Comments on: Finding Your Extra Performance Gear

By: Art Petty

Art Petty — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:03:56 +0000

Kyle, Jim and David, thanks for adding your thoughts!

Kyle, excellent reminder of the importance and power of friends and family during challenging periods in our lives. Thank you!

Jim, great Disney tie in and great point on what it sometimes take to pull through and to succeed!

David, that manager definitely gets the de-motivator award! Great point…change venues…change your thoughts…the mind recharges.

Thanks to all!

By: David Locke

David Locke — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:52:27 +0000

I remember working all nighters to meet the schedule. Then, having met it, and product shipped, I was headed home to go to bed. This about 9:30 am. My manager told me to remain at work until the end of the day–not a motivator.

Good attendance awards are similar. They motivate the wrong behaviors. Attendance is not the job. Getting stuff done is the job.

The cure for burnout is to leave work, get work out of your head, and not comeback until you’re over the burnout. funny thing is it, you’ll be back in three days.

By: Jim Holland

Jim Holland — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:59:39 +0000

Art, great observations and thoughts. Walt Disney once said, “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”

As a community, we have to encourage, inspire and lift one another to often find that extra performance. This often means having an honest conversation with someone about their capabilities, getting up an hour earlier to meditate and prepare for the days battle, or connect with someone late in the evening to offer support and ideas.

By: Kyle Zive

Kyle Zive — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:34:06 +0000

Art,

By personal experience I can relate to this post. In a way it brings back hard memories of an unknowing time. It also brings back memories if what I did to overcome it, For me, I dropped the exercise (bad idea for two obvious reasons) but I think what enabled me to keep moving forward were my family and more importantly my friends. Words of encouragement and as you put it a little tough love got me moving in a direction that was beneficial. I have a job, not the right one, but am working toward the remedy to that as well as other things.

Thank you for the post.

By: Art Petty

Art Petty — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:42:48 +0000

Bret, you are so right on the exercise. When I don’t keep a regular workout schedule, the sleep goes out the window, stress goes up and as my wife notes, I get really grumpy! That’s not good.

Funny that you mention the grinding…I heard a report that indicated that the sale of bite guards are at an all time record.

Thanks as always, Bret for reading and sharing your much appreciated ideas and insights. -Art

By: Bret Simmons

Bret Simmons — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:36:05 +0000

Great post, Art. Concur with Wally that exercise is a MUST. If I did not run I would be a basket case. I also can be very creative in the hour I spend running; it so drains stress that things come to mind I never considered before.

As for sleep, I highly recommend Ambien CR. I don’t use it anymore, but I went through a period of trouble sleeping and it works like a charm. I had no side effects and it was not addicting. See your doctor. It was very much worth it for me.

I still have a lot of stress, which leads me to grind my teeth at night, so I use a custom mouth guard from my dentist. It works wonders! I’m like a baby with a pacifier. Honestly, it works.

Great stuff, Art! Bret

By: Art Petty

Art Petty — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:37:51 +0000

Siraj, Aaron and Wally, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. Much appreciated.

Wally, great advice for all of us. In my case, instead of meditating, I compose blog posts until I’m satisfied that I’ve got a workable idea in my mind. At that point, the sleep comes easy.

Best to all of you,

Art

By: Wally Bock

Wally Bock — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:31:11 +0000

You hit a couple of important things there, Art. Alternating work with recovery is important. Exercise is good because it also aids in stress reduction and can improve sleep.

There are also several things you can do to improve sleep. A dark, cool room helps, along with a regular bedtime and a bit of diet control. A white noise generator (or a fan which can substitute) really helps some folks.

As long as you’re doing self-improvement stuff, this might be a good time to learn meditation which has stress-reduction and creativity benefits.

By: Aaron Assad

Aaron Assad — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:41:01 +0000

In deed this is a complicated part of life, but life is always a challenge and we need to learn how to overcome those challenges, I’m in the position where I’m not working but am fortunate enough to be able to go back to school and get my masters degree, I think this is what has helped me from frustrating myself, these are hard times to find a job that is really worth doing, but with some confidence and patience I hope everything gets better for everyone.

By: Siraj Malik

Siraj Malik — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:31:57 +0000

Hi Art,
I personally can’t imagine how hard it must be to have to look for a job during these times. I often do wonder how I myself would react if I did get laid off. Would I hit the books the next day and teach myself the newest current technologies and start my own projects? Or would I be too emotionally drained and unable to accomplish anything? How long would I be able to keep it together if I didn’t land a new job within the first couple of months? I would be stressed and I don’t even have a family or a mortgage to support, I can’t imagine being in this position of those that do. I think you are right in that we have to stick together and help those less fortunate. We need to be there for them because it can easily be us in their shoes tomorrow.