CONCORD, N.C. — There are three ways a person can transition themselves into a top performer: Win the mental game, own the day, and adapt and thrive.
That was the message author and trainer Scott Welle provided to attendees with his keynote address on the penultimate day of STN EXPO East and its inaugural year hosted in North Carolina.
Win the Mental Game
Welle said the average person has 50,000 thoughts a day, 80 percent of which are negative. But starting with a negative belief translates to thoughts, behaviors and results.
He shared that his brother has always been extremely smart, and growing up the speaker developed a belief that he would never be as smart as his brother. Welle said he felt demotivated, which led him not applying himself to his schoolwork. That resulting in Welle being an average. Receiving C grades, he added, furthered his belief that he was not smart.
That was until one day in college, when he decided he was going to apply himself.
“I remember waking up one day [thinking], ‘You’re paying a lot of money to be average,’” he recalled. “… It got the spiral going back in the other direction.”
Welle eventually got a master’s degree in sports psychology.
He said without his realization, he would have never had the courage to start his own business, write books and be standing in front of STN EXPO attendees Thursday morning at the Embassy Suites Charlotte-Concord convention center. He asked attendees to think about the belief system their operation under and the story that they’re telling themselves.
Having better thoughts, gives better feelings, which leads to better results.
Out-performers are intentional, Welle commented. That not just with what they need to do every day, but how they want to show up to everything they do, every day.
“What one word/phrase describes how you want to show up on the field that represents the best version of you?” he asked attendees.
Todd Silverthorn, transportation supervisor with Kettering City Schools in Ohio, said he wants to come into any situation “full force” and be his authentic self. Being vulnerable in certain situations shows leadership, he said.
The audience shared several suggestions to be a strong leader: Make it fun, be solid, stay above the line, be positive, and stay present.
Welle said it’s important to show how you want to be perceived because that represents the best version of you. He added that defining what one actually does for a job or in life, in the very deepest meaning, rather than what they say they do provides connection on a greater level.
For example, school transportation employees don’t just drive or route school buses, they provide access to transportation. Remind yourself of your purpose, when days are longest and arduous, and when having unpleasant parent conversations, he advised.
Own The Day
The next piece of advice Welle provided was owning the day before the day owns you. He said the hardest part of the day is getting something started. He provided ways to own the day, such as being grateful, challenging oneself, focusing and organizing, self-care, and exercise.
He asked attendees to turn toward to their neighbor and share one thing that they’re grateful for. Many shared they’re grateful for family, career, health, and to be at STN EXPO. He said the human brain can’t have simultaneous competing thoughts, meaning one can’t be grateful and also negative, jealous or angry.
Welle said changing one’s mindset to think about what’s good doesn’t allow them to reflect on the bad, or what is lacking. One attendee shared she lost her two parents, a step-parent) and her two brothers within a seven-year span. That resulted in her being grateful for her life. She said she couldn’t let herself fall into depression but instead had to fight through the pain and keep going.
The attendee said when she says good morning, she means it, because it’s another day she wakes up alive.
“A lot of kids don’t hear good morning from their parents,” she said of the importance of sharing joy with students. “We have to remember who we are servicing.We have to be resilient.”
Welle also lost both of his parents in the before his 38th birthday. He added that there were days he couldn’t get out of bed. But he, too, had to focus on being grateful and carrying on his family legacy through the lessons his parents taught him.
The road construction in life is the barriers and distractions that are blocking you from focusing on the things that matter and that you can control, Welle added. To be in control, one needs to automate, delegate and eliminate.
“Outperformers think strategically on how to clear the path to make it simpler to have success,” he said.
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Adapt & Thrive
“Shift happens,” Welle said. “We have to be able to respond to it. How do we adapt and thrive, when, not if? Change happens, stress happens, uncertainty happens.”
He said the people who experience the most hardships, suffering and adversity become the most resilient. He said people all know they need to get back up, but they want to have to get knocked down first.
He asked attendees to recall a difficult time in their life when they couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. He said to use that experience as a reference point, as it taught resilience, strength and internal dialogue.
“If I got through that, I can get through this,” he said, adding that outperformers use their experiences to show what they’re capable of. “Don’t discount the tough stuff that you’ve been through in your life.”
However, Welle said, no one outperforms without the support of others. He recalled running a 100-mile ultramarathon. There was a point he wanted to quit, but his friends pushed him to keep going.
“As you think about adapting and thriving in your life, choose the people you surround yourself with wisely,” he said. “People that don’t just love and support you, but who will also call you out and tell you what you don’t want to hear but what you need to hear.”
He said it’s the small wins that stack up over time that lead to massive movements and massive outcomes. He said it’s not about getting to the top of the ladder, but just to next rung. What is the next milestone, benchmark, small win?
Becoming an out-performer happens one step at a time.
“The main thing is, [Welle] made me realize who I am as a person, that I don’t give myself credit, that I have a lot on my plate, but I do a good job with it,” Paul Johnson, transportation manager for Wicomico County Public Schools in Maryland told School Transportation News following the session. “It motivates me to go further.”
Johnson said he related to Welle. All through his life, he said he felt that he was the average person. He added that he believes he has other levels to achieve and wants to show his drivers, associations and specialists that they, too, can reach another level.
