The Interference Window

Performance = Potential - Interference

Every day your mind produces thousands of thoughts, one after another, and most of us have no real way of telling which ones are worth listening to and which ones are just noise, so we end up reacting to all of it, getting clouded by the sheer volume, and never quite sure which thoughts deserve our attention and which ones are just getting in the way.

This is interference, and it was first described over 50 years ago by Tim Gallwey, whose formula that performance equals potential minus interference has since helped executives and high performers across sport and business understand what's actually holding them back.

The Interference Window takes that same idea and gives you a way to notice the thoughts you're having in the moment, so you can start reducing the interference they cause. Less interference means more of your potential actually shows up, in your performance, your engagement with the work in front of you, your creativity, your decision making, and the way you show up for your team, your staff and your customers.

It's a diagnostic tool that tells you what state you're in at any given time, and a practical way to reduce the interference from there, built on over 30 years of peer reviewed research across more than 3,000 studies, distilled into something easy to use in the middle of a working day.

The Interference Window

The window describes where you are at any point, based on how much your thinking is causing interference, and how aware you are of it.

You can move through any or all of these four states. The aim is not to stay in one. It is to know where you are.

• Suffering
  Thoughts feel like facts. Things feel personal and overwhelming..

• Struggling
  You can see your thoughts creating friction. You are not yet free of it.

• Engaging
  Interference is reducing. You are responding rather than reacting.

• Flowing
  Minimal interference. Action feels natural and clear.

  Each state tells you something about where you are at any given point in time. It can change, and unlike other tools, it’s not defining who you are.

  The Interference Window is simply telling you something about the state you are in at a certain point.

Where the interference comes from

It’s like having a little bird on your shoulder, that’s been there your whole life, and every time one of those thoughts arrives that's them flying in to tell you something, and it's the constant chirping of the unhelpful stuff that ends up creating most of the interference you feel at work.

The good news is that there is a scientifically proven way to notice the bird and techniques to make sure it flies off before doing any damage through its interference.

Two ways to go deeper

Get a short weekly insight on reducing interference at work, sent straight to your inbox, by subscribing to Through the Window.

If you'd rather work through your own situation directly, I offer a small number of one-to-one coaching sessions, and you can find out more about working with Simon here.

Through the Window

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