Do You ALREADY Know How to be GREAT?

At eleven, Alan Fine pictured himself as a "severely asthmatic, skinny and painfully shy kid," desperately desiring to play tennis.  Pitted in tennis finals against a thirteen-year-old, six feet tall, captain of the Welsh school rugby team--"the school 'jock,'" Alan focused on his wins 6-4, 4-0.  When he thought he might be school tennis champ with just two more wins, he froze.   From that moment, Fine desired to be a tennis champ.  Through stories, Alan Fine shows uncanny insights that led him to understand the interference that holds people back.

Alan inspires everyone to develop a way forward for performance peaks. Alan Fine's GROW design, simply clarified in You ALREADY Know How to be GREAT, details how using inside out approaches, leads to removal of interference that stifles progress. 

Intriguingly, an unlikely source - a shy, uncoordinated, girl - provide Fine even bigger breakthrough answers to interference.  The nine-year-old had Fine's best instruction, yet she was barely able to hit a tennis ball over the net, five times consecutively. Fine experienced a eureka insight as he perceived his instructional tips were "getting in her way."  Not too surprisingly, Alan told her to forget his past instructions.   Instead, he simply told her to say bounce when the ball touched the ground and hit when the ball hit her racket.  The girl hit the ball over the net 53 times in a row.  Two simple words increased her performance 1000% or 10X.  Amazingly, each of us holds that same potential.  It's a matter of the athlete perceiving the strategy inside out rather than outside in.

For a performer's journey to be GREAT, Fine starts with Faith, Fire and Focus.  You ALREADY Know How to be GREAT, reveals Alan's inside out process to apply simple doable actions to leap forward.  Alan creates questions that connect the performer to the problem. Interestingly, he poses these similar to MITA Two-footed questions that tap into curiosity, because people are challenged to find answers.  Here's an example of Fine's questions a performer can reflect on to name a specific Goal: 

• What issue do I want to work through?
• What do I want from this GROW "session" (meaning time devoted to resolving the issue)?
• What are the consequences if I do not take action?

Reality questions direct the performer to consider obstacles and determine if the goal is realistic.  In thinking about Options, the performer contemplates what could happen if anything could be done to make progress.  In the Way Forward, a performer reflects on ways to act on options and how to go about it.  The process helps the performer to GROW.

Alan Fine creates more than mere intellectual understanding of inside out concepts by relating his personal experience, using anagrams that easily show processes involved for breakthrough performance as well as publishing stories from people who achieved breakthrough performance.  Additionally, Alan created a website so that people can access his blog and other free items related to his work.

With deep foresight, Alan tackles some of the difficult issues coaches or performers might face when they get stuck.  In Chapter Nine, "What do you do when. . .?"  Fine shares questions he was asked over the years and he shows what works and what does not.  For instance, some people think they need to be told what to do.  Though it takes time, he shows how to avoid merely giving advice, but to empower the person to create consistently high-performance.

You ALREADY Know How to be GREAT is a pleasure to read and leaves you wondering where you can use Alan's thoughtful processes to ante up performance as you tackle critical issues at work or sports.  In this innovation era, the inside out process empowers leaders and managers to find solutions to failing systems.  Fine's GROW resources can prime any athletes' or managers' Faith, Fire and Focus, for a transformational journey.

Bloggers Help Us Grow More of Our Eight Intelligences

As I've visited several sites during the course of a week I recognize folks who make the most of the eight intelligences as they blog. In a sense I discover new ways to grow my own! See what you might grow for yourself, too!

Spatial Intelligence Matt Owen at Spur'N Conversations helps us "get into" the excitement of bull riding in a series of photos on his site. He says there is a sharing group at Flicker.com. Have you ever considered using just photos to express ideas? Don't forget a picture is worth 1,000 words!

Intrapersonal Intelligence Mark at Unconventional Blog asks very reflective questions about why businesses seem to hang on to practices that don't make much sense. For instance, "Why do managers complain for years about slackers under their command but allow them to continue collecting paychecks?" There's lots to chew on in this post.

Musical Intelligence MarkK advises budding Indie, rock, metal, jazz, country, hip hop and other bands who want to be discovered to consider signing up at Ska Bands, launched recently to give exposure to new independent artists.

Logical-Mathematical Intelligence Anthony Z. at The Agency Blog shares a very fun post about percentages. He asks if it's impossible to give more than 100%. Check this out for a laugh to see what you likely do when you exceed 100%!

Interpersonal Intelligence Katia Adams from Brazil asks a great question about the social smarts of some folks who burp, belch and fart in public. She finds the "excuse me," which does follow at times, to be rather hypocritical. How do you sense this fits into social smarts?

Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence Rick Cockrum shares that he is fascinated by words. He says, "We also use them to articulate to ourselves. In putting a name on a thing we can set it outside, turn it, look at it, reflect on it. Without reflection, we become victims of our own unconscious, unexpressed beliefs." Ever searched for just the right word to express ideas? The quest for the right word's very rewarding!

Bodily-kinesthetic Intelligence Ever considered biking to work as a way to keep both your body and brain fit as well as to help our environment? Braxton Pulley tells us that Bike to Work Week is coming up May 14 - 19. He's already dusting off his bike. Biking adds pleasure and benefits your day. I'm hoping fellow blogger Bob Glava can fill us in more about his biking adventures!

Naturalistic Intelligence Tankwoman reminds us that today's Earth Day and she suggests that we all celebrate and enjoy the beauty of the world around us.

Tomorrow, go out and take a walk. Savor the spring, enjoy the wonder of nature, celebrate the planet. And after you have felt the boundless joy of a spring day, make a commitment to this place we call home.

Take Action. This is the most important thing you will do this year, even this decade, and quite possibly, in your lifetime.

I'm reminded that we're stewards of this earth. What are you doing to create a legacy for the next generations?

Is your noodle buzzing with new ideas as mine is?

Dance Energizes Inner Rhythms

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance...

Do you enjoy moving to music – ballet, disco, rock, folk, country line, Latin line, ballroom, ballet, break dance…? Dances harmonize with music, and joy follows when you step out to dance your inner rhythms.

Do you experience similar inner rhythm in your work? Dance is one activity that rejuvenates your life overall and helps improve sleep and cognition at the same time it helps bust stress. And, there're dances to match the your inner rhythms...

Rhythmns and approaches differ. Unlike me, my husband loves country music, twang and all. A smooth country line dancer, he vines, stomps, pivots, hitches, struts and reggaes. His enjoyment comes from improvisation, and nothing pleases him more than to catch others unaware with an opposite spin or twist. But, there's more to this...


Country line dance, not as easy as it appears, faces four walls - and before a dance is complete you look to each one. Shift to your wall, when you should have shuffled, and you can easily lose a beat, with your feet flying out of sync.

Not all dances take equal talent. Serious upper-body strength is needed to perform a break-dance, for instance. Just try a hollow-back — a handstand in which you bend your legs toward your back, and see what I mean.

I prefer the flow of a waltz. In China recently, guides from our University faculty took Ellen Weber and me to a large square where people danced to music broadcast over loudspeakers.

Suddenly, Edelweiss filled the air, and Liu Jinli asked me to dance with him. I followed his highly challenging twists and whirls with absolute flow and I sensed the summits of China’s Huangshan Mountain! Ellen later described my experience as an intellectual dance.

Are you aware that dances of all kinds boost your mood, energy, and strength? All you need is a favorite tune and two feet that move. Your mind and body work together to help perform the rest. To dance is both a physical and cognitive challenge. In fact research shows how a dance can benefit your mind, all because dance …

1. According to Benloucif and Zee’s research at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, improves sleep and cognition.

2. Opens new worlds that help beat loneliness blues.

3. Helps relieve stress. Music moves your brain waves and floods your brain with serotonin, a hormone for well-being.

4. Can ward off osteoporosis, a degenerative bone disease.

5. Stirs hope to bust barriers when sickness strikes. A committed dancer can experience superhuman perseverance when cancer or a broken foot prevents participation.

For example, my husband experienced incredible restoration after a humungous tree trunk landed on his foot last winter. As a result he had four surgeries and fought infection week after week. Incredibly, when Carl slowly began to dance again, and envisioned his dance steps, his foot took a fast turn for the better. Dancing, you could say pushed Carl’s mind hard to heal his foot.

In similar ways, if work seems overwheming, consider dance as a way to establish a new inner rhythm.

May you never take one single breath for granted…Never settle for the path of least resistance…I hope you dance... I Hope You Dance by Lee Ann Womack