Becoming your own internal engineer is a concept I would like to bring to your attention during this piece. I really believe that we now need to grasp this concept more than ever, given the current demands being placed upon us. When I use the term inner engineer or architect, I am speaking about our capacity as humans in developing and building our own human infrastructure. I believe the bedrock and cornerstones at the heart of our human infrastructure are the key energy pillars within our body, which allow us to thrive and perform at our optimum daily under pressure.
These pillars which encompass the Physical, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual domains of the body are key. They make up a human holistic scaffolding which surrounds us and serves us well if worked upon and strengthened daily. By paying attention to these areas and by nurturing them, it can pay great dividend and really allow us to flourish and scale our productivity and more importantly our impact.
Energy – The Currency of the High Performer
Energy can be defined as ‘the capacity to do work’ so how we build, generate, use and manage our energy is crucial, as it either scales our capacity to perform or diminishes it by virtue of us burning out. The latter, from my experience as a performance coach, generally manifests itself in humans when they showcase signs of being anxious, overwhelmed and unable to meet the demands consistently being placed upon them in pressurised environments.
Challenging Times – Right Here Right Now
Right now, in the middle of this pandemic all our systems are currently being placed under great physical, psychological and emotional stress due to disruption of routine, changing work situations, family pressures and external threats to our health and safety. The energy cost of navigating through this current situation is quite high, so now more than ever we need to turn the lens inwards and ask ourselves the question, are we doing the necessary work on ourselves to allow us be at our best.
This takes great courage of course and leadership, but in order to lead others, be it at home on the domestic front, in business on the corporate front or indeed in your community or the wider world, we must lead self-first and foremost. It’s incumbent upon us all to be the best version of ourselves possible, given the resources we have at our disposal currently.
Sustaining High Performance
Sustaining high performance can be quite elusive whether it’s is a global corporate CEO, a professional athlete or indeed a front-line health worker currently manning the decks and keeping our national health service afloat. The energy, courage and resilience to consistently measure up and front up, can be wearing and derailing, if we do not invest in ourselves and strengthen our human platform. There is an old saying that goes ‘you can’t launch a rocket out of a canoe’ and this most definitely holds true here. We cannot expect to unleash our true potential if we do not commit to doing the necessary work on ourselves to strengthen that platform and scaffolding, which houses and harbors our innate potential.
Where To Start
There are many ways we can go about strengthen and building our own human infrastructure and indeed there is so much advice out there, that sifting through all of this information can be overwhelming and never ending, causing many of us to feel that the solution always lies outside of ourselves.
My own personal philosophy on the above concept is that we all have the power within ourselves to cultivate the best version of ourselves possible. If only we’d take the time to connect with ourselves, invest in our health and wellbeing, manage our energy accordingly and bring balance to our lifestyles. We need to tune into our own internal compass and take strength from the knowledge that we have imminence power within us to self-regulate and self actualise.
Routine & Rituals
A simple aid to help in the above process is by creating solid rituals and routines daily that will develop our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual capacity to thrive. Here again I would profess that you take complete ownership of the work you do on theses pillars.
Today’s Take Away
Simple things done consistently well will always beat ad hoc or bolt on measures with regard to building ones infrastructure, sustaining high performance and fulfilling ones potential – Become your own architect and build your own personal infrastructure through Inner engineering.
Austin O Malley High Performance Coach | Friday, 10th April 2020
