Earlier in my career I resisted feedback.

Led to lose lose outcomes.

My behaviours did not evolve as intended by feedback provider.I missed out on significant learning opportunities.

Then A-HA moment from my coach who believed "Feedback is the breakfast of champions".

Whilst tough to survive the feedback, ask yourself where can I apply this in next situation. For me the start of an incredible journey of feeling alive and a little bit better one step at a time.

Love to know your thoughts or any questions [email protected]

Text from BBC website 24 February 2020

A 62-year-old former US Marine has broken the world planking record with a time of eight hours, 15 minutes and 15 seconds.

George Hood set the record for The Longest Male Abdominal Plank in Chicago, according to Guinness World Records.

He surpassed the previous record of eight hours, one minute, set by Mao Weidong in China in 2016.

Hood says he did around 2,100 hours of planking in preparation.

He finished the event by doing 75 push ups.

After breaking the record, Hood announced his retirement from plank record attempts.

He started planking in 2011 and would train for seven hours a day ahead of the event.

"I have to totally disassociate myself from the reality of the clock. It's an art and a skillset that I have mastered over the years," he told the BBC.

2,100 hours of planking in preparation

Hood had rock music blaring throughout the event, something that he says helped him live out a childhood dream.

"When I was growing up, I was fascinated with rock and roll - Van Halen, Motley Crue, Deep Purple. I would watch their videos when MTV came out and it fascinated me," he said.

"I always just wished I could be a rock star, just for 24 hours to live that dream - the limo rides, the buzz, the hype," he added.

"I can assure you, for those eight hours, 15 minutes and 15 seconds, I was that rock star."

Turning the tables Podcast 2

We’ve spent some time getting to know the real Adrian Evans in the first podcast, now let’s dig into how you apply all the knowledge you’ve gained over the years in the work you do today…Before we get started, I know from the time I’ve spent with you how much effort you put into keeping continually learning – forever reading articles, books, etc on anything from business to sport. Where did this passion start?

Everything’s connected, so no waste. I would stick at it longer. Second and third time. Do have good memory.

Society tends to encourage us to stop learning when we leave formal education so can you tell me what you get out of this lifelong commitment to gaining knowledge?

Its your curriculum and you get to choose your teachers.

Could you give any specific examples of ideas or pieces of information that have had a big impact on how you work?

Daniel Coyle K Anders Eriksson, Robert Bjork, Carol Dweck.

As an avid learner you’ve said that the best results come from this ‘targeted, focused and deliberate’ learning. What can the rest of us gain from doing the same – and how do we set about it?

Realise little is to do with natural born gifts when comes to complex cognitive tasks. First 20 hours.

Recently you told me one of most important traits a leader in today’s business world needs is 'learning agility'. Can you tell us more about that?

We’ve spent some time getting to know the real Adrian Evans in the first podcast, now let’s dig into how you apply all the knowledge you’ve gained over the years in the work you do today…

Before we get started, I know from the time I’ve spent with you how much effort you put into keeping continually learning – forever reading articles, books, etc on anything from business to sport. Where did this passion start?

Everything’s connected, so no waste. I would stick at it longer. Second and third time. Do have good memory.

Society tends to encourage us to stop learning when we leave formal education so can you tell me what you get out of this lifelong commitment to gaining knowledge?

Its your curriculum and you get to choose your teachers.

Could you give any specific examples of ideas or pieces of information that have had a big impact on how you work?

Daniel Coyle K Anders Eriksson, Robert Bjork, Carol Dweck.

As an avid learner you’ve said that the best results come from this ‘targeted, focused and deliberate’ learning. What can the rest of us gain from doing the same – and how do we set about it?

Realise little is to do with natural born gifts when comes to complex cognitive tasks. First 20 hours.

Recently you told me one of most important traits a leader in today’s business world needs is 'learning agility'. Can you tell us more about that?

Like nature adaption is key. Change is inevitable, if it’s a new market a new skill you have to adapt to stay relevant. Learning key skills like how to recruit talent, I once shown a leader how to interview.

What else makes a modern successful leader? Human qualities, etc?

IQ/EQ/DQ

Not only are you a performance coach yourself, but you continue to seek out high achieving coaches in many fields to accelerate your own professional development. How do you set about that and how does this work?

To reach our potential we all need people who believe in us more than we do ourselves. It’s false economy not to invest in yourself. Felix and Michael Gervais.

Inspirational teacher myself Ceri, Ian Wright talking about teacher at primary school gave him a sense of belonging and worth. Lisa and a pitch. Team AGE one pager team of 10.

How do you create a ‘high performance team culture?’ – How important is employee engagement to this process?

Have to lead with competency and vulnerability or humanity empathy and candour. TLR. Employee engagement fundamental.

Your views on diversity for competitive advantage?

Its customer led, Mastercard in Kenya.

Is that a learnable skill?

Every complex cognitive skill is.

If I was to work for you, what would I notice about your approach?

Human led, fun and a little bit obsessed – an all-in type person.

You clearly have a deep passion for human potential. What have you learned about how far we can all go?

All taken from In The Zone: How Champions Think and Win Big by Clyde Brolin

Olympic heptathlon champion Denise Lewis: ‘It’s about unlocking that potential in your mind. The first step is not to put any limitations on what you think is physically and mentally possible. If you could engage that philosophy every time you woke up, when you go about your daily business at work, you’d think:

“Where did I generate that many hours in one day?” We do underestimate ourselves and I’m passionate about instilling that in young children: learn not to limit yourself. We all have negative chatter but it’s trying to minimise that. It’s about having a go…’

The ‘face’ of the 2000 Sydney Olympics Cathy Freeman: ‘There is so much untapped potential in people it’s incredible. The magic lives inside every one of us, despite our environment, our struggles and our doubts. It takes courage to realise what that magic is, then to actually go out and try to achieve it. It’s the power of loving yourself, I suppose, and giving yourself a chance.’

What was the young Adrian Evans like? What kind of things did you enjoy, what didn’t you enjoy? Sport? Academia?

Most sports, growing up Wales in 1970’s play beautiful, elegant and winning rugby, chess.

What was your dream?

Play for Wales.

How much was your school career affected by dyslexia?

Perfect desirable difficulty.

When you left school what happened next?

Wanted to go to university, uncle at Imperial.

Can you tell us a bit about your career and some of the choices you have made?

Always business, retail, buying and then sales. Evolved commercial, people, change triangle.

Head-hunting for a leading global recruitment company, recruiting for some of the most successful businesses out there… how does it work, what did you look for?

Cultural fit. The wild card on shortlist. Then opportunity to learn from stellar businesses – Microsoft, GE then Diageo

You also became an author while overcoming dyslexia. How did you set about that?

Needed a formula, ask myself who else done this before - Jeff Grout

Now you’re the founder of 'Accelerated Career Results' - a coaching and career development academy committed to transforming professionals' confidence and results. What does high performance coaching involve?

Adrian coaches successful professionals who are committed to developing their careers. By enabling them to unlock their unique talents, they attract ideal career opportunities -thus reaching their potential. The end result is that they feel empowered, confident and inspired to enjoy the work that they do.

Clarity, commitment and high-quality conversations.

Some of your specialist areas include business development and sales training, networking training and negotiation training… can you give us an idea of the key lessons you try to pass on?

Love smashing myths, so

Jobs go to the most connected, you are not paid your worth paid what negotiate, natural talent overrated all skills learnable.

How does all your experience of seeing the other end of the ‘hiring decision-making process’ help people?

Poacher turned game keeper I understand what companies are looking for, culture and the game they play.

How much of what you do is based on giving?

I try to help anyone I come into contact with, the only people I stay away from are only takers who keep pushing, learnt from my mum be generous but not a fool.

What do you wish you knew early on in your career, that you know today?

It’s ok to be yourself the flaws too, authentic and well intentioned good place to start. Dare to dream more and ask and give value.

Believe people are on your side and build allies, give back and look after next generation.

How has what you’ve learned in business affected how you run the rest of your life – family, spare time, hockey coach, etc?

Its all living, hockey given me the ability to tackle any new skill. Became a level two build teams, (never played the game). Successful season last year newly formed this year. Better technically around me. Best giving a child sense of belonging a privilege and responsibility.

Have you ever kicked yourself because you have not:

• Positioned yourself confidently at an interview?

• Left a company sooner?

• Created a plan to control your career?

I certainly have.

I see many very talented professionals who have a magnitude of skills, yet are unable to secure the role that they can achieve. Many times have I heard people say “I can do that job” but for various reasons, don’t even achieve an interview.

When I was headhunting I often conducted an experiment, at the start of the process I would ask:

Who is the best qualified candidate on paper?

at the end

Who achieved the role?

In my twenty plus years I can only recall a handful of appointments when the best candidate on paper got the role. So what was happening the other 90%+ of the time?

In my experience the people who achieved the roles were better at creating and selling their story to the key decision makers.

Is it possible to change and learn this skill?

Understand the real business challenge behind a role and how you will be judged – this identifies the value you will add to an organisation. To be in the best possible position you need to demonstrate that you are the ideal choice for this role and you have a highly valuable and rare skillset that can have a wider organizational impact. Position yourself premium:

Your company is my preferred career option because of the opportunities presented, I would like to ensure that I am appropriately rewarded due to the value I will add in,,,

…shaping the revenue growth of the latent business over the next 6/12 months. I will add organizational wide benefit because of my track record gained in identifying high performing senior level talent.

You must create your story because it won’t be created by anyone else. I hear you call - I am no storyteller and it’s a natural skill.

In a recent interview with the BBC, the article shares how Ed Sheeran and co-writer Benny Blanco could effortlessly write 15 songs a day for his new album - divide. However, on closer observation thoughts from Ed himself:

“Look, all things considered, you and I both know people that are more talented than us, but you know what they say about 10,000 hours? How many guys do you know that have put in 30,000?...

…There aren't a lot of us…"

Sounds like committed laser focus and obsessional work ethic, rather than a natural song writing skill to me.

What could you achieve if you spent more time crafting your story?

I think the current business world is getting a little too obsessed with data alone and missing the vital fact that most decisions are made emotionally and then justified with data. Aristotle first observed that the way to effective persuasion of other humans is 65% emotional and 25% logical or fact based.

A sales director client of mine said it best recently when positioning the value of data to his customers:

“Big data is directional precise yet precisely inaccurate, it’s the skill and judgement of the human that dictates if that data leads to valuable business decisions or not.”

Five actions points to use story to enhance your career:

• Build your understanding of the organisations REAL challenges.

• Shape key relationships by building trust and additional value.

• Be proud of your back story and achievements to date.

• Incremental build your story.

• Position yourself premium.

You don’t need to have Ed Sheeran’s work ethic or laser like focus. However, you do need to have struck the balance between using appropriate data, with your own story.

I know these first steps can be tough, but I encourage you to practice crafting your story each day. So, when it comes to your big career challenges like next pay review, promotion, interview for job you really want - you are ready.

Love to know your thoughts [email protected]

• Always look to build your network with others – ‘high impact least effort’. Join an ‘exclusive’ club only 5% of humans who help fellow people in this way.

• Life is tough – help others out where possible.

• Be vulnerable, strong enough to care about people – be compassionate.

"A friend of yours is a friend of mine"

Love to know your thoughts [email protected]

#203 The one We have been waiting for by Adrian Evans

#202 Know your comp plan by Adrian Evans

The Laws of Human Nature

Robert Greene is a master guide for millions of readers, distilling ancient wisdom and philosophy into essential texts for seekers of power, understanding and mastery. Now he turns to the most important subject of all – understanding people’s drives and motivations, even when they are unconscious of them themselves.

We are social animals. Our very lives depend on our relationships with people. Knowing why people do what they do is the most important tool we can possess, without which our other talents can only take us so far. Drawing from the ideas and examples of Pericles, Queen Elizabeth I, Martin Luther King Jr, and many others, Greene teaches us how to detach ourselves from our own emotions and master self-control, how to develop the empathy that leads to insight, how to look behind people’s masks, and how to resist conformity to develop your singular sense of purpose. Whether at work, in relationships, or in shaping the world around you,

The Laws of Human Nature offers brilliant tactics for success, self-improvement, and self-defense.

Love to know your thoughts [email protected]