The term “high performance entrepreneur” sounds strong and catchy. 💪🏾
But all it means is that you’ve figured out how to:
1. get more sh*t done, while…
2. not burning yourself out, and…
3. avoiding productivity killers.
And all that doesn’t sound simple because it isn’t, really.
So, this post helps uncover exactly what may be killing your productivity most, so you can fix it — and grow faster, with less stress.
But First… How Should We Measure Entrepreneurial Performance?
Unfortunately, there’s no consensus. Most guides, articles, and even academic journals only present part of the story.
Some discuss only business-related factors affecting performance: pricing, profit, customers, finance, marketing, etc.
And some discuss only the personal factors: mindset, intention, drive, intelligence, etc.
Some posts cover both, but on a very basic level.
Asst. Professor Rita Subedi of Tribhuvan University admits
1Entrepreneurial Performance Construct, Its Dimensions, Measures and Issues
https://saraswaticampus.edu.np/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Rita-Subedi.pdf:
“…there is lack of consensus between scholars to choose performance measures. Due to this, [they] have been facing considerable difficulty to choose accurate and adequate measures.”
The truth is, humans run companies.
Are company “vitals,” like finances, production, and marketing, important?
Absolutely, yes.
But the health & performance of the humans in charge influences business performance as much, if not more.
So this guide takes an integrated view.
We look at the “health” of the business AND the entrepreneur as measures of performance.
Getting to the Root Cause of Your Work Performance Woes
Sometimes, we feel unstoppable and CRUSH our goals. Other times, we fall short. Whether we’re actually to blame, us high performers often label “falling short” as self-sabotage.
When talking about self-sabotage, we often oversimplify. We may tell ourselves we need to “be more consistent,” or “stop procrastinating,” or “manage our time better.”
But if high-performance habits were that easy to maintain, we would. Right?
So the first step to improving performance is letting yourself look deeper: Admitting there must be some root cause.
In psychology, there’s something called the Yerkes-Dodson Law
2Wikipedia: Yerkes–Dodson law
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerkes%E2%80%93Dodson_law. It correlates the amount of stress or pressure we feel with our performance.
Interestingly, we need the right mix of both to feel successful and perform well.
Too little pressure, and we’re bored, understimulated.
Too much pressure and we’re stressed, frazzled, unfocused.
You can see the correlation in Delphis’ (beautiful) graph here
3Stress and the Pressure Performance Curve
https://delphis.org.uk/peak-performance/stress-and-the-pressure-performance-curve/:
In today’s world, humans lean (or careen, as it were) toward the “burnout” end of the scale. Particularly as entrepreneurs, there’s far too much we could be doing to feel bored. Our modern-day challenge lies in reducing the pressure, not increasing it.
The 6 SAPPERs™ Affecting Entrepreneurial Performance, with Examples
There are six key areas of pressure that harm our ability to grow our businesses without burnout. At Major Force, we call these SAPPERs™. To pinpoint them, we drew from behavioral psychology, neuroscience, stress/trauma biology, and business fundamentals.
Most writings on this subject only look at business fundamentals and entrepreneurial mindset.
But remember, we’re taking a 360 view.
The health of the human running the business dictates the “health” of the business.
SAPPERs function just as they sound:
When they’re in balance, they fuel faster, simpler business growth.
When they’re out of balance, they drain vitality from people and processes, causing growth slowdowns (or full-out roadblocks).
The six SAPPERs that erode work performance:
- Situational
- Autonomic/abstract
- Physical
- Practical
- External/Environmental
- Relational support
Let’s look at each one.
1. Situational
This SAPPER refers to pressure or stress stemming from your circumstances. Situational SAPPERs are often major life events. These events cause underlying distractions, or even despair.
Examples:
Any major life event, positive or negative, adds new stress. On a biological level, it affects our ability to perform the same. It doesn’t matter where it comes from.
2. Autonomic/abstract
This SAPPER refers to how your body automatically deals with pressure and stress. These happen on an unconscious level, without your awareness or consent. What’s going on in your body affects your thoughts, emotions, and behavior.
Examples:
3. Physical
This SAPPER refers to pain, tension, stiffness, or other discomfort that saps your ability to perform. They usually drain your energy, motivation, or focus when you try to work. This SAPPER especially refers to physical discomfort that increases, the longer you work.
Examples:
4. Practical
This SAPPER refers to the lack of SMART goals or concrete action steps. Choosing firm goals for your business is the first key to growth. Without a clear and strategic action plan that fits your unique company stage, resources are unnecessarily drained.
Examples:
5. External/Environmental
This SAPPER refers to issues in your environment that make work challenging. Environment isn’t only your physical space. It includes your regular digital spaces, like phone, task manager, CRM, email, P.O. box, and voicemail.
Examples:
6. Relational support
Since we often underestimate its severity, this SAPPER can be one of the most harmful. Many studies confirm the NEED for social interaction to support our physical, mental, and emotional health. Not getting it can have a profound effect on our happiness and performance.
Examples:
Putting “People Before Profit” is About More than Best Practice
We understand the hazards of putting profits first when it comes to our team. If we run the company this way, our people feel undervalued. Role turnover is high. Growth is slow. Or maybe we never do.
So remember that putting profits before YOUR own wellness creates the same problem.
Too often, we ignore basic necessities, like food, personal care, and sleep, to “finish this last task.” And in doing so, we drain our resources, inching closer and closer to burnout.
As company owners, we MUST take care of our needs to have anything to give. We can’t pour from empty cups. It’s only once we commit to doing our best for ourselves that we find the focus, clarity, motivation, and organization to do the Real Work.
High performance is about more than mindset.
High performance is about more than a great idea and solid implementation.
It IS about those, but our bodies can stand in the way of us taking those actions. For our protection.
The health of the entrepreneur(s) in charge dictates the health of the organization. So we must protect and fuel our performance by taking a 360 view.
A lack of balance in the above six areas knocks our personal and professional systems off kilter, fueling “self-sabotage.” The root cause is YOU and your team’s total wellness–or lack thereof.
The Bottom Line: “We Must be Strategic to Create Lasting Change.”
Remember, whether stress is positive or negative, your body processes it the same.
When the nervous system is under excess load, entrepreneur performance suffers.
And when entrepreneur performance suffers, business growth slows–or stops altogether.
If imbalances are severe for long enough, the company doesn’t just stop growing; it backslides.
So the keys to performing better are to:
Learn how high performance coaching can help you grow faster without running yourself into the ground.
SOURCES:
- 1Entrepreneurial Performance Construct, Its Dimensions, Measures and Issues
https://saraswaticampus.edu.np/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Rita-Subedi.pdf - 2Wikipedia: Yerkes–Dodson law
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerkes%E2%80%93Dodson_law - 3Stress and the Pressure Performance Curve
https://delphis.org.uk/peak-performance/stress-and-the-pressure-performance-curve/
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