By EDGE Woman Speaker and High-Performance Through Neuroscience Thought Leader, Debbie Vyskocil
Give this a try. You have nothing to lose and everything to win.
Think about this question: What can you do in the next 10 minutes to be happier at work?
Reach out to a colleague to schedule lunch.
Set your alarm so you actually take a lunch away from your computer.
Close your eyes and imagine letting go of the knot in your stomach caused by words you regret saying to someone earlier.
In addition to the happiness this action will manifest, you will increase all the feel-good chemicals in your brain like oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins and dopamine. These hormones will increase your energy, your attention and your ability to trust others.
With renewed focus, reliance and vitality, odds are you will be more innovative, have greater enthusiasm and purpose…. And your performance will excel.
Happiness and performance go hand in hand. If you are beating yourself up for past mistakes, errors or omissions happiness is thrown out the window and performance can tank.
The confidence from a great performance will then open the door to being kind to yourself the next time you encounter a bump in the road. Research in sports psychology reinforces that those at the very top of their game let themselves off the hook for a mediocre performance quickly and return to try again.
Under it all we know that we will put more energy, time and thought into those things that bring us happiness. Marcus Buckingham's new book Love and Work: How to Find What You Love, Love What You Do, and Do It for the Rest of Your Life is reinforcing that knowledge.
Stop and take care of yourself. A little self-compassion can go a long way. Why is the praise of a colleague more valuable than if you are very happy with the result of your effort? Your opinion is many times worth more than those shared by others. Besides, you know how to return and take your great ideas to a higher level.
Back to the next 10 minutes.... Don’t give it tons of thought, go with your gut. What are YOU going to do to increase your performance by adding happiness, love and self-compassion right now?
Ready? GO!
About Debbie:
Leveraging her expertise in neuroscience to teach audiences and clients how to reach peak levels of achievement is precisely why organizations bring her in to speak on “High-performance Driven by Self-compassion”. With a focus on productivity and creativity, she delivers an understanding of how neuroscience can enhance performance for leadership and their teams. “Building high-performance teams by winning individual head games” is the basis of Debbie’s work.