Or Everyone is Lazy – it’s up to you.

I hear it as a constant complaint from leaders and managers all the time: “He is just so lazy!� He wouldn’t work in an iron lung!”

But I disagree.� No one is lazy.� I know that sounds counter-intuitive to those of you who have had to endure employees who don’t get work in on time, or who don’t follow up with clients, or don’t even get out to see the clients in the first place.� But they are not inherently lazy.� They are just lazy about those things.

Everyone has something that is intrinsically motivating to them.� Whether it’s spending time with their kids, writing reports, working on their hot-rod on the weekend, or going surfing.� For the things that are truly important to us, that inspire us and engage us,� we are never ever ever lazy.� What are the things that you don’t even have to think about?� That you just do constantly with no external motivation required and no question about whether it will get done or not?� These are the things that are most important to you.

Likewise, there will be something that we are all very lazy about.� My wife has asked me to weed the front garden for a number of weeks now, but do you think I’ve done it?� No.� Am I lazy?� Well, I don’t think I am, but I just seem to forget to do it whenever there is spare time.� But you can bet that my wife thinks I am lazy with regard to the gardening (actually, she does.� She said it).� And maybe she’s right.� Afterall, I have replaced potential gardening time with other things that motivate me to action, like kicking the football with the kids or writing a blog

The problem isn’t that someone is lazy.� The problem is that they have prioritised something that they think is more important.� As a leader, your job is to work out how to make things important enough to your staff so that they take action.� You can do it by fear, reward or inspiration….two of three will get the best from your people.

Teamwork is embedded in our DNA.� There is enough evidence to suggest that we actually survived as a species, against far bigger and scarier animals, because we worked out how to operate effectively in teams.� There is also a huge amount of the brain that is actually devoted to social function.

Research has shown that when we perform in teams we feel more pleasure and less pain.� A study looked at Oxford rowers’ most grueling training sessions,� measuring their levels of endorphin release and their pain tolerance in two situations: either a) performing the training session as part of a team, or b) performing the training session solo.

The findings show that when the rowers train as part of a team, they report less pain and show more endorphin release for the same amount of physical exertion.� Being part of a team helps us to tolerate more workload and gives us a greater sense of well-being and satisfaction for exactly the same effort.� Great to remember next time you think that you’d prefer to work on your own, or that ‘team-building’ doesn’t really matter.

If you have a big meeting or presentation coming up then make sure you finish it the day before it is due.� When you sleep on it, it will consolidate the learning/knowledge.� You might even get an insight that you didn�t have the day before.

Three of the things we know about sleep and performance are:

1) A nap improves brain function

Sleep and meditation both seem to rejuvenate the brain’s Pre Frontal Cortex.� This part of the brain is responsible for the most important tasks that we do day-to-day including problem-solving, prioritising, decisions making and, sometimes most importantly, stopping unwanted behaviours and thoughts from occurring.� Sleep has been shown to improve all of these functions.

2) When we sleep, we consolidate learning

While our bodies rest, our brains are going haywire.� The millions of neural circuits are re-playing some the learning that has taken place during the day and are reinforcing it, making the neural connections thicker and stronger.� If you have been repeating something during the day, trying to consolidate it into memory, chances are that the consolidation will happen most effectively when you are asleep that night.

3) A quiet mind leads to insight problem solving

If there is a new connection to be made, a new problem to be solved or an ‘a-ha’ moment to be had, you are most likely to achieve these with a quiet mind.� While our current ways of thinking have strong neural connections within the brain, having been reinforced over many years, it is the new connections that provide the insights we sometimes need.� These new connections are weaker and we require a quiet mind to actually ‘hear’ them.� Brain analysis shows that these insights are preceded by a quietening of brain activity – something that happens automatically when you are about to drift off to sleep, and just as you wake up.

To read the other 12 Performance Habits click here

While the Best Doubt Themselves…….

If you�ve known someone that was really bad at something who, mind-bogglingly, thought they were a genius, then don�t despair.� It wasn�t just them.

Studies show that the worse we are at something, the more likely we are to rate ourselves as outstanding.� This is known as the Dunning-Kruger effect.

In a series of logical reasoning tasks, these two experimenters found that those with results at the bottom end of the bell-curve held inflated opinions of their performance and talents.� The bottom 25% of subjects on the test estimated that they would be better than 60% of participants.

The other astonishing finding is that those who score highest actually doubt their talents the most.

The simple explanation is that those at the bottom of the performance table don�t actually know what good performance looks like.� They are uneducated and unaware of their errors and mistakenly interpret them as good outcomes.� This happens even when you compare their answers to the right answers before the test is graded.

So next time you come across a terrible leader, manager, driver, writer or speller, don�t be surprised if they tell you they are wonderful.

It doesn�t matter if you are implementing a new customer service system, new processes or starting a new job.� Change always makes us a little apprehensive.� There are some people, however, who resist change to the point where it is unhealthy � for them, for the organisation and for us as instigators.� But it�s not their fault.� Their brain makes them do it.

The part of our brain that detects change, errors and anomalies is a hero and a villain.� When something is �different� it gets us interested.� We pay attention to it and most likely remember it for future reference.� This is novelty.

However, when there is too much novelty or error or difference, the activity in this brain region gets out of control causing fear and anxiety.� Because of the resources that these emotions use in their heightened activity, the part of the brain that actually stops these from interfering (the �braking� mechanism in our brain) cannot function because it is starved of fuel.� As a result, these people cannot stop the fear.

The only difference between the people who cope well and those who cope poorly is their baseline for change.� This is why people who have been in the organisation a long time, doing the same things, usually resist change the most.

What helps them reduce the activity in this brain region and allows them to re-frame the change?� There are a number of things, but the feeling of choice and control seems to be the main driver.� These help quiet the area of the brain that detects strong emotion and activates the braking mechanism at the same time.

The more control and choice that you can give people, the better they will adjust.� And, personally, the more control and choice you feel you have over change, the easier it is to cope.

I have compiled some of the most harrowing statistics about how email affects our lives.� Here are 12 stats that show how you need to claim back your (and your team�s) time.

1. It takes 24 minutes to get back on task after opening email
2. Many workers average 20 hours a week managing email
3. Ringing phones and email alerts lower our effective IQ by 10 points
4. 60% of computer workers check email in the bathroom
5. Typical workers turn to email 50-100 times per day
6. Employees consider one in three emails unnecessary
7. Employees visit an average of 40 websites a day
8. Of six emails that are ignored for a day, five are ignored for good
9. Email causes stress for 40% of workers
10. 85% of work emails are opened within two minutes
11. Interruptions eat up 28% of the workday
12. 15% of people have checked their email in church