#125 The frustration formula
Happy Monday, everyone.
Prefer to listen to this week’s issue? Go here: The Frustration Formula
I was listening to Josh Nichols’ podcast, The Mental Golf Show, the other day. He was recommending a mindset for how to play (golf) when you haven’t practiced recently.
I was interested, of course, because I tend to fall into that category — playing competitive rounds without having practiced much.
Anyway, back to Josh’s advice. He said, you have to “match your expectations with the level of your effort”. In other words, if you haven’t practiced much, your expectations for how well you’re playing shouldn’t be high.
Ok, so what does this have to do with business?
The quarter just ended. Most likely, there are areas in your business, work, or personal relationships where the results didn’t meet your expectations.
I know that’s true for me. Reflecting on the last three months has me feeling a little frustrated. However, I need to look at the level of effort in those areas and make sure my expectations are matched up.
The fact I’m frustrated means the gap (in those areas) between my level of effort and my expectations is too wide.
In the same podcast, Josh uses the formula, frustration = expectations - level of effort, to identify the root cause of this type of frustration.
If the effort (or focus) wasn’t there, I need to recognize that. And then do the hardest thing of all, forgive myself. If you’re thinking the same thing, you may need to forgive yourself too.
Why? Because our resources (time, focus, capital, effort) are finite. There’s no way we can apply the full amount of effort to every area —— personally and professionally.
For this quarter, I’m going to work with our leaders to look at all the areas in our businesses we want to grow. Then, we’re going to think hard about what we expect to happen, and do our best to match those expectations with the level of effort we can realistically put towards making things happen.
This should free us up to focus on our priorities while matching our expectations to our level of effort.
One to Ponder
- Doubt is easy to create and hard to overcome
One to Listen
One to Read
One to See
Until next time, friends.
-David