I crossed paths with a colleague who had her gym bag slung over her shoulder. “Spring Break is right around the corner,” she grinned. “Gotta get back to the gym!”
But two days later, she stepped gingerly down the hall. “What happened?” I asked about her wrapped ankle.
“I forgot what a killer CrossFit can be,” she answered. “I missed the warm-up because I was a little late. They had already started high-intensity sprints, but as you can tell, my ankle didn’t agree. Blame it on watching too many episodes of ‘American Ninja Warrior,'” she joked.
In the March series, Productivity Break-Ups, we’re discussing three behaviors hindering your success. Have you ever been like my friend, where good intentions find you going to extremes? She thought eagerness alone was enough, but breezing past the warm-up was a critical error. Now, she’s on the sidelines until her ankle fully heals. So much for instant results!
The same lesson applies to work projects. We’ve all felt tempted to take a spark of an idea, shout, “I got this!” and start forcing, but perhaps it’s time to break up with that perspective. Let’s meet someone whose calculated choices produced a brand-new career.
If you’re lucky enough to visit the Camp Jabulani safari in South Africa, you’ll enjoy the cuisine of Chef Calvonia. Calvonia got her foot in the door by joining the housekeeping staff. But she secretly dedicated her downtime to her passion: culinary arts. During a chance encounter with Executive Chef Alex, she let him in on her dream of becoming a Chef.
Initially, she split her time between the two teams. However, she was quickly promoted and offered a full-time culinary job. Every day is a stretch exercise, whether she’s designing new recipes for the Jabulani guests or discovering efficiencies with the rest of the kitchen staff.
Chef Calvonia jumped in with both feet but credits her success to tenacity, reflecting, “Practical work leads to experience in the art of cooking and dishes.” She laughed when asked for her favorite, “Everything is my favorite because knowledge is power.”
Conventional thinking about productivity focuses only on results. However, the case study demonstrates a surprising takeaway. The secret sauce is what happens behind the scenes—that’s because it powers the outcome. Incredible achievements start with the right mindset.
As Chef Calvonia pointed out, knowledge is power. However, knowledge takes a minute to build, especially inner wisdom. Activities like creating a project plan, collaborating to design a workflow, identifying a negotiating strategy, or learning new tools might take longer than you think. Not because you’re not being productive. It’s because you’re gaining knowledge and dedicating time and effort to attain excellence. Developing persistence and knowing when to stop or go requires awareness and self-control—critical skills colleagues love and that you can also use for your personal benefit.
But here’s the tangle: You may feel pushed for those instant results we discussed. So, the question becomes how to stress test your mindset while you’re moving forward. Here are five questions to reverse productivity FOMO to ensure you make shrewd decisions. (And be sure to make up phrases right for your personality and industry.)
Remember: Knowledge is power. However, gaining knowledge means no skimming, cutting corners, or letting enthusiasm get the best of you. Those choices sound like small trade-offs, but in the end, they’ll cost you time, energy, and frustration as you back up and gain essential data and insights. Instead, give yourself grace as you scale the learning curve. Break up with going to extremes.
Work skills are as easy as 1, 2, 3. Uplevel your skill set with my new book available at Amazon, Soft Skills Basics in a Flash.