If I asked you how much you squat, it’s likely that your answer would reflect your all time best, not necessarily what you can do right now.
Here’s the thing: I don’t care what you’re capable of when conditions are perfect.
I want to know who you are and what you’re capable of when adversity mounts against you.
We have a tendency to define ourselves by our peak moments – moments that make up a miniscule fraction of our existence – while suffering through needless self-induced torment and frustration when our “normal” days fall short of those exalted memories.
Think about how you do this in your own life: How often do you define yourself by your peak moments? (How much can you squat/bench/deadlift? What’s your best mile/marathon/Fran time? Do you define your professional life by a singular moment that lies in your past?)
Pause for a moment to reflect on those peaks: What conditions had to align for those peak expressions to materialize?
More importantly, could you replicate that performance right now? (Doubtful – after all, by definition, their peak nature means they’re abnormal occurrences.)
Look, it’s always easier to perform well when conditions are perfect and we feel our best.
I don’t care how good we can be in those instances.
I want to know how good are you at your worst. How good are you in adverse conditions?
How nice are you to strangers when life is using your genitals as a punching bag?
Forget “bests”. Elevate the baseline.
If you’ve noticed anything about life, you’ve likely noticed that conditions are rarely perfect.
So why design or create a system that requires perfect conditions? Life is chaos. How good can you be when things are not going your way?
I’ll argue it’s a more worthwhile pursuit to elevate our floor. At the very least, it’s equally important.
We’re not as strong as our personal best. We’re only as strong as the minimum we can handle on any given day.
Imagine, being able to say that on any given day you could never be worse than XYZ….and then raising that threshold over time.
This is what happens when traits become state independent. We develop the capacity to perform to a certain standard regardless of external circumstances.
Forget “bests”. Elevate the baseline.
I don’t care how good you can be when conditions are perfect.
They rarely are.
We all face adversity.
It’s not going anywhere.
We’ll all face more of it.
Who are you when conditions are not aligned in your favor?
We can have excuses or results, not both.
The choice is ours.
Who will you be? How well can you stay committed to the process when shit hits the fan? What results will you deliver in adverse conditions?
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