Why aren’t you better at what you care about most?

Want to get better at what you care about most?

Stop doing your best.

Part of the problem, strangely enough, is that you’re doing your best most of the time. The reason this is a problem is that when you constantly strive to do your best, you are most often in the performance zone. Given what you know and your experience level, you are performing at or near your highest level.

Time to step back.

But what is missing when you are in the performance zone all the time is room for growth. To grow, you will want to go into another mode — the learning zone — on a regular basis so you can get better at what you care about most. This is a key habit for lifelong learners. But the problem again is that old performance thing. You want to do really well at what you care about most.

Make room for failure.

So here is the shift. The mental shift required for you to actually get better at those things you care about is to make room to fail at those very things. Because in the learning mode, you will most often not be performing at your highest level, by default, because you will be learning. When we are learning, it takes a little while to master what we’ve taken on to learn. But if you will take the longer view, and make room to learn, you will get better in the long run, and outperform where you are today at what you care about most.

So please do this.

Please watch this brief (about 12 minutes) talk by Eduardo Briceño, and consider making time to intentionally practice and learn, as well as performing, when it comes to what you care about most. And then come right back for today’s takeaway.

Key point:

Intentionally step out of the performance zone, to make more time for deliberate practice in the learning zone. In the long run, your performance will be even better than it is today.

Read more.

I can help you intentionally improve at what you care about most.

And you have a couple of options for your next step. You could contact me and describe what you’re going through. And I’ll be in touch with suggestions. Or you can book a free session to make a time to get together and talk it over in person. Either way, I’m here to help you focus, overcome resistance, and get moving again.