Use Your Executive Power Pack
by Barbara Reinhold
Sports metaphors abound in corporate life. But how about going one step further and developing a career strategy borrowed directly from the world of athletic performance management? How about creating your own EXECUTIVE POWER PACK?
It's simple to do. Here are the four steps:
1. Just before you tackle a messy problem that requires you to be on your toes or get ready to go off to an important meeting, presentation or interview, take two minutes to close your eyes and remember a time from the past (anything from age 5 to yesterday) when you felt like a real winner. Visualize a time when you knew you had done a good job.
2. Fix that image in your mind and remember as many details as possible. What was going on? Who said what? Whose faces do you remember? How did that magic time taste, feel and sound to you?
3. Now recall how you felt about yourself and what abilities this experience brought up for you. Say things like "You're really good," "You're a winner," or "You can do it" aloud to yourself. Burn that confidence into your brain.
4. Then, open your eyes and come back to where you are now and the challenge facing you. Tell yourself again, "You can do it." And you know what? You will!
So when will you use this Executive Power Pack? Whenever you need to marshal extra confidence and power to meet a challenge you're facing. This is how athletes prepare for important contests, and it can work for you, too. It's the cheapest, most accessible tool you'll ever find, and it will take you into your next game feeling like a champion.
