Social Facilitation: How to Empower the Audience of Self

Respect the Guy in the Glass

In 1908, Psychologists, Robert M. Yerkes and John Dillingham Dodson stated that, "Performance increases with psychological or mental arousal, but only up to a point. When levels of arousal become too high, performance decreases." 

The concept of social facilitation is relatively simple: When you are good at a task, in the presence of an audience, you excel. Subsequently, the mere presence of an audience, while performing complex, or less familiar tasks, inhibits your execution.

I believe, social facilitation is way more than just an academic term. As we attempt to live a deserving life of influence and integrity, we must be able to understand what motivates us and what could potentially hinder us.

The essential variable in this equation is understanding how we react in the presence of others. Do we live each day worrying about meeting other people's expectations or have we chosen a path that will truly give us fulfillment at the end of the day? It is most important to remember that, we are our most important audience.

My favorite poem, "The Guy in the Glass" by Dale Winbrow, holds true with the following stanza: 

"

You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years,

And get pats on the back as you pass,

But your final reward will be heartaches and tears

If you've cheated the guy in the glass. 

"

          

The following help us harness our motivation to succeed and refocus our energies on the right influence as we move forward in our quest for greatness: 

1. Master your craft: 

Achieving a certain degree of mastery over your craft negates, the influence of an audience and augments yours abilities to minimizes errors. A seasoned professional masters his craft and demands the highest quality in herself than even her worst critics. Eliminate childish "eye-service" and people pleasing facades for a professional work ethic. Hold yourself and your brand by that standard and only then can you overcome the limitation of externally influenced ineptitude. Remember, intensity beats extensity every time.

2. Maintain the highest integrity and honesty to yourself: 

Be true to your standards, regardless of who may be watching. Of course, as humans, we inherently possess the beautiful skill of self awareness and it would be fallacious to discount completely all external influences. So in as much as we strive to defend our reputation, our character - The true you - must not suffer for it.

3. Never Let Anyone Else Do Your Thinking for You: 

Indeed, Crowd Psychology is dangerous. In as much as we can learn so much from others and may feel more comfortable in a well established group, it is important to retain our individuality as well and cherish what makes us unique.  Social Scientists have established the fact that the psychology of a crowd differs significantly from the psychology of individuals within it. So the next time you're in a group and facing a unanimous decision, don't forget to question yourself and follow your true opinion.

4. Respect The Guy in The Glass: 

Never discount your ideas just because they didn't come from someone else. Ralph Waldo Emerson said it best in his essay, Self Reliance: "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till." Nothing more needs to be said. A word, for the wise, is enough.

5. Adjust your awareness of potential evaluation: 
This is it! Here and now... Today, not tomorrow... It's like we postpone our happiness, plans and gratification for some later date... For some later time when we can say, "I've arrived, let me now rest". We say, "I'm not that much of of an influence yet, let  me get my degree first"... "I'm still too young, no one will listen to me"... "Oh! there's no money for that now, maybe ten years down the road"... 

I could go on but I guess you get the point. These are all just silly excuses... Someone once said, "If you really want to do something there's always a way. If you don't, there's always an excuse"... What's most important is how you see yourself today... right now... The show is already on... This is the already stage is set... The audience have been seated since day one... 

Remember, a superstar will always give the crowd a great show. No exceptions, no excuses... Do not cheat yourself by thinking you are not your most important audience. 

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“As a born actress, she instinctively understands that the world is more than a stage - its an audience.” R. Z. Sheppard. 

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Photo Courtesy: http://youmerugby.com/post/6519134437/how-poetry-and-recovering-alcoholics-can-help-your

INTERNAL QUEST: Our Quest for the best within

Mathematician, Alfred North Whitehead said, "Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them." A first order condition for safety, peace and functionality, in any society, is ensuring that the necessary parameters for progress are in place - justice, freedom and sovereignty.

Take a good look at ultra-successful individuals in our society today; you’ll notice that they live their lives according to a strict set of personal principles more defined than their more average counterparts. Individuals, who choose to be something other than just ordinary, also require a similar “code of conduct” concerning their affaires.

In our quest to become the best version of ourselves, it is imperative we construct a blueprint to live by. Of course, nothing is set in stone and as we move forward and our experience builds up, we assess our performance and tweak our creeds accordingly. As the common saying goes, “He who fails to plan, plans to fail”.

To achieve that higher level of performance, we need to consistently inquire, search, and be willing to learn, grow and adapt to the sea of unforeseeable circumstances lying ahead. Remember, this is a journey, not a destination; a marathon, not a sprint; a process, not a single step.

I like Shiv Khera's quote that says, “Winners don’t do different things, they do things differently” How do we know what to do differently and what to copy from others? How do we figure out what works best for us and what doesn't? How do we find our zone and stay within its boundaries to best harness our potential? Bottom-line, if we are not improving, then what are we doing?

Here are a few reminders on how to get back on the fast track to becoming a little better, everyday.      

1. Understand Yourself:

"Ben Franklin wrote, “Three things are very hard; diamonds, steel, and finding our unique, individual abilities. You have to discover, essentially, who you are to best understand how to reach the apex of your capacity.

Exercising the natural instinct of self observation and taking mental notes - sometimes even literal ones - on how we respond to different circumstances may be a good way to start the road to self realization. It’s a personal assignment we cannot delegate. We note when our energies are highest? The best times to work, play, rest and recuperate.

Learning new things about yourself and your potential should be a lifelong quest… It’s fun… your destiny is in your own hands so why not mold yourself - as clay - and create that ultimate version of yourself. I believe that there’s nothing we cannot achieve. N/B: “Whatever a man thinks about day and night, everyday will surely come to pass. You attract the world you live in”.

2. Understand Your Goals:

Running at the fastest speed in the wrong direction will not get you to the finish line. It is your duty to decide what you want to do with your life. Decide your goal, understand the implications and figure out how to get there.

Above all else, what do you believe is your sole purpose? What do you believe you were born to do? If at the end of the day you only have this single act done, will you be satisfied? Intensity beats extensity every time… The earlier you begin the better…

I personally believe there’s always a better way of getting things done. For every path you choose, come consequences and it’s up to you figure out how to get to the Promised Land. Hey, aggressive action is not effective action – Settle down, decide then commit.

3. Read Biographies;

“Nothing is new under the sun”. For every path you choose or decision you make, you can almost, always be sure that someone, somewhere has tried it and failed, or succeeded before you… So it’s up to us to learn from that experience. Why reinvent the wheel? Why repeat their mistakes when we can stand on the shoulders of giants and begin from there. I often tell my younger brother that, "old literature never dies"… I don’t believe in old news, there’s always a lesson to learn…

4. Encourage Grit:

“Bend but don’t break” – That was the slogan for the 2009 NBA Champions, Los Angeles Lakers. Coach Phil Jackson – a.k.a. Zen Master calls this the “bamboo philosophy. To become better you have to keep trying… It’s as simple as that… For every milestone reached in our quest for success, I believe there’s this virtual turning-point whereby, it’s quit now and forget about it or, take one more step and here it is…

The beautiful thing about this journey is, most times we never know when we get to that point. Thomas Edison, one of the world’s greatest inventors said, "I have not failed 1,000 times.  I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to NOT make a light bulb." My father once told me, “Don’t change the winning formula”. You’ve got to keep trying…

5. Have Faith:

Ask anyone who has ever knocked down a buzzer-beating jump-shot if while they were pulling up to shoot, they were thinking of missing? Do we wait for all the lights to become green before we leave the house? That initial fuel behind our decision to take a step towards any given venture is faith – “The evidence of the unseen, the substance of things hoped for”.

You may be thinking, I don’t think I have what it takes… Hey! Who knows?!? But remember this: “A ship is safe at harbor but that’s not what ships are for”.

6. Execute: 

The recently retired coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, Phil Jackson - a.k.a The Zen Master - reminded his guys that all their practice sessions we led to naught if they couldn’t execute their plays down the stretch. You can have the best thought out plan, with the most cutting edge technology, but without execution, it is nothing but paperwork…

As we practice being the best version of ourselves, and renew our quest to become a little better every day, it is imperative we enjoy the ride.

Enjoy the challenge of trying again, regardless of the odds… Checking our tools… Checking ourselves… and doing our homework…

You might have your own set of rules, rituals, or personal standards you hold yourself by. Please feel free to share in the comments section below.

Management Tip of the Day: Be a Great Finisher

Seeing a project through to completion is difficult for many people. Even those with the best intentions get bogged down in other projects, procrastinate, or lose steam. Reaching a goal is mostly a matter of mindset, rather than innate skill. When you focus on how much you've accomplished rather than what you still have left, you undermine your motivation to finish rather than nourish it. If you find yourself struggling to get a project done, focus on how much work remains. This "to-go" thinking helps sustain and heighten motivation by triggering the brain to dedicate attention and effort to the task.

By Grant Halvorson

Courtesy HBR

http://web.hbr.org/email/archive/managementtip.php?date=090211