The Cost of the Next Level
I recently noticed something frustrating in an athlete I work with.
Each week, they'd bring new concerns about their performance.
Each week, those concerns are something they've already survived and, in many cases, surpassed.
As soon as I caught it, I caught myself growing impatient. Why were they tripping themselves up on something they've already skated by?
It’s because they’d risen up a level, and everything felt new again.
Then I realized - I do this, too.
Each time I talk in front of a live audience, I seem to forget how many times I've done it before.
When I give a presentation to a team, I focus on all that could go wrong.
When I meet a new client, I still feel the same pressure to deliver value right away, like I did in my first year of graduate school.
When we're confronted with novelty, our default is to worry. Until we can resolve the uncertainty, erase the ambiguity, our minds work in overdrive to generate possible scenarios and solutions to them.
All that noise distracts from the past success and previous experience we've had.
When we're unsure, the best thing we can do is reflect on what's worked historically. Chances are, we've been through something similar enough that we can draw on for inspiration now. And that shortcuts the uncertainty, building our confidence and clarifying our next steps quickly.
Your task for today:
Think about an upcoming performance you have.
Then, think about a similar performance you've had.
What can you draw on from the past to use in the future?
Write it down and remind yourself regularly. Then, use it when the time is right.