managing yourself

Managing other people effectively depends on managing yourself. Better performance will therefore flow from improving your self-management.

Ace athletes turn to sports psychologists for such help, and one of the latter finds that 'corporate business people face greater demands than anything ...in sports'.

Baseball specialist Harvey Dorfman advises managers not to be afraid of fear. What's wrong is 'fearful behaviour', so 'act out the right stuff when you're afraid or have doubts'.

Golf guru Deborah Graham argues against 'worrying about the results'; concentrate on the 'shot-by-shot flow', let outcomes look after themselves - and don't try 'mind-reading' your competitors.

Another baseball shrink, Fran Pirozzolo, tells you to watch your 'self-talk', or inner monologue. 'Keep it positive and forward-looking', not 'stuck in the past, magnifying faults and replaying failures'.

Remember, the sporting savants are right. Management really is all in the mind.