Accomplishment As Artwork

As a performance psychology consultant, I’ve learned a great deal from my clients over the years, but perhaps the strongest lesson is this: development of great thinking severely lags behind the development of great technical skills. At every level, too much emphasis is placed on grades, spreadsheets, standardized test scores, and production statistics - the visible, easily measurable aspects of performance. But people who consistently end up on top have more than that. They develop the “intangibles” of success: confidence, concentration, healthy commitment, and a host of other talents that are on the inside.

Fascinatingly, research is beginning to show that the traditional psychological “therapies” addressing these inner measure of performance - such as relaxation and goal setting - lose their effectives once people reach middle class. To go beyond mediocre, to go beyond average, chances are you’re going to need to start un-thinking what you already know.

Here are a few of tips from my book “OVERACHIEVEMENT” to help get you started.

Hard Work is Overrated

Overachievers know when to stop working and start playing. Too much organization and preparation can turn them into an “over-motivated underachiever,” a classic grinder who chokes when the outcome really counts.

Many middle managers were over-motivated underachievers themselves, who climbed the ladder by logging in more hours than anyone else, working hard at their modest talents but falling short of greatness. They tend to be keen on volume of effort and overlook efficiency. They tend to encourage meetings, paperwork; they tend to reward long work days.

But ask yourself: what is the real meat of your job? What tasks and projects are the keys to your success? Then enjoy those things - perform at them most of the time rather than consuming yourself with preparing and organizing.

Setting Goals is For Couch Potatoes

The long-standing practice of goal-setting can actually be a major obstacle to sustained, vigorous motivation - and being great.

Goal setting focuses you on the outcome: rewards, promotions, bonuses, awards - even cars, houses, and vacations. But those things are ultimately out of your control. Trying to manipulate the future like a marionette will increase instances of frustration, impatience, and discouragement. It will distract you from the important tasks at hand, especially the task of enjoying your work.

Yes, it’s important to have a compass. High achievers, however, set their compass and then essentially put it away. They stay focused on the present. They are passionate about what an excellent day feels like and they chase that feeling - day in and day out - not the outcome of the feeling.

Using Your Head is Stupid

In a high-stakes performance, the real genius is someone like Yogi Berra. On his way to 10 World Series rings and a place in the Hall of Fame, Yogi was thinking about nothing.

Neither should you. Whether you are giving a presentation to the board, making a sales pitch, negotiating a merger, or just interacting with a customer, you are “on stage.” In those moments, brain science reveals that humans perform better when they rely on their training, experience, and instincts, not their head.

In other words, stop evaluating your performance and making it a conscious mental exercise. Think less; act more. That’s how Robert Redford got so good - even when he was still perfecting his craft, learning to be better, he put his thinking and evaluation aside when he went on stage. You should too.

There’s No Such Thing as Overconfidence

The best in every business are likely to strike most people as irrationally confident, but that’s how they got to the top.

Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Michael Dell - they first believed in themselves, utterly, and let their belief be their guide. Sure they experienced numerous obstacles and setbacks and failures. Confidence allowed them to keep getting up and looking for ways to move forward.

Most importantly, leaders like Branson and Gates, prioritized believing in the people around them. Confidence is also not arrogance, and unless your employees think that they’re better human beings in general than everyone else, let them believe that they’re good enough to do exceptional things.

Legends Never Say They’re Sorry

Having a long or frequent memory for mistakes and a short or infrequent memory for successes is a guaranteed way to develop fear of failure. High achievers dwell on what they do well - and spend very little time evaluating themselves and their performances.

Learn from your mistakes? Of course. The road to success is full of adversity from which we can gain significant insight. The key, however, is to set aside specific, deliberate times for evaluation. Process setbacks, errors, and your performance in general only at times when you have planned to.

The alternative is to get caught up in second guessing, doubt, and worry whenever things look a bit gray. You excel during the tough moments by having a positive blueprint to look at - and to have a positive blueprint you have to spend a lot of time looking at the image of success.

The Best Need Stress

Classic breathing and relaxation tend to undermine performances, eliminating the possibility of setting records. Think of stress as the high-level performer’s PowerBar. By relaxing you slow down the heart and keep much-needed blood, oxygen, neurotransmitters, and adrenaline from stimulating your senses and cerebral cortex.

The so-called detriment of stress is the psychological interpretation you place on critical situations, not the stress itself. If you want to perform at your best, change the lens through which you view stress, don’t reduce it - in fact, increase the stress more often.

Put All Your Eggs in One Basket

Unlikely accomplishments are born out of single-minded purposefulness. Future superstars don’t get there by keeping part of their heart in reserve.

I often tell executives to stop multitasking. Multitasking is merely doing a bunch of things half-heartedly all at once. Isn’t the idea to perform at your utmost? If you truly want to find out what your potential is, you’ve got to pour everything you’ve got into one thing at a time. If you hold back, you’ll never know.

And if you put all your eggs in one basket and drop the basket? Guess what: they’ll make more eggs, and there are plenty of baskets to choose from.

Put the “I” in “Team”

A team is made up of individuals, and as the manager of a great team you should encourage individualism - by definition, striving to be exceptional, to make a uniquely beneficial contribution to the whole, to think outside the box, to finding new solutions to tough problems.

Besides, if you encourage a group to all fall lock step in line with one another, you’ll have a pretty boring atmosphere at the office. And you’ll miss the creativity that is necessary for innovation - the life blood of progress.

What Limits???

There is no ideal; there is no perfect. Striving for either is a sure fire way to tie yourself up in knots.

I tell performers all the time: Perfectionism is simply putting a limit on your future. When you have an idea of perfect in your mind, you open the door to constantly comparing what you have now with what you want, how you are performing now with how you want to perform. That type of self criticism is significantly deterring.

In addition, the idea of perfect closes your mind to new standards - just ask Roger Bannister about breaking the 4 minute mile. When you drive hard toward one ideal, you miss opportunities and paths, not to mention hurting your confidence.

Believe in your potential and then go out and explore it; don’t limit it.

Only Wimps Weigh the Risks

For exceptional people, risk equals reward. The challenge of uncertainty is the fun of doing the job in the first place - and where overachievement lies.

A high achiever does not look for the safest, most comfortable or sure solution. That would not push them or their companies to grow. Growth is the key - something stockholders certainly understand. But growing requires going to new places, and thinking new things - not succeeding at the new, but learning from the process regardless of outcome.

Michael Jordan, perhaps the most legendary basketball player of all time, based his entire performance philosophy on the notion: “I am a success because I have failed more times than anyone in history.”

Perhaps you can find some of Michael in you!?

JOHN F. ELIOT, PH.D., is an award winning professor of management, psychology, and human performance. He holds faculty appointments at Rice University and the SMU Cox School of Business Leadership Center. He is a co-founder of the Milestone Group, a consulting firm providing training to business executives, professional athletes, physicians, and corporations. Dr. Eliot’s clients have included: SAP, XEROX, Disney, Adidas, the United States Olympic Committee, the National Champion Rice Owl’s baseball team, and the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Eliot’s cutting edge work has been featured on ABC, MSNBC, CBS, ESPN, Fox Sports, NPR, and highlighted in the Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, New York Daily News, Entrepreneur, LA Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, and the New York Times. Dr. Eliot serves on numerous advisory boards including the National Center for Human Performance and the Center for Performing Arts Medicine. His latest book is Overachievement: The New Model for Exceptional Performance. For more information, visit Dr. Eliot’s site at http://www.overachievement.com

Some people have asked me how can they show support our troops. There are a number of ways to show your support. The bottom line is that we must stand up against our enemies and show support for our military. There are many groups in this country that want to destroy the efforts of our troops and our great country. These groups must be stopped.
The following is a list of how you can support our military personnel:

1) Write to Congress/Senate - If you want to support our military, you should write to Congress or the Senate. Write to all the senators and congressman. Tell them to support our troops in Iraq and other military actions around the world. Tell them that they must finish the job in Iraq. Bringing home the military now will send a terrible message to our enemies and will bring down the morale of our troops.

2) Write to our troops or send care packages - Write letters of support to our military. Tell them that you are proud of their duty to our country and that they our doing a great job.
I’ve talked to military families and they have told me that the decreasing support for our military is sending the wrong message to our enemies.

You can also send care packages to our troops. There are a number of ways to send packages to our military. The following link is one resource that you can use: http://mach1collectibles.com/carepackage.htm/.

Our troops will appreciate anything that you will do. Our troops need our support more then ever. Lets send a message that we care about them.

3) Tell the Liberal media to back off and start showing support for America - I believe that the CNN’s, CBS’s ABC’s and Minneapolis Star Tribune’s of our media are not telling the American public the truth about Iraq. In my conversations with family members of marines fighting in Iraq, they have told me that our military is easily winning the war in Iraq. They have told me that the liberal media is trying scare the American public and are misrepresenting the truth about the war in Iraq.
These families also told me that the biggest obstacle that our brave soldiers are facing is the media and its campaign against our military.

Many people that I have talked to also told me that they are dumb founded that liberals in America don’t seem to care about the bodies that have been found in mass graves in Iraq. The numbers total in the thousands and are growing daily. They can’t seem to understand the liberal media in this country and their love affair with our enemies.

It seems as if the media is protecting the people who carried out those atrocities. Doesn’t this undermine liberal values (if they have any). Don’t liberals support victims and minority rights? Aren’t liberals supposed to care that women and children were raped, beaten and murdered at the hands of Saddam Hussein’s death squads (prior to our invasion and the liberation of Iraq)?

I guess the liberal media only cares about destroying American values and they don’t care about the people of Iraq. I don’t really care about the reason why we went to Iraq. I feel it was the right decision. A brutal dictator was forced out of power and a country was given its freedom. Now we have learned about the mass murders that took place in Iraq. If we would have listened to the media and liberals in America, tens of thousands more people would have been raped and murdered.

I guess the liberal media would have had blood on their hands. It’s time that America sends these anti-American organizations a message. Turn to Fox news to get your news. CNN will soon get the message and then try to whore themselves to the American public. They will change their tune when the public gets their news elsewhere.

It’s time that we support our troops. I’m sick and tired of not seeing support our troops magnets on cars driven by liberals. Liberals say that they support our troops but they don’t show their support. Supporting our troops is the right thing for every American to do. We are in a fight for our existence and our troops are the ones sacrificing their lives for our existence. The very least we can do is show our support for their actions and bravery.

Anthony B. is the founder and owner of http://www.itstherightway.com/ a news, political and sports commentary website.

Anthony has over 7 years of experience as a business professional

Online Sportsbook scams are a multimillion-dollar business.
Over the last 5 years we’ve seen players lose millions of
dollars, not because their bets lost, but because they sent
money to scam sportsbooks.

Don’t be the next victim. Be aware of these common scam tactics
to protect your money.

1. New Sportsbook with Large Bonuses (25%, 40% or more) - this
is a very common tactic of new operations that don’t know what
they are doing. They open a new sportsbook (especially around
football season) and offer large bonuses to getp players to
sign-up. Their business model is flawed from the beginning and
will eventually lead to financial troubles, slow/no-pay disputes
and eventual shutdown.

Beware of offers that combine High Bonuses with Reduced Juice.
Also, be wary of Lines that are out of wack. Obscure or soft
lines can only mean one of two things: a lack of volume or that
the book itself is gambling on events.

Remember: If a promotion looks too good to be true, it probably
is.

2. Telemarketing or Cold-Calling - is a sign of desperation that
the book may be getting ready to run for the hills. Scam
telemarketers will use a variety of tactics to get their hands
on your money. Some try to bully you, while others will charm
you. In many cases it is a single high-pressure call or other
pressure tactics requiring immediate decisions (usually to make
a deposit). Watch out for anything that sounds fishy.

Remember: If a promotion over the phone does interest you,
insist written information be sent to you before agreeing to
make the deposit.

3. Outright SCAM Sportsbooks - usually open up right around
football season. This type of scam operation is know as the
deposit-only sportsbook because they do whatever it takes to get
you to deposit your money with no intention of ever making
pay-outs.

The easiest way to spot a fake is to look for an address or
phone number. If the site lists a phone number, call it and ask
for their address. If they do not readily give you a valid
address, consider them suspect and do further research before
making a deposit. These rogue operations often use large
bonuses, spam email and other shady tactics to lure players.

Remember: In this completely unregulated industry, you have to
do extra research because there are no safety nets and you are
the only one responsible for your funds.

Are you a diva or would you like to be? Learn the secrets that
keep men begging for more.

Why do some women always have men pursuing them, no matter what
their age? I have a friend who is 74 who continually has
interesting successful men asking her out. When I grow up, I
want to be like her. She has sparkle. She has charm. She is a
man magnet.

Recently, I asked a popular man magnet what some of her
strategies were for attracting men, and research substantiates
many of her points. Here are five secret tips to help you
attract the man you want:

Stand in the middle of the room.

Whenever you go to a party, try standing in the center of the
room. (Don’t hunch your shoulders, slouch, or wear a pair of
shoes that hurt your feet so much you can’t stand to stand.)
Move around a little, talk with people near you, but if you want
to be in a position to choose who you want to meet, never sit
down. Stand smack dab in the middle of the crowd. When you see
someone interesting, move near them–gracefully– and start a
conversation.

Stand at the corners of the bar.

If you are at a bar, pub, or nightclub, staying at the corners
of the bar is a good position. It’s easier to meet people there.
Bartenders tend to talk to the people at the corners also. The
worst place to be seen is hanging out near the wall or sitting
at a table or booth with other people. You are more difficult to
approach if you are in a huddle with others. Go places with
friends, but break away from them periodically and talk to
people on your own.

Look your best.

This may sound too obvious, but you never know where or when you
are going to meet someone. Never go out of the house without
looking your best. Even if you are headed to the gym or a run
around the block, put on some lipstick and comb your hair. Know
what colors you look good in, and wear attractive clothes in
your best shades. Men are attracted to pink-peach. That color is
flattering to most skin tones. People are also attracted to you
when you are wearing the color(s) of your eyes. (You have
multiple colors in your eyes–choose clothes that include one of
those colors.)

Be aware of your body language.

Body language is everything. Smile a lot, look people in the
eyes, and when you see someone you are interested in, tilt your
head, drop your eyes, and then look back at him. This may sound
contrived, but it helps to know what subliminal messages are
being sent by your actions. Apparently, giving your hair a
slight flip is also an attraction signal, as well as stroking
the inside of your arm or your neck. If a man is standing across
the room, this is one way to let him know that you would be
interested in talking to him.

What not to do.

Attractive women know not to: talk about themselves non-stop,
fold their arms, chew gum, pick at their nails, jiggle their
foot, or crunch ice. All of this behavior suggests anxiety,
frustration, or poor manners. Also, don’t talk about your Ex.
That is a major turn off.

When you go out and see attractive single men you want to meet,
practice the above five secrets. Being a man magnet simply means
that you are in control of the outcome of your evening, your
week, and your life. Enjoy the adventure!

I can see the cops coming! They’re a good thousand feet away. I can clearly make out their uniforms and swinging nightsticks. How can I be seeing this?

I didn’t dare mention it to my fellow underage drinking mates lounging with me on the grassy knoll in the park. Am I making this up? Projecting it somehow into my vision? Forcefully, I shook my head back and forth in an effort to free my mind of its strange perception.

But the view of the two police officers remained in my sight, as they sauntered closer and closer to our drinking den. In fact, to my further astonishment, I saw a much wider perspective as I swiveled my gaze within the picture before me. I can see myself!

Frantically blinking my eyes open and shut trying to erase this impossibility, I still found myself staring at my own physical body on the ground next to my beer buddies. The place from which I was viewing was about forty feet in the air! As I shifted my attention to look at the looker, I saw an airborne body in the form of a luminous shimmer, much like a ghost is portrayed in a movie. Then, with the ease of a mere thought, I discovered I could shift my point of view from my physical body on the ground back to my ethereal light body in the air. Using my eyes in my subtle body, I surveyed the scene again from my perch in the air.

Am I making all this up? Do I want to impress my pals so much, I’m concocting an extrasensory perception to allow me to warn them of an oncoming bust? My frenetic self-questioning came to an abrupt halt as I heard one of the officers whisper to his colleague, “Do you hear that noise? There are some kids in the park.”

Whether I was conjuring my supernormal sight and hearing to court favor with my friends or not, I needed to act-and quickly. “Hey, guys, don’t ask me how I know, but there are some cops right up the street and they’re on to us. Let’s split.” My three inebriated friends and I quietly sneaked down the hill and out of the park under the helpful cloak of darkness. By a nanosecond, we successfully evaded detection as we heard the policemen slashing at the bushes with their billyclubs right behind us A close call!

“Hey, how’d ya know the fuzz was there?” my buddy pressed me as we arrived safely back at our car.

“Uh, I just knew somehow. A guess, I guess,” I muttered, covering for myself as best I could under the circumstances.

“Well, a pretty good one, man. We’d be up the creek if they caught us. Thanks. You’re all right. We should have you around every time we go drinking.”

Ah, music to my ears. And so my young career as a drinking guard began!

My friends, at sixteen, were older than I but still under the legal drinking age of eighteen in New York State. I was fifteen and considered myself really lucky to be included in this older gang at a time of life when acceptance and belonging was paramount. And to have access to liquor through their connections was heaven for me.

I would do almost anything to please these guys and stay tight with them. I mused to myself, My newfound super-vision is coming in real handy. If we got busted for underage drinking, we’d all get grounded by our parents, not to mention getting in trouble with the law. I’ve got to keep this good thing going!

On that fateful night, my need for approval prompted me to keep expanding this burgeoning, new skill that I stumbled across in the line of necessity and opportunity.

As I played with my prowess as a night watchman for the gang, I realized I was doing more than clairvoyance, “clear seeing.” Each time I playfully sent myself out to scan the scene for police, I was having a bona fide out-of-body experience. I didn’t have a name for it then, but I sure knew I was doing it! I was right on the mark every time I called a cop alert. My skill was valued by the friends I valued. Literally, I was flying high!

Since my teenage discovery, I’ve continued to explore out-of-body adventures. And I always laugh in admiration when I look back on how God tricked me into developing my first natural spiritual ability.

(c) 2004, Keith Varnum. All rights in all media reserved.

About The Author

Drawing from the wisdom of native and ancient spiritual traditions, Keith Varnum shares his 30 years of practical success as an author, personal coach, acupuncturist, filmmaker, radio host, restaurateur, vision quest guide and international seminar leader with “The Dream Workshops.” Keith helps people get the love, money and health they want with his free Prosperity Ezine, free Empowerment Tape and free Coaching at www.TheDream.com.

Keith@TheDream.com