Learned Resilience

Study after study has shown that people who function well under stress share several core beliefs:

  • see times of change and uncertainty not as dangerous but as exciting opportunities;
  • focus on what they can do to improve a stressful situation, rather than growing helpless; and
  • maintain a sense of commitment to the world around them, instead of withdrawing.

Studies of everyone from classical musicians to competitive swimmers have found no difference at all between elites and novices in the intensity of their pre-performance anxiety; the poised, top-flight performers, however, were far more likely to describe their fear as an aid to success than the non-elites. No matter what skill we’re trying to improve under pressure—working on deadline, public speaking, staying cool on a first date—learning to work with fear instead of against it is a transformative shift.

Tiger Blood:
What it takes to keep cool under pressure.
Taylor Clark in Slate Magazine
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001 A conversation with executive coaching client Ron Dimon. Part 1 • PODCAST

 


 

Click here for Tony Mayo's podcastThis latest podcast is part one of a funny and useful conversation between top executive coach Tony Mayo and his longtime client Ron Dimon. Ron is an expert on the use of information by executives of large organizations. Listen as two experienced business people play with many ideas in this episode including;

  • how to find and rewrite the script of your life,
  • the value of seeing your career as a way to grow your relationships with people,
  • why business people need not read business books,
  • the brain food available from chess, contract bridge, Excel, and programming;
  • the power of flat management hierarchy at Pixar and other Silicon Valley companies;
  • the danger of “leaving your ego at the door” in a business meeting.

Just click here to listen now or subscribe on your device using Apple’s TunesAndroid, and other podcatchers to have this and all new episodes placed on your device as they become available.


 

Now on iTunes: Top Executive Coaching, the Podcast!

Now on iTunes: Top Executive Coaching, the Podcast!

 


 

Click here for Tony Mayo's podcastI am very pleased to announce that my podcast has been accepted by iTunes. Thanks to this amazing, free service from the design geniuses at Apple you can easily receive automatic downloads of my talks and interviews to your iPod, iPad, iPhone, or iDon’t-know-what-else through your iTunes account. Just click here and either listen through your computer or subscribe to have new episodes placed on your device as they become available.

Android logoYou may also set up an automatic “feed” to non-Apple devices by using this link: click here for other devices.

Podcasts are already available on goal setting, trust, persistence, and helping employees follow company policy.

 

Just click here to listen now or subscribe on your device using Apple’s Tunes, Android, and other podcatchers to have this and all new episodes placed on your device as they become available.

 


 

Get Up, Stand Up.

 


 

There is a rapidly accumulating body of evidence which suggests that prolonged sitting is very bad for our health, even for lean and otherwise physically active individuals.

The good news? Animal research suggests that simply walking at a leisurely pace may be enough to rapidly undo the metabolic damage associated with prolonged sitting, a finding which is supported by epidemiological work in humans. So, while there are a lot of questions that remain unanswered (e.g. Is there a “safe” amount of daily sedentary time?), the evidence seems clear that we should strive to limit the amount of time we spend sitting. And when we do have to sit for extended periods of time (which, let’s face it, is pretty much every single day for many of us) we should take short breaks whenever possible.

 



 

Finally, if you take only one thing from this post, let it be this—sitting too much is not the same as exercising too little.

 

–Travis Saunders
Scientific American
Guest Blog: Can sitting too much kill you?

 


 

Best Leaders Cause Fun Workplaces




I believe that leaders have three main roles.

  1. They are responsible for interpreting the organization’s shared values and principles.
  2. They are senior advisers to everyone in the organization. And,
  3. They are the collective conscience, pushing the organization to reach its goals and live up to its ideals.

The idea that top executives or financial experts should make key decisions is so ingrained in our corporate cultures that it is nearly impossible for leaders to delegate important roles and decisions. Leaders who want to increase joy and success in the workplace must learn to take most of their personal satisfaction from the achievements of the people they lead, not from the power they exercise.

–Dennis Bakke
Joy at Work:
A Revolutionary Approach to
Fun on the Job


Fast Company




Why you need measurable goals and a frank coach

 


 

“People, quite literally, see themselves as more desirable than they actually are,” says Nicholas Epley, a professor of behavioural science at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. (Click here for another post on his research.) “When people rate themselves on any dimension that’s ambiguous – their managerial skills, their interpersonal skills, their grammar, or their test-taking ability – there’s zero correlation between their self-perception and their performance. When the picture is ambiguous, people give themselves the benefit of the doubt.” …

The researchers discovered this nearly universal self-distortion by photographing university students, then altering the digital images in tiny increments. Using the real photograph as the model, they created 10 other photos, five approximating an idealized version of the student’s face, and five approximating an unattractive version. When the students returned to the lab several weeks later they were asked to pick out their own face from the 10 other photos in the lineup.

The result? Two-thirds of the students selected a photo that was artificially enhanced by 20 per cent.

–Susan Pinker
in The Globe and Mail

 


 

Commitment Creates a Clearing for Cooperation

 


 

Scottish Himalayan Expedition Boldness Poster… but when I said that nothing had been done I erred in one important matter. We had definitely committed ourselves and were halfway out of our ruts. We had put down our passage money— booked a sailing to Bombay. This may sound too simple, but is great in consequence.

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves, too. A whole stream of events issues from (more…)

004 Trust Teleseminar by Tony Mayo • PODCAST

 


 

Click here for Tony Mayo's podcast

Teleseminar participants had a deep and practical conversation with CEO executive coach Tony Mayo about trust–a vital topic for business, family, and every human relationship. We also practiced a calming and centering exercise together.

You can join these drop-in, no-set-fee executive coaching teleseminars by registering at http://tiny.cc/calllist.

Click here to listen or download to your iPod, iPad, or iPhone. If you use an Android or other non-Apple device for podcasts click this link.

 

Join us for future teleseminars by clicking here to join the announcement list.

Thanks to MusicOpen for providing public domain recordings of Beethoven.

 


 

Tony Mayo
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