I’m a performance consultant but before I started my consultancy I spent twelve incredibly rewarding years as a college lacrosse coach.  At my core that is still who I am and how I self-identify…Coach Bru, teacher and coach. If you looked up the terms teaching and coaching in Webster’s dictionary, it would tell you that to teach is to coach and to coach is to teach. If you asked anyone who knows me well that is what they will tell you I do. I look to find teachable moments in almost everything. Whether is improving my own business, a life lesson from my daughter’s day at school, coaching a student-athlete or consulting with a client who can’t see the forest through the trees.

The first half of 2011 is almost over and once the clock ticks on June it will be in the books. So this month’s article is dedicated to halftime adjustments. If you’ve ever watched a sporting event on TV you will see the analysts during the postgame show interview the coach and ask him what adjustments he made at halftime to win the game. If it is a come from behind victory you will sometimes hear the sideline reporter ask a player “What on earth did the coach say to you guys at halftime to get you to play so much better in the second half?”

Well, it’s June and you’re in the sport of business so consider me your sideline reporter. Halftime is a key time for a coach; it’s where you really earn your money. You make adjustments and changes based on what is working and not working. You share information with your team and inspire them. Good coaches, like good business owners go into the game with a clear game plan. A plan that accentuates your strengths and minimizes your weaknesses. I trust you do that in your business, right?

Things don’t always go according to the game plan and I have coined a term for that. It’s called “Life”. So when the game plan isn’t working to perfection, at halftime the coach will bring the team into the locker room to regroup and adjust a little. Over the years, I’ve found that when it comes to halftime, less is more. Less strategy, less critique, less negativity, just plain less information. You don’t want to give your team information overload or you run the risk of them suffering paralysis by analysis and not being able to execute anything well. So what I do at halftime is get everyone refocused on the one main thing we have to do well to win.

Less is more in the sport of business too. There are just too many emails, too many phone calls, too many interruptions. We live in a self-created, self-imposed society of information overload. Instead of focusing on that, focus on the one main thing you have to do to get the win. This is the key to being a peak performer; keeping the main thing, the main thing.

I’m going to take you through an exercise I do with my team at the beginning of the season. I realize it isn’t the beginning of your “season” but it also isn’t too late to do this yourself. Each year we discuss what we need in order to achieve our goals as a team and we come up with a trigger word to serve as a focal point for the program for year. I also have each player individually come up with the best word to represent their focus as a member of the team. Then we post them on the inside of each locker so everyone can hold each other accountable.

Back in 2002 our team motto was dedication. Before the year began, we felt we had the potential to have a very special season, but the only way to turn potential to performance would be through dedication. Not just by “being dedicated” but also by each person dedicating their efforts to a higher purpose. So, each member of the team dedicated their season to someone special who made an impact in their lives. I dedicated the 2002 season to my father who lost his battle with cancer two weeks before our season began. Dedication would serve as our trigger word to reflect on when adversity hit, when in a slump or when we had to find the reserves in the tank to push through late in a game. I think it worked. We advanced to the NCAA Final Four, had our first winning season, six of our ten wins were one goal games and we finished the season ranked third in the country.

I continue to do this myself as a consultant, speaker and author. My trigger word this year is balance. I spend a lot of time speaking and consulting and when I’m not on the road I’m either writing articles or putting the finishing touches on my book. The schedule can be exhausting at times. How do you juggle a crazy schedule and stay healthy? Balance! If I want to be performing at as high a level in the second half of the year as the first, I need to maintain balance in my life. Balance to me is about successfully balancing work time with family time as well as rest time. I know that it takes balance in all areas in order to fully enjoy any one of those areas.

I encourage you to do as my teams and clients do. Take an index card, engage in some self-reflection and then write down the trigger word that will help give you the right focus and purpose to make the second half of 2011 an absolute game changer. Share this word with the people closest to you at home and at work, they will be your best accountability partners.  Then post your index card in a strategic location where you will view it often over the course of your day.  Locations I recommend are: on your desk, above your monitor, on the office door or wall and on your mirror at home.  This will help you maintain your focus.

While this is an effective strategy for you as an individual, imagine the difference it could make if you shared it with your team; whether that team is your family, co-workers or employees. I have been doing this with my teams for years, do it myself and teach athletes, executives and entrepreneurs to do the same. I’ve seen the results first hand so I know it will work for you!!

Positive thoughts lead to powerful actions. Take your trigger word, focus on it and use it to make the second half of 2011 an absolute game changer.

This month’s “Bru Tips” are in the form of some introspective questions:

1. What is the one main thing you need to do well to stay ahead or get ahead of your competition? What needs to change in the second half to make this happen?

2. What changes do you want to see in your business or yourself?

3. What needs to take place to re-motivate you for the homestretch?