Be at your best, more of the time

How much of the time would you say you’re functioning at your best when it comes to your personal life and your professional performance? If you did each as a percentage what would you say? 100%, 90%, 80%/, 70%, 60%, 50%, 40%, 30%?

I’ve never met anyone who said 100%. Anything we can do that helps us to raise this score helps us live more of our potential. However, it’s one thing to wax lyrical about being the best you can be, it’s quite another to know how to raise your game in a practical way. Imagine if you knew how to help people raise their game so that they could deliver more of what they’re really capable of. Well, if you ever want to do this you will have to start with yourself because they need to see a behavioural demonstration of what’s possible. You can be that when you know how to play to your strengths.

You cannot not influence people

If you look at how this plays out in a professional context it’s very quickly apparent that how you are shapes how others will be around you. This has nothing to do with your level of seniority and everything to do with how you influence other people for good or ill. The fact of the matter is you cannot not influence people. If you’ve ever been in a team that has changed over time, you’ll know what I’m talking about because culture is ultimately in people’s behaviour and that includes yours and mine. So if you’re in any leadership role – including being a parent! – two really important questions are:

• What kind of values and what kind of purpose do you embody in the way you behave?
• How does that help or hinder you and others to maximise their potential?

Satisfaction & Fulfillment

Of course, it’s only worth raising your game  if there’s a worthwhile pay off. Pay offs come in many forms. Would you like to feel more alive and more satisfied? That definitely counts as a payoff in my book. And that means it’s not just about salary and promotion. So is there a sufficient payoff for you to make it worth bothering to be what you could be? If the answer is “Yes” and you want to enjoy more satisfaction and a greater sense of fulfilment, then it’s going to be so much easier if you have the how-to’s.

My satisfaction and fulfilment comes from being able to give people those how to’s. These are the tools which enable you to create your own kind of life. And that’s why once a year only I commit to doing two public programmes where we open the doors to anyone who really wants to be the best they can be.

If it matters to you, we’ve got the tools; if you’ve got the will, we’ve got the way.

Ian McDermott, ITS Founder

If it matters to you and you’ve got the will, you can get the tools and the way by joining our NLP Practitioner Programme with Neuroscience starting 22nd September, and our Mastering the Coach Approach programme starting 29th September. Both are ICF & CPD accredited. Both run just once a year. Both begin this month.