I’ve been asking a lot of my Performance Coaching clients these two questions:
What makes you feel like you’re winning? What happens on your best days?
Once you identify these things, then you can reverse engineer the process to have more “best days.”
Sounds simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.
As for the research, what do you think most people say happens on their best days?
Exercise?
Gratitude?
Social connection?
Laughter?
Nope.
Progress.
As this HBR study says, taking small steps forward towards something happens on 76% of people’s best days. In their words:
If a person is motivated and happy at the end of the workday, it’s a good bet that he or she made some progress.
Now, progress only really matters if it’s in the pursuit of meaningful work, which you’re doing (see What Do You DO?).
But assuming you have this, feeling like you’re moving the ball down the field is key for motivation, mastery and loving what you do.
So, what makes you feel like you’re winning? Or if you don’t like sports talk…
What makes you feel like you’re making progress?
Emphasize this progress for you, your kids, your direct reports and your pets. You’ll have more best days.
Keep Outperforming,
