To lead in your chosen career/business in today's world, you have to be a performer - As well as other indispensable factors, an individuals' perspective most importantly, is imperative for being a performer as "attitude determines altitude". In this article, I will like to focus on how to be a performer.
Who is a performer?
Simply, a performer is;
• One who gets the job done anytime and anywhere.
• A leader who has the ability and can recognize ability.
• A doer.
What's the big deal of being a performer anyway?
I'm very sure you want to get to that point where you are your own Boss, a point you have achieved a trademark of excellence and creativity, a point where you are valued. As a weak performer in your business/career you just can't get to that point!
As a weak performer;
• You become less irrelevant and a liability to your business.
• You are less creative.
• You are not happy.
• You see everyone in your business as your enemy.
• You complain about everything that happens to you, but can't do anything to make changes.
• You get into debts because your output isn’t of much value.
• You become obese, as a result of stress, abnormal eating habits and no active exercise (you probably don’t even have the time).
It's an endless list of how horrible your life would turn out if you don’t act and push to become a performer.
Hopefully, we are on the same page of how important it is to be a performer.
Let’s look at a few strategies I researched some months ago and applied in my catering business. Trust me, it's mind-blowing how fast it works.
FOCUS ON YOUR STRENGTHS
High performers recognize not only their strengths but others as well. Find ways to develop your strengths and of others working for you especially strengths that has effects on strategy and goal accomplishment. YES! Don’t dwell on your weaknesses.
HOLD YOURSELF ACCOUNTABLE
Step up, take responsibility. When I find myself in a situation where something goes wrong I just process what happened and solicit ideas for improvement. What’s the need of passing the blame, it doesn't change anything. How you choose to handle faults and treat team members can cause an upswing in daily performance.
BE READY TO TAKE ON NEW CHALLENGE
Don't shy away from assignments especially if it’s challenging, it could just be an avenue to develop you. For example, I started out my catering business on a small scale; customer base was a small one so minimal staff as well. I only catered for only small events like birthday parties and get-together of about 20 people or less in attendance. I was recommended not too long after to cater for an event of about 100 people. As unassertive as I was I accepted the challenge, worked out the necessary logistics with the help of my team and handled it as perfectly as I had done with the smaller events. I learnt a lot from this experience and then I was more open to accepting large scale jobs.
GET FEEDBACK AND IMPROVE
After a performance asks your customers, team members for recommendations for improvement. Drop the ego and ask, you will be surprised at what you discover. Work on these feedbacks and do improve on them. No matter how well you did, you can always exceed your previous performance.
CREATE AN ATMOSPHERE OF PERFORMANCE FOR YOURSELF
Try to understand and have a deep knowledge of your physiological makeup, of your weakness and your strengths. With this knowledge you will know what works for you, that is if you'd rather work at night, or you think more when you in your room or elsewhere or what brings out that spark of creativity in you. Lack of knowledge of you is putting a limitation on your productivity. Check out TRUE101.COM for a personality type test.
HOW YOU EXPRESS WHAT YOU KNOW
What you say or do is not as important as how you say or do it. Coloured expressions with emotions could just put you on that spot. Emotion colours your tone. Some of the factors that come in play when expressing your ideas are;
• Communication--in communicating you should be concise, coherent, and considerate have courtesy, confident and have some knowledge about the topic.
• Creativity-- your ability to create stands you out from the crowd, especially in business. To boost your creativity understand how your brain works; expose it to materials, books, nature, whatever works for you. TV works for me. Remember, the best guy doesn't always get the best job, the guy with the best relationship surprisingly does. I've forgotten where i heard that.
VALUE YOUR HEALTH AND FITNESS
As a person that takes his health and fitness very seriously, I can't overemphasize this. Just as much as long hours at the office are needed from time to time you just have to create a schedule where you can get adequate sleep and some exercise. Exercise improves productivity. To become a top performer you have to be conscious of it and make conscious efforts to get to the top. Do whatever you need to do. Do it well and do it now.
I hope this post has addressed some issues that need more attention even as we enter into a new year. You can add this to your resolutions.
Please don't forget to comment, up vote and re-steem.
HAVE A WONDERFUL AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR