A game-changing vacation

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It's that time of year again when most of you are about to take your summer vacation. Sadly, our experience tells us that over 60% of you will get sick, over 85% of you will work on your vacation (not necessarily a bad thing if done correctly), and about 70% of you will return from vacation as tired or more tired than when you left.

Most of you will plan the days of your vacation (when), the location of your trip (where), and maybe even the things you plan to do on your vacation (what). The question is, do you know the "why" of your vacation? I know it sounds simple, but we have found that almost 3 out of every 4 of our executives fail to plan this part of their time off.

CONNECTING THE "WHY" OF YOUR VACATION

Executives often ask us, "How long does a vacation need to be in order to recharge?" Well, that depends on what you do and whether or not you connect this "what" of your vacation with a clear "why." When a person makes recharging their number one priority and plans all of the events of their vacation accordingly, they may be able to physically recharge in as little as 3 to 5 days.

Unfortunately, what often happens is people don't connect the "what" to the "why" and end up taking a week-long vacation with 15 or more planned, high-intensity activities. If they have kids, they go to amusement parks, zoos, and museums while sprinting from line to line, eating nothing but amusement park fast food. They fill their nights with even more activities and come Sunday, they are exhausted. When we ask them what their "why" was for their time away, they pause and usually say something like, "I just wanted to relax, recover, and reconnect with my kids and spouse and also have some fun." This intention could have easily been achieved with 2 days of those high-intensity activities along with some quiet family time playing games, going for walks, doing some family exercise, and hanging out together.

TRANSITIONING INTO AND OUT OF VACATION MODE

Once you are clear with the "why" of your vacation, the next critical step is to have a transition into and out of your vacation. Without this transition, you will bring your work self on vacation (unable to turn off, completely connected to work, somewhat detached from the family, etc.), and you will bring your vacation self (kicking back and not fully engaged, going with the flow without a plan, etc.) back to work after your vacation. This self-image trap can be avoided by creating a transition where you first ask yourself, “Who do I need to be to maximize my effectiveness?” both going into vacation and coming off vacation. You should also spend a little time visualizing yourself as that person so your brain can actually believe that you can make it happen.

WORKING ON VACATION

One common question that comes up in our coaching is whether to work or not work during vacation. The truth is that it really depends. If you would feel better by just checking in and cutting off any potential critical items, you may want to adapt the 60-minute work sprint in the morning during vacation (followed, of course, by 23 hours of being fully off). If, on the other hand, you can’t turn your mind off once it gets turned on during vacation, it may be better to fully delegate your responsibilities, perform a thorough handoff at least one day before leaving on vacation, and then stay shut down throughout your vacation. Both situations can work, but they must be designed to fit you. If you leave it to chance, you are leaving the door open for work creep and potentially creating a huge source of conflict with your family.

TOOLS TO PLAN

It's critical to plan the "why" part of your vacation because, once you do, it becomes a lot easier to align the "what" of your trip to the vacation you're really looking for. Here are a few questions to help you get what you want/need as you plan this year's summer vacation:

_Why am I taking this vacation (e.g., recharge my batteries, reconnect with friends/family, change the scenery, have fun, go somewhere I've never been, cross something off my bucket list, get back in shape, work on my golf game, finish my manuscript)?

_When I return from my vacation, how do I want to feel (e.g., relaxed, energized, pain-free, focused, passionate, creative, in love, reconnected to my family)?

_What would it look like if I felt that way? How would I stand, walk, interact with others, etc.?

_What do I need to do on this vacation to make this vision of success a reality?

Sustainable Human Performance doesn't happen by luck or chance; it happens by design. The same is true for having a successful, impactful vacation. Connecting the what, when, where, and why of your trip is necessary to design your best-ever summer holiday.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Brian Wade // Chief Performance Officer

Brian is the Head of Research and Development and a Senior Performance Specialist for TIGNUM. He is responsible for keeping TIGNUM content and methodology cutting edge and science-based. He is an experienced Sustainable Human Performance coach to many top senior executives, professional athletes, and special operations troops. Brian’s professional past includes supporting the US Army Special Forces cognitive performance program.

Scott Peltin // Co-Founder and Chief Catalyst

As the Co-Founder and Chief Catalyst of TIGNUM, Scott has coached many top CEOs, executives, professional athletes, and others to Rule Their Impact. Scott’s unique blend of his 25 years in the Fire Service, education, and coaching experience helps him combine the art and science of Sustainable High Performance to help TIGNUM clients be better, for longer, when it counts the most.

ABOUT TIGNUM

TIGNUM is the major performance building block for business professionals, designed around a skill- and data-based approach that respects the individuality, focuses on the brain, evolves constantly, and creates lasting impact. Its international team comes from a wide range of fields, including human behavior, elite athletics, special forces, performance medicine, executive coaching, change consultants, and more.

The Firefighter Mindset

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The world is undeniably getting more chaotic, less predictable, more uncertain, and more combustible. This leads to an increasing number of clients telling us that they spend more and more time firefighting. When we ask them how they prepare their mindset, approach their challenges, deal with the roller coaster of emotions, and recover from these high-stress engagements, we are often met with a blind stare and silence.

As we coach our clients to achieve their bold projects in this combustible environment, we have found that combining our TIGNUM Sustainable Human Performance tools and strategies with our combined 55+ years of experience in the fire service has been helpful. We want to share a few mental maps to help you engage more strategically, think more logically, find more calm in the storm, recover better, and learn more purposefully. Ultimately, you will be more prepared and strategic with your future firefights.

Increase your readiness for the unexpected

The first lesson you learn in the fire service is that your personal readiness is your greatest tool. Your team depends on you, the effectiveness of the operation depends on you, and, most importantly, those who call you for assistance on their worst day depend on you. You start every shift by checking your protective equipment, investing in your physical capabilities, gathering any learnings from the crew you’re replacing, and mentally transitioning to be ready for the most challenging call in your life that may come any minute.

What’s the first thing you do to start your day at work? Are you really ready?

When we get dispatched, we immediately begin a systematic and comprehensive problem analysis that analyzes the extent of the situation, the volatility to life (ours and those involved), the options to tackle the problem, and the resources needed. We call this our size up, where we rapidly analyze eight critical fire ground factors and communicate our assessment, strategy, and immediate actions. Everyone involved always knows exactly what everyone else is doing and why.

How do you size up your challenges? Do you have a logical, repeatable, effective, and efficient process for managing your fires?

Mental models for quick strategic decision-making

In the fire service, we use two mental models that are key to our success. First, we assess and account for all seven sides of the building (the inside, front, left side, back side, right side, above the fire, and below the fire). We know that what we don’t know may kill us, while at the same time, we know that time is critical because fire grows exponentially. This means we combine intelligence gathering with doing the work, but we are always clear about what we know and don’t know. Second, we analyze every fire with a risk management profile. Simply put, we will risk our lives a lot in a calculated manner to save savable lives. We will risk our lives a little in a calculated manner to save savable property. And, we will not risk our lives at all to save lives or property that are already lost.

What mental models do you apply to your bold projects and challenges to assess your risks and opportunities?

From the second we engage with a building on fire, we are tracking both the effectiveness of the workers and their well-being. We track how much air they have left in their breathing apparatus and their progress on their assigned tasks, and we constantly make sure they have the resources needed to achieve their tasks. As each crew exits the hazard zone, we immediately send them to a rehabilitation sector where they are assessed and monitored, hydrated and nourished, and where they can quickly recover and reset before they are reassigned to the firefight.

Do you oscillate in the middle of your biggest challenges, or do you just put your head down and attempt to be superhuman? Do you go alone, or do you check in with the team and help them come along?

At the onset of every incident, the first responding unit assumes and announces command. There are no leaderless emergencies, so it is always clear that there is accountability, a purposeful strategy, a practiced and polished communications system, and constant attention to everyone’s safety.

Do you always know who is in charge of your crisis? Do you have a set communication model? Do you have someone paying attention to everyone’s needs for recovery?

After-action reviews are crucial for increasing readiness

When an incident is over, it is announced that the fire is under control, there is an all-clear (there are no victims), there is a loss stopped (no more damage will occur), and all units are accounted for (everyone is safe and able to return home). At this time, an after-action critique occurs on the scene, and all learnings are captured. We go to each unit and have them tell us what actions they took, what they did well, and what they could have done better. When the units are released, they are ready for the next emergency, and everyone is smarter.

How do you announce when your bold project or crisis is completed? Do you always do an after-action review?

With the right mindset, fighting your fires will no longer be full of chaos, reactivity, high stress, and avoidance. You will find yourself being able to approach your problems with the calmness, proactiveness, strategic thinking, and professionalism as a firefighter. At TIGNUM, we make people with extreme jobs stronger. This starts by developing your mindset skills to take on your boldest projects. While the work is important, nothing is more important and more foundational than your and your team’s Personal Readiness.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Scott Peltin // Co-Founder and Chief Catalyst

As the Co-Founder and Chief Catalyst of TIGNUM, Scott has coached many top CEOs, executives, professional athletes, and others to Rule Their Impact. Scott’s unique blend of his 25 years in the Fire Service, education, and coaching experience helps him combine the art and science of Sustainable High Performance to help TIGNUM clients be better, for longer, when it counts the most.

Jeff Case // Senior Performance Specialist

Jeff is a Performance Specialist for TIGNUM. He is responsible for delivering and supporting TIGNUM programs. His role includes coaching top senior executives, as well as delivering TIGNUM programs around the globe. Jeff's professional background includes 35 years in the Fire Service with over 18 years at the Executive Chief Officer level, providing strategic level leadership and advancement of the Fire Service as a national presenter and innovator.

ABOUT TIGNUM

TIGNUM is the major performance building block for business professionals, designed around a skill- and data-based approach that respects the individuality, focuses on the brain, evolves constantly, and creates lasting impact. Its international team comes from a wide range of fields, including human behavior, elite athletics, special forces, performance medicine, executive coaching, change consultants, and more.

Getting Stronger when fatigue strikes

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It’s the end of the night, and you’re exhausted. You collapse onto the pillow with a wake of challenges behind you. From tackling your quarterly deliverables to debating how to handle a silo problem to smoothing inner office politics to spending quality time with your two kids, helping them wind down before bed - you left it all on the field today. As you lay there with barely the energy to turn the next page of your book before bed, you ask yourself - am I burning myself out? How long can I possibly keep this up?

We all ask ourselves this question when we are out of energy and feel like we gave it all in so many directions. When the long hours and tough problems empty our cognitive tank, and the personnel issues sap our emotional tank, we may question our own stamina and resilience. We may start to wonder just how long we can keep this up.

What if fatigue is a normal thing from hard work? What if the energy spent actually created something great, moved something critical forward, or paved the way for a future relationship you will always cherish? Would you still be asking yourself these same questions?

The other day, my wife and I had one of these experiences. After a long Saturday of chasing our kids, spending time with our friends and family, and squeezing the life out of every minute, we collapsed on our pillows, exhausted. But a funny thing happened. We didn’t ask each other if we were burned out; instead, we started reflecting on all the fun we had, the impact we made, the memories we will cherish, and the potential we were creating for our kids and our family - the same feeling of fatigue, but a completely different feeling of its meaning.

At TIGNUM, we have seen how fatigue can make the same person fragile or psychologically resilient. It can make them believe in themselves more, or it can raise their self-doubt. It can excite them for the future or scare them to death. So what is the difference?

Your focus makes all the difference

One of the most common differences is your focus. Do you focus on your fatigue and the effort you have put out? Or do you focus on your contributions, the impact you created, and the lessons you learned? The former leaves you zapped, but the latter can leave you energized, inspired, and hungry for more.

Do you focus on the huge amount of things out of your control? Or do you choose to deliberately and consistently focus on those things that you can influence or control? The former leaves you overwhelmed, but the latter makes you feel capable and in control.

Do you choose to focus on how you are being impacted or instead on how you can positively impact others on your team? When you choose to be an energy multiplier for others, to be we-focused instead of me-focused, and to be of service rather than helpless, everything changes. Suddenly you may find your gas tank full rather than empty.

Role modeling these behaviors should be a part of leadership. But unfortunately, most of us learn these Sustainable Human Performance skills when it is too late, and we’re already struggling with burnout. Are you going to wait?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

As TIGNUM's Managing Director of the Americas and APAC, Chris is an experienced Sustainable Human Performance coach to many CEO’s, C-suite executives, and professional athletes. In 2020, Chris was inducted into the MG100 Coaches program, an organization of some the best executive coaches, leaders and business thinkers from around the world.

ABOUT TIGNUM

TIGNUM is the major performance building block for business professionals, designed around a skill- and data-based approach that respects the individuality, focuses on the brain, evolves constantly, and creates lasting impact. Its international team comes from a wide range of fields, including human behavior, elite athletics, special forces, performance medicine, executive coaching, change consultants, and more.

Stay energized and focused during a job transition

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Whether you’ve earned a promotion, moved to a new organization, or taken on new responsibility in your current job, new roles start with celebration, excitement, and a sense of accomplishment. Rightfully so - you've earned it. Few things satiate the human brain like being recognized for your talent and experience and being given an opportunity to grow into a role with higher visibility, reach, and impact. Often, this same excitement and gratitude is the very thing that sabotages performance during the transition period, leading to a tidal wave of self-doubt, fear, and uncertainty.

How could that be?

The “dual-role” period

In most cases, a transition involves an onboarding period of learning new systems, building relationships with new stakeholders, finding clarity around expectations, and building your strategy. At the same time, you’re typically asked to continue to ensure that all of your old responsibilities are taken care of and the person taking over is set up for success. You effectively now have two roles.

If you’re moving to an entirely new company, you won’t have a dual role, but you will have a lot more heavy lifting to do with onboarding. Similarly, you will likely have to make significant changes to the structure of your day, move to a new location, leave old colleagues behind, and establish a new tempo. Failing to account for this doubled cognitive and emotional load and setting an unsustainable pace to learn and prove yourself to others are the leading causes of over-fatigue during these periods.

Commonly, this fatigue can lead to brain fog, feeling out of control, self-doubt, and reflexive, often destructive behaviors. This can be avoided by building a recovery plan for your transition and continuously building your self-belief.

Build a plan to keep your cognitive capacity high

When starting a new job, there will always be many things out of your control. In order to show up at your best, reduce fatigue, and regain the feeling of control, a great approach is to control the start and the end of your day. Within these two windows, you can define the non-negotiable strategies you will use to sharpen your focus, build your energy stores, proactively prepare for your day, and build in your recovery moments.

So what is your start-of-the-day plan? How can you prime your mindset, feed your brain, move to activate your nervous system, and focus yourself to multiply others' energy?

Similarly, what is your end-of-day plan? How can you shut down from a busy day, create a natural melatonin (sleep hormone) release, capture your key learnings from the day, and calm your nervous system for sleep?

Make self-belief building an ongoing practice

With any new role comes self-doubt. While we could write books about building authentic self-belief, here are a few quick suggestions to help you.

First, reflect on other moments in your life where you've had similar transitions, experienced but overcame self-doubt, and moved forward to succeed.

Second, at the end of each day, write down a few things you did well, a couple of things you want to do better, and one thing you learned.

Finally, prepare - prepare - prepare. Nothing builds true self-belief like preparing for a big meeting, building recovery into your preparation, and setting clear intentions.

Transitioning to a new role is a challenging but exciting time if you can avoid putting your head down and going into wing-it mode with your Sustainable Human Performance. By creating your transition recovery plan and continually practicing self-belief building, you can regain control and multiply your readiness to take on the challenges that lie ahead.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jake Marx // Head of Performance Coaching

Jake is the Head of Performance Coaching for TIGNUM. He is responsible for finding, developing, preparing, and growing all TIGNUM Performance Specialists. He is an experienced Sustainable Human Performance coach to many top senior executives.

ABOUT TIGNUM

TIGNUM is the major performance building block for business professionals, designed around a skill- and data-based approach that respects the individuality, focuses on the brain, evolves constantly, and creates lasting impact. Its international team comes from a wide range of fields, including human behavior, elite athletics, special forces, performance medicine, executive coaching, change consultants, and more.

Leveraging Imposter Syndrome

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Imposter Syndrome. Just the name alone sounds like something to avoid and something that might make you wind up in the hospital or worse. Much of what you may have read or heard paints it in a negative light. It’s been linked to exhaustion, fear, freezing, and, most recently, burnout. It also seems like now, even if someone feels just a tiny bit nervous before doing a big task, they label it “Imposter Syndrome.” The irony is that Imposter Syndrome is probably one of the most universal experiences humans share and one of the most misunderstood.

Perhaps it was showing up to a new school on the first day, your first “real” job, getting a promotion, or even being chosen to lead a critical project. The feelings of Imposter Syndrome are pretty universal. You feel nervous, anxious, apprehensive, and maybe even full of dread. Your thoughts may ruminate around “not being good enough,” “being inadequate,” and even “what if they find out I’m not smart/good enough for this role?” While these thoughts can be a recipe for poor performance, feeling Imposter Syndrome doesn’t guarantee you’ll do poorly, nor does it mean you aren’t ready. In fact, at TIGNUM, we believe that Imposter Syndrome can actually be quite useful, help you learn more, and become even more impactful in your new venture. How do you do this? It’s simple - embrace it.

Imposter Syndrome naturally comes with embarking on a great journey

The interesting thing about Imposter Syndrome is that it often occurs when you go through a significant transition or transformation period. It rarely flares up when things are going easy and when you're facing the mundane daily. It happens when there is change - change in you. You may often read that you need to “avoid Imposter Syndrome” or "use these tips not to feel that way." To be honest, if you never felt Imposter Syndrome, it meant you weren’t growing, challenging yourself, or evolving as a person. For that reason, we think that Imposter Syndrome isn’t a sign of bad things to come; we believe it’s the first sign of great things.

If you’re feeling challenged by a new role, it means that someone believed you were strong enough to do it. Embrace the discomfort of growth. If you feel inadequate in your experience or knowledge, it means you have an opportunity to learn so much more. Embrace the discomfort of not knowing. Try to reframe your original thoughts or feelings toward celebrating the new opportunity you’ve earned or thinking of how much you’ll grow as a result of this new venture.

Turn the discomfort of leaving your comfort zone into curiousity

Another amazing way to leverage Imposter Syndrome is to use it to unlock your curiosity. When you feel surrounded by uncertainty, use it as a trigger to ask more questions. Research has found that when faced with uncertainty, the brain becomes more vigilant in looking for new information. The problem is many of us don’t leverage this because we are too busy distracting ourselves with how nervous or inadequate we feel. But, if we lean into the brain's default solution to find new information, it enhances our situational awareness and helps us process more information, create clarity, and find solutions. Recent research even shows that when you learn something new, there is a dopamine release in the brain, giving you excitement and satisfaction. When you feel the discomfort of Imposter Syndrome, let that be the alarm bell to look around and start asking questions and flex your curiosity.

A universal truth on Imposter Syndrome

Finally, one thing that will, without a doubt, cause your Imposter Syndrome to feel worse and even reoccur is fatigue. There is a reciprocal relationship where Imposter Syndrome can cause emotional fatigue, but feeling fatigued can also amplify the feelings of Imposter Syndrome. The emotions and brain power required to go through a transition, learn new things, and grow as an individual will already be fatiguing. The last thing you want to do is compound it all by not strategically practicing recovery. Going through a transition or starting something new is an excellent opportunity to double down on your recovery strategies or establish new behaviors. Making sleep a priority, moving more, choosing brain-boosting meals, and practicing breathing techniques can give your body the extra energy it needs to navigate through this period of transformation.

So, the next time you feel uneasy with a new challenge, don't fear that you may have Impostor Syndrome. Instead, embrace it and all of the great things it can generate.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brian Wade // Chief Performance Officer

Brian is the Head of Research and Development and a Senior Performance Specialist for TIGNUM. He is responsible for keeping TIGNUM content and methodology cutting edge and science-based. He is an experienced Sustainable Human Performance coach to many top senior executives, professional athletes, and special operations troops. Brian’s professional past includes supporting the US Army Special Forces cognitive performance program.

ABOUT TIGNUM

TIGNUM is the major performance building block for business professionals, designed around a skill- and data-based approach that respects the individuality, focuses on the brain, evolves constantly, and creates lasting impact. Its international team comes from a wide range of fields, including human behavior, elite athletics, special forces, performance medicine, executive coaching, change consultants, and more.

Getting Stronger in the Storm

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We all encounter storms in our life (work and home) when things are difficult, we feel like we are pushing against the wind, and things are unpredictable, uncertain, and hard. During these storms, we push hard, and, too often, we see these storms as burdens that make us weaker. We may even make assumptions that these storms, and the hard pushes that come with them, will surely lead to burnout. But is this true? Do the hard pushes in a storm have to make us weaker? Is there a way to actually get stronger in the storm?

At TIGNUM, we study human performance - not just in the smooth and easily manageable times (which are occurring at a much lower frequency), but in the heat of the moment, in the pain of the grind, and in the crunch time when failure is not an option. We partner with and support our clients to change the paradigm from where these storms leave you 10% worse to where these storms can leave you 10% stronger. Most importantly, you go from being 75% of your best when it matters most in the storm - to being 100% when the greatest challenges require your best.

While our latest book, BeMore, goes into more detail, we thought that during the current storms, we would share a few buckets of best practices we have used to help clients get stronger in their storms. If you’re thinking, “I can’t do any more,” keep in mind, that you are not alone, and we understand. The fact is that in the storm, you are already doing more. When we say BeMore, we mean follow the best practices to help you show up more focused, more present, more prepared, more energized, and more resilient. These are key to making more of an impact.

Lead your self-talk to generate supportive thoughts

The first bucket, and probably the most critical, is your mindset. It all starts with a focus on your mindset, driven by your self-talk and inner stories. As soon as you allow your mind to start telling you thoughts like: “Here we go again, I am so tired of this,” or “If I’m this tired now, how will I make it for another three months of this,” or “I don’t think any of this matters, so why should I care,” you are getting weaker and becoming defeated. Don’t get us wrong, these thoughts are normal, and we only shared the tame ones.

The point is that during these pushes, you have to direct your brain with purposeful, productive, guided thoughts - and not listen to the drama and victim-filled thoughts your brain will create. Some pre-framed thoughts our clients have used to replace these thoughts are: “Break it down - I don’t have to make it three months, I just need to tackle this morning,” or “This is a tough push, but I’m tougher, so as long as I approach this from a Sustainable Human Performance way, I will win,” or “I’ll be my best for this next meeting and then worry about what comes next.” The common element of these reframes is that they take control and, therefore, put the brain back in control.

Decrease the charge of your emotions

Another key mindset strategy is to embrace the suck. Not from a cheeky angle, but from a scientifically-proven approach that starts with labeling the emotions you are feeling. This emotion labeling step helps your brain identify exactly what you are feeling, which is critical to developing emotional agility. Next, apply specific breathing techniques in the critical moment to stop the cascade of cortisol and adrenaline (stress response hormones). Don’t do this to find your happy place; do this to quickly pitstop and identify the choices that the storm has presented to you. This will put your brain back in control by consistently making the best choice possible. This helps stop the sensation of feeling overwhelmed and helps you lean into the next challenge of the day.

Never compromise your (micro-) recovery breaks

The second bucket is your own energy and resilience. You need to invest in these, no matter how hard the push. Start your day strong with the right movement, priming the brain with the right thoughts and images, feeding the brain with the right performance foods and nutrients, and identifying where your opportunities are to multiply your impact today. Most importantly, become diligent about your sleep. There is no doubt that sleep during the storm can be challenging as the brain creates so many ruminating thoughts (this would take a separate blog to cover), but being sure to increase the amount of your sleep by 10% always pays huge dividends.

Apply micro-recovery breaks throughout every day and create longer breaks wherever you can. Micro-recovery breaks work best when they are part of the transition between events so they can double the benefits. These transitions with recovery built in will prepare you for what is coming and, at the same time, refill your performance energy tanks so you can bring your best. We have written so much about great examples of this before, so we will leave this to you. But the kiss of death is the thought, “I’m too busy to do my micro-recovery breaks.” The longer breaks like an afternoon off, or a 3-day weekend, are also critical but often missed. These slightly longer breaks provide you a quick reset, and they also give you a chance to check in and see what is working for you, what isn’t working for you, and how you will attack the next chunk of work in a smarter way.

Breakdown the load into manageable chunks

The third bucket is breaking down the heavy loads during the storm. This is called chunking, and it works even if you only do it in your mind. The brain does well with small challenges but struggles when it can’t see the end and doesn’t have a benchmark to see if it is making progress. Breaking the day into four chunks like your morning prep, your morning work, your afternoon work, and your evening can make the busiest day manageable. Sometimes, breaking it down into even smaller chunks like these two meetings, then this work time, then these three meetings, etc., can be helpful. Other times, breaking down the work into chunks like research time, compilation time, writing time, refinement time, etc., can help your brain realize that each type of work is unique and, therefore, the Sustainable Human Performance strategies you implement should adjust so you can bring your best work to each phase.

Intentionally strengthen your self-belief

Finally (just for this blog because there is much more that can be done), and this is created by all three buckets - constantly check in with, and feed, your self-belief. Fatigue and grinding have a way of chipping away at self-belief, and when self-belief falters, the boat is getting ready to sink in the middle of the storm. We have written about this previously, but one great technique we use is a daily reflection we call the 3-2-1 reflection. Write down 3 things you did well today that mattered, 2 things you wish you could have done better and what that would have looked like, and 1 thing you learned. This reflection helps you see the impact you have made, the benefits of your choices, and the learning and growth you have achieved.

Human beings are incredible, and, therefore, you are incredible. It is amazing the amount of pain, suffering, setbacks, and grind we can endure when we feel in control, when we feel the benefits, when we feel the growth, and when we overcome challenges. These feelings don’t come by chance; they come by choice and by approaching the push like a Sustainable Human Performer.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Scott Peltin // Co-Founder and Chief Catalyst

As the Co-Founder and Chief Catalyst of TIGNUM, Scott has coached many top CEOs, executives, professional athletes, and others to Rule Their Impact. Scott’s unique blend of his 25 years in the Fire Service, education, and coaching experience helps him combine the art and science of Sustainable High Impact to help TIGNUM clients be better, for longer, when it counts the most.

ABOUT TIGNUM

TIGNUM is the major performance building block for business professionals, designed around a skill- and data-based approach that respects the individuality, focuses on the brain, evolves constantly, and creates lasting impact. Its international team comes from a wide range of fields, including human behavior, elite athletics, special forces, performance medicine, executive coaching, change consultants, and more.

The Leader's Loneliness

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Leadership has many benefits, but it also has many challenges and many unfortunate truths. One of those unfortunate truths is that leadership can often be lonely. The fact is that the higher up you move on the leadership ladder, the lonelier it can be.

Being a leader involves having a high emotional load

In working with many CEOs and other members of executive leadership teams, we often help them deal with the complexity of emotions that come with being a leader. There are many hard decisions that, even on the best day, will be unpopular. This fear of being unpopular can contribute to a feeling of loneliness. There is also the issue of confidentiality. Due to the multitude of complications that any decision can have, leaders often have to hold their thoughts and decisions close to their chest until the final moment. This can contribute to a leader feeling deceitful, detached, and again, lonely.

Additionally, leaders must play a multitude of roles in a day. From being the ultimate decision-maker to being the motivator to just being an equal partner or, as many of us know, to just being an unprepared parent. As William Shakespeare described in Richard II’s dilemma: “Thus I play in one person many people, and none contented.” This lack of clarity can lead to feelings of loneliness.

Finally, there is the loneliness of insecurity. Having worked with many leaders and teams that have gone through significant reorganizations, we have seen how tough they are. For those who leave the company, there is the loneliness of leaving friends, leaving the company you have helped shape and build, and of course, leaving your source of income. For those who stay with the company, there is the loneliness of losing friends, losing familiar infrastructure and stability, losing the sense of security that existed before the big change, and having to develop all-new teams and support systems. For both those who stay and those who leave, the feelings of loneliness are completely normal.

Dealing with the loneliness that comes with being a leader

From a TIGNUM perspective, what can you do to help comfort these feelings?

First, acknowledge to yourself that these feelings exist because you are human. This means also accepting that these feelings come with the job and since you chose to be a leader, you must accept all that comes with that.

Second, embrace your lonely times as a great source of self-reflection, self-growth, and remotivating yourself for the future.

Third, take time to grieve the endings that come with being a leader (both through sadness and celebration). Being able to let go of the past is a critical step to being open to “try the untried” in the future.

Fourth, always remember that you are not your job, and therefore, maintaining a life away from your work is critical to staying grounded in who you really are.

Finally, make your own Sustainable Human Performance a priority. During times of loneliness, it is easy to sacrifice the habits you know are critical to building your energy, resilience, mental agility, and executional stamina. Without these things, you not only won’t be a great leader, but you also won’t be a great you.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Scott Peltin // Co-Founder and Chief Catalyst

As the Co-Founder and Chief Catalyst of TIGNUM, Scott has coached many top CEOs, executives, professional athletes, and others to Rule Their Impact. Scott’s unique blend of his 25 years in the Fire Service, education, and coaching experience helps him combine the art and science of Sustainable High Impact to help TIGNUM clients be better, for longer, when it counts the most.

ABOUT TIGNUM

TIGNUM is the major performance building block for business professionals, designed around a skill- and data-based approach that respects the individuality, focuses on the brain, evolves constantly, and creates lasting impact. Its international team comes from a wide range of fields, including human behavior, elite athletics, special forces, performance medicine, executive coaching, change consultants, and more.

Do You Have the Skills to Own Your Mindset?

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So much has been written about the concept of ownership, and it's something that often comes up in coaching and supporting our clients. Interestingly enough, you can get many different thoughts and definitions on what ownership means. But, there is one common theme that arises. People, especially leaders, want to know how to promote ownership within their teams.

At TIGNUM, we see ownership as one of the many skills that can make up a performance mindset. It’s an important component, just like vulnerability, curiosity, mental agility, and even humor. Like all performance mindset skills, ownership isn’t some genetic trait you are born with or not. Instead, it's something that can and must be developed and grown over time.

Ownership isn’t just taking charge of a project. It’s more than just taking responsibility or accountability for consequences and outcomes. Ownership goes beyond things like seniority or titles. In our view, ownership comes down to the choices you make in giving yourself the best chance to be your best self. Here are three areas where we see a new perspective on ownership being impactful.

Ownership is a mindset skill that plays out in all the choices you make

.01 Think about the last time you prepared for a big presentation, meeting, or one-on-one. How did you prepare? You probably reviewed your notes, slides, data, etc., which are all great methods from a technical perspective. But how did you prepare yourself? Did you think about how you wanted to be perceived through your body language, verbal tone, or emotions? Did you purposefully energize or calm yourself so that you had the right amount of energy? Did you plan your food, caffeine, or proper hydration to ensure your brain and body had the best possible nutrients to help your brain perform? This type of preparation is taking true ownership. It’s ownership over one’s self to ensure that we have prepared ourselves, not just our work.

.02 Another interesting aspect of ownership is what you choose to focus on. Having true ownership is choosing to focus on things within your control. It’s focusing on the things you can do versus the things you cannot do. We see wonderful examples of this with Paralympic athletes. When they give interviews, these athletes focus on their strengths and the things they can do, instead of focusing or spending energy on the things they can’t do or the things outside of their control.

.03 True ownership is making the most out of what you have. Fatigue is a common experience for all of us. But how we choose to view and allow it to influence us is not as common. When we are fatigued, we can choose to let it be something that takes us away from being our best selves. It’s easy for us to say, “I’m only at 70% today, so I’m not going to be at my best.” It’s a lot harder for us to choose to say, “I’m going to give 100% of my 70% today.” One of these mindsets primes you to feel fatigued and ineffective, and the other focuses on owning and maximizing your energy and focus.

Finally, taking ownership isn’t just about successes and failures. After all, you cannot guarantee success. But, by practicing true ownership, you can guarantee yourself the chance to be successful. By making better choices on your actions, routines, what you focus on, and how you prepare, you’ve strategically transformed yourself into a Sustainable High Performer.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brian Wade // Chief Performance Officer

Brian is the Head of Research and Development and a Senior Performance Specialist for TIGNUM. He is responsible for keeping TIGNUM content and methodology cutting edge and science-based. He is an experienced Sustainable Human Performance coach to many top senior executives, professional athletes, and special operations troops. Brian’s professional past includes supporting the US Army Special Forces cognitive performance program.

ABOUT TIGNUM

TIGNUM is the major performance building block for business professionals, designed around a skill- and data-based approach that respects the individuality, focuses on the brain, evolves constantly, and creates lasting impact. Its international team comes from a wide range of fields, including human behavior, elite athletics, special forces, performance medicine, executive coaching, change consultants, and more.

The Opinion Pause: Using Humility and Curiosity to Think More Critically

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In today’s highly connected world, it is easy to quickly share your opinions. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter - all designed for the rapid viral spread of information. We could fill books with the reputation damage one flippant response to the wrong person at the wrong time can make, but let’s focus on the impact it has on your ability to be mentally agile, resilient, energized, and a multiplier of energy.

When you reflexively form and share an opinion, you rely 100% on a bias that you have previously created based on a multitude of historic contributing factors. By doing this, you are destroying the Performance Mindset skills of challenging your biases, having a growth mindset, being open-minded, and being curious. You are robbing your brain of the opportunity to ask more questions and to do more research to update your thinking with the latest knowledge. You are building the walls around your “fixed” mindset, which reduces the expansion of your “growth” mindset.

Less opinionated means better critical thinking

As we have discussed many times, curiosity is the Performance Mindset skill that leads to openness, growth, new knowledge, innovation, and meaningful relationships. By asking great questions, you create a pause that allows you to learn and challenge what you may think you already know.

Similarly, when you quickly form an opinion and openly share it, you are diminishing the skill of humility. By forcibly being so opinionated, you are skipping the vital step of critical thinking, which is to ask yourself, “What if I’m wrong?” Humility tears down walls and provides an opening for people to approach you and create a relationship. It is vital for collaboration.

From a Sustainable Human Performance standpoint, when you quickly form and share your opinions, you are emphatically expressing that you are right, and that’s the end of the discussion. It forces your brain into defense mode and creates defensiveness in those around you.

Challenge your opinions to create deeper understanding

Sustainable Human Performers make another choice. Instead of hitting the send button, they hit the pause button (in their brain). They stop and consider the opinion of others (the intentions, the intensity, the knowledge, etc.). Then they ask themselves, “What do I think about this issue, and why do I think that?” In the pause, they examine this answer and ask other questions like, “What if I’m wrong?” “What am I not seeing? “If I were in their shoes, how would I see it?” “How can I learn more about this topic to challenge my own belief?”

The opinion pause is a great way to build your Performance Mindset and multiply the energy of those around you. It makes you smarter, makes others less defensive, and helps you think at a deeper level. In addition, it reduces your stress response and builds your compassion, empathy, patience, and listening skills. Sustainable Human Performance doesn’t happen by chance; it’s a choice, and choosing the opinion pause may be a good one for us all.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Scott Peltin // Co-Founder and Chief Catalyst

As the Co-Founder and Chief Catalyst of TIGNUM, Scott has coached many top CEOs, executives, professional athletes, and others to Rule Their Impact. Scott’s unique blend of his 25 years in the Fire Service, education, and coaching experience helps him combine the art and science of Sustainable High Impact to help TIGNUM clients be better, for longer, when it counts the most.

ABOUT TIGNUM

TIGNUM is the major performance building block for business professionals, designed around a skill- and data-based approach that respects the individuality, focuses on the brain, evolves constantly, and creates lasting impact. Its international team comes from a wide range of fields, including human behavior, elite athletics, special forces, performance medicine, executive coaching, change consultants, and more.

The Invisible Fatigue

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Fatigue is a funny thing. Sometimes you know exactly where it comes from, like when you've been sick, sleep-deprived, or moved furniture all day, but other times it seems to come out of nowhere. The human body is complex, and many of the forces working on the human body are invisible. Things like changes in the seasons (weather and light cycles), your immune system fighting a bug, quarantine, or even the impact of the suffering and tragedy that is covered in the news.

At the same time, as many of you have probably experienced before, there is also fatigue lag. One night you get 8 hours of perfect sleep, yet you feel tired the next day. Another night you get 4 hours of sleep, and you feel great the next day. How could this be? One reason is that the way you feel today is actually the product of your last 3 to 7 days. Muscle tightness and soreness may be due to physical activity you did 3 days ago. That lack of energy you feel today is often due to your cumulative sleep over the past 5 to 7 days.

What causes emotional fatigue

Even more mysterious is the impact that emotional fatigue has on your energy levels and your ability to self-regulate your response to your emotions. Like all fatigue, the cause, symptoms, and remedies of emotional fatigue can be very individual. This is why it is so critical that you constantly increase your awareness and proactively build your toolbox with recovery strategies. One key thing to remember when it comes to emotional fatigue is that it isn’t the event or trigger that causes the body’s response to fatigue. It's actually your perception, your current capacity and condition, your emotional history, and even your self-image that dictate the emotional cost of that event.

Common causes of emotional fatigue can include: fear, change, hard work on a project without progress or impact, negative people, drama, the achievement of something you have worked long and hard on, a lack of team support, emotional roller-coaster experiences, losing someone close to you, situations out of your control, caregiver responsibilities (elderly parent, sick kids, friends, etc.), and many other situations. Interestingly enough, almost every person is dealing with at least one of these situations at any given moment. The problem is, in today’s highly competitive and complex world, you may be so focused on winning or driving results that you don’t even see these things around you.

The cost of being emotionally exhausted

While there are a variety of symptoms of emotional fatigue, the most common ones we see are apathy, emotional outbursts (inability to control reaction to emotions), insomnia, negative ruminating thoughts, unexplained anxiety, emotional flatness, and an excessive desire to sleep. The problem is that by the time you are experiencing any of these symptoms, or an array of other symptoms you may experience, you are already late to the game. Your emotional fatigue has not only been draining your energy, but it's also been destroying your performance.

Many people today report that they are experiencing burnout. Incorrectly, they often attribute their burnout purely to a work overload. Our experience at TIGNUM has shown us that burnout is often just the accumulation of the effects of emotional fatigue and work overload is just the final straw that breaks the camel's back.

How strategic emotional recovery keeps you strong

There are many strategies (too many to cover in one blog post) to help repay your emotional debt and be better in your future performances, but here are a few that we have found to be particularly powerful:

.01 Reconnect with your purpose. Why are you doing what you do? How do you and others benefit from you doing what you do? How do you add meaning to other people’s lives? Who are you a role model to?

.02 Serve others. Nothing rebuilds your emotional bank account more than giving to others. This not only helps you gain perspective, but it also fills you with positive emotions like kindness, gratitude, helpfulness, and love.

.03 Reflect on your successes. When you are emotionally fatigued, it is too easy to see the pain and miss the progress. When you reflect on the behaviors, actions, and choices you are making that create your success, you stimulate your parasympathetic nervous system (recovery system), you rewire your brain to the key behaviors you want to do more of, and you energize yourself to keep going.

.04 Plan for fun. In today’s busy world, we forget that most of what we do is not life or death. We also forget that, without fun, life can quickly feel like a grind. Pull out your calendar and start planning at least one thing to do each week just for pure fun. When you get this down, try planning something daily.

.05 Listen to music. Have you ever noticed, when you watch a movie, how the music can completely alter your emotional state? The producer can bring you up, take you down, make you laugh, or make you cry almost exclusively by selecting the right music. Many of our clients have found that creating several playlists of the music that creates the emotional state they seek can be a very powerful emotional recovery tool.

Emotional fatigue can often be overlooked and invisible. If you wait until you are suffering, it's too late because your performance is already compromised and you are already losing impact. Sustainable High Performers front-load their performance by building recovery strategies into every day, every week, and every month.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Scott Peltin // Co-Founder and Chief Catalyst

As the Co-Founder and Chief Catalyst of TIGNUM, Scott has coached many top CEOs, executives, professional athletes, and others to Rule Their Impact. Scott’s unique blend of his 25 years in the Fire Service, education, and coaching experience helps him combine the art and science of Sustainable High Impact to help TIGNUM clients be better, for longer, when it counts the most.

ABOUT TIGNUM

TIGNUM is the major performance building block for business professionals, designed around a skill- and data-based approach that respects the individuality, focuses on the brain, evolves constantly, and creates lasting impact. Its international team comes from a wide range of fields, including human behavior, elite athletics, special forces, performance medicine, executive coaching, change consultants, and more.

Growing on the go

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Time is a precious commodity – and I think we all feel at one point or another that we don’t have enough time. This is especially true in our busy business world, where we’re pulled in many directions every day. We’re asked to put out fires that have sparked overnight, then pulled in many unexpected directions while managing our normal workload, and then we’re working hard to innovate and create the new ideas of tomorrow. This can cause us to feel guilty for not having enough time for our own personal growth. At best, we may try to squeeze in a podcast or read the latest journal article, but often this only adds to an already overwhelmed brain. So, how do we find the time to reflect and grow?

Reflection turns our days into lessons

Recently, a client shared with me a unique way to effortlessly squeeze in some reflection time so he could ‘grow on the go’. Instead of always feeling the compulsion for taking in more information, could he experience growth by simply reflecting on the valuable, yet often overlooked, lessons within his chaotic days? He shared with me a practice that he called ‘Red Light Reflection’. He said, “I use red lights as a trigger to switch my brain into reflection mode. This is where I quickly reflect on the successes and challenges of my day’s events, my newest learnings, and the feelings I am experiencing. During my 50-minute commute, I can get many of these short but helpful reflection moments.”

Is a red light magical? No. But it is a trigger and a consistent, 3-minute break that we get during a commute. Where else can we find such a reminder to simply reflect? Perhaps during our morning coffee, or taking our dog for a walk. Maybe it’s waiting in line for a meal, or sitting while waiting for an appointment. So often we get dragged back to our iPhone, that computer in our pocket that keeps us handcuffed to work, and we overlook these short, yet powerful, moments where we can reflect and grow.

It only takes a moment to grow

Too often we think the limiting factor to our personal growth is time. In reality, the more experiences we encounter, the more opportunities we have to learn. This, of course, requires that we capture that special moment before life’s clutter invades our reflection space.

In a world of volatility, it’s often in these quiet moments of reflection that we most consistently give ourselves the necessary time and space to develop our mindset skills, challenge our biases, refine our character, and reframe the dramas of the day. It’s in these moments that we effectively ‘grow on the go’.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Males // Managing Director, Americas and APAC

As TIGNUM's Managing Director of the Americas and APAC, Chris is an experienced Sustainable Human Performance coach to many CEO’s, C-suite executives, and professional athletes. In 2020, Chris was inducted into the MG100 Coaches program, an organization of some the best executive coaches, leaders and business thinkers from around the world.

ABOUT TIGNUM

TIGNUM is the major performance building block for business professionals, designed around a skill- and data-based approach that respects the individuality, focuses on the brain, evolves constantly, and creates lasting impact. Its international team comes from a wide range of fields, including human behavior, elite athletics, special forces, performance medicine, executive coaching, change consultants, and more.