High performance isn’t about how much you can endure. It’s about protecting your ability to keep performing when life gets busy again.
September has arrived.
The holidays are ending.
Children are going back to school.
Work is picking up.
The diary is filling again.
And for many people, the next few months will be relentless.
This is usually the point where we tell ourselves to get our heads down and crack on.
I used to think that was high performance.
I was wrong.
For years, I measured my capability by how much I could endure.
How hard I could train.
How much discomfort I could tolerate.
How long I could keep going when things weren’t right.
Military service reinforced it.
Elite sport reinforced it.
And eventually it became part of my identity.
But there’s a problem with measuring yourself by how much you can endure.
You can become exceptionally good at performing while becoming progressively worse at protecting the person doing the performing.
That’s NOT high performance.
One of the defining chapters in The High Performance Operator asks a simple question:
What actually is a High Performance Operator?
My answer today is very different from the one I would have given 20 years ago.
It isn’t the person who works the longest hours.
It isn’t the person who constantly sacrifices their health for their responsibilities.
It isn’t the person who ignores the warning signs and keeps going.
And it isn’t the person waiting for the perfect time to finally sort themselves out.
A High Performance Operator understands something much simpler:
Health Creates Capacity. Capacity Drives Performance.
They deliberately protect their health because they understand what depends upon it.
Not when life becomes easier.
Now.
Autumn is a useful test.
Perhaps you’ve returned from summer knowing something needs to change.
You’ve gained some weight.
You’re less fit than you’d like.
Your energy isn’t where it should be.
Your sleep needs attention.
Or perhaps you’ve simply realised that you don’t feel quite like yourself anymore.
September can easily become another promise to “get back on track”.
But I’d suggest something different.
Look at what’s coming.
The workload.
The family responsibilities.
The darker mornings.
The social commitments.
Christmas.
Then ask yourself:
What condition do I need to be in to handle all of that well?
Not survive it.
Not endure it.
Not crack on through it.
Handle it well.
Because your health isn’t something to address once you’ve dealt with everything else.
It’s part of what determines your ability to deal with everything else.
That’s high performance.
Not doing more.
Not suffering more.
Not proving how much you can tolerate.
It’s intelligently protecting the physical, mental and emotional capacity that allows you to continue contributing to the things and people that matter.
So as autumn begins, perhaps don’t ask yourself how much you can get done before Christmas.
Ask yourself something more important:
What am I going to do now to make sure I’m still capable when I get there?
Chat soon. Ollie.
#TheHighPerformanceOperator #HealthCreatesCapacity #SustainablePerformance #Leadership #WarriorWellnessMovement
