The ability to adapt and adjust to emerging circumstances is an essential attribute in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance.
Dr. Darin Davidson partners with Learner+, a CME/CE reflective learning platform for healthcare providers. For the opportunity to reflect on this article and earn CME/CE credits, Launch here. Check out all past articles which are also eligible for reflections and CME/CE credits.
For downloadable, actionable strategies and tactics to leverage biology in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance, visit the resource store, Launch here. Chapters are arranged by topic so those of interest can be selected and each are also eligible for reflections and CME/CE credits through Learner+.
The framework provided by the Practices of the Healthcare Athlete provides actionable strategies and tactics to leverage our biology in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance. Across each of these pursuits, we will inevitably face obstacles, fall short of expectations, or encounter setbacks. When we experience such situations, if we are truly committed to the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance it becomes essential that we manage the scenarios as best as possible and continue our journey. There are two key steps in this process.
The first necessary step when we encounter unexpected situations, setbacks, and obstacles is to acknowledge the situation. If we are truly to move forward in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance, it is essential that we are open, honest, and transparent, when we are not able to meet objectives or accomplish tasks to the level we may expect. This is not viewed as a personal failing or a judgment on our personal abilities or worth. Rather this is an acceptance and acknowledgment of the reality of a situation. If we are to truly learn from such scenarios and improve our ability to move forward, it is essential that we first acknowledge what has occurred.
Once, and only following, the identification and acceptance of situations in which we have not met our desired expectations, can we then move to the second step which is to learn from the situation and make necessary adaptations and adjustments. This is an essential process if we are to truly improve following any setbacks or challenges we may experience. Once again, it is important to emphasize that situations in which we do not meet our full expectations are not a reflection of our personal worth or self-esteem, rather they are a reflection of the reality of a situation. Even if we are to show up and perform to our highest ability in any domain of life, it is inevitable at times we will still not be able to accomplish our goals or perform to the level of our expectations. Sometimes things just do not go our way no matter how well we may prepare or perform. This occurs in the pursuit of health and wellbeing, just as it can occur in the setting of high performance.
In order to fully and optimally improve health, wellbeing, and our ability to sustainably and durably perform at our highest level, it is important that we continuously grow and improve. Part of this process is learning from what has happened previously. The next important step is to make necessary adaptations and adjustments on the basis of what we have learned. From this perspective, the ability to adapt and adjust to situations is a key component in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance. This is based upon the ability to first recognize when things have not gone to our level of expectation, secondly to learn from what has occurred, and then we can implement the necessary adjustments and adaptations so that we can improve and continue on our pursuit.
Each of the necessary steps in the process of making adaptations and adjustments to improve our pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance requires the implementation and utilization of mental agility. As discussed in past articles, this attribute reflects the ability to consider alternate explanations of a situation, consider various options for how to do things in a different way, as well as the ability to learn from past experiences and implement that information. A second necessary component to the process of making appropriate and reasonable adaptations and adjustments is honesty and accountability to identify what aspects, attributes, and traits are in need of change to begin with.
While the necessary steps in this process include the ability to identify and acknowledge a situation in which we have not met expectations and then learn from the situation and implement these lessons, it is also important to note that the key attributes are mental agility, honesty, and accountability. Without the emergence of these traits, it will not be fully possible to perform any of the necessary steps described above, which are essential in the process of adaptation and adjustment.
In order for the key attributes and traits of mental agility, honesty, and accountability to fully emerge, it is necessary to shift into anchored and grounded states. Inherently when we are within protective and defensive states, these attributes will not emerge to their fullest potential, if at all. In fact, the very nature of defensive and protective states is often at odds with full transparency and accountability on account of the physiological need and cognitive attempts to protect our own interests and self-esteem.
If we are to recognize, as we must, that the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance is dependent upon the ability to make appropriate and reasonable adjustments and adaptations, it is also necessary that we recognize that this requires the utilization of the attributes of mental agility, honesty, and accountability. As described above, this requires first shifting into anchored and grounded states. As such, it is essential that in order to comprehensively and appropriately make the necessary adjustments and adaptations that we first ensure that we shift to anchored and grounded states.
It is important to note that the most important scenarios in which we need to make adjustments and adaptations tend to occur following situations in which we have not met our expectations, have encountered setbacks or losses, or have not performed to the level of our ability and expectation. These situations, as well as similar ones, are often associated with biological state shifts away from anchored and grounded states and into protective and defensive states. For the reasons subscribed above, it is therefore essential that we not only recognize our biological state but implement tactics to shift back towards anchored and grounded states so that we are able to optimally engage in the process of making reasonable adjustments and adaptations.
As has been discussed throughout this article series, in order to optimally shift away from protective and defensive states and return to anchored and grounded states it is first necessary to utilize body-based skills. Once we have regained an element of anchored and grounded state, we are then able to utilize mind-based skills. In particular during ongoing events or situations in which we need to make adaptations and adjustments on the go, it can be particularly challenging to do so given the likelihood that we may have shifted away from anchored and grounded states. It is therefore particularly important during such situations that we ensure we have shifted back towards anchored and grounded states prior to making adjustments and adaptations.
Regardless of whether we are considering the pursuit of health and wellbeing or that of sustainable high performance, it is inevitable that we will experience situations in which adjustments and adaptations will become necessary. When we are attempting to make such adjustments during ongoing tasks and situations, it is particularly important that we do so after first ensuring that we have shifted into anchored and grounded states. Without doing so, we will not have the necessary mental agility, honesty, and accountability to comprehensively and optimally engage in the process of making appropriate adjustments and adaptations.
To learn more, including about biologically complementary coaching for healthcare professionals and others in high demand domains, please visit www.darindavidson.com.
Dr. Darin Davidson partners with Learner+, a CME/CE reflective learning platform for healthcare providers. For the opportunity to reflect on this article and earn CME/CE credits, Launch here. Check out all past articles which are also eligible for reflections and CME/CE credits.
For downloadable, actionable strategies and tactics to leverage biology in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance, visit the resource store, Launch here. Chapters are arranged by topic so those of interest can be selected and each are also eligible for reflections and CME/CE credits through Learner+.