Organizational Psychology of Wellness, Performance, and Play
Posts Tagged ‘psychology’
10 Tips to Increase Self-Control
Another consistent trait of peak performers is their high aptitude for self-control. Self-control is our ability to stay steadfast regarding long-term goals despite natural human urges to partake in activities that are instantly gratifying. In excess, instantly gratifying activities can often lead to various forms of destructive addiction. Many instantly gratifying activities also lack the positive compounding effects that activities with deferred gratification possess. Many of you probably remember the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment on this subject. Here is a great little video highlighting how easy it is to be tempted, even when promised a greater reward in the future.
Training and acquiring mastery in anything requires work and practices. The good news is that there are many ways we can train ourselves to improve self-control. Here are 10 tips to increase self-control from the May / June 2011 edition of Scientific American Mind:
- Become aware of the risks and long term negative consequences of undesirable behavior.
- Increase your personal engagement by, for example, telling friends about your goals.
- Transform abstract overarching objectives into intermediate steps of milestones.
- Take pleasure in achieving partial successes and reaching intermediate milestones.
- Formulate “if then” resolutions to deal with critical situations.
- Replace old bad habits with new good ones.
- Change your impulse by learning to associate the mere sight of temptations with negative stimuli.
- Identify situations that pose a particular risk and avoid them as much as possible.
- Train you working memory.
- Plan enough breaks and relaxation periods to prevent depletion of your mental resources.
If you have any additional tips on how to increase self-control please share them in the comments section below.
Laugh and Smile!
Smiling and laughing are physical manifestations of being happy. Peak performers know that one of the easiest short cuts to tricking the mind out of a bad mood is to find reasons to smile and laugh.
Why smile? Well, why not? While stress has been linked to a lot of health issues, smiling, laughing and being positive is associated with longevity, positivism and other health benefits that promote wellness in both our minds and bodies.
There is a growing body of scientific evidence that shows the benefits of smiling and laughing. For one, laughter lets the body discharge endorphins (a natural neurological biochemical that naturally alleviates stress). When we are tense or anxious our pulse rate goes up, our body heat rises, and our nervous system is hyperactive; it is difficult to perform optimally in this state. On the other hand, smiling and laughing allows us to relax, and induces a feeling of happiness (surprisingly it works even if you aren’t really happy) thus removing stress. Laughing moderates the stress hormone cortisol. As a result, a study has shown that laughing boosts our immune system by increasing the number of immune cells and antibodies we have (thus developing the body’s resistance to stress, illness and disease).
Intuitively, smiling gives us a greater feeling of harmony with our environment. That is because smiling can affect the way people see you and it can have a positive natural effect on other people too. Outside of the proven benefits of performance, smiling is often a signal of your friendliness, approachability and good character. So smile, charm the world, while reaping its health benefits and performing better!
Play to Your Strengths
As humans, most of us are inclined to spend more time dwelling on our negative attributes, and trying to improve upon them, than we are developing our inherent strengths. We learn this bad habit an early age… a child is deficient in math but great at writing? Great, get them a math tutor to improve the deficiency and keep them at pace with their writing proficiencies. In adolescents this makes sense because of the need of self-discovery, developing learning styles, and foundational growth. However, once we have matured this reasoning can lead to frustration because sometimes our efforts become futile. If we have mastered something close to the peak of our potential in a particular area, then further training makes little sense. This ties in with last week’s post Applying the Pareto Principle. When a maximum effort will only result in smaller and smaller increments of improvement for a skill that is not a core competency for fulfilling a particular goal, then wouldn’t your efforts be better served elsewhere? Peak performers on the other hand spend time developing their core strengths and with anytime left over only try to correct their most dominant weaknesses.
The attributes of a particular “strength” are usually defined by the methodology used to evaluate a particular set of strengths. My personal preference is the VIA Strengths defined by Martin Segliman (due to my love of Positive Psychology), but there are others out there such as Tom Rath’s StrengthsFinder 2.0. Experts are starting to agree, that developing and improving upon existing strengths is a better use of time than trying to improve upon weaknesses. For another person’s take on strengths and weaknesses read the HBS article Stop Worrying about Your Weaknesses by Peter Bergman.
Life Life Love | Volume Seven
Hello Everyone,
This quarter has been an interesting one. My wife lost her job last month and my primary engagement is winding down and will conclude next month. We are comfortable enough to weather the storm so we feel quite fortunate, especially considering what many families are going through. It is times like these that allow you to get back to basics. In my spare time I have begun to work on an exciting project with my father, which has allowed us to connect in a way that we haven’t been able to do since my youth. I am also getting to watch my wife enjoy renewed passions, such as Spanish and yoga, which were somewhat unavailable to her before due to the rigors of her career. Even in turbulent times, there are always benefits if you pursue them. I am also using the free time to rip my long term goals back down to their foundation and reevaluate and architect a sounder and more optimized path to getting the things I would like to achieve accomplished… more to come on that next quarter.
In the meantime, I am using my fresh budding autonomy to complete some pretty exciting stuff. By the time I write the next newsletter I will have completed my fitness certification from UCLA, received my American College of Sports Medicine accreditation and attended the first IPPA World Congress on positive psychology in Philadelphia. It should be a fruitful next few months.
Regarding…
Entrepreneurship: To commemorate Web 2.0 becoming the official 1,000,000 word in the U.S. vocabulary I reached out to Web entrepreneur Todd Dipaola, the co-founder of Vantage Media, which in 2007 reached 31 in Inc Magazine’s annual 500 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America List. Todd is now the president of Pier Alliance, a company that he has founded with former executives from Yahoo and Google. The transcript of my discussion with Todd about Internet search can be found here.
Wellness: I was especially honored this quarter to get to sit down for half an hour with running legend Jeff Galloway. Jeff has helped over 250,000 non-elite runners achieve their goals through coaching and instruction and authored the best-selling running book in North America entitled Galloway’s Book on Running
Life Experience: I used one of my last remaining “hall passes” from Anna to go to the Wounded Warriors Project benefit at the Playboy Mansion. As many of you know I have kept a list since my youth of trying to hit every major party spot around the world. This was the last destination to check off the list.
Playboy Mansion | The Grotto
Contribution: Along with the contribution to the Wounded Warriors Project, I proudly contributed to the Steve Larsen fund. As you might recall last quarter I was able to interview Davis, CA legend Dave Scott. For those of you who don’t know Steve Larsen, Steve was another Davis legend that contributed tremendously to the world of cycling and tri-sport. Unfortunately, while training Steve’s heart failed and they were unable to revive him. If you are interested in contributing to help out the Larsen family you can do so here.
So it is back to the lab again. I am going to spend July finishing up some contract work and clearing out my surplus of reward points by doing a little traveling and then start job hunting in August.
Before I go I would like to give a plug to my friends over at ElliptiGO. They are a start-up that has created an outdoor elliptical product. It is an extremely innovative product. We were giving test rides at the San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon and people just loved it. If you have any interest, check out the ElliptiGO website.
If I do not see you before the next newsletter, please enjoy your summer! And as always, let me know if I can help you with your goals in any way.
Warm regards,
Mike
Life Life Love | Volume Five
Hello Everyone,
Happy Holidays! I have added some new names to my quarterly musings through my Facebook and LinkedIn contacts. At the end of 2007 when I started the Live, Life, Love endeavor I was filled with elation. Unfortunately, the end of 2008 has been quite tumultuous for me as I am sure it has been for many of you.
It is important in these times we keep our head up, surround ourselves with propitious people, and make sure we reciprocate in kind… but don’t take my word for it, check out this article from Science News.
I found myself in one of the corporate offices of Nike recently and I was taken back by a marketing slogan plastered across the entry wall: Training is the opposite of hoping. The message really resonated with me. As many of you know, I have been a staunch critic of people who interpret and/or peddle the Law of Attraction to mean that you can manifest anything in your life without action. This was further reinforced this quarter through my physiology studies at UCLA. I was surprised to learn that at the muscular level the notion of “muscle memory” is a complete fallacy. After three days of inactivity we begin to lose the positive effects of adaptation and there are limited accelerants to help regain what has been lost. This applies to both anaerobic and aerobic conditioning. In short, the feast and famine training approach I’ve adopted over the years has probably hindered any real progress towards achieving some of my overall fitness goals. I am going to implement a more well-rounded and continuous approach in 2009. I’ll let you know how the experiment goes.
And with that introspective let me introduce the fifth fitness leader to contribute to the Live, Life, Love knowledge database, Dave Scott. Dave is one of the “local boys done good” from my hometown of Davis, CA. He is a six-time Ironman World Champion athlete and the first inductee into the Ironman Hall of Fame. Dave continues to live up to his distinction as “The Man” through his various speaking engagements, sport clinics, and race sponsored activities. It was a true honor that he took the time to answer my five questions. The interview about fitness training can be found here.
The fifth business leader tapped in my quest for knowledge is Scott Bell. Scott spent the last ten years at one of the largest and most revered firms on Wall Street. For legal reasons the company shall remain unnamed but it shares a commonality with my favorite rum (a hint for the truly inquisitive). In 2008, Scott left this firm and started the company Gross Domestic Product. Within less than a year’s time he is already managing over $25 million in personal assets. I am equally honored that Scott took the time to be interviewed, given his profession and the understandable time constraints placed on him over the past couple months. My five questions with Scott about wealth management can be found here.
The life experience for this quarter was going to Oktoberfest in Germany. It was the first time I got to share one of these adventures with my brother and we had a great time — a beer drinker’s dream!
Oktoberfest | Munich, Germany
As for giving this quarter, I helped aid the efforts of few of you, like Melissa, Stephanie, and Mark but I think my favorite was sponsoring Todd’s mustache growing efforts… part of the proceeds Todd collected went to helping fight male depression so it was a truly worthy endeavor (click here to learn more about Movember). Anna and I also donated our old cell phones to the Cell Phones for Soldiers program.
Once again, thank you for being a part of my journey (and sharing in this fifth installment). Please continue to let me know if I can help you in anyway along your path. Wishing you nothing but the best in 2009!
Warm regards,
Michael
Live Life Love | Volume Two
Hello Everyone,
Can you believe it has already been three months? It is crazy how fast this year is going, already time to release the second volume of the Live Life Love newsletter.
I am very excited that I started this project. Thank you for all the positive feedback. It’s so awesome to interact with all of you and share information and experiences. From my best friend’s mom contemplating taking the risk of starting her own business, to my brother losing almost 100 pounds, it is a good feeling to know forward momentum is contagious and that already a few of you have espoused my vision.
This is especially important given that new research shows our level of happiness will most likely follow a “U” shaped curve, with our most unhappy years falling somewhere at middle-age. “One possibility may be that people realize they won’t achieve many of their aspirations at middle age,” the researchers of this study say. If we stay cognizant of what we want in life and develop a proclivity towards those goals, I feel that each of us can combat disappointment and pessimism and avoid this.
In the next three months my aspiration is to flesh out a Web portal to document the goals of this project (for those of you new to the newsletter the goals are: learning from 100 wellness leaders and 100 business leaders, experiencing life in 100 new and exciting ways and giving $65,000 and 2000 volunteer hours to charity). My hope is to create a system of capturing the elements of this project that provides value to other people.
This quarter I got the chance to catch up with two old friends, Luke Aguilar and Jamie Ramsden. They are the interviewees of this volume and after reading their pedigrees I think you will understand why I chose them.
Luke Aguilar is the second wellness leader lending his knowledge to this project. Luke is the All-South Texas Cross Country Coach of the Year for two years running. He has ten years of Track and Field experience spanning the high school and college level. He is a Level One Coach with USA Track and Field and has been a certified Personal Trainer with the American Council on Exercise since 1995. My five questions with Luke about running can be found here.
Jamie Ramsden was chosen by me to be this quarter’s business leader. Jamie is the CEO of Goodridge USA which is an automotive company that supplies high performance products to the automotive and racing industry. Jamie is a Certified Executive Leadership Coach and ad hoc faculty member at the Center of Creative Leadership. Jamie also manages his own consulting firm, Adastra Consulting, which specializes in the development of executive talent and leadership potential. My five questions with Jamie about leadership can be found here.
My exciting life experience to report for this volume is vacationing in Paris, France for New Year’s 2008. My wife and I got to spend the night with some Stanford MBA candidates at a private club near the Saint Germain district. It was a great night. We stepped outside the club just before midnight for the countdown and watched the Eiffel Tower light up to cheers from the crowd while drinking French wine and celebrating another year gone past (silly tourist picture below).
Eiffel Tower | Paris, France
As far as charity this quarter, I have donated twenty hours towards Project Lifesaver as the Lead of Corporate Sponsorship for this project. My team has raised close to $10,000 towards providing lifesaving tools to members of the Southern California, South Bay community. However, we still need more funding, so if you happen to think your company would be interested in some positive exposure and PR by donating money to a worthy cause please contact me.
Thanks for taking the time to listen to me once again. The Internet is such a great medium for staying in touch. Next quarter’s volume ought to be good. I have secured an interview with productivity expert David Allen (of Getting Things Done fame). It should be extremely interesting.
Warm regards,
Michael
Live Life Love | Volume One
Hello Everyone,
Happy Holidays! I hope 2007 has been as great a year for you as it has been for me and Anna. We bought our first home. I landed a great new job. Anna became director at her company. I finished the Burrito Project and put three more marathons under the belt.
When I last reached out to everyone regarding the end of my previous “Project” some of you took notice that I used a different email address other than my norm. The reveal is I have become a practitioner of Stephen Covey’s four dimensions of renewal (physical, mental, spiritual, and social/emotional) and have been looking for an efficacious way to progress in these four areas. Voilà! I created Live Life Love as a de facto lynchpin to address them all under an umbrella concept.
The short version is I am creating a 25 year plan. In that time I want to meet and learn from 100 wellness leaders and 100 business leaders. Experience life in 100 new and exciting ways and give $65,000, plus volunteer 2000 hours, to charity.
It has been proven the strongest commitments are public ones so the idea is to check in with you once a quarter for the next 25 years and let you know how it is going.
The first wellness leader is Dr. Michael Gervais. His forte is developing systems and strategies for improving performance for individuals and organizations. Dr. Gervais, as the CEO of Pinnacle Performance, Inc., is an authority on the psychology of performance excellence. Throughout the past ten years, Michael has consulted with numerous NHL, NBA, NFL, MLS, AVP, Mixed Martial Arts fighters, Olympic, collegiate, and high school athletes. He is an internationally recognized speaker on issues related to human performance. My five questions with Michael about Sport Psychology can be found here.
The first business leader is Stuart MacFarlane. Stu has been a good friend to Anna and I and was very patient as my first subject (so thanks Stu). I singled him out because of his recent work on a new development platform (Ruby on Rails), which I believe is going to do for back-end web technology what Flash did for front-end web technology. Stuart was the COO and founder of MXG Media, an executive at idealab!, and the CEO of Insider Pages (one of the first large scale Ruby on Rail commercial projects). He is now Managing Director at Momentum Venture Management where he aids early stage technology companies gain the necessary traction to turn their ideas into successful businesses. My five questions with Stuart about Venture Capital can be found here.
My first exciting life experience to report is going to La Tomatina in Spain. The festival was absolutely amazing and definitely a must for everyone’s “bucket list”.
La Tomatina | Buñol, Spain
As far as charity, I am not going to give myself credit for any of my volunteer work to date but I am going to count the recent monetary donations I gave Adrene, Pat, Roger, Karen, Tracey, Ashley and Mark for their athletic achievements. I know first hand that it is not easy to ask your friends for money. I don’t have much to give but if a few bucks gets my friends across the finish line then I have helped them knock out a few of Covey’s dimensions and helped myself too. What a bargain!
Thanks for listening to my ramblings. Being the extrovert that I am, reaching out to you is what keeps me going. If I can help you at all in your journey, please let me know. Keep your eyes out for Entrepreneurial Minded, Enhanced Kinetics, and One-4-All, they are coming!
Here is to a great ‘08!
Warm regards,
Michael
