Time spent asking better questions is time invested in your performance.

In the past month I’ve said good-bye to three clients. No fuss, no cry. These things happen. Two of these relationships were at the end of a natural cycle together. And the other I decided wasn’t a great mutual fit any more.??

On the face of it this situation could be seen as being a real blow. To me, it's not good or bad. It just ‘is’ - it’s one of those months and I move onward. The timings could be better but such is life.

What it has done though is afforded me the opportunity to check in with my own performance levels to see if I’m still actually functioning & performing to the level I think and expect; and to the level that is expected of me.?

Questions

And that’s forced me to ask some good questions of myself.?

As an entrepreneur I don’t necessarily have floods of time available to sit, review and reflect.?

So it’s important to do this in a meaningful fashion. The key, I have found, is to formulate some insightful questions to gain long-term impact from some short-term reflection.

I don’t want a situation where I’m following the crowd; where good enough is good enough.

Nor do I want the cognitive overload that stems from drinking from a firehose, so to speak, when we take on way too much information at the expense of useful insights.?

In the last newsletter I spoke about your performance barometer and playing-off-a-10. So with that in mind I chose to invest in some internal abilities; developing edgy questions that act as a personal performance filter to allow us see where on the 1-10 scale we’re typically sitting.?

Questions that give you a new filter lens for your performance and alert you to opportunities for growth.

Questions that lead to answers that unveil whether your desired levels of excellence are ambition or aspiration.?

Questions that determine if the status quo is ‘ok’ and what to do about the future quo and cultivating the performance you want and need.

Questions leading to answers leading to enhanced responsibility, accountability and ownership [Btw. do consider reading “Extreme Ownership” by Jocko Willink. An important book.]

Analyse your own 'flight recorder'

Let me share a selection of these questions. They’re simply questions to mull over when you take time out to breathe - but not to gloss over or rush through. They’re not to underpin Darwinian winds of change or internal revolution. But they will provide an open loop to help you analyse your own ‘flight recorder’. In my experience this revision and reflection will help you uncover a few nuggets that will help you see the wood, the trees and the path between them toward improving your performance.?

• Are you questioning your assumptions? Are you driving yourself to find out where you are wrong, where you can rethink and evolve?
• Are you still doing and approaching things the same way you were last year or the year before?
• How are you on the basics of personal performance?
• Is your daily routine working for you? i.e., Are you as engaged and productive at 4pm as you are at 7.30am?
• Are your feedback loops working? Do you need to create new ones?
• Are you as action-oriented as you need to be? Are you creating goals or commitments?
• How’s your understanding of the personal energy that fuels performance? How do you generate it, manage it, invest it and restore it.?
• Who or what are your peripheral personal opponents? The ones that hide in the shadows but when they hit, they hit hard.
• What do you know about your performance leaks? How do you understand and dissect them?
• How effective are your mentors? Do you have a mentor(s)? You have to travel the performance path on your own but you don’t have to do it alone.?
• How much are you enjoying your work/profession? Is the challenge still floating your boat? A good place to look here might be your celebration of success - do you actually celebrate success or simply shrug your shoulders and move into the next job. Work becomes pretty soulless without some joy.?
• What’s your benchmark for good performance? Is it truly your benchmark or a comparison to others??
• Are you working with people who help bring the best from you?
• Status quo, by nature, erodes. Are you developing a better future quo?
• What’s your comfort zone? Are bathing in safety? Pushing the boundaries of your comfort? Or actively operating outside it by taking calculated risks??
• How many excuses have you made in the past few days or week?

A lot there. Can I suggest you pick one or two? Ones that feel right for you that you can really drill into.

Let me know if they were helpful and how you get on. Equally if you have other high-value questions then please share them. 80%+ of start-up founders, entrepreneurs and independent professionals hover in the 5-or-6-out-of-10 zone when they rate their daily performance levels for me.?

You’ll consistently only perform to the extent of your own self-mastery. So, let’s lean in and help lift everyone higher; having agency over personal performance offers compounding returns.?

About Paul

When it comes to achieving peak personal performance there are many aids, advisors and assistants to reach for. Paul brings a unique perspective to the conversation for start-ups and entrepreneurs; instead of focusing on capability and passion [vital elements of performance] Paul brings you insights into a largely ignored aspect; your perform-ability.?

By guiding and mentoring clients through trusted principles and processes Paul empowers you to understand and take control over the daily habits that will see you, and your business, break through to peak performance. You’ll feel the improvements and see them in your results.