How can you do fine work? One key factor is getting in shape to achieve peak performance. This provides the springboard for doing great work. So let’s explore how you can continue to make this happen.

1) You can get in physical shape.

What is your ideal physical condition? What kind of food are you eating? How much are you exercising? What is your weight? How are you using your energy? How much are you resting? Do you sleep for 8 hours a night; or do you sleep for 6 hours then have regular breaks during the day? What is your preferred pattern: a) for making good use of your energy: b) for building-in times for rest and recovery? Looking back on your life, when have you been in good physical shape? What did you do right to make this happen? How can you follow similar principles in the future? What will be the benefits?

“I can always guess my weight with half a kilo,” said one person. “Over the past 20 years I have stayed within a 2 kilo range. I immediately notice if I am overweight: my belt obviously feels tighter, but may brain also becomes sluggish. Heeding the warning signs, I eat healthy food and walk for at least 2 hours a day. Within 5 days I am back to my ‘fighting weight’. I feel better, more alert and quicker to find solutions to challenges.”

Try tackling the exercise on this theme. How can you stay in the right physical shape? How can you make sure this approach is sustainable? Try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I can do to get myself into the
right physical shape to achieve peak performance are:

*

*

*

2) You can get in psychological shape.

How do you get yourself into the right frame of mind to do good work? Mental preparation is crucial in any arena – whether you are playing a sport, making a keynote presentation, focusing on how to tackle a project or whatever. Let’s consider some of the steps in this process.

You may go through three stages to be on top of your game. First, you actually commit to achieving a specific goal. This sounds obvious, but it calls for doing several things. a) You explore the various goals you want to achieve in your personal and professional life. b) You consider the pluses and minuses involved in achieving each goal. c) You choose to commit to achieving a particular goal. You accept the ‘whole package’ involved: then plan how to build on the pluses and minimise the minuses. Third, you follow a daily discipline for achieving the goal. After setting aside time to tackle it properly, you manage your energy towards achieving the goal. This involves developing a structure for your working day. Different people will, of course, following different structures for making this happen.

Looking at my own work, for example, I obviously behave differently when spending days at home writing compared to being on the road mentoring or running workshops. Writing calls for setting aside enough time to tackle a piece of work. It is then important: to get into writing mode; rehearse what is going to be written, probably the night before; get up early; go for a run; explore the writing while running and find examples to bring it to life; relax and begin the writing; create the first chunk; go for walks during the day – which often produce fresh ideas and continue until the writing for the day feels completed.

Mentoring calls for a different approach. It is important: to get lots of sleep; wake early; rehearse the day; walk to the work place (preferably something like a 40 minute walk); reach the venue an hour early; re-rehearse the first session and encourage people during the meetings. Most of the day is spent thinking about how to help people to succeed, but I also build-in breaks for renewal. (Strangely, a good way to clear my mind is to surf the net for football stories!) Then it is onto rehearsing the next session. Whenever possible, I walk back from the session, which helps the learning to sink-in. Then it is on to rehearsing the next day.

So how do you get yourself in the right frame of mind? Everybody has their individual rituals for being on top of their game. Try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I can do to get myself into the right
psychological shape to achieve peak performance are:

*

*

*

3) You can get in practical shape.

How can you organise the practical things to give yourself the greatest chance of success? This will include some aspects mentioned earlier – such as setting aside time to tackle the task. It will also mean getting the right support, money and other resources that enable you to succeed.

Imagine that you have been asked to create a new prototype for an organisation. Let’s assume you have been given the authority to show how this part of the business can operate successfully in the future. You will require certain practical things to be in place. It may be important, for example, to be in a separate building. Why? You will hire people who may behave differently from others in the business. So they may need to be in a different physical location: otherwise they will be pressured to ‘conform’ to old patterns. Imagine you are aiming to do some individual creative work – such as painting, writing or refurbishing a car. You will need the time, the tools and the right environment to do good work. Sometimes this may mean paying others to do some of your ongoing ‘grunt work’. You can then channel your energy towards pursuing your particular project.

Try tackling the exercise on this theme. Whatever your chosen goal, getting the practical things in place provides the foundation for success. So try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I can do to get myself into the
right practical shape to achieve peak performance are:

*

*

*

There are many approaches to doing fine work. One is to make sure all the physical, psychological and practical things are in place. You can then throw yourself into the work and do whatever is necessary to achieve peak performance.

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