There is a popular term, most often used in business, called “buying in” – that is, to what degree do the people in an organization “buy in” to the changes and initiatives that have been proposed by leadership. The higher the level of buy in, the greater the likelihood of success.

The same is true, of course, for each one of us. On an almost daily basis, we are faced with change initiatives in our own lives. Some of them are initiated by us – a new diet or exercise regime, a shift in our career direction or a change in our relationship status.  Other changes are thrust upon us, from sudden health concerns to equally sudden changes in our financial or employment status .

In order to better understand the impact of buy in on the success or failure of changes in our own lives, let’s take a look at the three levels of “buying in”…

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Recently, my son introduced me to one of his favorite websites – www.stumbleupon.com. The basic idea, he explained to me, is that you click on a number of categories of things you find interesting, from movies to world politics to games to oceanography. You then “stumble” onto a website chosen at random by the website’s decision engine, and after viewing the page you click “I like it”, “I don’t like it”, or you can express your indifference by not clicking anything.

The decision engine takes these refinements into account, and you are gradually channeled towards more and more sites that you enjoy and away from those that hold no interest for you. The more you stumble, the more accurate and enjoyable the websites you will stumble upon.

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In last week’s tip, we explored the first two keys to creating optimal performance and results:

1. Recognizing when you’re on your game and when you’re not

2. Learning to be on your game more often.

(You can read part one here.)

This week, let’s continue our exploration by looking at two things which are perhaps less obvious but no less important in sustaining our performance and results over time…

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When an athlete or performer is on their game, they are at their best – present to what they’re doing, highly responsive to their environment, and somehow just knowing what to do at exactly the right time to do it. When they lose their bearings and go off their game, they get caught up in their heads, attempting to replace the flow of instinct and intuition with an ever increasing amount of rules and information and spending more time worrying about their performance than actually performing.

The same is true for each one of us, and points us to an unbreakable rule in the game of life:

The more time we spend being “on our game”, the more effective we will be, the higher our level of performance will be, and the better results we will produce.

Here are four keys to utilizing this distinction to increase your effectiveness in your life and work…

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