A Priceless Performance Formula

PERFORMANCE FORMULA

Planning + Preparation + Personal Work + Persistence + Prayer
= Practically Perfect Performance

Planning

By failing to plan you plan to fail. This reminds me of a story told by Thomas Monson:

Several days ago, while driving to my home, I approached the freeway entrance. At the on-ramp I noticed three hitchhikers, each one of whom carried a homemade sign that announced his desired destination. One sign read “Los Angeles,” while a second carried the designation “Boise.” However, it was the third sign which not only caught my attention but caused me to reflect and ponder its message. The hitchhiker had lettered not Los Angeles, California, nor Boise, Idaho, on the cardboard sign that he held aloft. Rather, his sign consisted of but one word and read simply “ANYWHERE.”

Here was one who was content to travel in any direction, according to the whim of the driver who stopped to give him a free ride. What an enormous price to pay for such a ride. No plan. No objective. No goal. The road to anywhere is the road to nowhere, and the road to nowhere leads to dreams sacrificed, opportunities squandered, and a life unfulfilled.

Your thoughts become clarified when you write them out, and they are deeply impressed in your mind as you read them over and over again. Although simple, my 5 Step Goal Plan guarantees goal achievement.

5 Step Goal Plan

1 Choose your goals
2 Divide your goals into small steps
3 Schedule your goal steps into a Daily Action Plan
4 Work your plan – do it!
5 Review your progress regularly

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While we’re planning, why not plan to win? William Arthur Ward contributed:

I am a Winner

…because I think like a winner, prepare like a winner, and perform like a winner.
…because I set high but attainable goals, work toward those goals with determination and persistence, and never stop until I reach them.
…because I am strong enough to say “No!” to those things that would make me less than my best, and to say “Yes!” to the challenges and opportunities that will make me grow and improve my life.
…because total commitment is my constant companion, and personal integrity is my life-time mentor.
…because I am learning to avoid the tempting shortcuts that can lead to disappointment, and the unhealthy habits that could result in defeat.
…because I have a well-earned confidence in myself, a high regard for my (family), teammates and co-workers, and a healthy respect of those in authority over me.
…because I have learned to accept criticism, not as a threat, but as an opportunity to examine my attitudes and to improve my skills.
…because I persevere in the midst of obstacles and fight on in the face of defeat.
…because I am made in the image and likeness of my Creator, who gave me a burning desire, a measure of talent, and a strong faith to attempt the difficult and to overcome the seemingly impossible.
…because of my enthusiasm for life, my enjoyment of the present, and my trust in the future.

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One world-famous winner had a plan. Although Bobby Unser pumped gas in his father’s service station in the 1950’s, he was determined to become a world-class race car driver. His daily pursuit of success resulted in winning multiple accolades in the race car industry including a three time victory at the Indianapolis 500. Unser went from meager means to achieving considerable wealth, owning a ranch, airplane, racing cars, and Bobby Unser Enterprises that promoted everything from food products to auto tires.

After one of his victories, Unser was asked, “Bobby, what makes you a winner? Your cars are not that much better, are they?”

“I found out years ago that winning pays more than losing,” Unser replied. Then he added this profound thought, “It takes very little more to be successful than to fail.”

Winning is more than quick starts or periodic bursts of energy. From the point of preparation to the thrill of victory, winners are intent to win throughout the race.

“When you are in any contest, you should work as if there were – to the very last minute – a chance to lose it. This is battle, this is politics, this is anything,” advised President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The little bit more planning, preparation, personal work, persistence and prayer – produces winners who are strong to the finish.

Preparation is the second part of the Performance Formula equation. I have dedicated an entire article to preparation and it’s critical role in achieving success. Click Here to read.

Personal Work

Thomas A. Edison remarked, “Success is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration.” Nido Qubein observed, “You may have the loftiest goals, the highest ideals, the noblest dreams, but remember this: nothing works unless you do.”

James Whitaker, the first American to reach the summit of Mt. Everest, knew about hard work and putting forth tremendous effort to reach a goal. Avalanches, dehydration, hypothermia and the physical and mental fatigue caused by the lack of oxygen at 29,000 feet all stood between him and the top of the world’s highest mountain. All of those who dared to climb it before Whitaker had failed. He succeeded.

“You don’t really conquer such a mountain,” he said. “You conquer yourself. You overcome the sickness and everything else – your pain, aches, fears – to reach the summit.”

After all the planning and preparation, if we want to hurdle barriers and excel like never before, we need to just do it.

Ky Won, age 48, set the difficult goal to stop smoking. In his words: “In order to stop smoking, I said to myself, All right, this is the litmus test for my whole life. I can’t give in! When I made up my mind to stop smoking, I immediately began.”

Duane, age 65, had a goal to run everyday. He said, “I go first thing in the morning to help me wake up and get my body system going. I dictate into a hand held tape recorder. This helps me feel I’m making good use of the time. I later take the dictation off and put it on the computer. After several weeks or months your body will get accustomed to the exercise and anticipate the lift it gives. My advice: Keep putting one foot forward and then the other.”

Madelyn, age 52, from San Francisco, had two great fears. She was extremely afraid of water, and of public speaking. She told this story:

I was panicked about swimming and about being in front of a group. I was nervous as could be! But I did it! I learned how to swim, and now I am actually not too fearful when I give presentations. The secret is the more I did it, the more I realized that these goals were doable and that I was capable! My confidence has grown through the years as I have done the things I was afraid of.

Persistence

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not, unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
Calvin Coolidge

Washington Roebling, builder of the Brooklyn Bridge, modeled persistence in a remarkable way.

The Brooklyn Bridge, which links Brooklyn to Manhattan Island, is one of the most famous bridges in the world. At the time it was first conceived in 1883, however, bridge-building experts throughout the world told the designer, a creative engineer by the name of John Roebling, that his idea wouldn’t work.

Roebling convinced his son Washington, who was also an engineer, that his idea had merit. The two of them developed the concept, resolved the problems others had forecast, and enthusiastically hired a crew to build their bridge. After only a few months of building, a tragic on-site accident took John’s life and severely injured Washington, who became unable to talk or walk. Everyone thought the project would have to be abandoned, since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew the dynamics of building the bridge.

Washington, however, could still think, and he had a burning desire to see the bridge finished. As he lay in his hospital bed, he had an idea. He would communicate with the engineers by using one finger to tap out in code, on his wife’s arm, what he wanted her to tell them.

Washington tapped out his instructions for 13 years until the bridge was completed.
(God’s Little Devotional Book for Leaders)

The story of Rudy Ruettiger is another excellent example of persistence. Indeed, his story became the material for the movie “Rudy,” released in 1993. It is the story of a young man with a dream and undaunted persistence to play football for Notre Dame. Rudy’s family, friends and teachers told him that he wasn’t college material. They explained that he was too short and not good enough to play. Rudy attended Holy Cross, a college nearby, and worked diligently to achieve excellent grades. He applied, and was denied, admission to Notre Dame every semester until his junior year in college. Rudy then joined the Notre Dame football team as a walk-on player. His dream was finally realized during the last game of his senior year when all of his teammates, one by one, turned in their jerseys so the new coach would allow Rudy to play.

Young Janelle Hanson, age 19, understands persistence. She recounted, “I dedicated over 1800 hours to my dance performance. It was difficult, but worth all the sacrifice. When my muscles ached so badly that I thought it impossible to finish, I would tell myself, ’It’s only 2 ½ minutes; you can do anything for 2 ½ minutes! Pull it together and finish!’ Quitting was never an option for me.”

Soo Hee, age 45, earned a PhD in a second language. Mr. Hee said, “When I made up my mind to earn a PhD at a quite old age, I put into practice studying right from that moment without delay. And then I devoted myself only to studying.”

Howard, age 55, reminisces about the importance of persistence in obtaining an MBA degree. “In my accounting class I found it was difficult to remember hundreds of rules. I made flash cards and used them all day each day. I reread the rule 50-100 times.”

Prayer – The Healing Power of Prayer

This interesting discovery concerning prayer was reported by Dr. Larry Dorsey in the Reader’s Digest Magazine in June, 1995:

It was during residency training at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas, when I had my first patient with terminal cancer in both lungs. I advised him on what therapy was available and what little I thought it would do. Rightly enough, he opted for no treatment.

Yet whenever I stopped by his hospital bedside, he was surrounded by visitors from his church, singing and praying. Good thing, I thought, because soon they’ll be singing and praying at his funeral.

A year later, when I was working elsewhere, a colleague at Parkland called to ask if I wanted to see my old patient. See him? I couldn’t believe he was still alive. I studied his chest X-rays and was stunned. The man’s lungs were completely clear. There was no sign of cancer.

“His therapy has been remarkable,” the radiologist said, looking over my shoulder.

Therapy? I thought. There wasn’t any – unless you consider prayer.

I had long ago given up the faith of my childhood. Now, as an adult, I believed only in the power of modern medicine. Prayer seemed an arbitrary frill, and so I put the incident out of my mind.

The years passed, and I became chief of staff at a large urban hospital. I was aware that many of my patients used prayer, but I put little trust in it. Then, in the late ’80’s, I began to come across studies, many conducted under stringent laboratory conditions, which showed that prayer brings about significant changes in a variety of physical conditions.

Perhaps the most convincing study, published in 1988, was by cardiologist Dr. Randolph Byrd. A computer assigned 393 patients at the coronary-care unit of the San Francisco General Hospital to one of two groups. Half were prayed for by prayer groups, and half were not remembered in prayer. No one knew to which group the patients belonged. The prayer groups were simply given the patients’ first names, along with brief descriptions of their medical problems. They were asked to pray each day until the patient was discharged from the hospital, but were given no instructions on how to do it or what to say.

When the study was completed ten months later, the prayed-for patients benefited in several significant areas:

They were 5 times less likely than the unremembered group to require antibiotics.
They were 2 1/2 times less likely to suffer congestive heart failure.
They were less likely to suffer cardiac arrest.

If the medical technique being studied had been a new drug or surgical procedure instead of prayer, it would probably have been heralded as a breakthrough. Even hard-boiled skeptics like Dr. William Nolen, who had written a book questioning the validity of faith healing, acknowledged, “If this is a valid study, we doctors ought to be writing on our order sheets, ’Pray three times a day.’ If it works, it works.”

(Dr. Larry Dorsey) I have since given up practicing medicine to devote myself to researching and writing about prayer and how it affects our health. There are studies which suggest that prayer can have a beneficial effect on high blood pressure, wounds, headaches and anxiety. Here are some of the things I’ve found:

Prayer Can Take Many Forms. In the studies I’ve seen, results occurred not only when people prayed for explicit outcomes but also when they prayed for nothing specific. Some studies, in fact, showed that a simple “Thy will be done” was more powerful than specific results held in the mind. In many experiments a simple attitude of prayerfulness, an all-pervading sense of holiness and a feeling of empathy, caring and compassion, seemed to set the stage for healing.

Love Increases the Power of Prayer. The power of love is legendary. It is built into folklore, common sense and everyday experience. Throughout history, tender, loving care has uniformly been recognized as a valuable element in healing. In fact, a survey of 10,000 men with heart disease (published in The Journal of American Medicine) found close to a 50-percent reduction in frequency of angina in those who perceived their wives as supportive and loving.

Prayer Can Be Open-Ended. Most people who pray are convinced that it can be used in a purposeful, goal-specific manner. But research shows that open-ended entreaties seem to work too. Invocations such as “Thy will be done,” “Let it be,” or “May the best thing happen” do not involve “using” prayer for specific outcomes, nor do they involve sending complicated messages.

Perhaps this is what some people mean when they advocate, “Let go and let God.” Many recognize in their own prayers a spontaneous, uncontrollable quality that brings results.

Prayer Means You Are Not Alone. A patient of mine was dying. The day before his death, I sat at his bedside with his wife and children. He knew he had little time left, and he chose his words carefully, speaking in a hoarse whisper. Although he was not a religious person, he revealed to us that recently he had begun to pray.

“What do you pray for?” I asked him.

“It isn’t ’for’ anything,” he said thoughtfully. “It simply reminds me that I am not alone.”

Prayer is like that. It is a reminder of our unbounded nature, of the part of us that is infinite in space and time. It is the universe’s affirmation that we are not alone.
(Reader’s Digest, March, 1996)

Prayer is the last piece of the Performance Formula. The sum of the parts equals a practically perfect performance.

Practically Perfect Performance

This is where I address the nitty-gritty of goal achievement. Performance is about taking action. As Nike says, “Just DO IT!” After all the plans and preparations have been made, we just need to do it. We need to exert mind over mattress and get out of bed early enough to enjoy peaceful and productive mornings. We need to be organized enough to spend time working on our goals without sacrificing a full life with our families and friends. To hurdle barriers and excel like never before, we need to have a genuine willingness to do whatever it takes to succeed. Perhaps not only succeed, but exceed our expectations!

Research Supports the Performance Formula

• Feeling there is meaning in your life is eight times more likely to produce satisfaction than is a high income (King and Napa, 1998).

When asked to describe significant regrets in their lives, more than eight out of ten people focused on actions they did not take rather than actions they did. In other words, they focused on things they failed to do rather than things they failed at doing (Ricaurte, 1999).

Comparing people who tend to give up easily with people who tend to carry on, even through difficult challenges, researchers find that persistent people spend twice as much time thinking about what they have already accomplished, the fact that the task is doable, and that they are capable of it (Sparrow, 1998).

Those who do not feel they are taking steps toward their goals are five times more likely to give up and three times less likely to feel satisfied with their lives (Elliott, 1999).

~ Dr. Paula

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