Holding your own at the next level up (Get Going)
This training plan is all about being and acting more confident in important situations.
It lasts 12 weeks and through it you’ll be working on different focus areas in 2 week sprints. It’ll take you 30 minutes to get going now, and then 30-40 minutes to create your plan at the start of each 2 week sprint.
Oh, and some effort and commitment to follow your plan during that sprint.
What's happening right now?
You feel you know your stuff and when there’s nothing at stake, or you’re working with people you feel are less experienced or with your peers, you‘re fine. You deliver with confidence and you’re assertive, decisive and articulate. You’re a great team member who plays their part well.
But when it comes to working with people you want or need to impress or there’s lots at stake, your confidence seems to disappear and doubts start to flood in. You’re nervous, hesitant, indecisive and stay quiet when you know you could speak up. It doesn’t make much sense to you and you’re very frustrated by it.
Why it’s happening
For starters, it’s not unusual. It happens a lot and it typically happens because:
- The stakes are high and there’s a consequence for messing things up. So that puts the pressure on and makes you nervous.
- There’s uncertainty. New situations or people mean less certainty and more doubt. You start to focus on what’s unfamiliar rather that what you know and need to do. You start to play the occasion, not the game.
- It’s a legacy from your childhood. Your brain takes over and gets intimidated by ‘the grown ups’ like you did when you were 12. It’s not helpful or rational but it’s seemingly uncontrollable.
Your choices
You could choose to do nothing. That’ll take no time or effort and the problem might get better on its own.
However, that’s pretty unlikely. So the other option is to do something about it.
That’ll take some time and effort now and through the next 12 weeks, everyday. If you do choose this, you can expect to:
- Be calmer and more composed – no out of control nerves
- Feel you deserve to be there – no more imposter syndrome
- Be focused on playing the game, not the occasion
- Appear more articulate, confident and in control
Performance is a game of choices and now it’s up to you. Do nothing and hope or commit to getting better.
Katy's story
Katy was a typical high achiever. She sailed through school and university. She then got a place on a prestigious graduate programme for a big multinational oil company. She made great progress and was ear-marked for greatness. But once she stepped out of the graduate programme and into a permanent role in the finance team, the problems started. She started feeling intimidated and out of her depth when it came to working with people more senior to her or speaking up in meetings. She ignored it for a while, but it didn’t get any better. It got so bad that she made a right mess of presenting an important project proposal and her boss stepped in to help her out (which didn’t really help how she felt too much).
She decided enough was enough and to do something about it. So she tried out this training plan. With a bit of time, effort and discipline, Katy worked through each focus area and started to think and do things differently. She learned how to focus on herself – play the game rather than the occasion. She got better at recognising and using her strengths in important situations. She also built a short routine to get her ready to do a great job in those pressure moments. By the end of the programme she felt she had a plan that works and that she could use whatever the situation.
Katy feels much more confident and in control now. She feels like she’s she’s got a right to be in meetings with important people and knows she can hold her own. She knows what’s helped her make this change and she’s now disciplined in doing the fundamentals and following her plan.
If you asked Katy, she’d tell you she’s pretty pleased she chose to tackle this and that it was well worth the effort and time. She’d also tell you that she was surprised how simple and straightforward the solution was. If you asked us we’d tell you it’s a genius plan created by some very clever people.
Ready to get going?
If you’re ready to get better, you better get going.
Start off by setting some goals.
1. Get a starting point.
Rate yourself for where you are right now. You’re familiar with the idea of a scale of 1-10 where 1 is total rubbish and 10 is that it’s as good as it can get.
2. Set a target.
Yes, you got it. Using the same high tech scale, set yourself a target for where you want to be on this. We’re assuming you don’t want to get worse, so the number here should be higher than the starting point. It’s OK for it not to be 10. Choose a number that feels like a bit of a stretch, that would make you feel proud and you feel confident you could achieve with a bit of hard work.
3. Think about the people who need to know that you’re using this tool
Tell them what you’re doing. That way they can support you and won’t think you’re just being weird.
Now get cracking!
You’re ready to crack on with your training plan!
You’ll be working in 2 week sprints over the next 12 weeks on stuff that will really make a difference – read How it works if you haven’t already. For this plan, you’ll spend weeks 1 to 10 working on these 5 most effective things to do:
Week 1 – 2: Get clear on your goals
Week 3 – 4: Get clear on your strengths
Week 5 – 6: Rehearse it in your mind
Week 7 – 8: Connect with your support team
Week 9 – 10: Get a pre-performance routine
It’s important to work through them in this order.
In each 2 week sprint, you learn what to do and how, through an example plan we’ve prepared. For this plan, the example is that of leading a big project where some senior people are involved – a classic ‘hold your own’ situation.
You then create your own plan. Just download, print out and complete the blank plan provided. You can use ideas from the example plan or not – but follow the same principles.
In weeks 11 and 12, you’ll be putting all the good stuff you’ve learned and done in these 5 areas together. You’ll be guided through this when the time comes, so don’t worry about that for now.