In the unpredictable tides of life and business, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by factors beyond our control. However, there are two elements that are always within our grasp: our effort and our attitude.
I was recently inspired by the words of sporting mindset coach Mark Zimmerman, who says, “You can't control the weather, the opposition…or even your teammates' performance, but you can always control the effort you put in and the attitude you bring.”
Now, I believe this philosophy isn't just vital on the rugby field, but crucial in the business arena too. With all of the external pressures we face daily, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But remember, amidst this chaos, our effort and attitude are the only two things we really can control.
Today, we’ll explore how mastering these elements can lead to significant success, helping us perform better daily and take control of our response to everyday challenges.
I’ll share practical strategies to harness their power, including practising gratitude and crafting a 90-day plan.
While we can't control every aspect of our environment, we can always control our response. I hope you're inspired to take control of your effort and attitude, transforming your challenges into stepping stones for success.
Mark Zimmerman is a coach for many professional sporting teams and some of our top sporting individuals and works closely with them to develop the right mindset for it. to ensure peak performance in their particular sport. Now, when a teammate asked Mark about how do you manage game day nerves and anxiety, especially if you're up against tougher teams, Mark's response was a lesson in simplicity and power.
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I think it's crucial in the business arena too. Right now, there's a lot happening around us, isn't there? We've got rising costs of living. We've got increasing interest rates. We've got ballooning inflation. Decision making is slower than ever before. Budgets are being cut and the cost of doing business keeps climbing.
And with all of these external pressures It's really easy to feel overwhelmed. But remember, amidst this chaos, there are only two things within our control. Our efforts and our attitude. So, today I wanted to break these two things down and I want to start with efforts. Effort is about showing up every day.
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People often say to me, Janine, how do you manage, or how did you manage to write three books? Well, I'll be honest with you, writing has never been easy for me. It's not a natural thing. I stopped studying English at 16. But I knew that if I made a plan, If I followed that plan, if I put in the effort that the results would follow, and that's exactly what happened.
The first manuscript I had to, submit to my publisher within three weeks, and I did it because I knew that I had that one chance to get that publishing deal. And thereafter, same publisher, Did book two, book three, and the results show for themselves. Effort is about commitment. It's about persisting when things get tough.
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Focus on the high impact activities that align with your goals and focus on completion of those high quality activities. It's also about tracking your progress and celebrating those small wins because those small wins will compound into bigger successes. With my Elevate and Encircle clients, we work on 90 day business plans.
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So I think 90 day planning is perfect for actually making sure that you're moving the dial on your business, that you're focusing on doing things that are going to change in your world. So we meet every single quarter where we review and celebrate the quarter that has been, and we share those successes.
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What is the next right thing that I am going to commit to that will shift the dial commercially in my business and that will allow my business to scale? Often it's less is more because actually what I find is too many of us set ourselves up for failure by taking on way too much. And the result of that is we get overwhelmed.
We can't get on top of our projects. and we fall behind and we end up getting nowhere very fast. One to two key projects with accountability and measurement to shift the dial is what we do. Every 90 days, and we doubled down on that effort by, building buddy groups to keep us focused every week.
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So maybe have a think about what you can do to bring 100 percent effort into your business every single day. Now let's talk about the second thing that Mark mentioned. Attitude. In a world where fear is a constant companion, where we're being bombarded every single day by headlines that are breeding anxiety, your attitude is the thing that will become your shield.
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Now I think there's a few things that you can do to improve your attitude. The first thing, in terms of improving your attitude, I think is to practice gratitude. At the end of every single day, reflect on the day that you've had, and think about the things that have been positive in your work day that day.
Think about the little things, the little bits of magic, the things that have gone well for you, the conversations that you may have had, the tasks that you have completed. No matter how small, take a moment to be grateful for the opportunity. Awesome things that have happened each and every single day.
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The power of intentional connection. I've written a bestselling book called it's who, you know, and the 12 key people that will help you transform your success. Those 12 people fall into the four categories. Of promoters, of butt kickers, of teachers, and of pit crew. And when you need an attitude lift, it's so key to check in with this power network, those people that have positivity, that see [00:10:00] opportunity, that aren't your negative Nellies, but are much more, into having curious and positive conversation where you can be inspired and be interested.
I think the other thing you can do to give yourself an attitude lift is to be curious about learning. I was recently in New York and I went to a seminar by a lady called Edie Weiner. She's the CEO of the Future Hunters. And she said the challenge that humanity faces right now is that many of us are suffering from educated incapacity.
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Her suggestion is that we need to keep learning. We've got to learn different things. We've got to relay the tracks in our brains. So learn something that you wouldn't normally look at. It could be learning to cook or do art or carpentry, whatever it may be, but learn something different, listen to new music, read something different to lay down new tracks in your brain.
Something that we did actually recently on a retreat I ran for my Inner Circle clients, we intentionally made the experiences very touchy feely, very hands on because I wanted my clients to get out of their heads and into a different space so that it would unlock the innovation. It would unlock the conversation.
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so think about how you can get that attitude shift. The final idea I've got here is you could keep a win journal. What about if every single day you wrote down a positive outcome that you've achieved or you've learned that day? This will reinforce that positive framework for viewing your efforts and it can actually dramatically shift your mindset over time.
Now, I have something, let me just reach over here for those of you that are watching this podcast on YouTube called my brag box. And I keep this under my desk. This is actually jammed, if you can see. It's jammed with letters. I've even got. something here from a federal member of parliament.
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I literally pull it out and I start looking through it and reading it and, taking on the positivity that other people have gifted to me that we always forget about when we're feeling pretty negative about something. So why don't you set up your own brag box, so that you can use that to help you bring the right attitude into your work every day.
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So thanks for joining today's episode. I hope you're inspired to take control of your effort and attitude, transforming your challenges into stepping stones for success. Please stay proactive, please stay positive and unleash that brilliance within you. I look forward to catching up with you on the next episode. Of unleashing brilliance. And until then, remember your effort and your attitude are your truest powers, and they are ever only the two things that are always in your control. Have a great week. [00:15:00]
