The other day, I stumbled on an article about the “Green Berets”.

Aka the US Special Forces.

The article was saying how the Green Beret’s trickiest task is sprinting, skiing or climbing to a firing line deep in enemy territory, then having to ready their weapon to shoot at a target one or two seconds later. Obviously, a heaving chest and wobbly arms do not an accurate shot make. And so a huge part of the Green Berets’ training regime is learning how to focus on the task in hand, even when their heart is pounding and their nervous system is going like the clappers.

As a result, the Green Berets are masters of dropping their thoughts about the past or future and getting as uber present as they possibly can.

This reminded me of another article I read a while back about the tennis superstar Novak Djokovic.

Novak is arguably the best male tennis player of all time (although I still have a soft spot for Roger). And the article was basically saying how a key plank of Novak’s success wasn’t working on his backhand or his ball toss. 

It was working on his performance under pressure instead.

In fact, YouTube is full of interviews of Novak using phrases like “being in the moment”, “letting things pass” and “resetting mentally”.

Lebron James and Steph Curry use similar language too. These basketball supremos often talk about how “the game slows down” when they’re on the court and how they’re not even really thinking consciously but are reacting instinctively, in the moment, and seeing the basketball more clearly as a result.

Now, perhaps you think there’s nothing new here.

After all, stories of elite performers “being present” and using mindset to stay cool under pressure aren’t in short supply.

But what might have you raising a beady eyebrow is how the world’s top scientists figured out why this works.

The German physicist Werner Heisenberg discovered that the act of measuring something actually alters whatever is being measured (as crazy as that might sound). Then his partner in crime Niels Bohr took it a step further when he discovered that what you observe literally depends on HOW you observe it.

And look. I’m not about to submit this email to a scientific journal.

I’m a coach/banker who writes a jaunty and slightly waffling newsletter.

But from where I’m sitting, the science lines up with the Green Beret perched on a mountainside and Novak saving break point on the crisp green turf at Wimbledon. The way you look at what’s in front of you changes what you’re looking at. And the clearer you see what’s in front of you, the more likely you are to get the result you’re aiming for.

This isn’t even healing crystals and tie-dye shirts.

This is proper science baby!

Of course, none of us are about to sprint through enemy territory or shoot hoops in the NBA.

But what we probably will do is clock in at our day job next week.

And when we do, it pays to keep this idea in mind.

Elite sports, the armed forces and companies all around the world are basically dealing with the same raw materials (uncertainty, pressure, big rewards, high stakes decision-making…)

And yet corporates haven’t yet caught on to the simple truth which the military, sport stars and scientists have all discovered:

The quality of the state of mind doing the work is what impacts the quality of the work itself. 

Not intellect, mind you, but state of mind. 

Whereas the mantra in companies up & down the country is all about effort, force and control. Which, as far as I can see, is the complete OPPOSITE of the reality of performing under pressure.

Perhaps I’m biased towards the desk and spreadsheet jobs like banking. But even if I am biased, it’s clear that science, sport and the military have adapted to reality whereas corporates met reality, decided they didn’t like it and then built a PowerPoint to try to bend it to their will.

I guess this isn’t surprising.

In sport, combat and even in science, you get immediate, real time feedback on your actions. Whereas in corporate, by the time that feedback arrives, it’s been through so many committees, huddles and watercooler chats that no-one can even remember what the initial fuss was all about.

Anyway, I’m not sure where else I’m going with all this.

Except to say that if you’re tired of using effort, force and control in your day job (and you have the sneaky suspicion that they don’t even work), there is another way.

It’s a way I use in my own day job after coming back to banking from two years in the wilderness and finding that the desk I'd left looked completely different when I got back.

It's a way that also happens to sit at the heart of my coaching. 

There's nothing we need to fix about you or your job. But we might need to clear your windscreen a little. 

If you're curious, here's the link: 

https://waitinglist.followingfulfilment.com

To fulfilment, 

Tom