I was reading this morning's HBR post on managers' appreciation to their teams, and cannot agree more with what Tony Schwards is saying. It's probably hardest to express appreciation if you are perfectionist and have super high standards by which not only others, but also often you don't perform well.

It's true - we can always do better. However, the issue is often at what cost. As managers we have to balance the stimuli we provide for our teams to perform, and this starts with ourselves.

Everyone plays games. We entertain and learn from them as kids, and continue to participate in many game activities as adults. Game rules and rewards provide a specific motivational framework for our behavior. If you choose to play the game, you follow the rules to get to certain outcome.

Not only kids play games - think about air miles and the incentives of particular airlines, the partnerships they have, and the rewards they provide end up modifying our travel behavior.

Leading companies are leveraging games to transform their businesses, and this is only the beginning. With so many possibilities, where does an organization begin? The first step is to determine where engagement matters most.

Adobe's products require skills and knowledge and for every new customer the question inevitably pops up - "Where should I start?"  Despite the vast network of training programs and content available - both through Adobe, and independent creators, it still requires commitment and discipline to acquire the skills to use the product.

Practice makes perfect. Any why shouldn't practice be fun and rewarding? So I started a pilot for a game concept that allows trialists of Photoshop to earn points and obtain recognition through achievement levels and awards. The pilot’s aim is to promote learning and increased knowledge of Photoshop in the area of photography, and facilitate the learning experience through a gamification concept. The more customers learn about what can be done with Photoshop, the more rewards they can obtain.

Check it out - LevelUp for Photoshop is game of missions, levels, and points that lead you through the application of basic techniques to improve your photos. In a series of steps - taking you through the very basic of fixed red eyes, through changing backgrounds and creative composite photos, LevelUp for Photoshop show you how to make your already good photos great. As with any game, we are also allowing players to compete - not only for a prize, but also among themselves. Our game page hosts both daily and monthly leaderboards.

Making a game is difficult - it takes some effort to design its rules, and to manage the actual game. So we started with just a few levels as an experiment. Our Advanced Technology Group already has a number of additional levels ready, and if we see the positive impact of the game to promote learning and use of Photoshop, we are likely to be releasing them next year. You can see a video from Mira Dontcheva on Adobe TV taking about our games. I have to thank the teams at Resource Interactive and Bunchball for developing the game for us! We wouldn't have been where we are without their talent.

So far feedback from our customers has been positive - even people who are not entirely new to Photoshop can learn about a tool or two. Since the game is available to everyone with Photoshop CS5 - trial or a fully licensed version, it gives everyone a chance to try it. What have you got to lose? Take it for a spin and you might even win Adobe CS5.5 Master Collection.

I love the article by Scott Belsky  - "What Happened to Downtime? The Extinction of Deep Thinking & Sacret Space"  http://bit.ly/rqANqw . It touches on the same concepts that Nicholas Carr brings with his book "The Shallows" - http://bit.ly/mSVAGO.

Nicholas Carr goes to explain how our brains are pre-programmed to respond to and value new information higher than old one. And historically this was driving innovation and progress - the search for something new. However, with the current information overload our brains are also overloaded, and are exposed to a drug-like set of incentives to chase the latest news. 

Scott provides a nice practical advise for getting at least some level of control back:

1. Rituals for unplugging.
 

...Perhaps you will reserve one day on the weekend where you force yourself to disconnect? At first, such efforts will feel very uncomfortable. You will deal with a bout of “connection withdrawal,” but stay with it. ....

2. Daily doses of deep thinking.

...We need some rules. When it comes to scheduling, we will need to allocate blocks of time for deep thinking. Maybe you will carve out a 1-2 hour block on your calendar every day for taking a walk or grabbing a cup of coffee and just pondering some of those bigger things....

3. Meditation and naps to clear the mind.

...Some mediation forms require you to think about nothing and completely clear your mind. (This is quite hard, at least for me.) Other forms of meditation are about focusing on one specific thing - often your breath, or a mantra that you repeat in your head (or out loud) for 10-15 minutes...

4. Self-awareness and psychological investment.

...It is supremely important that we recognize the power of our insecurities and, at the very least, acknowledge where our anxiety comes from. Awareness is always the first step in solving any problem...

5. Protect the state of no-intent.

...when you allow yourself to just look out the window for 10 minutes – and ponder – your brain will start working in a more creative way. It will grasp ideas from unexpected places...

This extract comes from the June edition of HBR - http://hbr.org/2011/06/managing-yourself-the-paradox-of-excellence/

Some behaviors that help you succeed can also get in your way. The classic high achiever is:

Driven to get results. Achievers don’t let anything stop them. But they can get so caught up in tasks that providing transparency to colleagues or helping others feels like a waste of valuable time.

A doer. Achievers believe, often rightly, that nobody can do it as well as they can. That can make them poor delegators—or micromanagers.

Highly motivated. Achievers take all aspects of their jobs seriously. But that means they often fail to distinguish between the urgent and the merely important.

Craving of positive feedback. Achievers care intensely about how others view their work—but they tend to ignore positive feedback and obsess over criticism.

Competitive. An appetite for competition is healthy, but achievers obsessively compare themselves with others, which can lead to a chronic sense of insufficiency, false calibrations, and ultimately career missteps.

Passionate about work. Intense highs can give way to crippling lows. For achievers, it’s a fine line between triumph and agony.

A safe risk taker. Achievers aren’t likely to recklessly bet the company on a risky move, but they may shy away from the unknown.

Guilt-ridden. Achievers are driven to produce, but no matter how much they accomplish, they feel like they aren’t doing enough.

To achieve continued success, you must open yourself up to new learning experiences that may make you feel uncertain at best and incompetent at worst. Remember that those feelings are temporary and a prelude to greater professional ability.