Poise First, Productivity Second
I’ve made no secret of my Cincinnati Bengals fandom over the years. They’ve become more intriguing to watch since they drafted Joe Burrow, Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback out of LSU, as the saviour of the franchise.
After just two games, he’s looking like he has that elite factor the Bengals have been looking for in a quarterback. Some of the broadcast analysts are saying he’s playing as advertised and that the Bengals finally got it right.
While it’s too early to really tell if that’s the case, what isn’t in question is the one word that seems to be accompanying every analysis of Burrow in his young career.
That word is “poise.”
Poise is defined as “a state of intellectual or emotional balance” and there’s no question that Burrow has exhibited that consistently over the first two games. The Bengals offensive line is pretty bad and yet Burrow has been able to deliver the goods despite having little protection after every snap. He’s making very few poor decisions under pressure, and when he does, he shrugs them off, knowing he’s going to get another chance to get back on the field for another drive. Even at this early stage in his NFL career, he is making a lot of what he does seem effortless.
Basically, he is showing tremendous poise for a rookie.
The word got thrown around so much over the first two Burrow-led Bengals games that it got me thinking about it in terms of my own area of expertise: personal productivity and time management.
It can be hard to have poise and be productive on a consistent basis, but it isn’t impossible. If you go into your day with an intention toremain poised throughout it, I believe you’d have a more productive day than if you didn’t.
The best way I can figure to pay attention to your level of poise is to pause more regularly throughout the day. Think of it as the time on the play clock that Joe Burrow gets between plays. In the NFL, a team gets 40 seconds between the end of the previous play before they must snap the ball to start the next play. If they wait too long, they get a penalty and lose yardage. That means they have that much farther to go before they can get a first down … or score.
But if they rush things and don’t take a portion — or most _ — of the 40 seconds they are allowed that can result in a broken play. It can even result in a turnover if everything falls apart.
The same can be said for you.
Take too much time and you could get distracted and derail your forward progress. Rush your progress and you could wind up having your day intercepted by something (or someone) else, despite your best-laid plans.
Poise happens when you take time to pause. Productivity, in its true form, does as well.
The next time you feel overwhelmed, out of sorts or pressured don’t just start doing something to get the ball rolling. Instead, take up to 40 seconds to find your poise first. You’ll move the ball a whole lot further if you do.
Poise isn’t the only “p” word you can apply to productivity — prudence is another. I wrote about how to be prudent and productive here.
