Episode 83: Power Skills for Leaders: Five Ways to Train Your Mind to Focus
Welcome back, improve it! Fam and happy Wednesday! Hope you enjoyed some well-deserved time off and the start of this holiday season. It’s no surprise the holidays can tend to be hectic, which is why it can be so important to retrain your mind to focus. In today’s episode, Erin will provide you five different ways on how to train your mind to zero in, focus and get the work done, so you can enjoy all the holidays bring. Get your pen and paper, and let’s improve your focus!
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Connect with Erin Diehl:
Erin Diehl is the founder and Chief “Yes, And” officer of improve it! and host of the improve it! Podcast. She’s a performer, facilitator and professional risk-taker who lives by the mantra, “get comfortable with the uncomfortable.” Through a series of unrelated dares, Erin has created improve it!, a unique professional development company that pushes others to laugh, learn and grow. Her work with clients such as United Airlines, PepsiCo, Groupon, Deloitte, Motorola, Walgreens, and The Obama Foundation earned her the 2014 Chicago RedEye Big Idea Award and has nominated her for the 2015-2019 Chicago Innovations Award.
This graduate from Clemson University is a former experiential marketing and recruiting professional as well as a veteran improviser from the top improvisational training programs in Chicago, including The Second City, i.O. Theater, and The Annoyance Theatre.
When she is not playing pretend or facilitating, she enjoys running and beach dates with her husband and son, and their eight-pound toy poodle, BIGG Diehl.
You can follow the failed it! podcast on Instagram @learntoimproveit and facebook, and you can follow Erin personally on Instagram @keepinitrealdiehl here. You can also check out improve it! and how we can help your organization at www.learntoimproveit.com. We can’t wait to connect with you online!
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If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing this podcast! This helps Erin support more people – just like you – move toward the leader you want to be. Click here, click listen on Apple Podcasts, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with 5 stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let Erin know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven’t done so already, subscribe to the podcast. That way you won’t miss any juicy episodes! Thanks in advance, improve it! Fam :)
Episode 83 Transcription
Erin (00:00):
Are you a leader or change maker inside of your business organization or corporation? Are you looking for new, innovative ways to drive morale through the roof? Are you looking for fun and exciting icebreakers, team-building exercises and activities that will foster team growth, friendships, loyalty, and completely transform your organization from the inside out? Have you been searching for a fun and unique way to create change instead of this same old dry, boring leadership books and icebreakers that aren't actually working? Hi, I'm Erin Diehl, business improv edutainer, failfluencer, and professional zoombie who is ready to help you improve it. My mission in life is to help you develop teams and leaders through play improv and experiential learning. And this podcast, we will deep dive into professional development team building effective communication, networking, presentation, skills, leadership training, how to think more quickly on your feet and everything in between. We have helped everyone from fortune 500 companies to small mom and pop shops transform their business, their leadership, and their people through play. So grab your chicken hat. We are about to have some fun, welcome to improve it! The podcast!
Erin (01:35):
Improve it! Fam it's Erin here. I'm going to start off with another cheer. I'm not sure where this rap's going to go, but I don't know. Hold on to your toe because I got to show for you. It's big. It's bright. It's going to be blue. Teal is my favorite color. Come on. Y'all let's hug each other. What I, this probably did not make any sense, but you know what? In true improv fashion, I just let it rip. So improve it, family, wherever you are today. Number one is where you're meant to be. But number two, I'm so excited you're joining us. Thank you for being a part of the improvement family. And thanks for joining the show. I'm so pumped because this show could not have come at a better time for me personally. And I'm going to tell you why it's even happening.
Erin (02:28):
This show today exists because I was planning on creating another episode for you, an entirely different piece of content that can help you and prove yourself. And I did everything I possibly could to come up with the words to say to you on the show. I couldn't concentrate. I mean, I'm telling you, I put on like meditation station playlist on Pandora. I took a walk around the block and I just kept coming back to the feeling that the episode I was going to record for you was not what you needed to hear today. And, and to be honest, this has to be fun for me too, right? It wasn't fun for me to talk about. And so, you know, if you've listened to this show awhile, things are pretty fun around here. So we got to keep it fun. Number one, and number two, I knew if I was struggling with this, that you were probably too.
Erin (03:28):
So hold onto your hats. If you're wearing a hat, if not, if you haven't washed your hair in several days or you don't like hats, that's okay. Just, just hold on to something, because I want to talk to you today about one of the most important soft skills. Now let me stop right there and just say we don't call soft skill soft skills anymore. We actually call them power skills because soft skills make them sound like something that's not important. And I want to read to you this. I think it's a tweet by one of my favorites, Adam Grant fun fact, he is a wonderful organizational psychologist thought leader has so many wonderful books and fun fact for you. We went to the same high school, not the same year. So it will be my mission one day to have Adam on the show. But until then, here's a quote that Adam Grant says about soft skills.
Erin (04:24):
So he says the irony of soft skills is that they're the often the hardest to master leadership, communication, collaboration, creativity, and adaptability may not be technical, but they're increasingly vital. Behavioral, social and emotional skills are what makes humans indispensable and literally everything he just mentioned, leadership, communication, collaboration, creativity, and adaptability. Hello, Adam. That is what we teach over here at improve it. And I could not agree more with him that behavioral, social and emotional skills are what makes humans indispensable. Because think about right now leaders, the people on your team who are indispensable, indispensable, yes, they probably have a technical skill that they're really good at, but you love having these people around because they're creative because they collaborate effectively because they're communicative. All of those things make them indispensable. So today's show is about helping you with a different power skill focus, or like we say, an improvisation thinking quickly on your feet.
Erin (05:41):
So we are so pumped and improve it to do this workshop. This is a workshop that we do. It's one of my favorites. I say that about a lot of things, but truly I love this workshop because it truly gets to the heart of what improv is. And it helps the participants who are participating really think like an improviser and then take that and apply it to their day-to-day jobs. And the fundamentals that we learn on stage in improv are so helpful in our day-to-day life, especially in business. So I'm going to give you some tips and some tricks from this workshop today. But I also want you to think of this as it relates to you. I want you to take what I'm saying today and really apply it to you and your life. All right. So before we dig in just housekeeping staff, number one, please, I'm going to, I'm going to right now, I'm, I'm giving you like the hands of like, please look, you can see my hands clasped together.
Erin (06:39):
Like please, if you have not left a review for this show, if you could just press pause, do a gentle pause, I'll still be here. Don't you worry, I'll be right here. And just go down to your iTunes. If you're on iTunes, if you listen on Spotify and don't have it or any other of the other listening devices, totally understand. However, if you have an iPhone, you have iTunes. And so just scroll down, hit five stars. And that's all I'm asking, that's it. And if you want to write a comment, write a comment and I'll say, thank you. But if the more reviews we get for the show, the better guests that we can get on the show. So by leaving a review, Adam Grant my dream, I'm putting this in the universe, Adam Grant, my dream guest could be on the show just by scrolling down hit and five stars.
Erin (07:37):
Okay? Because the more reviews you have, the more the guests see the reviews and they say, oh, I want to come on this show. But it just depends on because we can't share the number of downloads. It's just not a shareable thing. So we could, when we, when we try to pitch guests, we do share that because you keep coming back. So thank you. All of this is a long winded answer to say the more reviews we get, the more content we create, the better guests we can get on the show. We've had the most amazing guests. So thank you already for those of you who've done that. And we want to just keep bringing you more and more. So that's number one. Number two, if you have not snagged your hybrid hype handout, scroll to the show notes, boom links, right there. Get your hybrid hype handout to help you keep your team sustained during these crazy times.
Erin (08:30):
Or you can just go to our website, learntoimproveit.com and it'll pop up right there for you. So now done with the housekeeping. Let's get to the meat, the potatoes, and in my case, I'm a pescatarian. So let's get to the fish and a nice mashed potato. All right. That's what, I'm just, just daydreaming here. All right. So this is how you're going to train your mind to focus friends. This is a power skill. It takes technique. And like I said, I was struggling with this. So that is why I am coming to you today to give you the tools in your tool belt to get through what you need to get through in a day. Because I will tell you this. There are things like spreadsheets. I don't know. I know we've got a lot of leaders and talent dev and HR.
Erin (09:24):
We've got some sales leaders who might like a spreadsheet. You girl does not like spreadsheets over here. Okay. I, I tolerate because I have to, spreadsheets, paperwork of any kind where I have to fill things out, literally make me want to put a pencil in my retina. That was very blunt, but I'm just going to say it. I hate them. I literally would rather create content. I would rather sit here and talk to you, which I know is something, none of you would, some of you, some of you, not none, some of you would never want to do, but for me, this is my happy place, spreadsheets, paperwork. I loath. So anytime that I have to do those things, which we just changed our corporation. So I had to do so much paperwork. I'm still doing paperwork and it is just one of these things that I hate doing.
Erin (10:21):
So it always becomes the last thing that I get done. So with that said, this can apply to anything in your life. It could apply to the paperwork and it could apply to the spreadsheets. It could apply to the presentation that you have to give in a month that you've put off editing or sitting down to even brainstorm. It could apply to the onboarding paperwork that's sitting in your inbox that you need to get to. It could apply to anything that you have to do that you really don't want to do. All right. And this was again, inspired by this show because I was going to give you a different episode. And I said, I don't really want to talk about that. And I could not get myself to do it. I tried every technique. And then I said, no, let me go to what I know.
Erin (11:07):
And let me give you what I think you might need right now. So I'm going to give you five ways. Let's get into it. First tip, get out your phone. Everyone at this point should have a smartphone or a phone with a timer on it. All right. If you've got the old Verizon razor, find it, find an alarm clock or find one of those old school, kitchen timers, but get a timer. Okay. And think about it. How long should this task take? So in thinking about brainstorming my episodes, I know it takes me about 15 minutes to really get some good notes and material for you. Right? So I put 15 minutes on the clock and I sat down and I took notes and I let myself just think and write for those 15 minutes. Sometimes if I'm being crazy, okay, I don't want you to get too crazy, but if I'm being crazy, I'll try to challenge myself and say, I can do it in 12.
Erin (12:06):
So it just depends on the amount of time for the project. If it's a larger scale project, you're going to need two hours. We had legendary author of radical candor, Kim Scott on the show. And I love her writing techniques. She does her writing an hour and a half chunks. And so she'll break up her day and four hour and a half chunks to get her writing in. So if you know, you need something, that's going to take a lot of brain power and a lot of, a lot of time, try to break it up, but give yourself those chunks. All right. So number one, tip number one is time it, okay. That's really focusing in on the amount of time. Tip number two is use what we call an improv, the economy of words. We have an awesome activity that we love in this thinking quickly on your feet workshop called word.
Erin (13:06):
And it's all about making sure that we actually it's called word choice. Just kidding. It's called word choice. Let me choose my words wisely word choice. So we try to have a conversation with a partner in three words or less why three words, if you actually stopped to think about it, you can communicate in three words or less. You really, really can. And an example of this show, I'm giving you five fundamentals and I'm diving into each fundamental cause I want you to have more than just the five words, but think about the outline of the project that you're sitting down to do and really outline it because that's what you need to get across in this project. If you're sitting down to write a presentation, create your outline, intro three bullet points, conclusion, boom, five words or less. If you're thinking about creating content for something long form like a blog post or a podcast, boom, five different fundamentals.
Erin (14:12):
And then you can dive into those fundamentals. If you're working on something like a spreadsheet or paperwork where you have to fill it out, which again, this is my unhappy place, but they're everywhere. So we have to do these. I want you to think of it like this. I want you to use the economy of words in a different way and just go line by line by line. I've thought a lot about a metaphor this weekend. I was just in Denver with my high school, best friends. It was so fun. I haven't seen one of them in three years and we had an amazing time and we went on this hike. Okay. And it was actually a mountain that we were hiking. And I did not know that I needed hiking boots for this. Okay. But there was so many rocks. We were going higher and higher and higher.
Erin (15:03):
And we were literally, if you stepped on the wrong rock, number one, you could twist an ankle. Number two, you could literally fall off this mountain. I'm not joking. I was not prepared for this. I wore the wrong shoes. I have the blisters on my ankles to prove it. But I thought in that moment, step by step by step is what's going to get me through this hike. And let me tell you, I wanted to stop. I literally did, but I did it. We did it and we, no one was injured, just a few blisters. And when I think back to that moment where I kept saying step-by-step, I think about the times that I don't want to do a task at work. A lot of people think business ownership is glamorous. There are a lot of steps you don't want to take, but you have to, you have to go step by step by step.
Erin (15:54):
And that's the same thing where I get to you here with the economy of words is if you're filling out paperwork or doing something you don't want to do, just think of each step as a task and go step by step by step and give yourself that timer. So you've given yourself the timer. You're going step by step by step. And hopefully by the time your timer is up, you will have gotten line by line and you will be completed with that task. Sometimes the time that we think about doing something and don't do it is the time that if we would have just spent in the energy, we would have just spent in doing something. We would have just gotten it done. Right? So for example, some of the paperwork I did not want to do, if I would have just spent five minutes and completed it, I could have had that off my to-do list and out of my mind.
Erin (16:48):
But instead I'm like, oh, I'm sure there's things on your to-do list that you don't want to do. Think of it line by line time, your self. This brings me to step number three, which is trust. Okay. Trust yourself. Oh my gosh. This is a huge, huge, fundamental power scale. If you will, that we talk about in our thinking quickly on your feet workshop, trusting yourself is the number one. I should have this as number one, but it's number three in the process. Okay. It is truly the most important fundamental. So when I say by trusting yourself is trusting that you can get this task accomplished and putting yourself in the position to do it in a way that is motivational. So here's what I'm talking about, how we're posing, right? I've talked about that so much on this show. One thing if I don't want to do something I do is I'll either stretch or I'll do some type of power pose right now.
Erin (17:55):
I've got my arms lifted above my head to just get myself to open up and in a different position of power. A lot of us spend our days hunched over our desk on our computers. And thank you very much. I have done that for so many years. I am now in physical therapy. It is a, it is a joy. My point is power posing, opening yourself up to number one, receive energy, but also store that energy. So you can give it to the task at hand is so important. Take a walk, clear your mind and just don't look at anything except the road ahead of you to get yourself in this position of trusting yourself. You're getting those creative juices flowing your mindset changes when you step away. So that's another really important thing to do when trusting yourself. I also like to set up some Zen around me so I can feel like I'm present in the moment.
Erin (18:54):
So for example, right now, I've got a candle going in the next room. I'm in the podcasting closet right now and I've got my LaCroix here next to me. I've got a water bottle, I've got my notes. And then I'm just sitting down. This is how my ritual goes. I put all these things on. I turn on my microphone. I sit in my chair in the closet and I hit record. And I have already put myself in this position of power by opening myself up by power posing or taking a walk. And now I'm in the moment. So whatever it is that you're about to do before you sit down to do it, trust that you can do it. Okay. And here is number four of your five ways to train your mind, to focus and think quickly. Number four is not trust yourself, but trust others.
Erin (19:50):
So confidence is key. Your mindset is key. So if you've gotten to the power posing, you've gotten all the things ready for whatever it is that you're going to sit down to create, to tackle, to do. You're trusting yourself. You've got all the things in place. Now you need to trust that if you trust you, others are going to follow suit. There is a book called the high five habit by Mel Robbins, which is all about high-fiving yourself, looking in the mirror every single morning and asking yourself, what do I need today? Giving yourself a high five in the mirror. This is proven by science, because what that does is it sends signals to your brain, that you are confident that you are worthy, that it doesn't matter the number on the scale. It doesn't matter the imperfections you see in that mirror, but you are high-fiving yourself to get yourself motivated and going.
Erin (20:55):
Because once you get yourself motivated and going, others see that confidence within you. And they're going to trust that whatever it is that you're working on, if you feel good about it, that they are going to follow suit. So trust yourself, then trust if you trust yourself, others will follow suit. All right, here is number five and your five ways to train your mind to focus. Okay, it's look at the big picture. This is so in portent. So remember I was talking about the spreadsheets, always back to the spreadsheets, those spreadsheets that you don't want to work on, perhaps the spreadsheets are the budget for the following year. That helps determine the salaries of the people that you employ, or perhaps your working on paperwork that you really don't want to, but it's paperwork that will help somebody else get a job within your organization.
Erin (21:57):
Or you're working on. For example, if me changing from an LLC to an S Corp, the paperwork that we're doing is going to transform the way that we do business. And it's going to help things like a 401k, be established for employees of improve it. So when I look at that paperwork and think to myself, oh my gosh, I don't want to do it. I think about the lives that it can affect in my own life by completing this task. So whatever it is that you are putting off doing, because you can't sit down to focus or you don't want to focus on it, you really can get yourself into a mental state to do it by doing these five things. So again, time it put a timer on time, make sure you give yourself that amount of time. You think it will take it. And if you want to challenge, like I said before, go lower, try to get it done in a smaller amount of time.
Erin (22:53):
Number two, the economy of words. So outline whatever it is that you're going to do, and then fill in the blanks. If you need help focusing and try to just outline it. So, you know, here's where I start and here's where I end. And this is what I want in the middle. Even the spreadsheet, you can totally do this. Like I said, with a spreadsheet going line by line, number three, trust yourself, get your yourself in that space to create, to work, make sure your environment is setting you up so that you feel like you are confident and then know that if you can get yourself in that place, that gets you to number four, which is trust that you will feel more confident when you or others will feel like you are more confident. Would you feel like you were confident? And then look at the big picture, what this task do and the big picture of my team.
Erin (23:48):
What does this task help with in the big picture of our organization? How does this task look into a bigger picture holistically of where I want to take my team, where I want to take our organization and where I want us to land when it comes to attaining our goals. So all of this is part of our thinking quickly on your feet workshop, we talk all about focus. Plus trust helps you get out your targeted message, but I wanted to use today's show to help you focus so you can get out whatever it is that is sitting in your to-do list. Right now, I've had so many things on my to do list. And by implementing these steps, I have gotten them accomplished. Now, I just want to remind you improve at fam. If you haven't yet, leave us a review, please, and get your hybrid hype handout, because that's going to help you continue to motivate not only yourself, but your team during these crazy times.
Erin (24:50):
I am so stinking proud of you. I'm so proud of you for showing up here week after week. I'm so proud of you for taking this time to invest in yourself. I'm so proud of you for thinking about ways to retrain your mind and giving yourself the power skills that you can use to be the best leader that you can possibly be. So improve it! Family. You know what I'm going to say. I want you to keep failing, keep improving because the world needs that special it that only you can bring, I will see you here next week. I'm sending you so many hugs for the week ahead. Go out there, go get them and use these power skills to re focus on anything that comes your way. See you next time. Hey friends, thanks for tuning in to improve it. I am so happy. You're along for the ride.
Erin (25:48):
If you enjoyed this show, head on over to iTunes to leave us a five star review and subscribe to the show. So you never miss an episode. New episodes drop every Wednesday. Now, if you're really feeling today's show and you've improved it even just a little bit, please take a screenshot and tag me at keeping it real deal on Instagram and share it in your stories. I'll see you next week, but I want to leave you with this thought, what did you improve today and how will that help your future successful self? Think about it. I am rooting for you and the world needs that special it only you can bring. See you next time.