NezSez

During this time of year, sports fans are usually glued to their TV’s to watch the NCAA basketball championship tourney — also called March Madness. And basically right after that comes the professional NBA Playoffs. It’s the best time to be a basketball fan.

And while I’m pleased that our local professional team (the Golden State Warriors) is in the hunt for a playoff spot, I’m writing this to talk about dealing with pressure situations, in which during this time there will be plenty.

Clutch Performers

For athletes, we often praise the ones who are “clutch”, who, with the game on the line, are able to score the winning basket from the field, be it a lay-up against the “trees” clogging the lanes to the basket, a long-ranged jump shot over the outstretched arms of two defenders, or the successful free throws amidst the howling and hooting of thousands upon thousands of rabid fans, all with only seconds left on the game clock.

Real Life Pressure Situations

But for the rest of us mere mortals, let me ask you have you ever:

• Put in an all-nighter for a term paper, and wound up getting an A?
• Made a presentation in front of investors, and aced all the hard questions, landing the big contract?
• Received the proverbial client’s curve ball — something you never expected — but kept your cool and proceeded (and succeeded) as if you expected it all along?

Those are all pressure situations where the expectation to perform and deliver is high — and it feels GREAT when you do.

People often get paid big bucks for that kind of performance, and deservedly so.

Reason for Failure

However, many people do buckle under the stress.

And the stress comes from getting into a state of mind where uncertainty, doubt and/or fear reigns:

• What if I mess up?
• I’m not prepared!!
• What’s the next step?

These and any number of other questions and thoughts run through the mind, and the subsequent failure to perform is often summarized as paralysis by analysis.

Qualities of Clutch Performers

Clutch performers, on the other hand, have these qualities:

• Confidence from Practice - no one is born perfect, and neither does intense practice make one perfect, despite the popular saying. However, what practice DOES do is train your muscles, honing their “muscle memory”, and perfect practice instills the confidence to perform perfectly, so when the time comes, the person who has practiced a lot appears to perform effortlessly. When you know you’ve done it (successfully) before (in practice), you can be confident you’ll do it again (in real game situations). That’s the reason why Michael Jordan, Jerry Rice, Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly were notorious for their intense practices/rehearsals.
• Being Prepared - basically, this is the same as confidence from practice, but it bears explaining that the best performers are always prepared. For the job seeker, it’s as simple as doing the basic research of a company at which you want to work. For the self-employed, it’s keeping apprised of what the competition in your market is doing. For the lone woman traveling at night, it’s being aware of your surroundings. Preparation also comes from real practical experience — both successes and failures. Everything you do (or choose to do) prepares you for new challenges.
• Stay in the moment and let the chips fall where they may - the confidence from practice and preparation also allows the clutch performer to stay focused in the present, allowing their minds or bodies to perform without distraction. Sometimes we hear of athletes getting into “the zone”, in which the action seems to be flowing in slow motion. My theory is that when someone is in “the zone”, that person’s mind must be operating at peak efficiency and thus is able to process all the incoming sensory stimuli, making necessary calculations, adjustments, recollections and reactions at lightning speed. The effect would seem like the outside world has suddenly slowed down.
• Know that failures are inevitable, but see them as minor setbacks on the road to their goal(s) - Michael Jordan did not always make the game-winning shot, but that never stopped him from continuously honing his game, working on eliminating his weaknesses, and maintaining confidence in himself. His sheer force of will would not allow wallowing in defeat. Clutch performers know that failure does not mean the end of the world, and in doing so, is able to move on after the occasional lapses. That awareness and acceptance also allow them to stay in the moment, and drives them to persevere.

How about you? Got any tips or stories on dealing with pressure situations?

photo credit: *tom*

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There are so many great blogs out there — many have great tips, others serve up ideas for posts. I found a comment over at Write to Done by Mazzycat, and I really wanted to respond. But since the topic of the original post is about using reading to become a better writer (a great idea, by the way), I thought I’d espouse in my own little corner of the blogosphere on:

Frame of Mind

In the post, author Leo talks about ways to use great books to improve one’s writing. In one comment, reader Mazzycat lamented over the fact that after reading a great book, he (or she) would feel discouraged, often thinking, “I could never write anything as good as that…so what’s the point [of even trying]?” He (or she) often saw a great book as discouragement, as a obstacle that could not be overcome. However, another way of looking at it, as the original post suggests, is as a source of inspiration. Both ideas are true, from a certain point of view.

Frame of Mind determines Motivation

Recently, I explained that motivation is the underlying reason to do what we do. However, now I also realize that how a person determines that motivation is almost just as important, probably more so, since a motivation not determined means inaction.

Two Sides of the Same Coin

So, as a creator, when we see great works or art, see a great movie or play, or read a great book, we can either choose to aspire to produce our own great work and use those great examples as inspiration to determine our positive motivation for desirable outcomes. Or, we can see those same great examples and look at our own faults, our own perceived disadvantages, and put ourselves down, saying, “We’d never be able to do that.”

The same applies to other non “creative” vocations: the great athletes, singers, orators, “leaders” — all can serve as inspiration. If we choose to see them that way.

Optimist versus Pessimist

So yes, it’s really another case of optimism versus pessimism. I strongly believe either one affect one’s productivity and well-being, one for the better, and one for the worse.

How’s your frame of mind?

A Little History

My first computer was a Commodore 64.

Ahh, memories. It was great. On the C64 was where I learned BASIC, and got to play Infocom text-based games, and even translations of cool arcade games. A few years later, I bought an Atari Mega ST.

Empire, anyone?

By the time I started working, I finally did jump into the vast PC pool, and until last year, I never got out, not even to the shallow end. So over a period of about 15 years, I had all manners of PCs: a Dell, a few home-built machines, a couple of local store-built ones, and two laptops.

But last year was when I finally jumped ship. I bought a Mac. Here’s why:

Reasons I Switched to a Mac

• Price - Over the years, I made a lot of friends who used the Mac, so it was not like I knew nothing about them. In fact, the first Macintosh I was exposed to was the Mac 128 (and I was very impressed), and over the years various friends had IIci’s, Quadra’s, G3’s and iBooks. And throughout those years, I was always aware that Apple hardware came at a premium price. But in recent years, getting the best “bang for the buck” no longer meant only looking at PCs. In fact, because of the next reason, pricing is very competitive for similarly spec’ed machines.
• Switching to Intel Chips - When Apple in 2006 announced the reasons (price and performance) they were switching to Intel chips, that really piqued my interest. Aware of the EAS (Early Adopters Syndrome), I patiently bided my time while paying close attention to each and every announcement of new models. Knowing I wasn’t going to buy one right away allowed me to simply take in all the hoopla surrounding each model, and read the subsequent (positive) reviews on Mac performances. I paid attention to PC emulating software (Parallels and later Fusion), and knew then that my time was coming. The couple of crucial PC software that I use can now be run on the Mac.
• Ease of Maintenance - Thanks to a lot of tutorial videos, both on the Apple site and sites like YouTube and MacSales.com, I was definitely looking forward to having an easy-to-maintain desktop (as I’ll explain below). I was not to be disappointed.

I made the switch, and bought a Quad-Core MacPro tower late last summer.

6 Months Later…

I’m as happy as can be.

For me, it wasn’t like, “What took me so long?” but rather, “I’m so glad I waited and now I got one!”

So, in my limited experience so far, the things that jump out are:

• Simplicity - For years I’ve admired the design of Apple products. Sleek, elegant, clean, simple are all words that come to mind, and now that I own one, those same words still arrive! From the way the machine comes packed, to the way the designers managed the wire-handling, there’s a rhyme and reason to how everything works. My Mac is the most beautiful thing to look at — I only wish those designers would come and clean up my office!
• Ease of Upgrading - The MacPro can hold 4 hard drives. How long did it take me to install one hard drive? 5 minutes. I undo one latch, open the case, slide out a metal frame, screw on the new drive to the frame, slide it back in (no connector, wires, or power supply to fool with), close the case, push the latch to the closed position, and I’m done. Boot up the Mac, and it tells me there’s a new drive, and asks what should I do with it (format it).

Contrast this with my last experience adding a drive to my PC. I open up the case and locate a free spot to install the drive. I need to knock out one of the small panels in the front of the case so that I can put the drive through. I secure the drive with the screws. Now I connect the data cable from the motherboard to the drive. For the power cable, I need to free one of the extra cables that the manufacturer has secured together with a cable tie, attach the power cable to the drive, and then tie up the remaining cables with a new tie. Now I massage all the wires back into place so that the case can be closed. I boot up the PC. The monitor is blank. What the?! After a couple of retries with the same result, I boot into Setup, and find out that there’s no boot drive. Hmmm. I open up the case again, and find that during my installation of the new drive, I had loosened the data cable to my boot drive. Okay, reattach that. Reboot. Okay, it finally works. Format the new drive, proceed with life (after I’ve wasted an hour and a half). Which brings me to the next discovery about my Mac:

• It Really Just Works - I’ve been hearing in ads and from users about how Macs just works. And it’s all true. The operating system is very stable. Some programs still crash, yes, but those are far and few in between, and certainly at a much, much smaller rate than Windows programs. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve had to shut down the computer due to a rogue program. Compare this with my PC, when a cold reboot was necessary at least once a week. Many of the bundle applications on the Mac are quite robust: iTunes, iPhotos, iDVD are all programs I use on a regular basis. (I use Gmail instead of Mail.) Updates are easy and painless. Do I need to mention the PC equivalents? I thought not.
• I am Much More Productive - And because I spend less time needing to reboot the computer, or tinkering with upgrades, etc., I have more time to spend writing blog pos–I mean, being productive, like complete work for my clients, spend time with family, etc.

I’m happy with my computer. Are you?

I found the recent Yahoo! Finance article 7 Extreme Ways to Save Money pretty interesting. It basically discussed various (extreme) ways to cut costs. For me, the last one mentioned is the simplest:

Ditch the TV

The Yahoo! article says by trashing the TV, people would be saving money because they’d no longer be bombarded by ads, which makes sense, right? However, I think the idea of either no longer watching (or watching much less) television is worthy of an entire post.

Disclaimer - I DO Watch TV

First of all, I will admit that growing up, I was a TV junkie. My summers were often spent watching reruns of everything from Leave It to Beaver to Gilligan’s Island to Star Trek and Monkees. So, yes, I’ve watched my share of TV, and a lot of who I am did come from the influence of TV shows (see my post on Star Trek).

Today, my weak spot is Heroes.

But really, with our society so bathed in media 24/7, sometimes it’s a good idea to simply…disconnect.

Benefits of Foregoing TV

Being self employed and with a family as well, I find I have very little time for TV anyway. If it’s on these days, it’s really only for the kids.

For me, here’s what not watching the ol’ tube has allowed:

1. I’ve Regained the Opportunity Costs - for me, this is the most important. This means that instead of spending time watching TV, that time is now used for something else that’s more productive, such as spending time with the family, doing chores (brownie points from the spouse), working (good for clients), or sleeping (good for me )
2. I’m more Proactive - TV is a passive medium. You sit there and simply get spoken to. When it’s on, I get into the mindless and time-wasting habit of channel surfing, trying to find something worth watching. Now, I either read, do some exercise, or go out for a walk.
3. I Free my Mind - When I’m not watching TV, I no longer have to get enthralled in some reality show, listen to a get-rich-quick-scheme, hear about the latest diet fad, or be cajoled into calling right now while operators are standing by to get the extra free knife set (still have the pay shipping)! When I think about it, those shows serve no real good purpose except to eat up my time. I’m not going to be on Jeopardy! or do anything where useless TV knowledge will come in handy, and I certainly don’t need to buy more stuff. Because it’s easy to access, cheap (or free), and there’s a lot of it, TV is like junk food for the mind. Free yourself from its grasp, and now you’re able to think.
4. I Have a Quieter Household - In the old days, I used to turn on the TV, and it would be on for hours, even if I was doing something else. But now, with it usually off, it’s much more peaceful — and I can even listen to music.
5. I Can Appreciate the Good Shows more - Now, on the rare occasion I do watch a show, it’s more of a well-deserved break from my busy day. I’m sure the experience will never be like in the Golden Age of Television where families tuned into live shows, but at least I am more in control of my own life. And I pick and choose more carefully the one or two shows to watch for simple entertainment.

Try Less TV

Television is a powerful medium, with great influence on people who watch. I am not saying we should completely ban TV, either. I have simply just found that now that I really don’t watch TV that much, I have more time to simply be myself, and to think for myself and do the things I want to do in this life.

If you watch more than an hour a day, try taking a break for a week with the mindset you’ll do some of the things you’ve always wanted to work on (read that book, work on that painting, go workout, etc.)

You might like it.

Over at ZenHabits is another useful post, 7 Powerful Steps to Overcoming Resistance and Actually Getting Stuff Done. In it, Leo mainly talks about the book The War of Art by author Steven Pressfield, and discusses how to overcome our natural urge to not do the things we really want to do and rather maintain the status quo.

Of the 7 steps listed, number six jumped out at me:

“Know your motivation. Why are you doing this? Why is this task important? What is it working towards? And how important is that end goal to you? Why is it important? You need to know these things to build up the motivation to overcome Resistance.”

Motivation is Key for Me

Most of us have seen or read crime thrillers, where the detective needed to find the motive (and evidence, and opportunity) that will finger the bad guy.

Well, in real life, we have motivations for everything we do (hopefully not crime). As such, motivations play key part in explaining why there is so much conflict in our societies: different priorities, agendas and the like. On a more personal level, though, understanding my own motivations is a step towards understanding myself, and that’s what I want to talk about today.

Think about it.

A Baby’s Motivation

As a little baby my motivation was to survive. I needed my:

• food
• water
• shelter
• love

The basic needs.

A Child’s Motivation

As I kid, my main motivation was (probably) to have fun, to play.

However, as I mentioned in my post about reading, at some point my motivation became the need to satisfy a thirst for reading fun books, which I guess can still be viewed as to have fun.

A Young Adult’s Motivation

College for me was quite a long, circuitous path, because I did not know what I wanted to do for the longest time — I did not have the motivation. There was also the allure of making (okay) money at a dead-end job, money to pay for more expensive past-times (dates, trips, video games, and other grown-up “toys”).

A Parent’s Motivation

Now, I have a business I love, and my main motivation to do well?

To provide for my family. I know that when the time comes for me to leave this existence, I want to be able to answer in the positive to this question: “Did I do my best for my family?”

Motivations “Grow Up”

It’s interesting how my motivation for the longest time was: for the Self. It began as the basic needs, but I now realize that the rest of my “needs” over the years and the resulting actions (why we need to buy certain things, say certain things, perform certain actions) all derived from motivations that I acquired through learning from my parents, my peers, and the media. From time to time, I was able to re-evaluate my motivations and modify them.

Throughout a lot of my life, my main motivation remained geared toward the self. And although I didn’t think of it as much, it was a form of selfishness, a self-love.

However, once I got into a serious relationship, one that has developed and grown over the years, that main motivation has changed. I now do what I do to provide for my family, to teach the young ones and instill in them values that hopefully will remain and help them grown into good, productive young men.

I find myself teaching, and MOTIVATING them.

Have you thought about why you do the things you do lately?

If you liked this post, you may like:

• Sheer Force of Will

Why Being Punctual is Important in Our Society

Here in the U.S., being on time to appointments, dates, work, meetings, etc., is important. Unlike some cultures where tardiness is routine, or even expected, we’ve developed the expectation of punctuality because we live in a fast-paced society. With automobiles being as popular as they are (see how many on the road have only one driver), and cities full of things to do, places to go, etc., it becomes important to schedule events and tasks. Being late to something early in the day can have a domino effect on the rest of the day, resulting in frayed nerves and ill-feelings.

What Happens When We’re Late

• Resentment - A person being late will generate at least a modicum of resentment in the person that was waiting, unless it’s become such a habit that the other person EXPECTS the tardiness, which in case…
• Unreliability - A person who is late gains the reputation of being unreliable. This dependability issue may come into play when a person is being considered for a job or a promotion or even a pay raise or bonus, since…
• Uncaring - A person who is late will come to be thought of as uncaring. I would say that the uncaring borders on arrogance, as it seems as if the person has no regard to the feelings, needs and deserved respect of the person waiting.

Tips to Ensure Habitual Punctuality

So, if by now, you think as I do, that being punctual is important, I’ve put together a few pointers to aid in that endeavor:

• Acknowledge the Importance of Punctuality - Like ending any bad habits (e.g. smoking), the first thing to do is the acknowledge the problem, and develop the desire to do something about it. Without this important first step, it’s an uphill battle.
• Be a Time Realist, not a Time Optimist - Realize that we live in a space-time continuum where time flows non-stop whether we do something or nothing. So, be mindful of the little things we do: brushing teeth - 3-5 minutes; reading and responding to an email - 5-10 minutes; putting on make-up - 10-15 minutes, whatever, and know that doing a bunch of them will add up to a large chunk of time.
• Pad Your Appointments - Allow for things like travel and breaks, and even some “breathing room” when planning appointments if possible. Say you have two one-hour meetings. If possible, put in a 15 or 30 minute “break” between them to allow for things like having the first meeting run over a few minutes (because someone else was late), or so you have time to gather material and prepare for the second meeting without being rushed, etc.
• Have the Correct Time on all Clocks - I think it’s a better idea to have all your clocks and watches be set to the correct time, rather than setting them 5 or 10 minutes fast. By setting them fast, you subconsciously know you have an extra 5 or 10 minutes, and what usually happens is procrastination. To set the correct time is very easy these days — some clocks have built-in radio communication that automatically sets the time, and for all the other devices, use your computer or cell-phone as a reference point.
• Prepare the Night Before - Using the divide and conquer principle, figure what tasks can be done the night before, if being somewhere on time in the morning is your goal: getting clothes out, making lunch, etc. If you have kids like I do, getting their clothes out is a good strategy, as is making sure their schoolwork is already packed up in their backpacks.
• Work Backwards from Desired Appointment - Here is what I feel is the main key to punctuality. All the previous tips are supporting blocks to this one. Since life is filled with uncertainties, we allow for some time for little “hiccups” to occur. So, for a job interview, the target time to arrive would be 15-20 minutes before the appointment. For a regular job, the target time would be 8-10 minutes before the official start time. Once the target arrival time is determined, work backwards to arrive at a realistic time to leave. Use experience to determine a realistic amount of travel time, and from that derive your departure time. From that, continue working backwards to allow time to eat, satisfy bathroom needs, groom and get dressed, etc., to arrive at a realistic wake-up time. Then use an alarm to wake up at that time. If you have trouble waking up, then it’s obvious an earlier bed time is in order.

Being on Time is a Desire

In the end, being on time is as much a desire as it is a coordination of logistics.

If you have any thoughts on this, I’d love to hear them.

I love that phrase.

It has such…power, and yet simplicity with its monosyllabic words.

And for me, it means so much.

Comic Book “Origins”

I first heard that phrase in a Fantastic Four comic book by writer/artist John Byrne. It introduced the concept of someone who has the determination and persistence to will something to be — that someone was a alien character reminiscent of rival DC Comic’s Superman. The protagonists are unable to overcome this alien, until they figure out how to instill a slight sense of doubt in him. That doubt provided the opening they needed to literally knock him out.

Interestingly enough, I do remember that years later, when Byrne was working on Superman, he used the same concept to explain how the Man of Steel can lift a cruise ship, and basically not have it collapse under its own weight. Or even how he can fly. To paraphrase, Superman’s “superness” is his sheer force of will.

Well, that’s fantasy — real life is different, right?

Real Life Will Power

A lot of things that are worth doing in real life is hard. Just think:

• Getting in shape
• Getting a college degree
• Writing a great blog that has tens of thousands of subscribers
• Having a great relationship/marriage
• Running a business

Notice that everything requires effort, time, and commitment in order for it to succeed? The get-quick-rich schemes, pyramid schemes, and other so-called short-cuts to success that we see on late night infomercials are all telling us it’s easy. We need to be smart and realize that it’s not, lest we be taken by contemporary Jedi mind tricks.

In Our Culture and History

I know sometimes I get caught up in my own little world of hardships, and there are times when I am just plain tired. That’s when I need a dose of inspiration. When I need inspiration, I think of others that have succeeded — the achievement, the inventions, the stories that are all part of our culture. And then it’s very easy to see what I need to do. Some simple examples are:

• Sports - How often have we seen sports athletes who play through pain, or how against all odds, an player on a team is able to “carry his team on his back” by sheer determination.
• Flying - Would we have our global “village” today if the Wright Brothers (and other inventors) had given up on the “silly” idea of flying that had teased the imaginations of people throughout history?
• Going to the Moon - How did the scientists, researchers and engineers able to step up to the challenge presented by President John F. Kennedy when he told everyone of our goal to land on the moon (first)?
• Miracle Recovery - I have heard stories where a hospital patient is all but left to die by his/her doctors and even loved ones, who’ve lost all hope. But somehow, some way, the patient is able to heal, much to the surprise of everyone. I have to think a part of it may have been the patient’s own sheer desire to live (either that or the doctors made a misdiagnoses — in any case, it makes a great story).

I marvel at these and other examples, using them as inspiration for my own aspirations.

Desire Only Leads the Way

Of course, even with determination and persistence, we usually won’t get anywhere without a proper foundation: education, talented people to help, financial, emotional or moral support, etc. So, yeah, we still have to be realistic.

Our desire leads the way, but we still need to have the smarts, the acumen to set up a plan, a road map that will help us reach these goals in manageable steps. Whether it’s shooting a thousand free throws in practice every day, or cutting out all junk food, or diligently studying for school, keeping in mind the larger picture, and using others’ success as inspiration, we need to know what to do to make it.

We may still fail, even while we keep trying — and history is filled with inventors who died penniless, etc. But it is that attitude to keep going, to get up after falling down, to keep going despite all the naysayers, that more often than not, see us to fruition.

I haven’t been able to find the source, but I really like this quote:

“Persistence Prevails When All Else Fails.”