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PEAK PERFORMANCE POINTERS – Volume II
Publisher: Della Menechella
http://www.DellaMenechella.com
© 2003 Personal Peak Performance Unlimited
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Inspiring people to achieve greater success from the inside
out.
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IN
THIS ISSUE
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1. Peak Performance Pointer
2. Quotes/Stories to Inspire You to Peak Performance
3. A “Peak” into Humor
4. Contact the Performance Coach
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1. Peak
Performance Pointer
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Don’t Let
Motivation Cause You to Fail
By Della Menechella
Yesterday my teenage son Matt
came home with a less than
stellar report card. (Yes, even
peak performance experts
sometimes have trouble motivating others.)
Now Matt is by
no means stupid. The reason he got
poor grades is because
he did not do the work that was required for some of his
classes. Why didn’t he do the
work? According to him, he
didn’t feel motivated to do it. After having a loud
discussion with him (translation: I was ranting and
raving), I realized that Matt is no different than many
people in his erroneous idea about motivation and success.
The impact of motivation on success is highly overrated.
Motivation has very little to do with success.
Successful
people do not wait to feel motivated to do things that need
to be done. They take action
whether or not they feel like
it, and this continuous action towards a goal is what
results in success.
Realize What You Are Losing
If you are not doing what you need to do, you are paying a
price for it. It could be the
constant stress of knowing
you should be doing something but not doing it.
It could be
the subtle feeling of realizing that by your inactivity you
are not achieving what you know you can achieve.
Many
people have a vague idea of what their inactivity is costing
them, but they try to push away these thoughts because they
are very uncomfortable. I am
suggesting that you not only
don’t push away these thoughts, but that you experience them
fully.
Think about what your lack of action is costing you and
notice how miserable this feels. Am I telling you this
because I am sadistic and want you to feel bad?
No, I am
urging you to do this so you connect with this discomfort.
Feeling this pain will often spur you to give up your
excuses and move. Most people will
do more to avoid pain
then they will to move forward towards pleasure.
Recently, my toe has been causing me some problems.
This has been going on for several weeks. I
know I should have
gone to the doctor to get it checked out, but I didn’t want to take
the time to do it. However, the
pain has been getting worse
and is now preventing me from participating in some
activities that I enjoy, so I finally made an appointment to
see him. Pain catches your
attention.
Are you experiencing the pain of mediocre revenues in your
business because you are not doing enough marketing and
selling? Have you been having
conflict with your team
because you have not effectively dealt with a difficult
employee? When you experience
enough pain, you will be
surprised how motivated you will be to take action.
Focus on the Pay Off
If you don’t particularly like the task that you have to do,
don’t focus on how miserable you might feel at the moment.
Instead, focus on the pay off that you will receive as a
result of your work. People who are
successful in any area
of their lives usually focus on what they will get out of their activity.
I have been a size four since I was 15.
Most people who
have problems with their weight will often comment that I am
lucky to be so thin. I tell them
that I exercise a minimum
of one hour at least five days a week. Their
next remark is
usually, “You must love to exercise.” No,
I don’t love to
exercise. I would much rather get
up and make a pot of
coffee. To me there is almost no
greater delight in life
than enjoying a cup of freshly brewed coffee first thing in
the morning. That’s my exercise
pay off. As I am in the
process of exercising, I count the minutes left that I have
to do it before I can have my cup of coffee.
Does this
sound simplistic? Maybe, but it
works. This simple
strategy has motivated me to work out consistently for many
years.
What is your pay off?
Is there something that you really
enjoy? Tie it into the task that
you know you should do,
but that you have been putting off. Make
the pay off be the
carrot that drives you to action.
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High achievers recognize the importance of maintaining a
positive attitude and constantly filling their minds with
empowering ideas. The tools at
http://www.dellamenechella.com/performance%20tools.htm
can help you sustain a winner’s mindset.
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Don’t Worry About Perfection
One of my biggest blocks in getting started with doing
something is that I’m afraid I won’t do it right.
This is
usually in connection with something new that I don’t have a
lot of experience with. I want to
do a good job and I don’t
want to mess it up. So what
happens? Nothing.
I focus so
much on my fear of making a mistake that I often do nothing at all.
When you are starting a new project, don’t worry about
doing
it right initially. Just do
something. There is a common
principle in physics that states, ‘A body at rest tends to
stay at rest, a body in motion tends to stay in motion.’
Get moving. Recognize that you will
need to make
adjustments along the way. Making
adjustments is part of
the process of learning how to be successful in any new
endeavor. As you begin to do the
new task, you will find
out what else you need to know. You will discover
additional information that will help you achieve your
outcome. Don’t focus on the
success or failure of each
step. Be concerned with taking the
most intelligent action
at any particular moment and make whatever changes that are
necessary.
Develop a Plan
Sometimes we have a new idea but it seems so overwhelming
that we do nothing. Create an
action plan for a project and
then just do one step at a time. I wanted to create an
electronic newsletter for more than two years.
On a regular
basis, I felt the guilt and self-recrimination that comes
from knowing that I should do it but not taking action.
I
am technologically challenged so the entire project seemed
more than I could handle. Finally,
I decided to create an
action plan. I would find other
successful electronic
newsletters and see how they were put together.
I would
determine ways to distribute the newsletter to subscribers.
I would find ways to let others know about my newsletter.
I
focused on completing each step and within two weeks, I sent
out my premiere issue of Peak Performance Pointers.
When I
finally broke the task down into simple action steps, I was
able to get it done.
Motivation Comes From Action
An interesting thing about lack of motivation is that when
we begin a project that we have been putting off, we finally
start to feel motivated. Motivation
often comes from the
doing. When we start something and
see it begin to take
shape, it becomes exciting. Once we
get started, we often
find it difficult to stop until the project is completed.
As we work on accomplishing a new idea, it is easier to
focus on the end result and this creates even more
motivation to get it finished. So recognize that if you are
waiting to feel motivated to do something, start to do it
and then the motivation will kick in.
Many people erroneously believe that successful people are
super motivated individuals. Nothing could be further from
the truth. While it is wonderful to
feel motivated to do
something before you begin it, don’t let motivation cause
you to fail. Take action towards
your goal and you’ll be
filled with more motivation than you can handle.
Della Menechella is
a peak performance expert/speaker/trainer
who teaches individuals how to be successful by achieving a
winner's mindset. She is a contributing author to Thriving in
the Midst of Change and is the creator of the videotape The
Twelve Commandments of Goal Setting.
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2. Quotes/Stories to
Inspire You to Peak Performance
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=> “Our lives are a sum total of the choices we have
made.”
Dr. Wayne Dyer
=> “Practice does not make perfect; perfect practice
makes
perfect.” Vince
Lombardi
=> “When we do more than we are paid to do, eventually
we
will be paid more for what we do.” Zig Ziglar
=> “The real secret of success is enthusiasm.”
Walter P.Chrysler
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3. A “Peak” into
Humor
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=> Pentiums melt in your PC, not in your hand.
=> Always remember you're unique, just like everyone
else.
=> Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
=> Notice: Our company requires no further physical
fitness
programs. Everyone gets enough exercise:
== jumping to conclusions,
== beating around the bush,
== running down the boss,
== going around in circles,
== dragging their feet,
== dodging responsibility,
== passing the buck,
== climbing the ladder,
== wading through paperwork,
== pulling strings,
== throwing their weight around,
== stretching the truth,
== bending the rules,
== and pushing their luck.
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4. Contact the
Performance Coach
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YOU CAN ASK THE PERFORMANCE COACH: Just send your
questions or ideas about topics for future articles to
info@dellamenechella.com. We love
to hear from you!
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