Impeccable Attention

Hi there ????. Ready to lead? "Acts of Leadership" helps people, (irrespective of title or tenure), expand their leadership range one experiment at a time. Each issue shares a [pro/e]vocative definition of leadership, an idea and an experiment.

Becoming the master of your thoughts

You have approximately 60,000 thoughts a day. Of those the vast majority (90%) are the same as the ones the day before.

That's a lot of pattern repeats and habitual thinking!

What we think, our inner dialogue, informs how we show up and how we create impact. The quality of our thoughts has a major impact on performance.

It's true in rock climbing and it's true in leadership. I've collected 30 years of experience in both.

Presuming adequate training and doing the work, it turns out that performance is mostly improved not by adding things, but by removing obstacles.

Our thoughts often create the biggest obstacles to our success.

Gaining mastery of our internal mental environments is key to success in all endeavours. This is especially true when danger or fear is present.

A Definition…

"Leadership is... cultivating personal power and impeccable attention."

An Idea…

Power Leaks + Personal Power

Mastery of any martial art is largely concerned with cultivating personal power and the effective use of attention. It's about developing mastery of your thoughts and reactions.

Personal power in this context is about how effectively we pay attention, especially during times of focused activity. It's not about physical strength to overcome opponents, but rather our ability to master our own selves.

Scarcity vs Abundance

In rock climbing, when I run out of strength, it's usually because of the strength I've wasted by climbing inefficiently, rather than a fundamental lack of it.

Inefficient climbing happens in the doing (moving inefficiently), the thinking (thinking ineffectively) and the being (self-image, self-worth, commitment).

So wasting power by climbing inefficiently happens largely in our heads.

Interference

Tim Gallwey writes about the same thing in "The Inner Game of Tennis", going so far as to give a formula for performance.

Performance = Potential - Interference

You can think of Gallwey's "Interference" as the squandering of attention and personal power.

Becoming Aware

The path to mastery begins with raising awareness of how we squander our attention and personal power. One way we squander it is through power leaks, which fritter away attention and energy through negative self-talk

Power Leaks

Arno Ilgner describes 4 ways we leak power (see "The Rock Warrior's Way" below)

?? Ineffective mental habits

?? Limiting self-talk

?? Reactionary behaviour

?? Hoping or wishing behaviour

1. Ineffective Mental Habits

In climbing this would be me dipping into my chalk-bag too much, even when my hands aren't sweating. It's placing additional unnecessary protection because it makes it easier to believe the next move isn't so hard. It's staying too long at a rest position when you're no longer gaining recovery from it.

In leadership, it might be procrastinating on a decision because you have incomplete information. It might be seeking approval unnecessarily, or delaying starting a task believing it takes less time than it really does.

2. Limiting Self-Talk

This shows up in many ways in the conversations that play out in our heads. It can be in terms of self-image, either in terms of what you're not (rather what you are), or by clinging to self-image based on past performance, (creating from the past, rather than possibility) and in so doing sabotage this performance.

It could be fear at the vastness at what lays ahead, triggering fear, rather than focusing on what is needed next.

The key discipline to practice here is firstly in noticing all the forms of limiting self-talk, and then intentionally changing the script.

3. Reactionary Behaviour

Getting angry or frustrated after falling on a climbing route is a leak of power. It's only a failure when you don't pay attention to the lesson.

Blaming everything else but not yourself, invokes a drama triangle with you in the role of victim. It cheats you of agency.

In leadership, reactionary behaviour creates unintended impact - analogous to the inefficient movement of a climber.

4. Hoping & Wishing Behaviour

Often this is fantasising. "I wish this hold was bigger", "I hope I can get some protection in". This is denial and avoidance. It contributes nothing to action or critical thinking.

In leadership, this could be hoping that a low performer magically turns it around so you don't have to have that conversation.

Hoping and wishing is a denial of what's real. It projects you into an alternate future, taking you out of the moment. You can't be curious or use critical thinking when you're not present.

Find and stop the leaks

The year-end is a natural pause for reflection. This year reflect on where and how you might be squandering your energy and impact by becoming aware of where you leak your power.

An Experiment…

?? - Becoming aware: Reflect and journal in the coming days where you leak power in the 4 areas of…

• ineffective mental habits
• limiting self-talk
• reactionary behaviour
• hoping or wishing behaviour

?? - Think about your best performances. It's likely that the essential difference between them and the average performances was ease. Something in your mind- a feeling of confidence or belief deep in your bones. Your outstanding performance was probably in some way just simpler. You had less clutter in your mind, better focus, fewer cares.

Make some notes on this reflection.

An invitation to explore…

?? Book: The Inner Game of Tennis : Tim Gallwey

?? Book: The Rock Warriors Way : Arno Ilgner

Leadership needn't be lonely!

Lead when ready!

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