Perform at your best at the things that matter most to you. At the Growth Equation, we are dedicated to bringing you pragmatic, no-nonsense information, tools, and practices to help you cultivate sustainable and fulfilling success and excellence.
We're familiar with the idea of "home court/field/ice advantage" in sports—but did you know it can apply to work as well?
"The way we act, the way we think, even the way we perceive the world around us differ when we're in a space that's familiar to us," writes Annie Murphy Paul, in her book The Extended Mind. "The mind works better because it doesn't do all the work on its own, it gets an assist from the structure embedded in its environment, structure that marshals useful information, supports effective habits and routines, and restrains unproductive impulses... The place itself helps us think."
Working in a familiar place—especially if that places is associated with a particular type of task—can be a bit like slipping into a uniform: it becomes easier to activate that part of your identity (and facilitate the type of cognition that goes along with it).
How can you use this information to help your creativity and productivity today?
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Over the last few weeks, the situation in my hometown of Asheville, North Carolina, and the Western part of the state more broadly, has been hard to describe. On Friday, September 27, Hurricane Helene made landfall and wreaked havoc across the Blue Ridge Mountains. Nearly three weeks later, and just today my family got running water back for the first time. Many are without power. More than 200 people have lost their lives. Countless others have lost their homes and businesses. Schools have been closed and are unlikely to re-open for at least another week, if not more.
Following a disorder event like this, there is no going back to the old order. There is only moving forward to a new reorder.
For many, there will be silver linings and the ultimate result of this will be strength and resilience, because the human spirit is strong and the community is strong. For those who have lost loved ones, there is just pain, and my heart breaks. I am so, so, sorry.
Below are some reflections on resilience. They are drawn from my current experience, because it is fresh and raw. But perhaps you'll find them applicable to certain situations in your own life, too.
After chaos or any big change, there is a window when adrenaline is high and there is an abundance of action and hope. You're filled with a mix of anxiety and excitement (which are close cousins) and a list of things you have to do: secure food and water; call your friends, family, and colleagues; check in on your neighbors; and in some cases, evacuate, which means packing up kids, pets, and any important belongings. A handful of people I've spoken with described experiencing a sort of controlled-mania in these early moments.
But as time (and the immediate chaos) passes, the initial energy fades and you enter into what I'll call the long slog phase. It can be days, weeks, or even months. The work is difficult, monotonous, and exhausting. Progress is slow. You are no longer in acute disorder but you are nowhere near reorder either. You also no longer have the benefit of controlled-mania. You start to come down from the anxiety and excitement, but when you look around, things are still anything but normal. Perhaps you feel sad, apathetic, overwhelmed, hopeless, exhausted, or some combination of these things.
With natural disasters, the long slog plays out collectively. But it's present after individual disorder events too, such as a serious injury, illness, or failure. It is important to set the expectation that the long slog will be just that—a long slog. Patience is crucial.
Tragic optimism means accepting the mess for what it is, honoring what you are going through, and working to maintain hope nonetheless. It is very important. It is not easy.
I am an optimistic person. I’ve written books with underlying themes of hope and progress. And yet, for much of the past few weeks, I've been having a hard time feeling anything but overwhelm and loss—and I have it easy compared to so many of my neighbors. I am okay. My family is okay. My home is okay. My work is okay. I think it's important to feel what you're feeling and give yourself the benefit of the doubt. But it's also important to allow yourself to find joy if it is there, and to smile too. And, when you're ready, to look forward to the future. The moments of joy and hope help fill your tank and give you the strength to keep going.
I continue to be in awe of all the first responders, linesmen, physicians, nurses, social workers, engineers, national guardspeople, the list goes on. So many individuals are working around the clock and giving everything they have to the acute recovery effort. Unlike what you may have seen on the news, this disaster has brought the community together, not torn it apart. It's brought out the best of people. It may be cliche to say look to the helpers, but oftentimes, cliches contain more than a kernel of truth.
There are numerous theories on resilience but it really comes down to a few core factors: leaning into community, staying patient, allowing yourself to feel sadness and loss and to maintain hope at the same time, being kind to yourself, patience, persistence, small routines that support your mental health, and a commitment to showing up over and over again as you trudge through the mess.
Try not to hold what you are going through alone. If possible, help others—be it financially, physically, or psychologically. Taking productive action, even if it's small, is a powerful way to keep overwhelm and despair at bay.
All of these things serve the same purpose, which is to help us keep showing up, trudging ahead, and rebuilding as best we can. So long as you keep moving forward, the rest takes care of itself.
Go Deeper: The Growth Equation Academy for Human Performance
The health and performance space is filled with a never-ending and overwhelming stream of shallow quick fixes, superficial "hacks", and people shamelessly pandering to the algorithm. For all that’s out there, we haven't seen the type of program or community we want in our own lives.
So we created it.
The academy is a platform and community of like-minded people bridging the gap between learning and applying. With more than 20 hours of masterclass content, monthly themes covering topics such as motivation, effective leadership, deep focus states as well as interactive courses , live seminars with guest appearances and direct access to Brad and Steve's expertise, members develop knowledge and learn actionable tools for professional and personal success.
If you want to up your game and get the best out of yourself, the Growth Equation Academy for Human Performance is for you.
"Should You Just Give Up?": On Oliver Burkeman's new book, “Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitation and Make Time for What Counts," and knowing when to call it quits.
An interesting argument against our surveillance age: "Privacy is valuable not because it empowers us to exercise control over our information, but because it protects against the creation of such information in the first place.”
Perform at your best at the things that matter most to you. At the Growth Equation, we are dedicated to bringing you pragmatic, no-nonsense information, tools, and practices to help you cultivate sustainable and fulfilling success and excellence.
Hello Reader, We are thrilled to announce our new book: WIN THE INSIDE GAME. How do we reach our potential? That’s the underlying question that is at the heart of this book. We all want to perform our best when it matters most. Yet, all too often, the pressure gets us and we shy away when we should stand up, or we feel lost and overwhelmed. We know we’re capable of more. That's where Win the Inside Game comes in. Win the Inside Game teaches us how to break free from our doubts and...
Nurturing Independence Read on TheGrowthEq.com Reflect: Quick Thought When it comes to both sport and traditionally-conceived ideas of masculinity, people often conflate suffering and performance. Suffering can be an element of performance, since gritting it out teaches you how to navigate discomfort. But suffering is about simply enduring, whereas performance is about achieving a specific outcome. If we want to be and perform our best, we need to understand the signals our body is sending...
Finding the Right State to Perform Read on TheGrowthEq.com Reflect: Quick Thought Remember those "cool" kids in gym class who never tried? They weren't cool. They were afraid of failing and being embarrassed. True strength caring and embracing the struggle, not hiding from it. Read: Growth Eq Original Feature Getting in the Right State to Perform (Read this on the Growth EQ website here.) Before the Olympic 200-meter final, Noah Lyles came out of the tunnel, bouncing around like a maniac....