It is important that we develop the ability to adjust our strategies and tactics to reflect the specifics of the situation we are encountering.
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+.
Throughout this article series, the importance of developing mind-based and body-based skills, strategies, and tactics to leverage our biology in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance has been discussed in detail. The implementation of these various abilities has also been described. It is important to acknowledge that it is highly beneficial to develop as robust a toolbox of skills as possible. This allows for the ability to utilize the most effective skills in a given situation. It is important to recognize that the most efficient and beneficial skills in one given moment may differ both amongst individuals as well as within the same individual at different times.
In order to optimally leverage our biology in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance, it is important that we not only develop the necessary skills, strategies, and tactics, but develop the ability to select the most useful and effective of these in any given moment. In addition, the concept of self scouting has been discussed previously. This is important so that we can identify our tendencies under various situations. This applies to our responses to various cues along the internal, external, and relational pathways. In addition, this reflects our typical patterns of how we not only respond to these situations, but which specific mind-based and body-based skills tend to be most effective in any given circumstance.
While it is important to self scout and develop a clear understanding of our tendencies, it is also important that we identify when circumstances across any of the three pathways may have changed, resulting in a need to utilize different skills, strategies, and tactics. In essence, this reflects a complementary approach between self scouting and the tactic of regular check-ins. As discussed in past articles, regular check-ins are important to identify our biological state in a given moment. This allows us the opportunity to implement specific tactics which can allow us to shift our biological state as desired. The specific tactics we select may differ depending on whether or not we are attempting to shift from anchored and grounded states or whether we are attempting to shift from activated, attacking, anxious, overwhelmed, or shutdown states.
The above discussion informs how it is important to acknowledge that if we always try to implement the same strategies and tactics irrespective of the specifics of the situation or our biological state in that particular moment that this may be detrimental. For example, if our tendency when encountering certain cues along any of the three pathways is to shift towards activated states then we may select specific tactics to shift back towards anchored and grounded states. If, however, rather than shifting into an activated state we have on account of the cues we experienced shifted into an overwhelmed state, the specific tactics we may select to implement may be substantially different.
The above discussion aims to demonstrate how the first step is always identifying our current state so that we can then select the most appropriate skills and tactics to implement to achieve a given objective. In order to effectively accomplish this, we need to combine the aforementioned strategy of self scouting with the situational tactic of a check-in. The self scouting strategy allows us to identify our tendencies. This can inform us regarding the most likely skills and tactics which will be effective. We can use this information to develop a plan. By incorporating a situational specific check-in, we are able to identify our current state in the moment and thereby ensure that we are selecting the most appropriate skills and tactics to utilize in that situation. This allows us the opportunity to adjust our plan if necessary.
The above concept can be further illustrated through an example. If we are to consider a professional athlete who has developed a pre-competition routine reflecting their typical biological state prior to the competition we can apply the above understanding. For instance, consider a professional football player who prior to a competition aims to mobilize their biology towards the performance state. As such, they typically utilize specific situational tactics to accomplish this biological state shift. If, however, factors across any or a combination of the three pathways lead to a shift away from their usual pre-competition biological state it may be necessary to utilize different strategies and tactics in order to accomplish the desired shift into the performance state. Specifically, if that same athlete is experiencing an injury or illness or has received specific distressing news prior to the competition that leads to a shift towards anxious or overwhelmed states, the specific skills and tactics which are now needed to shift into the performance state are different than their usual situation.
In the above example, if the typical routine is to increase mobilization towards the performance state, and this were to be utilized from a specific situation in which the biological state has already shifted into anxious or overwhelmed states this will not be effective in reaching the desired performance state. This may result in reduced performance potential. Rather, in such a situation, it would be advisable to utilize different skills and tactics in order to shift the biological state away from anxious and overwhelmed states and back towards the mobilized performance state. It is hoped that this example illustrates how the combination of self scouting and a check-in can be utilized in a complementary fashion in order to achieve the desired biological state shift.
The above example can be extended into domains in which we are pursuing health and wellbeing, as well as sustainable high-performance in personal domains, such as with our family and friends. Ultimately, the dynamic nature of our experiences is such that the situations we encounter and our biological states continuously shift and change. While it is useful to identify our usual tendencies under various circumstances, it is also important to identify whether or not those tendencies exist in any given specific moment or have shifted in one way or another. By utilizing this strategy and perspective, we are able to optimally ensure that we are implementing the tactics and skills which are most likely to be effective in accomplishing and achieving the desired biological state shifts when we are entering into a task, activity, or situation of importance.
While this does apply across all domains in the pursuit of health and wellbeing, this perspective is particularly important in the pursuit of sustainable high performance. Within such domains, it is unavoidably the case that the nature of the situations we encounter inherently lead to ever changing conditions along the external and relational pathways. In addition due to the continuous need to push the limits of our potential within these pursuits, it is highly likely that we will experience situations in which the internal cues also shift dynamically within different situations. We must also consider that at times we may be encountering situations within our performance domain from a position in which we are dealing with an illness or an injury, or other factor, which may independently lead to shifts in biological state.
In order to optimally perform to the limits of our potential in any given situation it is important that we do so to the greatest extent possible within the performance state. In order to ensure this, it is necessary that we develop the skills and tactics to shift our biological state towards this state when we are engaging in an activity. The above discussion serves to illustrate how it can be highly beneficial to identify our tendencies to allow us to develop specific routines that can contribute towards these desired biological state shifts. It is also important to identify that there will be inevitable situations in which the cues we encounter across the internal, external, and relational pathways will lead to shifts in our biological state away from what is typical. In such circumstances, it is essential that we first identify our current biological state and then implement the necessary skills in order to shift our biological state to the desired performance state. Such an ability optimizes our capacity to pursue health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance across all domains in our life.
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+.