and influence our performance.</p><h4>Do you find that:</h4><p>You are too busy with meetings and emails to actually get the work done that is going to shift the needle of your performance and the business?</p><p>&nbsp;Are you always reacting to other's problems and not dealing with your challenge first?</p><blockquote><p>Remember, everyone can work hard; the difference-maker is knowing what to work hard on.</p></blockquote><p>Working hard and longer is not the answer, and if we do not change this, then things can snowball and lead to:</p><ul><li>Reduced performance at work</li><li>Loss of job - increased stress and anxiety to find a new role</li><li>Increased risk of burnout and underperformance&nbsp;</li></ul><p>So here are seven ways to take back control and start performing again:&nbsp;</p><h3>1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; UNDERSTAND YOUR MOST IMPORTANT TASKS</h3><p>The first step to taking back control is stopping and taking time to figure out your most important task or M.I.T.'s. A simple way to do this is to write down everything you need to do and cross off everything that is unimportant. Keep going until you have one or two tasks. Make sure you think about whether the task is important or just urgent; there is a clear difference.&nbsp;</p><h3>2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; PLAN YOUR DAY AND WEEK&nbsp;</h3><p>Planning your day and week in advance enables you to plan your time rationally. Doing this in the morning is not a good idea as your brain will always want to complete urgent or easy tasks first. The idea is that when you sit down to work, you work. Before finishing your work the day before, spend 5-10mins writing down those M.I.T.'s, or spend a few minutes preparing for any activities you are going to do, such as going to the gym. We all feel more confident having a plan; this plan can change, but we need to put structure into the day.</p><h3>3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; PERFORM YOUR M.I.T's</h3><p>Most people's peak performance working hours are in the morning, on average around 3-4 hours from getting up. However, the majority spend this time answering emails or attending meetings (try to encourage people not to have meetings at this time). Most people can only work maximally for around 90 minutes, after that they need a break.&nbsp;</p><p>The biggest breakthrough I make with C.E.O.'s and senior business leaders is helping them understand this practice. If I can get them to complete 90 minutes of high peak work, success and productivity significantly increase, and stress is reduced.</p><p>You must make sure that you protect this time and the environment. Block out this time on your diary so that no one can book meetings with you. Shut your door, turn off notifications and emails. If you are at home, get some noise-cancelling headphones. Understand that this time is going to help you improve.</p><h3>4.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; GROUP TASK BLOCKING</h3><p>Grouping tasks together can help reduce cognitive load. The best example of this is email blocking. Plan in two or three 30 minutes periods to answer and send emails; this helps to get in the flow. Remember that with most emails, people are cc'd on them; normally, issues get solved during the day. Remind colleagues that if it is something urgent to call you.</p><p>Besides emails, think of other areas to employ this process, such as meetings - another benefit of the hybrid model of working is having days planned for meetings. Also, think about meal prep, where you pick one evening or day to make multiple meals for during the week.&nbsp;</p><h3>5.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; SAYING 'NO'</h3><p>How easy is it to say yes to your colleague or manager? If we say yes to one thing, it means no to another. This other thing might be your M.I.T's. We are very good at spreading ourselves very thin, meaning that we get the time to dive deep into problems.</p><h3>6.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; REVIEW YOUR PERFORMANCE</h3><p>Self reviewing your performance is a great way to develop the habit of noticing slight changes in performance, both positive and negative. Answering the following questions honesty can help:&nbsp;</p><ul><li>What went well today?</li><li>What mistake/failures happened, and what can I learn?</li><li>Did I work towards my M.I.T's</li><li>What does my day look like tomorrow? What is most important tomorrow?</li><li>What made me feel good vs not so good today? How can I learn from this?</li></ul><p>Feedback is a vital part of performance; this needs to be a daily process. There is no point in reviewing your performance every six months; immediate feedback is the way to go. Remember, high performance is a holistic process; consequently, review everything — work, physical activity, nutrition, cognitive load, recovery, communication, etc. Every element has an effect on the other areas.&nbsp;</p><h3>7.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; PLAN BREAKS</h3><p>Planning breaks is mainstream advice, now backed up by science. We need breaks during the day to ensure that we can maintain performance and reduce stress. 5-10 mins every 60-90 mins is a good starting point for development. Get outside, stretch, move.&nbsp;</p><h3>SUMMARY</h3><p>Taking back control starts with you; no one is going to do it for you. There are times during the day that we need to be reactive and proactive. Understanding the difference is vital for performance. Think about a football team; they have to be proactive in their tactics and reactive to the team they are playing against.</p><p>If you feel that you have no control, start by taking control back on the small things — progression over perfection.&nbsp;</p><p>Ask yourself this question? What is next month or year going to look like if I continue like this?</p><p>Lee</p>

7 Ways To Take Back Control

Lee Eldridge is a leading human performance coach and the founder of The Athlete Tribe. Throughout his 20-year career, he has worked with athletes and business executives in elite environments, including professional rugby and football players, C-Suite executives, and senior leaders, some of the world's biggest companies. He applies proven adaptive leadership and flow techniques, drawn from his extensive experience in professional sport to coach the Cognitive Athlete: business leaders in…

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