The year was 1954 and the thinking at the time was that a 4-minute mile could never be broken. The experts said it was humanly impossible to run a mile under 4 minutes. Humans were just not designed to run that fast. However, like a lot of things in life, this was more of a mental perception than a real human physical inability. Then in May of 1954, Roger Bannister ran a mile in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds and the world was astounded.
It was a great human athletic breakthrough, however, the record only stood for 46 days. Why? The assumption that it’s impossible to break the 4-minute mile was just a sign of a mental block, of the way people were thinking at the time, and how this thinking was limiting what was actually humanly possible.
Move forward into today’s fast-paced and ever-changing business world. I hear and read many stories about organizations unable to break their own 4-minute mile — due to lack of innovation, lack of resources, lack of top talent. The list goes on but each of these challenges is in fact a 4-minute mile that can be broken. The question is who in this new era of business will be the first to break it.
From the world of high-performance athletics, here are a few strategies that will help you break those 4-minute miles:
Slow down to go fast
Most people these days work at such a frantic pace that they consistently miss opportunities to be effective. There is an abundance of efficient work being done, but there is a big difference between being efficient and being effective. To start to slow things down, simply put aside work that doesn’t need your immediate attention. Doing this alone will put you in a working mindset of being responsive instead of reactive, which allows the brain to think clearly and develop better solutions and ideas for challenges that seem impossible to solve when working fast and in reactive mode. Sometimes it might require just setting things aside and forgetting about them for awhile.
Remove those distractions
Social media, texting, mindless Internet surfing, low priority work — these are all forms of distraction that occupy our minds and time during the day. This leaves us feeling like we are getting things done or that we are having a busy day. In reality, we have just been distracted for 90% of our working day.
When you remove these distractions, your ability to focus increases dramatically. And when this happens, ideas, insights and solutions start to appear. This is when you have a breakthrough idea on how to solve a challenge that you had been trying to figure out. Just like an athlete who is having a breakthrough in performance, you want your focus to be laser-sharp to enable you to enter into your performance zone.
Lead with a vision
Whether you lead a team or not, having a clear vision of what you want to achieve or where you want to move your business is paramount. Without a clear vision, there will be no breakthroughs in performance. High-performance athletes who have mastered this skill have achieved some remarkable breakthroughs in human performance, and this same skill can be used in the workplace. Vision is often overlooked or not given much attention in our modern day workplace because a vision is not necessarily something that can be measured immediately. But the truth is, when a business is trying to break their 4-minute mile, a strong, personal and meaningful vision empowers people to perform at their best each day, allowing for breakthroughs in performance at every level of the organization.
Roger Bannister proved to the world that the impossible 4-minute mile could be broken, and it was more of a mental barrier than a physical barrier. He went on to have a successful career applying the same athletic principles to his work as a distinguished neurologist. And the same holds true for any business or organization looking to break their own 4-minute mile.
All the best in achieving your highest performance.
Paul
Image courtesy of Ambro at FreeDigitalPhotos.net