The power of creative tension

Creative tension is one of the key components for improvement.The normal, and a very good, way to visualize this concept is with the following picture:

The top hand represents where we want to be and the bottom hand is where we are. The rubber band is the desire we have to bring our reality to where we want to be.

1) Remember that both hands can move to relieve the tension. We can either improve our reality or change where we want to go. Too often we change where we want to go instead of improving our reality.

2) There are three key parts that we must think about to use creative tension appropriately

a. A good picture of where we want to go.

b. A clear understanding of where we are. This is a key component that we rarely focus on. People think about goals a lot – we all talk about goals a lot. But for creative tension to create improvement we must understand the reality of where we are – we cannot lie to ourselves about our current situation. Only if we accurately assess where we are can we then create the appropriate improvements.

c. Maintaining the desire to close the gap. We must constantly fuel these efforts. Whether it recognition, reminder of the longer term and higher purpose of the goal and creating small wins along the way so that we keep on going, we MUST be committed to continually closing the gap. And the ONLY way to close the gap is to IMPROVE our reality to our GOAL. If we compromise on where we want to go we have simply delayed the work that we must do or accepted substandard performance – neither is acceptable.

Take a moment and think about where you want to be, think about where you really are (and that is key) and recognize creative tension as a powerful force that we need to use to get better. That tension can pull us forward and keep us falling back. Instead of the two hands shown above I sometimes think of creative tension as the following picture:

It is up to us to make sure that the nail is the future we are heading towards and not the current reality pulling us back. Creative tension is a powerful force.

With a strong commitment to the goal, and understanding of where we are and the desire and energy to keep working; it will compel us to great improvements. Understand it, use it and let’s start closing that gap today.

Work smarter....

(apologize it has been a bit since my last post... I am sure the world has been waiting on pins and needles!)

Was thinking about that phrase “work smarter, not harder” over the last few weeks. It is something you hear all of the time. At its core this phrase generally means do not waste your time on activities that have little value – focus as much as possible on the things that have the biggest impact. And of course there is a lot of insight we can gain from this philosophy.

But there should be a second part of that phrase. It should go “once you know how to work smarter… NOW work harder”. Working smarter is not a desired goal because we can work less – but a desired goal because now we have a better way to work. With working smarter – the more effort we put out the better we get. Look at world class athletes and musicians – they have clearly learned how to focus their energy on high value actions. But they also work harder at perfecting those skills than anyone. Michael Jordan was famous (infamous even) for working harder in practices than he did at games. Jerry Rice’s training routine was legendary for its degree of difficulty. The world’s great musicians spend their day practicing their instruments for HOURS. The obvious point is that to develop the world class performance you not only have to work smarter, you must work harder.

The great news about this is that working harder is something we all can do. We must be willing to put in that focus and energy into that smart work and be willing to push ourselves. The comfort zone and world class performance are rarely ever in the same neighborhood. Comfort should be a signal to try to do something more challenging. As we work and develop we need to work smarter AND harder. We can push ourselves to higher and higher levels of performance – and the fact that it is our effort that contributes to the improvements is both empowering and inspiring.

How focused are we on what area we need to improve? How do we commit to practicing it more? Find something that you need to focus on – and just see what improvements can happen if you just focus on practicing and working harder on that skill for the next few days - deliberate, focused practice is both smart and hard work. Enjoy it because when you do it you are taking control of your performance and improvements. And while that is hard to do – it is also very smart.