Self scouting is a powerful and effective strategy to help develop the necessary skills 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+.
Throughout this article series, it has been noted that the Practices of the Healthcare Athlete are, at least in part, developed from many of the strategies utilized by high level competitive and professional athletes and their coaches. One strategy which is common within these domains is scouting. Typically, this refers to watching upcoming opponents in order to learn the strategies and tendencies which they may utilize so that a game plan can be developed for the upcoming competition.
Another consideration related to this theme is self scouting. By this what is referred to is an honest and transparent evaluation of ourselves. Through this we are able to identify our tendencies, acknowledge our areas of strength, and identify opportunities for further growth. This can be a highly effective and very powerful tool in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance. The reason for this is that this process allows us the opportunity to further develop the necessary mind-based and body-based skills, strategies, and tactics.
A related strategy utilized across domains of management is a 360 degree review. In this process, a selection of individuals are interviewed in order to obtain feedback from as many vantage points as possible. The concept of self scouting is distinct from this and focusses on the experience of the individual and requires the ability to identify responses to situations and typical patterns we may exhibit that are not necessarily evident to those around us.
One of the most important elements to evaluate through the process of self scouting is the recognition of our tendencies. By this what is meant is a determination of the typical patterns, responses, and reactions we tend to exhibit under various situations. This includes responses across internal, external, and relational pathways to grounding and anchoring cues as well as those situations which provide cues of uncertainty, risk, and threat. By understanding our typical tendencies, we can more effectively develop strategies to improve the necessary skills so that we can accentuate the responses which are in alignment with our pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance. Furthermore, this information can help us to develop the necessary skills to address our common patterns and responses to cues of uncertainty, risk, and threat, thereby allowing us to better leverage our biology under these circumstances.
Through the identification of our tendencies, if we are to identify typical or recurring cues or situations which lead to shifts in our biological state away from anchored and grounded states we can devise strategies and implement tactics to better manage these situations. One such tactic is to implement regular check-ins when we experience these typical scenarios. Through this process of a regular check-in, we can identify whether or not our biological state has shifted in response to any particular situation and, if necessary, implement appropriate tactics to shift back towards anchored and grounded states.
The evaluation of tendencies can also help us to determine which cues across internal, external, and relational pathways are particularly strong and effective for strengthening and shifting back towards anchored and grounded states. With this information in hand, we can utilize these specific patterns and tendencies under situations in which we are exposed to particularly high demand or high risk environments. In such scenarios, we are more likely to experience shifts away from anchored and grounded states and by understanding those cues which are particularly effective for restoring anchored and grounded states we can utilize these to return to these states. This strengthens our ability to leverage our biology in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance.
One further advantage to understanding our tendencies is that if we recognize that under certain circumstances we tend to be more reactive and have a narrow zone of tolerance we can learn to anticipate the resulting biological state shifts in these scenarios. Furthermore, the understanding of a narrow zone of tolerance indicates that we may have less strength within our anchored and grounded states. With this information in mind, it becomes possible to then implement strategies to strengthen our anchored and grounded states thereby widening our zone of tolerance and allowing us to experience higher magnitude cues along the internal, external, and relational pathways without shifting away from anchored and grounded states.
Through the process of self scouting, we can also identify our areas of strength. In this context what is considered are the particular skills, strategies, and tactics which are especially effective in strengthening our anchored and grounded state, as well as shifting back to these states. As noted throughout this article series, the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance will inevitably be associated with shifts into activated, attacking, anxious, overwhelmed, and shutdown states. In order to pursue our objectives, it is important that we are able to shift back towards anchored and grounded states. By recognizing those particular strategies and tactics which are especially effective for us in this regard we can utilize these in those situations in which we have shifted away from anchored and grounded states.
If we are to perform the process of self scouting in an honest, transparent, and accountable fashion, we can then readily identify areas for growth. We can recognize those skills, strategies, and tactics which are opportunities for improvement, thereby expanding the robustness of our toolbox of mind-based and body-based skills. This allows more of these skills to be at our disposal to better leverage our biology towards the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance. Within this process of identifying areas for growth, it is important that this is done from the perspective of visualizing our greatest potential rather than critiquing our greatest weaknesses. This framework is important so that we do not provide additional cues of uncertainty, risk, or threat through this process. Ideally, we want to identify those areas of potential growth which will allow us to become the best version of ourselves on as consistent a basis as possible and then develop an intentional and deliberate strategy to bring that plan to life. This optimizes our ability to leverage our biology in the pursuit of our objectives.
The above discussion provides numerous examples of the benefits of a self scouting process. Ultimately, this process is only as successful as our ability to honestly, transparently, and in a constructive fashion identify our tendencies, areas of strength, and areas of opportunity for growth. This requires that we consider all available information as well as alternate possibilities and explanations. In order to accurately and comprehensively identify, in particular, areas for growth it is important that we are able to self evaluate. This is not meant to be a critical process, but does require the ability to honestly identify areas in which we may not be performing to the level we might hope. It should be apparent that this process can only be done from anchored and grounded states. This is on account of the necessity for mental agility to be fully utilized in this process. This is an essential trait in order to be able to consider all available information and alternate explanations. It is also required to honestly and transparently evaluate our own ability and performance with as little self-critique and judgement as possible.
In the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance it is essential that we are continuously improving. In order to best accomplish this, it is necessary that we identify not only areas of strength, but also those areas in which we can improve. The process of self scouting is indispensable in this regard.
As noted above, there are numerous benefits to this process, which provides information which can be implemented within our daily practices, as well as in establishment of a robust toolbox of mind-based and body-based skills, strategies, and tactics. It is also important to consider repeating this process on a semi regular basis so that we are able to continuously grow and improve over time. In this way, we are best able to not only identify the best version of ourselves, but develop the necessary strategies and tactics to allow these traits and attributes to emerge on as regular and consistent basis as possible. This ultimately forms the optimal foundation from which to pursue health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance.
To learn more, including about polyvagal informed 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+.