This quarter, I offer you a page from the playbook of the US women’s national soccer team. As I watched their final match to earn the World Cup championship (again!), I was in awe of how they are continually fueled by their desire to win, with their focus or energy never waning.
Similarly, our work sometimes feels so much less effortful than other times. Some challenges actually increase our precious energy rather than consume it. We all want more of that!
I recently helped an accomplished executive recover the exhilarating joy her work gave her and shed the excess toll that the work relationships were taking on her. For Julie, an in-house attorney, the powerful shift involved doubling down with more focus on the business goals she shared with her internal clients and less on self-protection. She started paying less attention to how much professional respect her clients’ actions conveyed and when they might disregard her advice. Previously, she had been channeling energy into monitoring and reacting to every client move with a cautious and critical eye, making her mood like a volatile thermometer. Predictably, the needed collaboration was rare and exhausting.
Generalizing from Julie’s success and Team USA, when our main mental focus is on the desired outcome and not on what could go wrong, we can stay more energized regardless of obstacles. When we play to win or achieve, we bring our best creativity to a challenge. In contrast, when we play not to lose, with a mindset based in caution, our work feels all uphill. Energy is depleted and we are less resourceful.
Every professional challenge we confront involves a current state, a desired future state and numerous undesirable future states. Without being naively blind to the risks, how can you strengthen your (and your team’s) focus on your desired outcome and reduce your thinking and effort around avoiding undesired results? Can you recall a time when such a creative versus reactive/protective mindset amplified what was possible and cleared a path for your team to overcome challenge with less effort?
