Executive Toughness
The Mental-Training Program to Increase Your Leadership Performance
Jason Selk is one of the world’s leading peak performance experts. His tagline? “The relentless pursuit of greatness.” If that appeals to you, you’ll love this book. It’s *fantastic*! Big Ideas we explore include the difference between Process and Product Goals, a 100-second mental training workout, why your self-image matters and the REMARKABLE benefits of writing down your goals.
Big Ideas
- 10 Mental toughness fundamentalsOf mental toughness.
- Your Self-image ThermostatTurn up the thermostat.
- Do you write down your goals?Increase success by NINE times!
- Product Goals vs. Process GoalsWhat and why and how.
- The 100-Second Mental workoutFor your mind.
- PCT vs. RSFProblems vs. Solutions.
- Executive toughness: The top threeThe top 3 keys.
“What you are about to read is intended to be a holy grail of developing mental toughness as it pertains to your high-level success as either an executive or someone who aspires to become one. Although this book is specifically geared toward improving your achievement in business, the tools and principles it provides mirror the same methodology I use to enhance performance for anyone—from some of the world’s finest athletes to the everyday individual trying to lose weight, stop smoking, or improve his or her personal relationships. The 10 mental toughness fundamentals presented in this book will work for you whether you are a high-level executive, entrepreneur, midlevel staffer, or independent contributor, because they translate Coach Wooden’s simple, time-tested philosophy of identifying and training the correct fundamentals needed for success.”
~ Jason Selk from Executive Toughness
Jason Selk is the director of mental training for the St. Louis Cardinals and one of the world’s leading peak performance coaches.
The tagline on his site captures the essence of his work: “The relentless pursuit of greatness.” <— I like it!
We featured another one of his great books, 10-Minute Toughness.
I really enjoyed 10-Minute Toughness and I liked Executive Toughness even more. It’s REALLY good. (Get the book here.)
Selk does a masterful job of helping us identify our purpose, connect that to our most important “product goals” and then connect *that* to our most important “process goals” so we can most effectively (and relentlessly!) pursue our greatness.
Tons of Big Ideas. Let’s jump straight in!
Download MP3
Download PDFMENTAL TOUGHNESS: The ability to focus on and execute solutions, especially in the face of adversity.
Get the Book
Listen to the Podcast10 Mental toughness fundamentals
“The three characteristics of executive toughness are accountability, focus, and optimism. You will develop your executive toughness through daily practice of these 10 mental toughness fundamentals:
Define your win.
Create your vision of self-image.
Set product goals; emphasize process goals.
Prioritize priorities.
Complete daily performance evaluations.
Control your arousal state.
Know your scripts.
Prepare mentally every day.
Develop a relentless solution focus.
Adopt Gable discipline.”
Those are the 10 mental toughness fundamentals that support the three characteristics of executive toughness (Accountability + Focus + Optimism). They’re also the 10 chapters of the book.
Let’s look at a few of my favorites and see how we can apply them today!
Your Self-image Thermostat
“Essentially, the self-image governs how successful any individual becomes because it motivates and shapes work ethic and effort.
In this way, self-image is like a thermostat. If you set the thermostat at 72 degrees Fahrenheit and the room drops to 71 degrees, the thermostat then sends a message to the heater to get to work. Warm air rushes into the room, and the room warms up to 72 degrees. When the room reaches 73 degrees, the thermostat tells the heater to stop working. All day long, the thermostat governs the temperature in the room and won’t allow the room temperature to rise or drop from the desired temperature for long. Human beings are the same way: we neither outperform nor underperform our self-image for long. That’s why it is so important to set your self-image gauge high enough to achieve your life goals. Set your self-image gauge too low, and by definition, you’ll underachieve, because your mind won’t call for the motivation to achieve more.”
Self-Image. It’s huge.
Here’s how Jason defines it: “Self-image is essentially how you view yourself—what strengths and weaknesses you believe you possess and what you believe you are capable of achieving.”
Think of it like a thermostat. Just as a room is going to stay at whatever temperature you set, YOU will stay at whatever level you see yourself—you won’t under or overperform the image you have for yourself.
Earlier in the chapter Jason quotes Henry Ford to bring the point home: “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.”
Begs the question: How’s yourself-image? When you talk to yourself, are you consistently telling yourself you’ve got what it takes to achieve your potential or not so much? We want to get this right. The cornerstone of Jason’s mental toughness training protocol is helping us do that.
He tells us we need to “CREATE YOUR VISION OF SELF-IMAGE: Take 30 seconds every day to visualize who you want to be and how you want life to turn out, and dramatically increase the likelihood of achieving your win.”
So, who do you want to be? How do you want your life to turn out?
Self-image is essentially how you view yourself—what strengths and weaknesses you believe you possess and what you believe you are capable of achieving.
Do you write down your goals?
“David Kohl, professor emeritus at Virginia Tech University, has found that individuals who write down their goals will have nine times the success of those who don’t put their goals on paper. Yet Dr. Kohl’s research suggests that only 20 percent of our population has goals and less than 10 percent take the time to write their goals down. So why is it that so few of us take the time to develop and make note of clear and concise goals? After researching this question for 10 years, I have come to the conclusion that the reason is, quite simply, we are lazy.”
First, I want to caveat this with the fact this is ANECDOTAL evidence, not peer-reviewed scientific research evidence.
Having said that, let’s repeat that in case you missed it. According to David Kohl, “Individuals who write down their goals will have nine times the success of those who don’t put their goals on paper.”
NINE times. *rubs eyes*
Not one or two or three or four times more success. NINE!!!!
(!!!!)
That’s nuts.
Let’s burn that stat into your brain so you (and your kids, colleagues, staff, etc.) never go into another project without a clear sense of goals.
—> “Individuals who write down their goals will have nine times the success of those who don’t put their goals on paper.”
That’s step #1 of mental toughness: Defining our win.
Let’s take a moment to do that. What’s YOUR #1 goal over the next 12 months?
This is my #1 goal over the next 12 months: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Awesome.
Now, let’s take a closer look at the types of goals we want to set for optimal performance:
Remember that you are likely to be nine times more successful if you actually write down your goals, so it’s really important to grab a pen and actually put it to paper instead of just thinking about them.
Product Goals vs. Process Goals
“PRODUCT GOALS: Product goals are result-oriented and are potentially attainable within the next 12 months.
PROCESS GOALS: Process goals focus on what it will take on a daily basis to achieve the product goals.
Product goals are all great end points, and writing them down is an important first step. But the truth is that setting product goals is the easy part, and that is precisely where most individuals stop short. The real key is to develop two or three process goals for each of your product goals. Remember, the process goals are ‘what it takes on a daily basis’ to achieve the product goals. Sometimes, a process goal may happen less frequently than every day, but it still needs to occur on a regular basis to drive the achievement of the product goal.”
We talk about process goals, systems and all that jazz quite a bit. But Jason has the best methodology I’ve seen to help us put it all together. (Seriously. It’s that good.)
Get the book for more on the details but here’s the basic idea: Identify the three most important aspects of your life. For example, for me, it’s my creative work, my family and my personal vitality.
Then pick the #1 “Product” Goal for each of those three aspects of your life. Remember, a Product Goal is an outcome you can achieve in the next 12 months.
So, for me, I’d have:
Creative: Get to 150 new Notes in 2015 by the end of 2015. (I’m at 103 as I type on August 31st.)
Family: Go from 7 to 9. (Jason is all about quantifying intangible goals.)
Vitality: Go from 7.5 to 9+.
OK. Those are my basic 3 Product Goals. (Yours?! :)
Super important to set a target, write it down (remember: NINE!!), etc. Now, we need to set PROCESS GOALS—the stuff we’ll do on a daily basis in support of those Product Goals. Jason wants us to have THREE Process Goals for each Product Goal.
So, for me, I’d have something along these lines:
Product Goals | Process Goals |
#1: Creative | +150 Notes in 2015 |
#2: Family | 7 —> 9 |
#3: Vitality | 7.5 —> 9+ |
You? Here’s a super simple little grid you can use to get some more clarity!
Product Goals | Process Goals |
#1: ________ | #1 Product Goal: ____________ |
#2: ________ | #1 Product Goal: ____________ |
#3: ________ | #1 Product Goal: ____________ |
Remember: Start with a Product Goal. Set your target. (And write it down! :)
Then figure out what you need to do on a daily basis (Process Goals) to make that outcome a natural by-product of your consistency on the fundamentals. (And write it down!)
SET PRODUCT GOALS AND EMPHASIZE PROCESS GOALS: To achieve greatness, you must set end goals and place significant emphasis on what it takes to accomplish them.
Simply put, 30 minutes a day of cardiovascular exercise is quite possibly the single greatest activity that you can do to improve your mental, physical, and emotional health. If 30 minutes of cardio isn’t currently one of your daily activities, I strongly encourage you to consider adding it in as one of your nine process goals.
The 100-Second Mental workout
“The Mental Workout
Step 1: Centering breath (15 seconds): Breathe in for 6 seconds. Hold for 2 seconds. Breathe out for 7 seconds.
Step 2: Identity statement (5 seconds): Recite your identity statement in your head.
Step 3: Vision and integrity highlight reel (60 seconds): Run in your head your vision of self-image video and then your integrity video clip:
Your vision of self-image, as developed in Chapter 2
Your integrity video in which you visualize yourself doing the tasks you need to do within the next day to make your vision of self-image become a reality
Step 4: Identity statement (5 seconds): Repeat your identity statement to yourself.
Step 5: Centering breath (15 seconds): Breathe in for 6 seconds. Hold for 2 seconds. Breathe out for 7 seconds. Know that your mind is focused and ready to perform.”
100 seconds of pure mental toughness goodness.
Quick re-cap:
Breathe in. 6 + 2 + 7.
Say your identity statement in your head. (Remember our self-image thermostat? We need to turn it up. This is one powerful way to do that. My identity statement?
“I’m one of the greatest teachers in the world and I’m an equally great husband and father. I’m confident and energized.”
You?)
Play your 5 year ideal vision out in your head AND connect that to you rockin’ your ideal day TODAY. (This is another *really* cool way to connect the big picture to what you’ll do today to bring it to life.)
Repeat your identity statement.
Another deep, centering breath. 6 + 2 + 7. Ready to rock!
Bam. Done. 100 seconds of magic.
Obviously Jason walks us through each of those components in more detail in the book. Really, really cool stuff.
One of the little-known secrets of successful individuals is that those who are most successful evaluate themselves daily. Daily evaluation is the key to daily success, and daily success is the key to success in life and career.
Take 30 seconds every day to visualize who you want to be and how you want life to turn out, and dramatically increase the likelihood of achieving your win.
PCT vs. RSF
“The number one reason mental toughness is so difficult is a tendency I call problem-centric thought (PCT). PCT is the polar opposite of RSF [relentless solution focus]. While RSF is rare, PCT is somewhat biologically inevitable. For whatever reason, our brains are built in a way that PCT comes more naturally than RSF. It’s natural to focus on mistakes, the past, barriers, and what you don’t have rather than on what you do have. It’s easier to think about problems such as not having enough money or success than it is to acknowledge good fortune and abundance. Think of our relationship to oxygen, the most valuable resource known to humankind. Without it, we die quickly. But when was the last time you thought, ‘Wow, this is terrific! This is great! I have an abundance of the most important resource known to humankind!’ We all have a tendency to take the positive for granted. We allow it to become the faint background for the problems we draw in intricate, larger-than-life detail.”
PCT = Problem-centric thought. RSF = RELENTLESS (key word!) solution focus.
We’ve evolved to be more sensitive to threats than to appreciating goodness. Leading neuroscientist Rick Hanson (see Notes on Buddha’s Brain) describes this fact by saying that our brains are like Teflon for the good stuff and Velcro for the bad while Daniel Amen describes the PCT challenge as ANTs—we have automatic negative thoughts running around in our head.
To deal with this and shift from PCT to RSF, Jason tells us to make it a game: “Within 60 seconds, replace all problem-focused thought with solution-focused thinking to dramatically improve your health, happiness, and success.”
Imagine a chalkboard in your head. Problems on the left. Solutions on the right.
To move from left to right, ask yourself: “What is one thing I can do differently that could make this better?”
NOT “How do I completely solve this problem *right (!!) now*?” but, again, “What is ONE thing I can do differently that could make this better?”
Got a problem in your life right now?
Let’s go RSF on it: What is one thing you can do differently that could make this better?
(Awesome. Go do it! :)
Let me be clear in leaving much of modern clinical psychology practice behind: Talking about your problems will lead to more problems, not to solutions. If you want solutions, start thinking and talking about your solutions.
Executive toughness: The top three
“I can boil executive toughness down to the following top three action items, in order of importance:
Complete your process goals every day . . . no excuses!
Assuming you have taken the time to develop your vision of self-image and product goals as well as the process goals needed to get there, completing the process goals every day will have an unbelievably powerful impact in your ability to perform at a leadership level and thereby achieve personal and professional greatness.
Commit to replacing all negative or problem-focused thought with solution-focused thinking within 60 seconds (RSF).
Use RSF to once and for all train yourself to become more optimistic, and watch not only your success but also your health and happiness increase significantly.
Complete mental workouts and success logs five days per week.
Mental workouts and success logs will greatly enhance your ability to stay focused and accountable to process goal completion and RSF.”
There we go.
The 1, 2, 3 of executive toughness: 1. Crush your process goals ever day (no excuses!!) + 2. Be RELENTLESSLY focused on solutions + 3. Rock your 100-second mental workouts and success logs to track progress!
It won’t be easy—greatness isn’t supposed to be easy—but you can do it. Choose to be great, every day!
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