The Stress Doc Letter
Cybernotes from the Online Psychohumorist ™
OCT
2006, No. I, Sec. II
Main Essay:
Citing past and present experts in the field, the Stress Doc lays the groundwork
for challenging common misconceptions and misguided paradigms on the subject of
expert performance. In this two-part series the Doc will then show you how to
GLIDE into peak performance. Beginning with "G" the art of SMART
(short-term) "goal-setting" is posited. Then the concept of long-term goal
setting is illustrated by the truly uncommon vision, conviction and
determination of a past president.
GLIDE-ing into
Performance Excellence: Part I
Key Tools, Techniques and Tips
Who wouldn't like to achieve performance excellence in a professional arena or
in an area of personal interest or study? But why does that objective often
seem so daunting or elusive? How many believe they just don't have the
requisite talent or aptitude? Perhaps you have caught yourself thinking, "Even
if I practiced till the cows come home I could never gain real mastery"?
According to two performance experts you may be operating under a faulty premise
and a misguided learning paradigm. As for the premise, decades ago
sports/performance psychologist, George Leonard, noted that searching for the
path to mastery is an illusion. For someone dedicated to his or her field or
profession, art or craft there never is "once and for all" mastery. There is
the potential for ongoing learning and refinement as well as innovative
integration. Pursue the "path of mastery." (Unless you reach that inescapable
"is this all there is?" boredom stage, what I call the Bjorn Bored Syndrome
(BBS). BBS is named for the Swedish tennis great, Bjorn Borg, who, after
winning numerous back-to-back French and Wimbledon championships, burned out on
the circuit before turning thirty. The Bjorn Bored Syndrome: "When Mastery
times Monotony provides an index of Misery!")
The second challenge to the notion of excellence being out of reach comes from a
contemporary prominent researcher in the expert performance movement. According
to Anders Ericcson, you can acquire news skills, even ones requiring talents you
didn't think you possessed. For most individuals expertise and excellence
emerges less from genetics or God-given talent and more from the willingness to
put in the practice. For Anders, "Experts are nearly always made, not born."
So how do you embark on an expert learning path and sustain your sense of
purpose and passion? How can the practice blood, sweat, tears and joy provide
both a physical and psychological challenge and help evolve your whole self?
How do you channel mind-body performance energy through focus and flow?
Actually, let's go beyond focus and flow. Consider these "Key Tools,
Techniques and Tips for GLIDE-ing into Performance Excellence":
1. G = Goal Setting. For me there are two types of goals - short-term
and long range.
a) Short-term goals need to be fairly specific, measurable and most
important relevant and achievable in a reasonable amount of time. This is vital
because if you have not been able to make noticeable progress in reaching your
goal, (or, conversely, achieve a goal too quickly because of it's superficial
nature) then perhaps your short-term goal is not realistic or not sufficiently
or substantively defined. Maybe a time-line needs to be tweaked. So you need
some fairly objective way of assessing whether or not goal-related progress is
being made. In fact, sometimes the most desirable occurrence is quickly
realizing that you have made an error around operational or outcome expectations
or you have underestimated the resources needed to meet the mission. For now
you have some goal-related experience and can adapt or refine your trial and
error short-term goal path accordingly. (Alas, the Bush Administration's "stay
the course" mentality never seemed to grasp this vital reality.) Actually,
there's an oft-cited acronym that captures these goal-setting essentials --
SMART Goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant
and Time-Sensitive.
b) Long-term goals, not surprisingly, may lack the same definitional and
operational precision as their short-term counterpart. There are too many
variables still up in the air. You may not have a clear understanding of the
necessary means or path to an endpoint, an outcome that in the early planning
stages may appear elusive or be unrealistically and rigidly conceived. In my
experience, most people underestimate the length of time to achieve a
significant long-term goal. For example, five years ago if you had asked me to
self-evaluate as a speaker, I would have said I was very good, if not great.
Now, with awareness being forged almost daily with greater opportunity, I better
understand how basically clueless I was about achieving such a lofty performance
status on a consistent basis with diverse audiences (both in size and in
composition) across a myriad of presentational settings. Also, with respect to
the financial viability of my speaking and training business, several years ago
I would quip about soon becoming "a twenty year overnight success." (Alas, more
recently I've modified the timeline to twenty-five years; with a little luck I
won't have to amend it to thirty!) Though a the long-term target is clouded by
desires and dreams, fears and fantasies your ultimate objective and destination
needs to be sufficiently compelling to overcome start-up self-doubt (or
self-delusion) and to sustain ongoing, trial and error exploring and learning.
A Melancholic and Humble, Ethical and Historic Vision
I can't think of a more compelling example than the historic struggle to realize
a revolutionary, mid-19th century singular vision and progressively evolving,
far-reaching goal. This long-term, if not ongoing, goal was founded on one
man's unwavering conviction, personal yet self-effacing ambition, his
philosophical-legal conservatism and "constitutional" certitude while all
infused with an uncommon humanity. I'm referring to Abraham Lincoln and "The
War Between the States." (The following passages are based on fairly extensive
readings over the past year on Lincoln. In particular I recommend these two
works: Lincoln's Virtues: An Ethical Biography (Vintage Books, 2003)
and Joshua Wolf Shenk, Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a
President and Fueled his Greatness (Houghton Mifflin, 2005).
Initially, Lincoln made strenuous efforts to engage the secessionist states and
prevent the beginning of the Civil War. Despite Lincoln's personal abhorrence
of slavery, for the time being he was willing to accept the existence of the
institution as it was defined in the Constitution of the United States. This,
of course, invited attack from the Abolitionists. Lincoln, even before becoming
President had drawn the line with expanding slavery into states above the
demarcated latitude established by the Missouri Compromise of 1821. The
Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 repealed this compromise. Now the "people" of these
new states could vote on the legality of slavery. In fact, this act actually
propelled Lincoln back into the political arena. From 1854 on, his vision was
clear: no states had the right to secede nor was the unconstitutional expansion
of slavery acceptable. (Actually, it's not uncommon when attempting to forge a
complex and unconventional consensus that defies emotionally patriotic "black or
white" thinking to be attacked by all parties.)
While not free from racial bias, Lincoln's deeply sensitive, melancholic and
non-dogmatic spiritual essence ultimately nurtured an ever-expanding humanistic
soul. And his belief in the potential for productive change in human nature,
along with his complexly analytical mind helped forge both a deeper
understanding and rationale for his sui generis goal. For example, based
on meticulous archival research for his famous 1860 Cooper Union speech, Lincoln
demonstrated conclusively the overwhelming desire of the framers for the gradual
dissolution of slavery.
Yet, along with this wellspring of compassion and penchant for compromise, on
foundational issues the President's clarity and resolve was unshakeable. Once
the southern troops invaded Fort Sumpter, the War's historical trigger, Lincoln
did not hesitate in countering the aggression with Federal troops. (Though as a
war leader Lincoln has been faulted for giving some overly cautious field
generals too long a leash and tenure. Actually, these generals, much to
Lincoln's dismay, often were reluctant to take the battle to the enemy. It
wasn't till he discovered Ulysses S. Grant that Lincoln had a general whose
tenacity matched Lincoln's steely resolve.)
And as bad as the news was from the war front in the early years, Lincoln would
not compromise his long-term goal. Despite the anguish and uncertainty
weighing heavily on his gaunt figure, rapidly aging visage and oft-melancholic
psyche, his November 19, 1863 "Gettysburg Address" powerfully and poignantly
captures Lincoln's conviction, idealism and passion along with his humility and
determination:
Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent
a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all
men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any
nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great
battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a
final resting place for those who here gave their lives, that that nation might
live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate -- we cannot consecrate -- we cannot
hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have
consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will
little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what
they did here.
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work
which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us
to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these
honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the
last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead
shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new
birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the
people, shall not perish from the earth.
In fact, when he perceived conditions to be favorable (after some progress on
the battlefield; though the outcome at this juncture in modern parlance was
hardly a "slam dunk") and to be necessary (he knew the North needed increased
manpower if the war was to be concluded successfully) he was not afraid to
modify profoundly his goal and declare "The Emancipation Proclamation."
Challenges to achieving his goal were ongoing. For example, when the tide began
to favor the North on both sides there were self-serving, status quo ante
bellum calls to end the war. This was premature, illegal and immoral from
Lincoln's visionary vantage point. He would not accept any compromise to
terminate the hostilities that included vestiges of secession or of the slave
economy. And while he would not accept anything less than unconditional
surrender, our sixteenth president is perhaps most famously remembered for these
eight words: "With malice toward none, with charity for all."
Extrapolating from this historic episode and personality, it's clear that
pursuing an ambitious long-term goal involves imagination and integrity, sheer
doggedness yet openness to feedback, (hopefully, in your support circle there
are one or two good listeners and objective advisors), a sense of timing, a
reservoir of patience, along with a capacity to strike when the opportunity is
hot. And, finally, that you are buttressed by both rational belief and
extra-rational faith. Perhaps we can say achieving a long-term goal involves
realizing your short-term objectives and eventually weaving these diverse
objectives into a coherent long-term strategic goal path, a path sometimes
momentarily clouded but ultimately illuminated by an overarching vision.
Of course, for most people long-term goals are not intertwined with such massive
scale, socioeconomic and political-cultural issues as the destiny of a country
and winning a Civil War. (Though I must admit, as a former marriage counselor,
I have been party to some divorce proceedings where the courtroom as life and
death battlefield is not particularly a metaphoric stretch.) Let me be more
pedestrian. For me, a long-term goal-setting image that comes to mind is of a
briefly sketched treasure map: you may or may not know what specifically lies
at the end of the rainbow. (Or you may think you know and be in for a startling
or humbling surprise.) And your travel guide may not contain a well-defined
network of pathways, i.e., the specific means to the end. But of the
desirability for the end there is no doubt; both your head and your heart are
convinced that your mission is just and necessary. And perhaps most important,
to achieve expertise, to pursue the path of mastery despite angst and
uncertainty, your arduous preparation should be a labor of love.
Conclusion
And labor of love is where we will pick up in the second segment of this essay.
More specifically, Part II will examine the remaining letters of the expert
performance GLIDE acronym:
L = Loving to Learn, Learning to Love
I = Immediate Input to Insight
D = Deliberate Desire
E = Explore to Expand, Evaluate to Evolve
Until then, just remember…Practice Safe Stress!
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---------------
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----------------------
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Mark Gorkin, LICSW, "The Stress Doc" ™, is a psychotherapist and
"Motivational Humorist" whose Interactive Keynotes and Kickoffs draw wide and
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and Conflict Into Inspiring Attitude and Behavior. Also, the Doc is AOL's
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(c) Mark Gorkin 2006
Shrink Rap Productions