Getting into Overdrive

“So, how can I find this gear?” you ask.

A car's engine will tell you when it's time to shift gears—so, too, does your work. It simply takes discipline to shut the door, turn off your email, and let people know that you are shifting into 5th gear—going into overdrive. When you reach this gear, your productivity reaches the highest levels possible.

When a car reaches overdrive the engine is able to maintain a speed at a lower engine level, which allows a car to get better fuel mileage with less wear and tear. If a car needs more power at higher speeds, the overdrive enables it to reach that level.

Can you reach overdrive?

Here are some points that will help you understand the correlation of overdrive to your personal 5th gear.

• A healthy 5th gear makes it possible to cruise at a sustained speed for a period of time.
• Because 5th gear occurs mostly when we are either passionate about our work or simply competent at it, our engine speed is actually lower, while our sustained speed can be quite fast.
• Therefore, less energy is needed to produce quality or high speeds. Focus can lead to high levels of productivity.
• 5th gear can produce great results and high speeds for a period of time. However, people (similar to engines) are not meant to stay in 5th gear all day long.

Some of you get into 5th gear when you do planning for the year or month. Others get into and stay in 5th gear as part of your day job, especially where highly mechanical, creative, technological, or medical fields are concerned: engineers working on designs; IT service professionals finishing a project; machine operators; interior designers; surgeons or dental hygienists. There are certain roles and jobs that lend themselves to 5th gear. For the rest of us, we have to schedule it or focus on it.

For executive leaders, 5th gear can be seen as the strategy gear, when you are working on the business and thinking in the long-term strategic planning zone. This might include dreaming, vision casting, exploring ideas, or thinking of major changes in life, work, or business.

5th gear allows you to get into the zone.

To give you an idea of what this looks like, let me tell you about one of our partners. Jeff is a serial entrepreneur involved in some of the most amazing projects in the United States today and has multiple teams that he oversees on an everyday basis. He is one of the greatest guys I know, always having time for people who need help. He also happens to love 5th gear. Here is how he describes being in 5th gear with one of his developments:

So, since learning about the 5 Gears, I've been working the gears into my everyday conversations. It has helped articulate my frustration. I live in this 5th gear/overdrive space (strategic thinking). My managers are constantly in 4th gear because of the variety of work they are involved in and they get pulled into business 3rd gear with homeowners. I keep asking them to meet me in 5th gear when I am on-site, but it feels like they can't get there. I only need them in 5th gear with me a couple days a year to define strategic plans for the year. The gears have helped me realize my communication breakdown and how to better communicate with my team so we can be in the same gear at the same time.

With the 5 Gears vocabulary in the water system, Jeff can now describe to his team what he needs and he can also help them to get to that 5th gear with him.

If you identify with Jeff's story, then here are some thoughts for you to consider in helping your teams:

• Set expectations: Before you meet, let them know you are going to set aside a period of time when you want everyone to be in 5th gear together. This will help them prepare mentally to operate in a different gear.
• Hold the gathering off-site, completely away from their normal task world.
• Ask the managers to delegate 4th gear tasks to others back at the office for the duration of your off-site session.
• Ask your managers to set up auto-responder out-of-office emails to ensure that tasks don't disrupt the strategic time.
• Begin the off-site 5th gear time with an exercise that gets your managers thinking about the future, such as having them list five things they would love to see happen in the organization in three years.
• Ask them to give you real thoughts, objections, and insights into the future. Listen to their real issues and give them real time to discuss them.
• Make sure you share your expectations for the kind of feedback you want, and discuss what 5th gear looks like to you.
• Ask them what they need from you during this same period of time.

Remember that the 5 Gears are designed to be a language that people use to shift into the right gear at the right time. More specifically, 5th gear allows you and others to get into the zone at work or with a project at home.

Rethinking the Open Door Policy

For most of us, 5th gear is a personal gear; it's a gear we shift up into when we need to work on our own, think strategically, or be singularly productive with one task. It normally occurs with our personal focus. And yet we all affect each other on each team we are on.

If you have been working inside an organization for any length of time then you have most likely heard the phrase “Open Door Policy.” You might have heard it from a boss who brags that he or she always has an open door policy to connect with their employees.

The problem with this “policy” is that it often limits people from being productive when they need to focus. There are times when you need to close the door and other times when you need to leave it open. In fact, it is not about how open the door is, but rather how present the person inside that office is or isn't. Here is how a client, Andrew, at Ford Motor Company uses the 5 Gears:

In the past year, I moved into a new position with a team of 16 amazing people. It was important for me to maintain an open door policy to allow team members to talk through ideas, discuss issues, or just to catch up. The challenge was when I was working on something that required my focus and I was in “the zone” getting it done. That is when the open door policy created challenges, because not only did an interruption break my concentration, it created an unfair situation for my teammate. Since I was so focused on getting the work done, I had trouble giving them my undivided attention. Unintentionally, my open door policy was working against both of us.

That is when I introduced the 5 Gears to my team. We talked about what each gear meant and how we need to have a balanced approach to our lives leveraging all 5 gears. The team embraced the concept and we discussed how we could use the gears to introduce a common language through the organization.

Now, when I am [in] my “zone” and a teammate drops by, I hold out my hand and say, “I'm in 5th gear. Can it wait?” There are no hard feelings and we both know that it's not personal, just trying to get something done. If it is important, then I will stop and walk out of my office to refocus myself to serve their needs. If it can wait, then I will make a note and ensure I swing by once I get through the current project.

This new language allows us to communicate without any hard feelings when the time is not right to address something that is not critical. In addition, I found that other members of the team are using the language not only with me but they are beginning to use it with each other. Now, when someone is too busy to talk, there is not water cooler gossip that person X is not being a team player. Everyone knows that that was not a good time and they regroup when everyone is in 3rd or 4th gear.

Andrew's story is a prime example that demonstrates how our 5 Gears metaphor is a practical tool that works brilliantly in real life. This language was born out of the frustration of not being able to communicate with one another, our families, and our team members. What we have experienced (also known as our failures) has given rise to a language that, now, can be communicated using a symbol, a gesture, or a word that allows people to know where we are without judgment or confusion.

Stuck in 5th Gear

Along with success stories like Jeff's and Andrew's, there is also the inevitable flip side. Tales of Tom stuck in 5th gear all day and missing out on his kid's life, or the one where Susan looks at you with a blank stare when you ask her if she wants to go to lunch. 5th gear is helpful, but it can also be damaging. Certain personality types so love this gear that they begin to crave it, longing to escape into their own little world. The problem, though, is the disconnect that results from being in overdrive too much or for too long, Eventually, tensions arise for those relying on the 5th gear enthusiast—the team members who need their communication, or the boss awaiting a report, or even, yes, the wife and children waiting for Dad to finally come home.

People can actually get stuck in 5th gear and become quite cynical of the other gears or of people who tend to be in 2nd or 3rd. We have actually seen that introverts have a much easier time in 5th gear than extroverts. It makes sense as 5th gear can give introverts the time they need to think, process, and work. As for extroverts, 5th gear can feel like they have just gotten time out from their parents for something they did wrong.

Helping people get unstuck from 5th gear is crucial for communication and connectivity.

The key to understanding 5th gear is to understand what gear you are in and to then learn how to read the signs from others if you need to shift or get unstuck from the 5th gear you so love.

Missing Out

For those who remain stuck in 5th gear, they often do not realize or will not admit that they might just be missing out. 5th gear can create tunnel vision for people, causing them to miss opportunities to connect with others, learn something new, or simply encourage someone that is in their life.

A great example of this happened at an NBA basketball game in New York. If you have ever seen an NBA game, you will know that during commercial breaks, the events team will sometimes create a kiss cam where a cameraman finds a couple in the audience and the crowd cheers them on to give each other a kiss. Sometimes the camera crew will focus on an older couple or newlyweds, and then other times they will throw in the proverbial awkward shot of two people who may or may not want to kiss in front of 20,000 people.

A funny kiss cam incident occurred at a New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden and was captured on video and posted on YouTube by eyewitness Hugo Davies, a British student in New York City. Observe how being stuck in 5th gear caused a guy to miss out on a great opportunity. Here are the details:

A quick-thinking woman who was snubbed by her date after being thrown live on a kiss cam scored an instant payback by passionately kissing the man seated next to her.

“I was filming the kiss cam as it was the first time I've ever been live to see one,” Davies told The Blaze. “Most people went along with it and kissed their partner. However, this event suddenly happened and I was shocked that she did that as I thought she was the girlfriend of the first guy. So when she kissed the stranger, I was shocked,” he continued. “The whole crowd went crazy.”

In the video, the unidentified woman can be seen trying to get her date's attention to no avail. He was totally absorbed in the game. She then turns to the man seated beside her and the two lock lips, immediately grabbing the other guy's attention.

Davies told The Blaze that it all appeared “spontaneous,” adding that the woman's date stood up “ready to confront the stranger” after it all went down. “His face was bright red for the rest of the game,” Davies said.

Millions of people miss out on opportunities every day simply because they are stuck in 5th gear, or they were in the wrong gear at the wrong time, whether it was the missed kiss or the missed promotion or the missed chance to influence or encourage someone dear to you.

Locking into 5th gear can produce good things with its hyper focus and productivity, and it can also create unhealthy habits and unknowing pain if not addressed. The secret is to know yourself so that you can begin leading yourself. Do you know what it is like to be on the other side of you?

Healthy and Unhealthy 5th Gear

Remember that 5th gear is the hyper-focus gear. It is meant for overdrive, when you need to get into the flow to finish a project, or write a book, or focus on a task thoroughly. The secret to understanding the 5 Gears is learning how to shift up and down into the appropriate gear to maximize your influence.

Listen to this story of a great father leading his son through the recognition that he was stuck. Dan Frey, a GiANT senior associate in Atlanta, describes it like this:

It is amazing to see how such a simple tool can have such a massive impact in the workplace. However, my favorite 5 Gears experience comes from the home.

I'm in the process of raising a future world changer. My son Sam is 16 years old, and to this day has never made a B in his life. He achieved his second-degree black belt in karate by the time he was 10 and has now moved into cross-country running at his high school. He is an avid Boy Scout and will be an Eagle Scout before he is 17. He placed fifth in the country in his Future Business Leaders of America competition and above everything, he is wired to care for people. He is truly an old soul.

A couple months ago I noticed Sam was under pressure in his world. While still keeping the same upbeat personality about him, he seemed very intense. As he sat down to breakfast before school one morning, I simply set the 5 Gears slide next to him. I had never taught the gears to him. I said, “Check this out. I'm going to run upstairs to change and when I come back down let me know what you think.” Upon my return he looked me in the eye and said, “Dad, I'm stuck in 4th and 5th gear.” He could not remember the last time he was in 1st as he had mastered being in 5th at his young age.

On the one hand, I wanted to praise him for being such a hard worker, but as a father, I was concerned that he was pushing too hard. Any man knows it's hard to show weakness, especially to your father. I do not believe he would have ever come to me and admitted he was struggling. In that instant, the gears had us connected. He needed to hear that it was okay and, in fact, necessary to take time to rest, recharge, and enjoy time with friends and family.

The 5 Gears tool immediately aligned me with my son in a way that may never have happened otherwise. It teed up a great lesson for Sam and let him know that I am in his corner. To this day, he uses the language of the gears when communicating at home.

Whether you are at home or at work, helping people get unstuck from 5th gear is crucial for communication and connectivity. We can help people become more socially aware and understand how to improve their emotional intelligence when we help them shift.

Teaching Others How to Use 5th Gear

You can actually train people to use 5th gear appropriately in a way that will take away the subjectivity. Here are a few examples for you to implement right away.

• If you are going to be in 5th gear for some period of time, send an email out to your team letting them know that at a certain time you are going to be in 5th gear, and if they need anything before or after just to let you know.
• Printing “5th Gear” on a sheet of paper and posting on your office or cubicle or door is a helpful way to communicate your need to focus (as long as it isn't always up).
• Simply holding up five fingers can communicate effectively, as well.

There are a number of ways to communicate 5th gear at work. Home is another frontier, especially if you have a home office. Listen to Tulsa businessman, Ryan Underwood, share how he has incorporated the 5 Gears with his young kids.

My daughters are 5 and 3. My wife and I work from home and the girls like to come and visit us in our office. We love it, and I keep a full stock of jellybeans on hand to await their visits. It is tough sometimes, especially if I am on an important call or videoconference because I never want the girls to think that I am not glad to see them. 5 Gears has helped us with this dilemma.

We taught the girls that if our office door is closed, they can knock, open it and whisper, “What gear are you in?” I've taught the girls the gears by simply holding up the number of fingers on my hand. They know that if I hold up a 3 or a 4 that it's okay to come in, hop on my lap, maybe even wave to those I'm conferencing with. BUT, if I hold up a 5, they are supposed to just blow kisses and close the door. “Daddy's in 5th gear and he'll come for me when he's shifted.”

Those little rascals have realized the full effect of 5th gear means Daddy is unavailable. Not only am I not available for hugs; I'm also not available to stop them from getting into the jellybean jar.

However, if they knock and whisper, “Dad, what gear are you in?” And I flash a 5…they always smile. Because the next thing they do is rush in like princess Special Forces in stealth mode and raid the jellybeans.

If a 3- and 5-year-old can learn the 5 Gears, then I am certain you can teach and train anyone in your work or your life how to shift gears or get in or out of 5th gear. When this occurs then people relax and get in to the right gear.

Getting 5th Gear into Your Life

Bob went to work every day and sat in front of a computer for eight hours. It was depressing. His mind wandered. At times he searched the Internet just to have some stimulation. When no one was around, he even watched television episodes on Hulu while he worked on his spreadsheets. He lived for the next “interruption” that would allow him to have human interaction. He was very capable of functioning well and getting the job done when people called or stopped by with needs. He was a gifted problem solver, but was in the wrong seat doing the wrong role.

After attending our Liberating Leader Tour event, he heard about the 5 Gears and realized that at this job he simply didn't have a fifth gear. He could readily function in 4th gear as long as the stimulation of new people and their concerns kept coming at him. But he simply didn't have the motivation to work alone on his computer hour after hour. Something had to change.

One of our GiANT senior associates took Bob through a Best Fit personality process to understand how he is wired. He discovered he was an extrovert stuck in an introvert role and began to understand that he is highly motivated and effective when interacting with people and when his work aligned with personal values. He thrived in an environment where creativity and innovation is appreciated. That was totally the opposite of his current work environment. Bob began to think back to times in his life when he had been productive and successful and easily entered into 5th gear. He realized that he was not defective or lacking as a person, but was simply a round peg in a square hole. In order to reinvigorate his work life, he needed a change—he needed to be in a situation where he could interact with people in an organization where the mission aligned with his personal values.

Long story short.…Bob is no longer in a cubicle with his computer. He found a great fit working in an HR department where his primary responsibilities include functions as a corporate trainer, giving the new employee orientation, and even apprenticing other employees so that they can find their paths to productivity. Bob found a position that complemented his gifts and passions. He has reclaimed his 5th gear, as for him it was a function of being in an extroverted role with people where he could see he was making a difference.

What about you? Have you lost your fifth gear? It might be as simple as being in the wrong role. For others, it might be that you have not created the boundaries that you need to close the door, communicate that you are in fifth gear, and become productive. You might even need to change locations in order to be more productive.

After thoroughly looking at 5th gear, whether you have lost it or whether you are consumed by it, take some time to observe these warning signs of an unhealthy 5th gear and what it looks like to have a healthy 5th gear.

Warning Signs: You know you have an unhealthy 5th if you…

• Allow personal health issues, exhaustion, or burnout to affect your life.
• Have long-term relational issues due to your work or hobby.
• Overuse 5th gear and tend to crash into an unhealthy 1st gear.
• Miss out on true life and the things that matter long term.
• Notice people around you hinting that you are working too much.
• Make it a pattern of eating meals in front of the computer or working instead of connecting.
• Stop being asked by people to be involved in social activities or casual connections.
• Have connections only with people you work with.

How Do You Get Healthy?

• It is important to master your settings, by starting to schedule 1st, 2nd, 3rd gear moments into your overworked life.
• Let people know when you are going to be in 5th gear and put a time frame on it with accountability.
• Teach them the sign language so they can help you by knowing when it is time to shift to other gears.
• Think about what you want people in your life to say about you and adjust your actions accordingly.
• Schedule a vacation with those you love most and turn off all your electronics for at least 48 hours minimum.
• Use triggers and markers to help you shift to the appropriate gear and practice it daily.

Key Question—What do you think is causing you to overwork and how do you think it impacts those closest to you? Let someone you trust help you process this.

The 5th Gear Challenge

Plan your 5th gear for an entire month on your calendar and practice entering in and shifting out of it with diligence to see how much work you can get done as well as how well you can shift out of the gear.

The 5 Gears work as long as you make them work for you. Now that we understand how 5th gear works, let's spend some time understanding the gear that almost everyone experiences in the task-driven world in which we live, 4th gear.