Sustainable peak performance for advisers

Take home messages

• Stress in not the problem, the problem is lack of recovery.
• Advisers will benefit from setting firm boundaries with their clients.
• Implementing ‘Go, Slow and No Zones’ may assist in boosting performance and preventing adrenal fatigue.

Background

Are you are a hard working adviser and a time pauper? Do you feel empathy for your clients who may be struggling due to unfavourable weather conditions, financial stress or other issues? Do you deal with a lot of pressure, seldom without respite and often while living in the same community as your clients?

If the answer is yes then you definitely DO have a problem, but it’s something other than stress. Stress is not the problem.

Stress allows us to perform at a level we could never achieve if our lives were stress free. Stress releases adrenaline into our bloodstream along with free floating fatty acids and cortisol. This creates a cocktail of chemicals so powerful it would be illegal if taken as a sports supplement, yet many of us ‘use’ it every day.

Our heart rate accelerates while our breathing becomes rapid and shallow. Peripheral blood vessels constrict so that more blood and oxygen go to where it’s needed most, our central core. Nervous responses become faster and more acute and sensory receptors are blocked so that we won’t feel pain if we become ill or injured. Even our eyesight and hearing sharpens. We have more energy, more drive, greater strength and a higher tolerance for pain and fatigue.

When used to your advantage, this heightened state of awareness actually helps you determine and convey excellent advice because it means you are at your best when you are determining the right crop choice, soil treatment or longer term farm plan. Stress drives us to reach levels of achievement and efficiency we would never ever approach without being put under pressure. Stress creates an accelerated level in our entire being that enables us to cope with what in some cases amounts to an almost impossible workload.

Unfortunately, when living in a socially close community, this great strength can also become your Achilles heel. An empathetic agronomist can be tempted to cross the line from adviser to counsellor. This is a line you should be very wary of crossing.

Stress enables us to temporarily develop the ability to work longer and sleep less, first as an abnormal state but one that quickly becomes a habit. Stress makes us feel like a machine, but machines break down if not maintained correctly and this is where we uncover what the problem really is.

The problem is lack of recovery

Advisers who are constantly under stress and constantly have a high level of adrenaline in their bloodstream find it impossible to slow down, even when the opportunity does arise. This is the crux of the issue for many people. They just don’t have the down time or the mental space to recover and build their resilience.

Are the following dot point’s issues for you?

• A hectic and busy workload.
• A personal habit of not having firm boundaries with clients.
• A practice of rarely taking true recovery time.

If you could identify with any of the dot points, pre scheduling what I call ‘Go, Slow and No Zones’ may be a useful strategy for you to implement.

‘Go Zones’ are planned and prepared periods each day where you focus hard on your most important tasks for that day. It’s when you perform at your best without excuse or distraction and with a clear and achievable goal.

‘Go Zones’ are crucial when researching and preparing advice, anticipating questions and meeting with farmers. ‘Go Zones’ require pre planned task lists sand incorporate physiological principles (controlling adrenaline, cortisol, etc.) so we reach what I call our ‘Ideal Performance State’. Reaching this state is about being at your best more often, as a matter of habit while maintaining the right balance in relationships with your clients.

‘Slow Zones’ are less intense but still productive. Here we do the routine work but we don't make key decisions or turn up to an important meeting in the ‘Slow Zone’. ‘Slow Zones’ also link to understanding and controlling the previously discussed blood chemistry factors.

‘No Zones’ are where you refresh, recover and develop skills where you can 'let it go', at least for a little while. Because many of you may socialise with your clients in your local community, it’s vital to have at least some effective ‘No Zones’ by yourself or without clients/friends. This true recovery time is a non-negotiable for you to instigate into your life if high levels of agronomy performance are to be sustained long term.

The 'Go Zone' system is a combination of personal efficiency, disciplines and resilience. It's much more than time management as it includes motivation, embracing change and clear thinking.

Overall it's about having control of what 'Zone' we are in and building strong personal disciplines and resilience to the challenges of getting too close or allowing yourself to enter an area you may not be qualified or skilled in. ‘Go Zones’ will help you keep your advice professional and within agronomy boundaries.

Lack of recovery can lead to burn out. Busy people with burgeoning responsibilities or opportunities reach the point that they become literally addicted to being busy. They just can’t slow down or maintain boundaries any more.

Can you think of a time in your life when you have finally completed a demanding project, have been involved in a family wedding or perhaps played in a sporting final, only to feel an overwhelming sense of being spent and empty when the event has ended? That’s when the adrenaline has drained from your body. This is a perfectly natural part of a healthy cycle of performance and recovery and we need to learn to accept it.

This feeling of ‘being flat’ is your body’s way of saying it’s time to take a break. Unfortunately, people who are hooked on adrenaline can’t allow this to happen so they force their way out of their lethargy by taking on another task, chasing another goal or having a confrontation with a colleague or a client, anything to top up their adrenaline.

Take a break

Athletes understand the need to train hard and then recover, so that they can compete with every ounce of their body and soul and then recuperate. We should think of ourselves as agronomist athletes. It’s admirable to be constantly looking to boost performance and help your clients in any way that you possibly can.

We can achieve this and still have a life if we implement two recovery habits to maximise our performance both in agricultural advice and in life.

First, take your holidays. Smart, cutting edge organisations around the world no longer allow people to keep working and build up holiday arrears. They understand that the short-term expedience in the long term creates fatigue and resentful beings that lose productivity, burn out, leave, and become ill or worse. As an individual, you have to take responsibility for yourself and prioritise holiday leave.

Do not ‘pass the buck’, the holiday brochure stops with you! Everyone can be replaced plus or minus 10% and if for some reason you were no longer advising your clients, someone else soon will be. No one is that important and the size of all or our funerals depends a lot on the weather that day!

I have never ever, even once met someone who said to me, ‘Mark, you told me to take a holiday and now I regret it’. Forget the fallacy of quality time and take some quantity time. This is step one.

Step two is to do your absolute best not to feel guilty about the ups and downs of farming life. Remember, your workload is only half the reason, the other half is the pressure you put on yourself.

We all need some time to get out of our normal mind set and allow our subconscious mind to ‘reset its default settings’, our body to wean itself off adrenaline and get back to being the way we are supposed to be. We need time to relax and recover, and time dedicated to ourselves. This is an investment in you. You will be fresher and sharper, have more natural energy and more ability to provide quality evidence based advice. You will achieve more in less time.

Conclusion

Your aim is to go to bed tired but not stressed. Use stress to challenge you to greater heights. Save adrenaline for when you really need it and plan regular recoveries into your schedule so that you are always ready for the next challenge.

If you want to look after others in life, you must first look after yourself!

Contact details

Mark McKeon
mark@mmateam.com.au