The Performance Trap

Andy Core of Core Wellness

You want to perform at a higher level? Be more productive? Log better results?

Okay, how are you going to do that?  Work harder? Work more?

Common answers, but you've just fallen into the performance trap.

What's the performance trap? It's when you say "If I only had more ________, I'd be able to accomplish more."

I asked three different sales teams at three different Fortune 500 companies to fill in the blank. Ninety percent said "time." Not surprising given that spending more time at work has been the trend for fifty years.

The average work week has risen from 38.5 hours in 1950 to almost 50 hours today. Has performance increased? You bet. The problem is that our health has suffered.

Olympic athletes constantly search for higher performance. They've learned, however that the answer is not just to work longer and harder. That's the recipe for injury and burn out. So they looked elsewhere and discovered two areas that offer significant opportunity for increased performance:

1. State of physical health (heart rate, blood pressure, stress hormone level, etc.)

2. Daily Lifestyle (daily sleeping and eating patterns, leisure time, etc.)

Focusing on healthier lifestyle choices is the answer. It delivers substantial performance gains.

NASA studied and compared the performance of individuals that participated in a fitness program and persons who did not. Those that participated were 12.5% more productive at their jobs and exhibited higher levels of concentration and better decision making.

Businesses today will spend a fortune to boost productivity just one percent. Fathom twelve percent!

So instead of working harder, work smarter. Take care of yourself and your body will take care of you. To start, adopt two new habits.

Drink Water

Research shows that if you are 1% dehydrated you lose 10% of your mental and physical capacity. At 2% dehydrated you lose 25% production potential. Many people, probably you, regularly let themselves become dehydrated. This offers a significant opportunity for enhance performance. By simply drinking water (which is free) instead of coffee or soda, you potentially could experience a 25% boost in mental and physical energy.

Get on Your Feet

By adding as little as fifteen minutes a day of additional physical activity you can decrease stress hormone production, increase the "feel good" brain chemicals, increase body temperature which promotes the same relaxed feeling you get from sitting in a hot tub, and increases alpha brain waves. If you have seen Yoga masters painlessly walk barefooted across red hot coals you have seen the power of alpha brain waves.

The fastest and most productive way to increase at-work activity is by MBWA - Management By Walking Around. Consider holding "walking meetings" versus "sit downs." This is as simple as saying "Bob, have a minute for a little MBWA?"  With MBWA you can easily accumulate an additional 15 minutes of physical activity each day.

In conclusion, start today taking better care of yourself. Find meaningful performance gains by simply adopting some healthy habits. Drink more water and take more walks during the work day. It's free and will make you happier, more successful, and you'll live longer. Not a bad ROI.  p

Andy Core of Core Wellness contributed his expertise to this article.  He can be reached at Andy@AndyCore.com.