Whether at home or in the workplace we are continually being pressurised to become high performers and improve our results. In the home these pressures come from the changing face of family life and the demands being made on parents. In the workplace they come in the form of targets and reports from the boss.

You only need to look around you and you’ll observe an abundance of opportunities available to learn how to improve your performance and the subsequent results. Some of the opportunities carry a great deal of credit while with others it’s not so. Whichever option you select and achieve success then you’ve made the first right decision in your move to becoming a high performer. The 10 ways I have listed below are by no means any better or any worse for that matter, than those you may already have tried.

1. Don’t make promises you can’t keep

Making promises about what you can achieve, even if they’re only to yourself, can be damaging to your reputation and ultimately to your confidence and self esteem. Be honest with yourself and only promise what you can realistically achieve with your current skills and available resources.

2. Be realistic with your expectations

Don’t raise your expectations beyond what you know can be achieved. Great expectations may be the title of a famous Charles Dickens novel but that’s all it is. Yes, it is possible for a mystery benefactor to come along and give you a hitch up but I wouldn’t rely on it until it actual happens. Keep your expectations within a sensible limits.

3. Share your knowledge

Share your skills and knowledge with anyone who wants to learn it; be generous with who you share with. Become known as a font of knowledge by sharing your abilities, help people who need your help and be ready to help those who think they don’t.

4. If you don’t know something, then say you don’t know!

If there’s something you don’t know; admit it. It’s very frustrating when someone doesn’t know how to do something and they continue to persevere despite their continued failures. If you don’t know ask for help; if there’s no help available go and look for it.

School teachers and college lecturers are some of the worst for this. For the sake of a good show in front of their class they’ll continue to deny their lack of knowledge or know-how about a particular subject.

Be honest with yourself!

5. Continue to learn, for ever!

Continue to learn as you go, this is important for your personal growth and self development. I’ve used the following quote many times on this blog because it holds so true:

“In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” E. Hoffer

Continue your learning; there are so many different opportunities today to learn and continue to build your knowledge bank. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a traditional 36 week college course. It doesn’t have to be in a college. There is so much information available on the Internet alone and with a little time and patience looking for it you’ll probably find it for free.

6. Define clear, realistic goals

Identify clear, realistic and achievable goals. If you need the support of a life coach use one, they’ll show how to use the goal setting process and the GROW model. This will help you set your goals with purpose and ensure you are fully committed. If your purse won’t stretch to working with a life coach search the Internet or your local library for information on goal setting.

7. Safety first

Don’t think you have to be the most daring person in the world to impress other people. You’ll find out in most cases people are only concerned about completing work or tasks and getting results. They are looking for low input and high output performers not people with a high input and low output. If your spend too much effort on taking chances you run the risk of achieving too many failures.

Set your safety margins and work within them.

8. Review your successes

Keep a track of the successes you’ve achieved; a journal diary or similar is a great way to do this. Take the time to review some of your successes and failures to consider how you might improve your performance next time.

9. Don’t confuse the issue

Don’t try to be too clever and make the issue look more complicated than it really is. Keep it nice and simple; if you’ve any explaining to do use clear and clean language and steer clear of jargon.

10. Remember you are more than what you are doing

Your current task is only your current task; it’s nothing more. After you’ve finished it, you’ll move onto another task, so don’t get too wrapped up with what you are doing.

Follow these 10 ways to achieve great things and watch your overall performance improve.

Thank you for reading this post, please let me know what you think and share your experiences.  While you’re here please take the time to sign up for the newsletter or alternatively you may prefer to subscribe for regular updates in your favourite reader or by email.

photo credit: Melody Campbell

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Tags: expectations, Goal setting, Goals, high performers, journal diary, knowledge, Life Coach, Personal Growth, promises, self development, Technorati

This entry was posted on 17 November 2009 at 6:14 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted in Achievements by Paul Worswick View Comments