Every opportunity is important and matters in the development of the skills, strategies, and tactics to pursue 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+.
Within the realm of competitive and professional sports it is often described how every practice opportunity and repetition is important in order to build the necessary skills. This approach leads to optimal development of physical skills, in particular so that they can be utilized under high demand situations. This concept is equally true when we consider developing the skills, strategies, and tactics within the framework of complementary healthcare. Each opportunity to implement and utilize the various skills is an opportunity to not only practice the use of these skills, but also provides information and feedback regarding their effectiveness. By adopting this strategy that every repetition matters, we can approach each opportunity with intentionality and also maximize each situation to the greatest extent.
As discussed throughout this article series, in order to pursue health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance it is necessary to develop psychological skills and body-based practices so that we have increased influence and control over the inputs which ultimately provide the highest likelihood to achieve the desired outputs. As these various skills are in need of development on a continuous basis, it is important that we practice each skill as well as the selection of the skills to be utilized. This paradigm is no different than professional athletes practicing in order to repetitively utilize various skills so that they improve their overall ability and can enhance their capacity to implement these under high pressure situations.
In order to maximize the benefit of each repetition we need to approach each situation with intention and the deliberate implementation of the selected skills, strategies, and tactics. In order to further understand the importance of this intentionality, it is informative to consider the opposite scenario. If we approach various situations with a lack of intent and do not deliberately implement the skills to our greatest ability, we will not take advantage of the opportunity to practice these skills. We will likely not employ the skills at a high level. As a result, we will not further our ability to effectively utilize these skills and will not optimize the chances for the desired outputs. In addition it becomes difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of the skills as it would not be clear whether they were not useful or were not optimally utilized.
It is inevitable that there will be situations in which we don’t exhibit or implement the attributes in the way we choose or to the greatest of our abilities. These scenarios also provide important opportunities. Specifically, this situation provides the option to acknowledge and take accountability for what has occurred. In addition, we are able to learn how to better select the necessary skills and to implement them in a better way. When we constructively approach these experiences in which we do not demonstrate or exhibit the attributes in the way we would ultimately like, we take full advantage of this opportunity to learn more such that we can improve our ability for future situations.
This overall approach and framework is important. When we consider this strategy from a neurophysiological basis, this importance becomes more evident. With each repetition, we will strengthen the neural pathways that are used in the implementation of the skills, strategies, and tactics. Irrespective of whether or not the desired or intended skills were used or they were used to their capacity, the pathways used will be strengthened. In future situations, the stronger pathways will be selectively utilized. As such our future responses, actions, and behaviors which we will demonstrate are strongly influenced by those which we have selected in the past. This is the result, in part, of the process of neuroplasticity. This process is agnostic of our underlying values and desires. Rather, what is preferentially utilized in future scenarios is that which has been more frequently implemented in the past. This further emphasizes the importance of intentionally and deliberately selecting the skills, strategies, and tactics which we implement in each repetition so that we leverage neuroplasticity to our benefit. In essence, this process leads to habituation of the strongest neural pathways and their associated responses.
It is important to note that the process of neuroplasticity also allows for change over time. While this may not be easy, by repeatedly selecting and utilizing specific skills, strategies, and tactics on repeated opportunities, these pathways will also be strengthened. As a result, the selected skills, strategies, and tactics will eventually become dominant and, therefore, more likely to be utilized in future situations.
The strategies described above provide an underlying framework for updating, revising, and adjusting our desired responses. The first step is to make an honest and transparent assessment of our current situation. If we determine that we are trying to change various actions, behaviors, or responses then we can implement the above strategy to do so. We can select the desired skills, strategies, and tactics and practice their implementation one repetition at a time. This ultimately will lead to strengthening of the underlying neural pathways, allowing the selected responses to become more habituated. This can only occur when we develop an intentional and deliberate practice.
Another important consideration is that each repetition should be the focus at that time. While it is important to learn from previous experiences, it is an essential component of intentional and deliberate practice that we place our full attention, to the greatest extent possible, on the current opportunity. This will allow for the highest likelihood of implementing the skills, strategies, and tactics with the greatest proficiency possible, thereby providing a more effective and useful repetition with respect to improvement in our skills as well as feedback regarding our current ability and areas for growth.
The above discussion informs on the importance of taking each and every repetition and opportunity as a chance to further develop our skills, strategies, and tactics which are most consistent with our underlying values. When we do this, we are able to create habituation of the desired responses. This ultimately serves to strengthen the inputs we utilize in the pursuit of our desired outputs. This optimally positions us to pursue health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance.
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+.