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Finding your 'Third Space'


Alister Maple-Brown

By Alister Maple-Brown

30 September 2015 • 8 minute read


Alister MB new

Last month I discussed the importance of aligning your team’s goals across the business and shared how Rockend achieves this with our Annual Company Day Event.

This month I would like to continue sharing insights from this event and share with you our guest speaker: Dr Adam Fraser’s concept of the ‘Third Space’.

Over the last decade, there has been an array of scientific and psychological research into the area of human performance. Dr Fraser is a leading educator and researcher in the area of human performance in Australia and over the past 10 years he has exclusively studied the ways to elevate the corporate and business performance of employees. This research has led him to develop the concept of the Third Space.

 
 

What is the Third Space? It is the transitional period between tasks. Our life is spent rapidly transitioning between different roles and environments, each requiring us to offer different personas. For example, you may be the senior property manager at work, a mother to your children, a partner in your personal life and a friend among your soccer team. With so many facets in your life, it’s challenging to perform at your peak in the variety of situations you encounter each day. 

As a part of Dr Fraser's research, he studied what separates elite athletes from other athletes of a similar skill set. Elite tennis players managed to compose themselves, focus on the point ahead of them and not dwell on the point behind them. These tennis players effectively used and controlled their Third Space and used this to perform at their peak.

ast month I discussed the importance of aligning your team’s goals across the business and shared how Rockend achieves this with our Annual Company Day Event.

This month I would like to continue sharing insights from this event and share with you our guest speaker: Dr Adam Fraser’s concept of the ‘Third Space’.

Over the last decade, there has been an array of scientific and psychological research into the area of human performance. Dr Fraser is a leading educator and researcher in the area of human performance in Australia and over the past 10 years he has exclusively studied the ways to elevate the corporate and business performance of employees. This research has led him to develop the concept of the Third Space.

What is the Third Space? It is the transitional period between tasks. Our life is spent rapidly transitioning between different roles and environments, each requiring us to offer different personas. For example, you may be the senior property manager at work, a mother to your children, a partner in your personal life and a friend among your soccer team. With so many facets in your life, it’s challenging to perform at your peak in the variety of situations you encounter each day. 

As a part of Dr Fraser's research, he studied what separates elite athletes from other athletes of a similar skill set. Elite tennis players managed to compose themselves, focus on the point ahead of them and not dwell on the point behind them. These tennis players effectively used and controlled their Third Space and used this to perform at their peak.

Dr Fraser and a team of researchers at Deakin University proved this when testing this theory with executives across an array of industries. Those who leveraged these transitional gaps saw a positive difference in their actions, emotions and daily performance. Creating a physical and mental boundary between transitions will not only improve your mental wellbeing but your performance in all areas of life. Your Third Space could be through two minutes of deep breathing and relaxation between meetings or mentally winding down from the day’s work on the train ride home. Adam has found that those individuals who can successfully utilise their Third Space were more engaged, balanced and productive, both in and out of the workplace.

Have you found your Third Space? Have you seen increased results in your performance and mental wellbeing? Dr Fraser's concept of the Third Space really resonated with the Rockend team, and challenged us all to maximise our daily performance both personally and professionally.

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