Hi, I’m Camille and I’m an extrovert. I confess that from time to time I’ve overlooked the talents that introverts have to offer. I’m reforming.

On a recent flight home from Ohio, I read Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain.

I picked it up because in my work to maximize team performance I’m constantly looking for insights to have the more quiet members contribute. Why?

Because I know quiet people are smart and insightful andwe need to stop talking long enough to hear them.

Consider some of Cain’s findings:

• It’s a spectrum: no person is a pure introvert or pure extrovert.
• Our culture has a bias for talkers, against non-talkers. Introverts are often passed over for leadership roles.
• One-third to one-half of the population is introverts. If we don’t listen to them, we lose their intelligence and contribution!
• Solitude is essential for creativity.
• Steve Wozniak (inventor of 1^st Apple) worked alone in his HP cubicle; states he never would have become an expert if he hadn’t been too introverted to leave his house when growing up.
• Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) spent days ensconced in his private bell tower, rarely ventured out to meet young readers, fretting that kids would expect an outspoken Cat in the Hat-like figure and would be disappointed by his reserved personality.

To validate what I’d read, I recently asked a dinner companion if she was an introvert or extrovert. “I’m an introvert who’s had to force myself to be an extrovert. I learned early that I had to speak up or I would be passed over. It took a lot of energy to do this. It always felt like I was betraying myself. I did it so I could have more of an influence on our organization, but, it was tiring.”

Cain illustrated how soft-spoken, self-described introverts  – Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Gandhi – took the spotlight because they were driven by their commitment to make a difference and do what they thought was right, not because they loved the attention. Can’s words validated my experience in working with thousands of people around the world in cultures very different from our Western one. Each of us can and do create commitments which can and do override and supersede our preferences and habits. Commitments that pull us out of our comfort zones and pull us through difficult situations to achieve meaningful, purpose-filled goals.

To support yourself and your employees in making their contribution and being engaged:

1. Create time and space for reflection and solitude. (For ex., have a no-talk afternoon a week)
2. Continue to collaborate, just don’t think it’s the only way to find the best solution.
3. Invite quiet people to lead; then, let them lead in their own way.

Hear Cain’s stimulating and informative TEDTalk.  If you’d like to share your story as an introvert, I promise to be quiet and listen.

I admit it. No matter what I’m doing when I’m not coaching (watching TV, playing tennis, practicing my guitar), I’m asking “What can I learn right now about being effective and producing desired results?”

On a recent rainy day, Sweet Genius, a competitive cooking show, offered some insights on being effective when the heat’s turned up.  (Think I can write off my cable bill as a business expense?)

In case you haven’t seen it, here’s how the show goes. The judge, renowned for his exquisite desserts, presents three chef competitors with dessert challenges. Each timed round begins with 2 things: a mandatory ingredient and something to stir their imagination and be represented in the dessert. In the rainy day episode, these were orange soda and a bubble machine.

The competition begins with chefs gathering supplies from the pantry and running back to their workstations.  As they dice, season and blend, their voice-over tells us what they plan to make and we hear their self-talk and thoughts about doubts and desires.

Half-way through the allotted time, the judge introduces a second mandatory ingredient. The contestants roll their eyes and, on the fly, figure out how to integrate the new element.  (Same episode, this was pretzel rods.) We hear their internal conversations: “I’ve never cooked with this. I’m allergic to it. How can I beat the others?  What happens if I lose?”

At the end, two finalists bring their desserts to the judge who gives feedback as he nibbles the sweet concoctions. “You are no sweet genius” greets the loser.  A twinkle of the judge’s eye and “Congratulations” goes to the winner, plus a check for $10,000.

Imagine with me how the Sweet Genius format might show up at work…

Scenario: To take advantage of an unexpected funding opportunity, the boss (judge) askes the team of sales managers (contestants) to create a sales projection for next 12 months within 24 hours (mandatory ingredient).

To inspire the contestants’ imagination, the boss states the winner will be chosen by a VC (the real judge: person with authority to say something is successful or not) and would be the next VP of Sales  (the imagination stimulator). The clock starts. The employees/contestants run to their cubicles and begin to slice and dice numbers.

Half-way through the allotted time, the boss tells contestants/employees that the VC called to say the projections must include 2 new international markets.  (Talk about a “what the?” curve ball!)  Some roll their eyes and mutter bleep-able phrases. Those we hear are: “This isn’t fair! I can’t work with this kind of pressure. Why didn’t I pay closer attention in that Excel class?”

Time’s up. Presentations made.  Here’s what the VC  (judge) says before declaring the winner:

“If this was just about the spreadsheet, Mary would have won. However, there’s more to this challenge than manipulating data. The winner’s data wasn’t as detailed as Mary’s, and it showed a sufficient grasp of the issues and opportunities. The winner’s communication skills and ability to take, not deflect, the feedback were outstanding. What set them apart was how they demonstrated skills required of a VP by

• delivering on the conditions of satisfaction and not adding unrequested bells and whistles
• communicating upfront what wasn’t done, without offering excuses
• accepting positive and negative feedback without rebuttal
• thinking and acting with the interests of the company as a whole, not just their job

Congratulations, Matt, you are the new VP of Sales.”

Whether in the kitchen or the boardroom, being able to produce under pressure is a capacity worth building. It takes self-discipline, self-trust, the ability to communicate and connect with the audience’s concerns, and a commitment to a produce results, not reasons. These are all learnable skills. Which one do you need to improve so you can produce results under pressure?

PS: If you have a TV show you’d like me to critique in this way. Email me: camille@wipcoaching.com.

Remember Wendy’s 2006 commercial with the old lady complaining about the patty size with the slogan “Where’s the beef?”?

Complaining is often a way we identify our disatisfactions and things we want to change. On the other hand, if we don’t know we are complaining, it can adversely affect our performance, putting us in a mood of being victimized and powerless.

My colleague, Barbara Fittapaldi, presents 3 types of complaints.  Understanding these distinctions can increase your power and effectiveness. Pay particular attention of the listener’s role.

Recreational Complaint: “This weather is horrible.”  “I can’t believe the number of emails I have!” “Couldn’t they get a clue and put a better selection of sodas in the machine?”

Characteristics: No intention to change or solve something; no request to do anything or intention to be responsible for the situation. These complaints are for the sheer enjoyment of complaining.

Listener’s action: Acknowledge what is said in a way that doesn’t agree or disagree with the person’s statement. (“I hear you.”)  Don’t try to get them to change their view. Don’t get hooked into complaining with them.  (“Yeah, this rain is really lasting a long time.”) Let it go; don’t get entangled.

Caution: This could devolve into gossip if you jump on their complaining bandwagon.

Expressive Complaint: “I’ll never get my work done if people keep emailing me!” “Why does this always happen to me?”

Characteristic: Complaint is accompanied by anger, frustration; emotions express being wronged, victimized, powerless. No intention to change something; no request.

Listener’s action:  Lend a sympathetic ear for a short time in order for the speaker to “empty their glass” and vent.  Acknowledge their state: “I see you are upset.”  Don’t agree or disagree with what they are complaining about. Do not let the vent go on for an extended period of time.  If their venting doesn’t release the steam, take action to move the conversation to a committed complaint by asking them: “Do you still want me just to listen, or is there something you want to have happen?” If they say there is something they want to have happen, ask them what request they can make.

Caution: Expressive complaining can leave both parties discouraged and in an unproductive, sour, Eyore mood which can negatively influence performance for a little or a lot of time. Thus, the coaching tip to move to a committed complaint. Even asking the complainer “What request could you make?” will leave you both more empowered, even if the conversation doesn’t go any further.

Committed Complaint:  “I wish I knew who was going to make the decision about this customer issue. “

Characteristic:  An ‘almost, hidden’ request for something to change.

Listener’s action: Ask: “What request you can make, and of whom?” Use committed speaking and listening (accept; decline; counter offer) to support the complainer to formulate the request. (Complainer: I’m going to request Ben to designate someone by the end of today and let the team know via email.”)

Complainers are upset: either a little (recreational complaints) or a lot (expressive complaints). Regardless, because they are upset, they are not present. When we are not present, our performance tanks.

Thank goodness for listeners – they can help complainers return to being present and regain their performance power. And you thought speaking was powerful!

BONUS: Listen to some complaints sung by choirs!

GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out

That phrase reminds us that what you put into something is what you’ll get out of it. If you put garbage in – cheap parts, shoddy workmanship, no quality inspection, inaccurate data – that will determine what comes out.

I think it’s time to employ that thinking again to what we put into people who we count on for output.

Measure

To have a successful business, we measure outputs of profit, costs, which products sell, which don’t. To have a successful household, we measure savings, expenses, which foods are eaten, which become garbage.  In both domains, we measure the financial bottom line. However, if that’s all we’re monitoring, we’re not seeing, and we don’t have access to influence, the factors that contribute to the kind of success we’re seeking today.

The triple bottom line came into existence around 2007. The TBL registers an expanded spectrum of criteria for measuring organizational success with metrics for (1) people (social) and (2) planet (ecological), and (3) profit (economic). The concept demands that a company’s responsibility lies with stakeholders rather than only shareholders (profit-seekers), with “stakeholders” being anyone who is influenced, either directly or indirectly, by the actions of the firm.  Corporate Social Responsibility is an expression of this measure. A step in the right direction.

Another step is to measure what’s going into our people.

GIGO or HIHO?

If people are in a toxic culture – one characterized by gossip, broken promises, poor communication, inequitable compensation, discrimination, retribution rather than support – their output is likely to be toxic– low morale, low customer satisfaction, increase in union grievances, high absenteeism.

If people are in and around an engaging, invigorating culture – one characterized by opportunity to learn, gain skills, supportive feedback, development paths that match ambitions – their performance and output will represent and reflect the culture; plus, they will experience work as satisfying.

BTW: Creating an environment that fosters happy and satisfied employees does not mean that there won’t be conflict or disagreement. It means that when there is a conflict, it gets worked out and resolved in the open and doesn’t fester or go underground to sabotage relationships. The effectiveness with which employees raise and resolve disagreements is a function of the level of trust.

Employees are happiest when they’re trying to achieve goals that are difficult but not out of reach. As they go after these difficult and attainable goals, thriving employees know how to avoid burnout. (The Bright Side of Burnout: How to recognize & fix it! a motivational and training video available. 20% discount code: NOBURNOUT).

Research has shown that managers can take 4 measures to help employees engage in taking on difficult goals. All 4 are necessary to create a culture of vitality and learning. (Source: HBReview, Jan-Feb 2012 and my experience of working with tons of people around the world.)

1. Provide decision-making discretion. Be clear about parameters.
2. Share information. Share data on all aspects of business with everyone, regardless of role.
3. Minimize incivility. Reduce (heck, Outlaw!) gossip, disrespect, intolerance and bullying.
4. Offer performance feedback. Create dashboards that show individual and team performance against goals. When positive feedback outweighs the negative 5 to 1, satisfaction increases.

It will take a prolonged and shared commitment to bring these 4 measures into your workplace (or household). Old habits will need to be discarded, new practices will need to be invented and integrated. The process of creating a vital and learning environment can create happiness. Happiness in, Happiness out.  After all, it’s the input that creates the output.

In December’s column, Big Enough Why?, I invited you to shift from making resolutions to creating a Big Enough WHY? for 2012 — a shift from being resolved (with crossed fingers) to being committed.

How’s it going?

One of the questions that naturally arises once you have your B.E.WHY is, How? How do I make the unpredictable happen? There is a methodology to achieving breakthrough results. That’s what we’re talking about here, not just incremental improvement, but a break from the predictable. (BTW, incremental is fine and appropriate in many situations.) Repeatedly and reliably producing breakthrough results requires, among other things, expanding self-awareness, questioning beliefs, going beyond comfort zones, thinking in new ways, and welcoming breakdowns. All that requires a particular way of being.

To kick off the “how” discussion, let’s look at our relationship with the future.  Our conventional, well-entrenched wisdom tells us that the future is something out there that will show up some day. Tomorrow, maybe, but not today.  Oh, and about tomorrow. Orphan Annie reminds us: “Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya Tomorrow!  You’re always A day A way!”  (For those who prefer Steve Miller’s “Fly like an eagle”: Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ into the future …)

Maybe that puts a crimp in our plans. Maybe not.

What time is it? For another perspective of the future, consider Eckhart Tolle’s view of time from The Power of Now:

• We are conditioned to think in terms of [three distinct domains of time] past, present and future.
• We are preoccupied with looking both backwards and forwards, anything rather than focus on the present, the here and now.
• We focus on the past because this is what gives us our sense of identity and what has led us to the life circumstances that we currently face.
• We focus on the future because this is where all our dreams and fears will play out.
• We can never actually experience the past or the future. The past is gone. We only ever experience it as a whole series of Nows when we talk or think about it in the present. The same will be true of the future: when it arrives it will be Now. The only thing that ever has any real, underlying validity, is the present, the Now.

Combine what Tolle says with your own experience and Ghandi’s familiar quote: Be the change you wish to see in the world. When we “be” the change we wish to see, we behave today, right now, in a manner that’s consistent with the future we desire. By doing so, we generate the future now.

Whatever you want to experience or be someday, in the future, act and be that way today. Behave today in a way that’s consistent with your future commitment. If you are committed to someday working with people who respect and trust each other, act, as best you can, in a trusting manner with your co-workers today. If you are committed to having more transparent relationships, reveal yourself today. And do it again when the next today comes around. Being and repeating the behavior consistently brings about the change we wish to see.

WIPC TIP: Kick start your year by creating and keeping a commitment that takes no more than a week or two to complete. This spark of success will light the fuse for fulfilling other commitments for the year.

Planning’s good, acting gets results. Where you are is the best (and only) starting place. This isn’t about doing it perfectly; it’s about engaging and discovering your own answer to How? Take action Now, not Tomorrow which is (sing along with me) always a day a way.

Now, answer the riddle.

Ah, the end is near — of the year, that is. A time when we look back and reflect on all that has and hasn’t happened. For the resolutions we achieved, we’ll cheer wildly and thank our lucky stars. For the ones we didn’t, we’ll lament the loss and profess how hard we tried.

As we bid 2011 goodbye and hello to 2012, many of us will bring in the New Year with yet another set of wishes that, by golly, we really are going to accomplish in 2012.  Really.

You name them: we’ll resolve to lose weight, spend more quality time with our loved ones, find a new loved one, reduce our credit card debt, volunteer more, get promoted, be kinder and more forgiving … we’ll resolve stop something and start other things.   We’ll punctuate our proclamations by raising our glass in one hand and crossing our fingers in the other because we’re not so sure we’ll really going to achieve them. Besides, these new resolutions sound a lot like the old ones.  Ah, tradition!

How about we buck tradition, just a bit? Let’s shift from being resolved to being committed to making the unpredictable happen.  To do that, we have to create a Big Enough Why?

A big enough WHY? is something that matters to you, deep-down. It’s the reason you commit to accomplishing what isn’t predictable or easy to do.  Your big enough WHY is more than a nice-to-have for you; it’s a worth-to-have. It’s worth going for, worth spending your time, resources, and energies to achieve.  When you think about it, you light up.

To create your big enough WHY, ask yourself: What is the difference I want to make in the world? Keep asking this question until your answer stirs your heart and inspires you.  Your big enough WHY has a unique meaning to you. You will feel it in your bones. Call it purpose, personal mission or calling. It’s what you say you were put on the planet to contribute.

Here’s what the “big enough” part is about.

• Your WHY has to be compelling enough to you to pull you through the times when it looks like it won’t happen and you want to give up.
• Your WHY has to matter more to you than looking good, being right or protecting your ego.
• Your WHY has to be big enough that you don’t need agreement, approval or permission to go after it.

Everyone’s big enough WHY also comes with a lovely set of companion gifts: setbacks. The bigger the big enough, the bigger the setbacks.

When you take on living your WHY, you will see all the stuff that doesn’t match it.  The good news is that when you take on and transform what doesn’t match your WHY, you’ll be making your WHY more real. You don’t have to ignore the setbacks or wish they weren’t there.  You can use them to make your contribution. Being confronted with stuff that isn’t what we desire and using it to get what we desire is a piece, I think, is missing in our traditional “let’s make resolutions” game.

To create your unique big enough WHY, ask yourself: If I could make anything happen, without the fear of failing, what would that be?  Ask and answer this question several times. Go beyond your first response. You’ll know when you’ve hit the vein of what really matters to you.

I recognize we don’t allow ourselves to imagine, let alone share with others what really matters to us because we are afraid of what they will say: you’re crazy… we tried that before, it didn’t work …you’re a dreamer … wise up… grow up … get real. If they don’t say it to us, we’ll say it to ourselves, shrinking our dreams from inspiring to acceptable and normal and, worse, shrinking ourselves. Recognize this, don’t let it stop you.

To move from being inspired to being in action in an inspired way, you need to create a structure for fulfillment. The design of the structure includes sharing your WHY widely, not being attached to one particular way of achieving it, keeping it in existence, and creating a network of supporters.

Speaking of a network of supporters, I want to give a shout out to Times Publishing Group for the opportunity to connect with you and to you, dear reader. Your comments about how my words benefit you inspire me to keep doing what I do. Contributing to you realizing how great you are is one of my big enough WHYs. I am grateful. Happy New Year!

“A is for …” During the change-over in a recent tennis game, one of my buddies reached in his bag and offered his partner some pills, saying “We really need our vitamin A today.”  Wanting to join in, I quipped: “A for attitude?” They laughed, “No. A for Advil. Otherwise, we’ll seize up!”   It got me thinking.

What vitamin could we take for those times when our conversations seize up and words get stuck in our throats?

You know… those times when you have something important to say, but don’t know how to say it so you swallow your words. Those times when you want to ask a question, but don’t. Those times when you overhear someone being verbally abused and rather than step in, as you wish you would, you quickly move out of the area to avoid being seen by the parties involved.

Here’s what I experience as I help people regain their voice and learn how to deliver and receive difficult messages.   When we go silent when we don’t want to, we are listening to a flurry of internal conversations that sound something like this: “Be quiet … it’s too risky to speak up … it’s not my place to say something … he/she/they won’t understand … I’ll speak up next time.”  Not only do we listen to the flurry, we believe it’s true and absolutely going to happen.

What’s driving this internal snowstorm that freezes us?  Many of us believe that being silent is better than risking saying something that might damage the relationship. Here’s the cosmic joke: The silence we invoke to protect the relationship often does more damage than a conversation that’s rough around the edges but wrapped in partnership.  Our silence does not salvage the relationship, it sinks it.  Our fear that we’ll lose the relationship actually is realized. Sad, isn’t it?  Sometimes people have told me one of the myths they have believed is: It’s better to have a bad relationship that no relationship at all.

While there isn’t a pill for this kind of laryngitis, there is a cure.  Rather than putting something in us, we need to generate something out from us. We need to generate a commitment to who we want to be and how we want to show up. From there, we can then generate a way of communicating that’s summed up by this mantra offered by Susan Scott in Fierce Conversations: Model what I want.

Learn the communication Heimlich maneuver:

1. Stand behind yourself. Take a stand for the kind of communicator you want to be.
2. Squeeze yourself. If you want openness and honesty from others, be open and honest when you speak. If you want others to reveal their secret agendas, share your hidden agenda first.
3. Dislodge myths. As you model the way you want to be communicated with, the myths which have kept you silent will be dislodged. Waiting will not dislodge them.  Taking new actions will.
4. Use your words.  Recognize the phrase? Yeah, that’s what we say to children who are throwing a tantrum. Maybe being silent, out of spite and not reflection, is an adult tantrum.  As we’ve all experienced, the “silent treatment” punishes both parties.

Removing the blockage to communication begins with you. I know it may be annoying to keep hearing that it’s up to you.  Too bad. You are that powerful.

Modeling the behavior you desire from others is risky and rewarding. Risky because you don’t know exactly how the conversation will turn out.  That’s uncomfortable. Rewarding because once you experience communicating in the manner you want to be communicated with, you’ll feel a new sense of power (not force), purpose and partnership. That’s addictive.

It’s either a tough or sweet pill to swallow when we get that it’s up to us to go first. We all have the cure inside us, we just need to cough it up. Give yourself a Heimlich for what sticks in your throat. Be mindful that what comes out models the behavior you want to receive.  You’ll stop chocking and breathe a lot easier, I promise.

Remember the old TV game show $100,000 Pyramid hosted by Dick Clark? Players attempted to guess a category from the descriptions given by their teammate.

Let’s play! Here are my descriptions: a college sorority reunion, a women’s retreat, a high school reunion, the Global Women’s Leadership Network (www.gwln.org). If you answered “women-only events”, you’d hear the incorrect buzzer. My Ohio high school was co-ed and GWLN includes men.

Two months ago, the answer was: groups Camille associates with. Today, the answer is: Camille’s communities. Today’s answer comes from being introduced to a new way of thinking about community, one that has membership based on shared commitments and choice, not geographical proximity or entitlement.

The topic of community may not seem to fit the world of work I usually write about. However, the more I investigate this new view, the more I see fundamental principles that can support any purpose-oriented group working well together to achieve their goals.  That’s a fit for me.

What is the new view of community and why is it important?

In Community, The Structure of Belonging, author Peter Block frames community as a possibility to belong. Here’s an excerpt:

Community is about the experience of belonging, with belonging having 2 meanings: one, the experience of being connected and among friends and, two, the experience that something belongs to me. What I consider mine, I will build and nurture. … The theory comes down to three everyday questions out of which community is actually lived:  1.) Whom do I choose to invite into the room? 2.) What is the conversation that I both become and engage in with those people? 3.) When there are more than two of us together, how do we create a communal structure that moves the action forward?”

Belonging to a community by choice, not entitlement, is especially important now because we aren’t in Kansas anymore, Toto.  Heck, we aren’t even in the good ol’ USofA anymore!  Before you call me a commie, let me explain: The historical American individualistic way of being, personified by the lone ranger doing whatever he wanted to the land and people, is no longer sustainable, let alone appropriate. (You’re right, it never was.) The command-and-control, fear-based work culture it spawned is ineffective and dissatisfying for everyone it touches.

Belonging means we are connected and “at home” with each other, unafraid, clear that we have each other’s back. When we belong, we make choices that honor our self, the other and the whole.

What would show up if Block’s 3 questions framed your next office meeting or family gathering? How would you show up?

“Small world, isn’t it?” peppers our daily conversations.  That recognition makes our interdependence undeniable and it makes being disconnected impractical, even undesirable.

Whether times are bouncy and uncertain or smooth and clear, the one constant that helps me “forward the action” – meaning, what I am committed to – are my relationships.  From this new perspective, I now see these relationships as my communities.  None of us succeed by our self.  We succeed because people participate with us. Adding belonging to our participation lights up the phrase “we are in this together” with possibility.

Serendipity: In the process of writing this, someone I’ve volunteered with for 6 years asked if I would be her partner in a business opportunity. She said she was asking me because “you’ve always been there for me, always come through. I want this business to be known for quality and commitment. I know you’ll bring that to the coaching we offer.”  With this, we began to create ourselves as a community.

Who will you invite into the room?

Last month, I covered 2 of 4 lessons regarding how to stop burnout: #1: Stop and identify the specific source of the fire (remember: everything’s not burning) and #2: Drop into your Self, listening and paying attention to what matters to you (your voice, vision and values).  (Want a refresher? Read Part 1)

Before we move to lessons: #3: Roll and #4: Go, I want to emphasize something from lesson #2: The capital “S” is not a typo. The Self is you as a whole human being who embodies all the potential you were born with, all the capacities actualized and not yet actualized. The “self”, little ‘s’, is the one that judges, doubts, criticizes us. It’s the know-it-all, puny, little self.   Tim Gallwey (The Inner Game of Work) when referring to these 2 selves says: Our best performance happens with the “self” is quiet and the “Self” is allowed to act.

#3: Roll.  Move in a different direction.  Break the unconscious, automatic patterns of action.

Take a different route to work, have a picnic lunch outside with a book of poems or a sketch book, not your blackberry.  Listen to unfamiliar music, spend time with someone you wouldn’t normally.  Changing your physical routine has the possibility of changing your mental outlook because you can’t rely on muscle memory or cruise control.  Re-arrange your cubicle physically. Get a stand-up workstation.  Move to a conference room to do even a short task. You’ll be amazed at how a physical change increases your productivity.

#4: Go. Go beyond your comfort zone.

Go 1 more inch. Where you normally stop, withdraw, go silent or give up or give in, go 1 inch more. Not 10 inches, 1 inch. BTW: This inch usually is often an inward measurement, going into yourSelf for the courage to speak up, to reconnect when you’re dis-engaged.

Ask for support. You feel good when you support others. Share the opportunity: let others support you. We all know you can do everything all the time.  What’s the point of that, really?

Draw boundaries. If there’s a situation that always pulls you in, a vortex that sucks your energy and aliveness, get out in front of it. Talk to those who are involved BEFORE the situation turns into the same old emergency that you don’t say No to.

Reduce your insatiable need to achieve. What??? Achieve less? Are you kidding, Camille? No, I am not. If you are comfortable always pressing, working hard and long, continually raising your goals, do what isn’t comfortable: reduce your need to achieve. Do it for 1 week. See what, and more importantly who, shows up when you aren’t fixated on the goal. You aren’t a slacker. You can achieve goals and not run over yourSelf or others in the process. This may be the most uncomfortable thing to do, and it may help the most to reduce burnout.

I’m not saying this is easy, I’m saying this is a way to be alive, engaged, and being your best, rather than burning out.  New mantra: I have more important things to do than burnout!

Because burnout can be invisible until the meltdown, there’s something fundamental to having this tool work for you.  You need a personal, heart-felt reason or commitment that inspires you and makes being burned out unacceptable.

Here’s mine: I am committed to supporting people being fully self-expressed, making their contribution, having a blast and being satisfied in the process, including me.

Invent your own commitment. Something that speaks to you, that brings you joy, that reminds you of who you are and what matters to you at your core.

When we’re centered in our Self, in who we are as human beings, not a cog, a job, a role, we see ourselves differently.  When we embrace our humanity, we see ourselves less as a commodity, more as a possibility.  We see others in that same light. When we see ourselves as a possibility, we make choices about how best to use our energy, talents, time.  We see ourselves as a source and a resource to ourselves and others.

We – your family, friends, co-workers – need you to be engaged, appreciated for your talents and making your contribution. More importantly, you need to be meaningfully engaged for your own sake and aliveness.

Don’t “Stop – Drop – Roll – Go” because I said so, do it because you said so.

The bright side of burnout is that it illuminates what matters so you can come back to your center, to your authentic Self. Pay attention to your Self. Ask, answer and act on your inner intelligence and commitment to be the amazing natural resource you are.

All together now:  “I have more important things to do than burnout.”

No energy. No interest.  Snapping at loved ones.  Sleepless nights.  Being burned out is a drag. Staying burnout out isn’t cool either and it’s avoidable if you Stop-Drop-Roll-Go.

Let’s face it: All of us are affected by the economic slowdown. We take on more and take less care of ourselves, burning out in the process.  And if it isn’t us who’s doing more with less, we get a heat rash just by being near those who are!

In this 2-part series, I’ll explore four lessons to help you recognize and avoid burnout so you can perform at your best, particularly when times are tough.  Whether you’re slightly smoldering or completely ablaze, I hope these words will soothe the singe.

Remember the Trabing Road fire in Larkin Valley, June 2008?  Regardless of how it started, when a fire hits, we have a clear call to action.  We’d:

• immediately stop what we were doing
• get our families, pets, livestock out of harm’s way
• alert neighbors
• grab what things we could
• error on the side of safety and move with purpose

It’s easy to see the impact of a fire – the visible landscape changes. Houses and trees are leveled to ash, green fields are blackened.  It’s not so easy to see the impact on the invisible landscape, the one inside us.  Our once unquestioned sense of security and well-being can be leveled, we can feel vulnerable and out of control.  We can become a mere shadow of our former self.

Truth be told, it’s often easier to erect a new home than to rebuild our invisible landscape. In my view, it’s the invisible stuff we need to rebuild just as vigorously as we do houses.  It’s the health and vitality of our invisible landscape that makes the difference in our capacity to perform at our best.

Now, how to fix burnout.

Remember what the fire fighters taught us when we were in elementary school: Stop-Drop-Roll. I’m going to take those 3 lessons and add 1 more: Go.

Here’s how to use Stop-Drop-Roll-Go to reclaim your inner landscape if it’s charred by being burnout.

# 1: Stop. Stop long enough (5 minutes per day) to answer the question:  Am I smoldering?  Am I ignoring the early warning signs from my body, my intuition and my friends?

If the answer is No, I’m not smoldering – acknowledge yourself for the check-in and for your wellbeing.  If the answer is Yes, then find the specific flame (a resentment, disappointment or unfulfilled expectation) that is smoldering.  Ask:  When did I start smoldering? What happened?

#2: Drop.  Drop into yourself to know what you uniquely need to recover and reclaim.

Ask:  Have I lost my voice and stopped speaking my truth?  Have I disregarded my values?  Have I disconnected from my purpose?

Sometimes it’s easier to answer these questions if someone we trust asks them of us. If that’s your case, then find that person and ask them to ask you these questions. Don’t let your ego or “I’ve got it together” persona get in the way. You are too valuable a resource!  We need you naturally turned-on, fully engaged, not turned-off, burned-out!  Heck, forget the “we”, how about: you need yourself turned on and engaged!

While a fire can be a “natural disaster”, there’s nothing natural about burning ourselves out.  I’m advocating an attitude adjustment:  Being burned-out doesn’t serve anyone.  Being tuned-in serves everyone, including me.

The bright side of burn out is: The better you tune-in to yourself and what burns you out, the sooner you’ll see your early warning signs, your personal smoke.  And where there’s smoke …

Next month, Part 2 will cover lessons 3 & 4: Roll-Go.