Are you in the zone? You know..that place where you feel energized. Where you like going to work, where you feel a sense of fulfillment, satisfaction, and gratitude. If you’re not living there, how far away are you? Around the block? Next County? Neighboring planet? For managers, how would your employees answer?
When we ask program participants and clients about times when they felt in the zone, nearly all can name one. Barely anyone claims to there now. And survey research supports this observation. According to a Gallup poll, more than 70 percent of people are disengaged from their job.
There are several key ingredients to peak performance. Knowing them can make it easier to diagnose what’s missing.
Recipe at-a-Glance: One part S (Strengths) to four parts P (Passion, Purpose, Preferences, Progress).
One Part ‘S’
1. Strengths:
In every peak moment, you will find that you are doing what you do best. Strengths may be learned skills or innate abilities. Either way, they are things that you excel at. Sometimes it’s hard to notice your own strength because it comes easily to you. What comes easily to you – public speaking, playing music, interpersonal skills, listening, remembering and using data – is terrifyingly difficult for others. Where you exhibit grace, others stumble or exert more effort for the same or less outcomes.
Ways to determine strengths:
- Take an inventory assessment: Gallup’s StrengthsFinder or Highlands Ability Battery are good options
- Recall what tasks at work you do most effortlessly
Four Parts P
1. Passion:
Just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean you like doing it.
Ways to determine passion:
- What tasks do you rarely procrastinate?
- When you do procrastinate, what do you tend to work on instead?
- What projects, work, tasks, do you volunteer or readily take on?
- If you could go back to school now, what would you major in?
- If money were no concern, how would you fill your days?
2. Purpose:
Whether you’re making a difference within a home, a company, or more broadly in the world, you feel like your contribution matters.
Ways to get clear about your purpose:
- What would I do if money were no object?
- What am I here to do?
- How can I add value to others and the world at large?
- How would I like to be remembered?
- What are the three most important lessons I would like to pass on to my children?
3. Preferences:
If your work doesn’t fit your personal preferences, you won’t feel motivated.
Preferences may include working:
- Alone or on a team
- In an office or at home
- At a fast or slow pace
- With a flexible or predictable schedule
- In a quiet or sound-filled environment
Of all the ingredients, this is the one that most fluctuates over time. What matters one day may change the next. Perhaps you were fine with working 60 hours a week when you just graduated college. But not now. Or, maybe a consulting job with lots of travel worked well until you had a child. Now, not so much. Or maybe now that you’re a parent you’d like to travel more!
4. Progress
In August, 2011, Harvard’s Teresa Amabile and Psychologist Steven Kramer published their book The Progress Principle, where they share their findings from a data-rich study of over 200 people in 7 countries. Dan Pink, author of Drive, calls it the best business book he’s read in years. The authors amassed 12,000 days worth of data from study participants and reported fascinating conclusions about what really motivates people at work, and conversely, what chokes creativity and engagement. They found that what motivates people most is making progress on meaningful work. And sadly, they also found that these valued “small wins” are too rare. What can you do? Amabile suggests:
- “Religiously protect at least 20 minutes – and, ideally, much more – every day, to tackle something in the work that matters most to you. Hide in an empty conference room, if you have to, or sneak out in disguise to a nearby coffee shop.
- Make note of any progress you made (even if it was a small win), and decide where to pick up again the next day.”
We also suggest that you
- Allow yourself to really savor the accomplishment, by pausing and letting a sense of satisfaction penetrate you…before you jump back on the hamster wheel. (like savoring clicking the “Publish” button on a blog).
Managers!
- Ask your employees how easy it is to make progress on meaningful work (on a scale of 0-10)
- Ask what gets in the way
- Ask what ideas they have for removing obstacles
- Support them in removing obstacles and check back often to recalibrate
Living Brilliantly
When life feels a little bitter or salty, take a look at the recipe for brilliance. Compare it to your life. Figure out what’s missing and take steps to get it more in balance.
We don’t mean to oversimplify. Taking steps to add a dash of anything may take incredible efforts. This is where it may make sense to find a coaching partner to help you bring some brilliance back to your life. An effective coach knows that living brilliantly involves more than creating quality work. To really feel “in the zone” you need to build a strong foundation of support in all aspects of your life, for example, good health, quality rest, fulfilling relationships, and fun. Every individual has a unique recipe that leads to ultimate fulfillment.
Note, if life feels sweet, just relax and savor.
Managers: this is the key to career development coaching. Many of your staff could use help figuring out how to get in the zone. They may feel awkward admitting to you that their job situation isn’t optimal. You can help by actively helping people develop more of a balance in their recipe.
Recommended Reading
The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz (2004)
Don’t Waste Your Talent: The 8 Critical Steps To Discovering What You Do Best by Bob McDonald, Don E. Hutcheson, Lazar Emanuel, and Thomas N. Tavantzis (2005)
Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance by Marcus Buckingham (2007)
Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton (2001)
The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work by Amabile and Steven Kramer
Note: This is an updated version of the original, first published in our ebook, Conversations for Brilliance. This version was amended to include the very important fourth P, progress on meaningful work.
Conversations for Brilliance
