Look, I get it. I really do. You don't think this applies to you. You're all ~highly evolved~ with an open mind that embraces learning. You read books and articles from time to time. You like to have engaging discussions. Hell, you even take the occasional online Coursera class. But, dig a little deeper. Ask yourself -- over the course of your life, have you spent more time trying to learn? Or, were you in fact just trying to perform?
Howdy. Meet your performance mindset.
We all have one, but you probably haven't chatted much with him or her. They're kinda like that mildly incapable and slightly unscrupulous co-worker of yours. They're not directly damaging to the business, but they're certainly not helping the bottom line.
They're quick to complete things you ask of them, but the quality is... meh. They tick of items on the to-do list, but care little about trying to positively shift the trajectory of the company. They round up growth rates to avoid getting grilled. They cut paltry performance metrics from the presentation to management. They talk-the-talk and walk-the-walk, but only when leadership is watching.
Under the hood, you know the truth. Good'ol Jimbo is a deadweight -- a leach on the long-term learning of the team, quietly shorting your stock. Your performance mindset is bad for business. And no one has a larger long-term stake in the shares of your life, than you.
Performance verses Learning
In this week's video, I talk about "performance mode" vs. "learning mode." This is not a new topic, friends. In fact, these two words have lived side-by-side for years, sprinkled across the pages of research papers evaluating the efficacy of the education system. The result of this research has been sobering -- performance today does not reflect sustained performance tomorrow. In other words, short-term performance does not drive long-term learning.
Yup.
Sooooo, shouldn't someone have told us that? School and work always reward my short-term performance. And while research suggests that they should change, this isn't easy for big bureaucratic systems such as these. I've been deep in the performance mindset -- and I doubt I'm alone. We've inhaled only the information that helps us hit the ~killer~ KPIs for life right now -- a high GPA, and a nice cushy paycheck. If we learn along the way, that's cool too. But, it's certainly not the numero uno objective. Performance is.
And that's a problem, because...
While performance is what we want, learning is what we need.
The Magic of Learning
Learning works in mysterious ways. But in the beginning, that shizzle can look like a complete an utter train wreck. Why? Well, learning is about embracing experimentation. And experimentation often results in mistakes. Many, many mistakes.
But, mistakes matter. A lot. In fact, mistakes are where the magic lives.
Inviting in mistakes through the learning mindset allows you to understand the breathe of a subject area -- while ingesting a narrow batch of information to meet some performance objective does not.
Let me give you an example. Remember the one or two classes that you hated, where you'd do fine on all the homework assignments, and then get absolutely obliterated by the midterm exam?
It's like that.
All is fine and dandy when the questions being asked follow the template of the textbook. But the moment we add some complexity to the problems, the performance breaks down. We lacked deep, adaptable learning -- so our performance was fleeting. And while we hated those select classes, they were actually on to something.
They may not have done the best job actually teaching us how to learn. But, they were at least attempting to measure our learning over our performance.
Turning on "Learning Mode"
While the systems that surround our life will likely be slow to change, we don't need to be. Sure -- we've been conditioned to default to performance mode, but in adulthood, we have much more power to change our own internal operating system. In the video, I share 3 Tips to turn-on learning mode. But, let's add another two:
Find pursuits that are not prescriptive. We're often pushed into performance mode because our job asks us to do specific things. Pull some data on this topic. Create a pitch for that purpose. Our pursuits are entirely prescriptive. But, when we choose to explore something just for ourselves --separate from the direction of others -- we're priming ourselves for learning mode. The parameters are open ended, meaning our growth can be too.
Bet on the power of regular reinforcement. Habits aren't always fun, but they are the tools of learning. Take right now for example. I'm currently writing this at 7am on a Thursday. I'm hunched over my laptop, guzzling a cup of coffee, and attempting to crank out a post before work that about 2 people will read. (Okay, slightly more than that. But, not by much). I'm not exactly having the time of my life. But, I don't just want to believe that practice makes perfect. I don't just want to preach the hypothetical power of learning. I want to bet on it through consistent attempts to expand my writing portfolio, and hopefully improve over the long-run.
And that last part is the the irony, really.
Performance can hinder improvement.
It draws a sharp line around learning. But, allow me to clarify -- performance mindset is not always bad. This precise feature of it can also be useful. By narrowing scope, we can operate more efficiently in a time crunch. If we don't care about having sustained performance, then that's a perfectly reasonable application of the mindset.
The problem comes in when we never branch out from the performance mindset. We forget that a learning "mode" even exists. So, what's the real answer here? Here's my suggestion:
Toggle between the two.
Ideally, we should be ably to intelligently choose when we want to apply each mindset. And if you sense your life becoming perpetual performance, act now. Flip the switch. De-prioritize performance.
Because when the scope for learning is left open -- who knows what you'll find.
Comments