Sharpen your axe.
Building off my previous article, Rethinking my Pillars of Performance, I discussed how I recently read the book Think Again by Adam Grant and its impact on how I educate others on what I believe is the foundation of performance. I wanted to consolidate stress management into a concise and more impactful pillar because when we hear “stress management” that sends our mind down an interesting path. Hearing stress management causes me to reflect on two things right away, what is my current stress level and am I actually doing a good job “managing it”. At times we get caught up in this feedback loop of “I am trying to manage my stress and I am still stressed.” When explaining this concept I have grown to not encourage others to manage their stress because in reality that is not an actionable step. However, stress + rest = growth provides a concise concept that is applicable.
I first discovered this when reading Peak Performance, by Brad Stullbeg and Steve Magness. They dive into this concept from a sport & elite performance standpoint and then expand that out to be able to cover all different parts of our life. The equation is just one part of their work, but shines light on the importance of stressors and how we must seek out stressors in our life to drive adaptation for growth. For example increasing intensity (going up in weight could be an example of this) or volume within training would increase the stressor stimulus. To grow we must push out of our comfort zone, get closer to the edge, and set the progressively overload with stimuli.
The flip side of the equation is rest. The key ingredient to adaptation is seeking out stressors (stimuli) and then creating the right environment where we can adapt. Driving adaptation to create a new normal instead of reverting back to a place where we started before. One thing that I thought was fascinating was that Brad and Steve explained it takes courage to rest. It takes courage to slow down, recharge, and recover in order to be ready to seek out more stressors especially when the competition continues to “put the work in”. It may be difficult at times, but the key is to focus on yourself, focus on your equation of stress + rest = growth. Being a witness and trying to learn something from someone else’s equation is not bad. However, comparing yourself to someone else leads you down a path we do not need to visit. Everyone loses in a comparison game.
Seeking out stressors to drive stimulus and practicing the courage to rest is the kind of alchemy that combines consistency with being more sustainable for future growth; steering clear of burnout, over training, or accumulated fatigue. It is an ebb and flow so there is no 50/50 perfect split but having the understanding of this equation gives us a unique perspective and tool within our tool box.
This doesn’t just apply to the student athletes who I have an opportunity to coach or your training at the gym. It applies to our relationships with friends/family, our craft/work/side hustle, being a parent, and many more parts of our life.
How does the equation apply to your life?
In what ways are you trying to grow?
What are your primary stressors or stimuli?
What is your rest / recharge?
Defining what areas you want to grow is a great place to start and then work backwards from there to understand the progression of what is needed. It is also vital to define how you rest outside of getting high quality sleep. What is your area where you can decompress, reflect, recharge, adapt, refuel the gas tank, fill the cup, etc. Defining what your “rest” may be gives you just as much direction as the direction growth and the stressors needed. Especially when considering so many people are stuck in this “grey zone” that Steve Magness and Brad Stullburg discussed. Being constantly in a state of not being stressed enough for the rest to drive our growth but also not rested enough to have high outputs when seeking out stressors. Reflecting back on our days many people are stuck with having “medium” days that are too high to recover from our state of fatigue and too low to show up in our best way possible.
Having a recharge or something that fills your cup gives you the opportunity to “sharpen your axe”. Actually making you better at whatever task you are giving your energy to in that moment. Take time to reflect on what you want, who you want to be, what are the stressors needed for that growth and then what helps you rest so that when you do go to work your axe is sharp. If we want to show up in our most authentic way, we can’t mindlessly attempt to cut down the tree for 6 hours with a dull axe.
Rest. Sharpen yourself.
Stress. Efficient and Concise Execution.
Growth. Reflect and Decide.
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