Performance Is Easy As P = p – i

In the book The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance by W. Timothy Gallwey, I found that I didn’t need to play, or even like the game of tennis for that matter, to appreciate good performance enhancing writing.

Within the first few pages it was clearly obvious that this wasn’t just about tennis; it was a book about the internal struggles we face that affect individual performance.

Legendary coach, Pete Caroll, wrote in the foreword:

“Introduced to The Inner Game of Tennis as a graduate student years ago, I recognized the obvious benefits of Gallwey’s teachings in regard to performance in individual sports. As I grew more familiar with the benefits of performing with a quieted mind.

Once you understand the principles of the Inner Game, you will be able to quiet your mind, focus clearly, and truly play the game”

We’ve all heard the saying, “You are your own worst enemy.”

This implies that whatever is causing us great emotional stress is not outside us but actually within us. It’s no secret that here at XFL, we are just mad about Emotional Intelligence and the truly remarkable effects it has on individual, team, and organizational performance - so it should be no surprise that we want you to experience the life and career altering results when its dynamics are unleashed.

There has been enormous growth in the popularity of Emotional Intelligence since Daniel Goleman’s publication, Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ (1996), and for good reason – the recognition of the important role emotions play in our daily actions was truly emphasized in a way in which modern psychology had been incapable of for decades .

For our purposes here, we will replace the word ‘action’ with ‘performance’, so you can start to understand the impact EI can have on individual performance and a company’s bottom line.

In his series of ‘Inner Game’ books, Gallwey explains performance in a very simplistic, yet profound equation:

P = p – i

(Performance = potential - interferences)

What Gallwey is presenting is that each of us has the potential to improve our performance, but what stops us are individual interferences. In EI terms, the interferences we all hold are essentially negative attitudes, beliefs, emotional responses, and habits that prevent us from performing as well as we could.

Activity: Your interferences

Take a moment to think about and make a list of your negative attitudes (interferences) in relation to various work tasks. For example, do you have any negative attitudes connected to the following?

• Your boss.

• Your annual performance review.

• Giving a presentation.

•  The ‘difficult’ colleague you have to work with.

• Attending a team meeting.

• Writing a report.

•  The new software system your company has introduced.

How could any one of these attitudes be impacting your behavior…and your overall performance? How would your performance improve if you had the exact opposite, or positive mental attitude? (For example, ‘My colleague is not as familiar with this type of project as I am’ could become, ‘I should mentor my new colleague so the whole team benefits from her growth in this area’).

Since emotions are involved in everything we do: every action, decision and judgement, our goal should be to become a master of them -- using our thinking to manage our emotions rather than being managed by them.

For more information on an upcoming XFL Emotional Intelligence Masterclass in your area, click here.