Rethinking My Pillars of Performance

In coaching performance I consistently go back to educating student-athletes on what I believe are the key foundational pillars of performance. The pillars are not what many of the incoming student-athletes generally think of when we sit down to discuss for the first time. Typically the top concerns are if they are going to start, how competitive practice is, how full their schedule now is with responsibilities as well as this large amount of free time, or scheduling another weight room session.

Within our meeting to review their goals and what they want to accomplish I introduce the pillars of performance that support what they do in their sport, in their physical preparation, in class and in life. Previously I would share the pillars are sleep, nutrition, hydration, stress management, and time management. Diving into how each one can impact our readiness and preparedness. Readiness being what our best currently would be that day and preparedness truest form of our best (for example using the video game FIFA, MLB The Show, or Madden Football if your players rating is 85 that provides the measurement of their skill and talent, preparedness. Where if fatigue and other outside factors may negatively impact their readiness or ability to use that entire rating, it could be limited making them only a 65 for that day.)

I am currently reading Adam Grant’s book, Think Again, which discusses the importance of rethinking. That complimented well with what I recently read; Farnam Street’s blog post The Power of Full Engagement: The Four Energy Management Principles That Drive Performance. It challenged me to look at my framework differently. Specifically how to simplify the message when educating others and how more important it is to manage our energy not just our time. The article shared these two quotes

1. “The ultimate measure of our lives is not how much time we spend on the planet, but how much energy we invest in the time that we have.”

2. “To be fully present we must be physically energized, emotionally connected, mentally focused and spiritually aligned with a purpose beyond our own immediate self interest”

Both of these quotes challenged me to rethink my process and update my pillars from what was previously listed above to what is listed below. This is not only for educating others but also for my personal performance, health, and wellness.

1. Sleep

2. Fuel

3. Stress + Rest = Growth

4. Energy Management

Instead of only focusing on the management of our time, how can we focus on the energy we use during that time? To get the most out of life we can start by time blocking our needs and making our energy of showing up physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually the top priority. Understanding that energy is more of our currency to being productive, living with purpose, and getting the most out of our lives.