You may think from this article’s title that it is only relevant to elite athletes but performance is relative to anyone who engages in physical activity or sport.
So what does performance at all costs mean for someone who is not an elite level athlete?
Someone who works 9-5, who is involved in their respective community, is a family-oriented person or someone who has their own business experiences stress and pressures from multiple sources, including financial, social and work-related.
Most of us would agree that we fall into this category. We, to a degree, want it all. We want all the cake and none of the calories.
Define performance
Well, let’s first start with a few simple questions. What do your performance goals mean to you? What do your work and relationship priorities look like in comparison to these goals?
I ask my clients a lot of personal questions to really understand the “why” behind what they want to achieve.
When we understand the why to our physical quests, we can manage our home-to-work-to-exercise ratio that much better.
If you prioritise your training goal or challenge above your home and work life, things can fall out of whack fast as you now embrace the ‘performance at all cost’ mentality.
Unbalanced living
You see, in nature the environment does not thrive if the ecosystem is out of balance. And we have our own ecosystems. When work is busy, demanding, and stressful, our training and family sadly take a back seat.
The same can be said when our family priorities take over. We do enough work to not lose our job but, once again, our training takes another hit. Then we have the extremists among us who put their performance goal above family and work. They pursue performance at all costs.
Now, I’m not telling you to keep pushing work and family responsibilities to a point that you can never pursue a performance-based goal.
However, during these unique times, we have heard of many healthy individuals who caused more harm than good to themselves by rushing back into an aggressive mode of training post-Covid infection to pursue their performance goal. This is yet another perfect example of the performance at all costs approach.
My objective with this article is to merely guide you to understand your own ecosystem and how to balance it all.
Unbalanced living
You see, in nature the environment does not thrive if the ecosystem is out of balance. And we have our own ecosystems. When work is busy, demanding, and stressful, our training and family sadly take a back seat.
The same can be said when our family priorities take over. We do enough work to not lose our job but, once again, our training takes another hit. Then we have the extremists among us who put their performance goal above family and work. They pursue performance at all costs.
Now, I’m not telling you to keep pushing work and family responsibilities to a point that you can never pursue a performance-based goal.
However, during these unique times, we have heard of many healthy individuals who caused more harm than good to themselves by rushing back into an aggressive mode of training post-Covid infection to pursue their performance goal. This is yet another perfect example of the performance at all costs approach.
My objective with this article is to merely guide you to understand your own ecosystem and how to balance it all.
Defining your ecosystem
Firstly, let me address what an ecosystem is in laymen’s terms. An ecosystem is “a geographic area where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and landscape, work together to form a bubble of life.”
That last part is what captures it all for me, “work together to form a bubble of life”
You have a bubble of life around you every day. You may not see it or acknowledge it, but you have one. Training, I should hope, forms part of your bubble.
This means that everything you do needs to work together. Training needs to assist you to be a better partner, parent, friend, colleague or simply a better person.
Work is a space for you to contribute your value and skills daily to a bigger goal. Your family and friends are time for you to be exactly who you are – to love and be loved.
Doing too much of any of these does not allow you to pursue your aim to become your best self. You need to have enough time with each element in your ecosystem to truly nurture all strengths and improve all weaknesses.
Find the balance in life
Have you ever mapped out how much of each aspect of your ecosystem you focus on during the day or week? Does your work consume all your family and training time? Does your family time limit your training and work schedule? Does your training affect your quality of effort at work and at home?
You probably answered yes to many of these questions and I am sure you have your own reason as to why.
Now, I’m also sure you are sitting there thinking, “but Josh, I have goals. I want to complete my first Ironman or I want that promotion at work.” We both know that won’t happen by sitting around.
But I want you to break down how you’ve scheduled your entire lifestyle to achieve your goal and unlock success in all sectors.
People often worry a lot about making time for their training programs, but they seldom plan their home affairs or work priorities accordingly and vice versa.
This, in the long run, creates inconsistency within your training, career, and family goals. Unless you are a professional athlete, you are not paid to train 6 hours a day. This training volume will put a lot of stress on your life as well as your body, and at a rate that is not manageable in the long run.
How many people do you know that “used” to do epic things? That guy who used to run every marathon. That lady who went from the couch to her first CrossFit comp. The youngster who used to play varsity rugby. They all started something at a rate that did not account for the future. They did not manage the ecosystem and now they tell you what they used to do versus what they do currently.
Consistency trumps intensity
Ultimately, sustainability matters and consistency trumps intensity. When a person falls into the performance at all costs mindset, they lose consistency across every area in their life due to the appeal of pursuing a noble challenge.
Let’s be honest, we would all love to say we have won a huge event or race. But who among us really have the eco system to pursue an elite event to the degree it takes to finish in the top 20, let alone win?
We all want that success in the areas that make us happy but we simply do not account for the other aspects of our lives.
3 steps to balanced living
This is not to say you can’t but if you are like me and you would like to achieve success across all sectors of the ecosystem, then you need to address the following:
Step 1: Identify what or who is the most important (primary) goal in your life currently. For example, your wife, husband, kids, life partner, family member, new career etc.
Step 2: What is very important but currently comes second to the “primary” objective in your life? For example, work, training, or hobbies outside of training.
Step 3: What in your life do you value and enjoy but does not currently need a lot of your time or effort? For example, you might own a business that now needs little attention, or your kids have left home, or the 30 minutes a day you have to yourself to train.
You probably found some clarity already by just writing down this list. Identifying your own ecosystem will create more focus and clarity in your life.
Your primary focus should take minimum of 50% of your day’s focus. Your secondary priority gets 30% of your focus and the filler takes up 20%. The filler can give up some of its percentage to the primary and secondary but never to the point where you have 0%.
Your challenge is to determine your ecosystem, write it down, then create a plan to give the respective percentages their appropriate focus and time.
When you consistently prioritise your life according to this list, you will become more focused, disciplined, and successful. You will be who you want to be to the people that matter to you and the goals that inspire you. Create the plan, get more focused and live the life you want to live!
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