2) Know Your Contribution (part 2)
Meet Art Markman, PhD in the 2nd part of his interview. He shares ways to help you make a contribution and change your behavior to successfully accomplish it.
Art is the co-host of the radio show and podcast Two Guys on Your Head produced by KUT. He is on the advisory boards for The Dr. Phil Show and The Dr. Oz Show. He is the author of Smart Thinking, Habits of Leadership, and Smart Change, which is the focus of episodes 1 and 2 of Your Truth Revealed.
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➤RESOURCES
Free Worksheet: https://www.YourTruthRevealed.com
Smart Change book: https://amzn.to/2I9090e
Two Guys on Your Head: https://apple.co/2P1iLG5
Grit TEDTalks: https://bit.ly/208daJt
Store: https://bit.ly/2H99Iwl
➤ SUMMARY
What is a contribution and why is it important?
* Contributions: accomplishing a much larger scale goal that makes a difference to an individual, organization, or society.
* People who make a contribution take their routine seriously.
* Achievements are the specific goals you need to develop and complete to make a contribution, a task that has been completed.
What are the 2 types of goals?
* There are 2 types of goals. Think about your behavior change as a process rather than an outcome.
* Outcome goal is the most typical goal people pursue
* Process goal that focuses on a set of actions you can perform, ongoing procedures
* Outcome: "I bought a shirt," rather than Process: "I went shopping for a shirt."
What are the 3 aspects of making your goals more specific?
1. Action- Think about actions you can take
2. Obstacles- you must overcome. There are many obstacles to success.
a. Positive thinking alone will not successfully change behavior
3. Signs- How you will know you're finished
a. Define all your goals in ways that have specific markers of success
Goals- allow yourself the flexibility to change them. We often set unrealistic expectations for the achievement we make on the road toward making a contribution.
Why is our brain designed to spend as little time thinking as possible?
1. Brains are very expensive to operate. It uses 20 - 25% of the calories you burn each day and requires a lot of oxygen and blood flow to keep in running.
2. The brain requires about the same amount of energy no matter what is is doing.
3. Your brain wants to minimize the amount of time you spend thinking about anything to make sure the energy cost of thinking does not exceed the value of what you are thinking about.
How does the arousal of a goal influence your performance?
The relationship between the arousal of a goal and the performance on that goal looks like an up side-down U, the Yerkes-Dodson curve.
1. Low levels of arousal - you don't put in much effort to achieve the goal.
2. Middle levels of arousal - there is a sweet spot where you're able to focus on the goal and get a lot accomplished.
3. High levels of arousal - you have so much energy that you have difficulty staying focused on the goal (panic).
How can you determine if you are a high-arousal or low-arousal person?
* There are naturally high-arousal and low-arousal people.
* High arousal people - easily excited by new ideas and don't need a lot of prodding to get started. However, when a situation promotes a goal strongly, it can push them quickly past the sweet spot on the curve to the point at which they are no longer functioning effectively.
* Low arousal people - your major problem is getting started on something in the first place. You need to ramp up the importance of the goal so you'll get started working on it.
Art Markman, PhD
Cognitive Scientist at the University of Texas at Austin
Art is the co-host of the radio show and podcast Two Guys on Your Head produced by KUT. He is on the advisory boards for The Dr. Phil Show and The Dr. Oz Show. He is the author of Smart Thinking, Habits of Leadership, and Smart Change.