Two years ago, I spent a week checking the accounts for a client in Boston. It was a great trip at first-plenty of historic sights and fantastic American sized food portions.
But one day, everything that could have gone wrong, did in fact go wrong. I found I had to face something rather complex, which involved US tax. When I came to actually doing the work, I found that I simply could not function. My mind was a complete blank. My colleagues tried to explain again and again what I had to do and it just became more and more obvious that I did not have a clue as to how to complete it. This lead to a deeper and deeper sense of embarrassment and frustration. Until eventually, to my great shame, my manager stepped in and took on the work.
This triggered a three month period where, basically, I lost confidence in my ability to do the most simple of things: remember a number, write down instructions, answer a basic question. I started making mistakes at work; left, right, and centre. Hello rock bottom, bad performance rating, and to top it all off, a lack of confidence too.
One idea was lodged in my mind though;
‘Mistakes are the portals of discovery’
~James Joyce.
A sentiment we have all probably heard in many forms but I sought to flip my horrible work experience into a good one. I became rigidly focused on changing things. I became focused on having a clear head. I confess a large part of my motivation was driven by fear. Fear that I would have another day of having a complete brain malfunction.
The answer I found was in trying to focus on ‘well-being’.
That corporate catch-all word for: happiness, health and mental stability.
Over the next year or so, I read everything on well-being I could find, asked every expert I knew, researched online and gathered facts about endorphins, sleep patterns, productivity strategies. I researched it and I applied it relentlessly. Anything that could give me my edge back, I applied. I took up yoga, I ran 5k a week, I started eating smoothies, I started complimenting people more, I applied every trick I could find to improve well-being.
I probably followed what is a well-worn path of self-help, but with a slight difference. I am an auditor by trade and professional scepticism is something I apply every day. So I based my well-being investigations on evidence based facts and tested things to see if they worked.
This not only measurably improved my work performance, I also passed my accountancy exams by focusing on well-being and I consider it a major contributor to my success. I have since shared my findings with many teams other than the one I went to Boston with and last week got an award for outstanding contributions to the office.
Here’a little ‘cheat sheet’ of my top tips:
And check out this principle of design which I could waffle on about til the cows have come home, gone to the barn and are in a deep sleep dreaming of how home they are:
And finally, I leave you with some inspirational words from Jake, himself (Adventure Time).