You remember King Midas? He of the “golden touch.” Everything he touched turned to gold. This often seems to be the case with high performers: whatever they touch turns to gold, meaning whatever they touch generates more activity. More work, if you will. Now, the Midas touch concept sounds pretty cool, right? As I remind my clients, having the Midas touch is really cool… until you have to pee. Oops. That result will likely cause problems down the road. In the case of Midas, he was on the brink of starvation as food turned into inedible gold, and he was heart-broken when his touch turned his daughter into a statue. In some tales, the touch was reversed and he lived life far from luxury but in peace; in others, he starved to death.
The lesson from Midas is to be mindful of what it is you’re touching. Beware of the activity you’re generating. It’s very easy to get busy. It’s easy to give attention to what’s in front of you, but stop and consider what that may be. Should it even be there in the first place? There’s a similar comment about engineers. They tend to over-engineer that which shouldn’t even exist. Or they solve problems that they don’t face.
Back to the Midas touch and generating activity with everything you touch. The result: The more that you work, the more you are going to work. There’s a lot of power in stepping back and creating a pattern interrupt that gives you space to ponder and reflect. That might mean going back and re-reading journals, coaching call notes, or wherever you store notes for self-reflection. Do you have the space to ponder and are you pondering by design? Or by default?
When it’s by design, as always, there’s structure around it, and structure sets you free. If it’s by default, I’ll follow up with the question: Why are you doing it in the first place? Are you turning the wrong things into gold… a.k.a. busyness and unnecessary work?
Talking about gold, let’s take a bit of a sidebar. One of the most valuable things you can do is acknowledge good performance from your staff. Positive reinforcement equates to the Midas touch. If someone on your staff is a go-getter, be sure to point that out. In essence, you are giving them permission to fill the role of go-getter. We all find a bit of our identity in what others recognize in us. Like giving attention to what you want more of, continue to acknowledge that which you’d like to see more of as well. Never underestimate the power of positive reinforcement. It’s golden.
One other tangential point about gold. When is enough enough? When you have “enough,” your drive to continue can diminish. You may have enough, but what about your community or some nonprofit organization that tugs at your heart? Where to you see a need? Consider what you can do for them and how you can serve. That is often the factor to reinstate your drive to continue to excel. It becomes your purpose. As a high performer put your Midas touch to work for the good of others, your community, the country, or the world at large. What we do is noble and right. Make the most of it.
As a high performer, what you’re touching is turning to gold, but you must be certain that you are always touching the right stuff. You must be sure you are headed in the right direction.
Think, ponder, reflect.
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Ken Doyle – Getting Results Inc
