Karl Edwards presents Working Matters

Tag: choke

  • Thought Leaders Unpacked -> Clutch #1: Focus (Part 2)

    thought-leadersIt’s always an ordinary serve.

    It’s a great angle on a great image. If all that preparation (see last week’s post) does anything for us, it sets us free to be present in the game. Our minds are freed up to pay attention to what is going on around us and adjust along the way instead of thinking about technique or rethinking the game plan.

    Tennis is the perfect metaphor for me. Relaxed during the pre-game rally, I generally fall apart once the game starts. I’m busy doing my thing and doing it just fine until I start thinking about it.

    My attention has somehow moved from what is going on with the ball to how I need to win the point.

    Hence my deep draw to the phrase, “It’s always an ordinary serve.”

    The wording itself suggests the obvious fact that all serves in one sense are merely serves. It is I who change any given serve to something else.

    I carry this tendency into my sales. When talking with a client about their challenges, I am relaxed, present, attentive, and extremely helpful. When talking with a client about my services, I am tense, apologetic, eager to impress and determined to prove myself.

    I come across completely differently in essentially the same conversation depending on whether the focus in the client or myself.

    Lesson to self: Relax and be  yourself. You’re good at what you do. If fact, you’re great at what you do. Trust that. The experience of being with you will sell itself. It’s always an ordinary serve.

    What is your version of, “It’s always an ordinary serve?” At what do you excel until you start thinking about it too much? Why do you think that is? What was your main take-away from this chapter?

    Each week I post my reflections from one chapter of Clutch: Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don’t by Paul Sullivan. My reflections are my own and are intended to generate conversation, catalyze additional thinking and encourage mutual learning.
    If you are just joining the discussion now, welcome! Catch up on the entire series here.

  • Thought Leaders Unpacked -> What the Dog Saw #12: The Art of Failure

    thought-leadersEvery week I feel like I’m saying, “This is my favorite chapter.”

    So this week I’ll say, “This is my favorite chapter… so far.” Are men my age allowed to say, “OMG!” Earthquake to my soul.

    What-the-Dog-Saw

    The difference between choking and panicking. The difference between thinking too much and thinking too little. The difference between thinking when you don’t need to and not thinking when you do need to.

    The first sort of over-thinking interferes with your natural (or practiced) ability to do what you need to do, and tragically you don’t do what you ordinarily would be able to do. The second sort of under-thinking interferes with your ability to put your brain to work when you need it most, and tragically you never get the opportunity to do what your brain would have otherwise been able to help you choose.

    Choking or panicking.

    I almost never panic. I tend to remain calm in crisis, my thinking somehow becomes clearer, and my willingness to act decisively heightens. I’m not sure why that is. I’ll just be thankful.

    Choking, though, is another story altogether. And here is where this chapter was so enlightening for me. When faced with an important interview, for example, I respond to the importance by trying harder. That response has always made (more…)