Thriving in Challenge - Personalizing Resilience Routines

Raise performance to a new level ASAP! Gain greater engagement from customers while increasing margins. Outpace the competition immediately! Move from transactional to transformational instantly! Inspire our people to be the best, always! Model the way every day! Do all this with fewer people, less money, and expanded responsibility during health, economic, and geopolitical crises in a shorter time! The comprehensive scientific report of Nature Magazine for May 13, 2021, reported the following percentages of the global population who are experiencing mental health issues: 24% - post-traumatic stress disorder 26.9% - generalized anxiety disorder 27.6% - sleep disorder 28% - depressed 36.5% - significant stress 50% - chronic psychological distress (1) Gallup, Inc. reports an alarming increase in burnout and stress-related illness in the global workforce, of which only 15% are fully engaged (2) Whether in a crisis or in more "normal" times, do you have to be a victim? Can you thrive in Challenges? We are all too familiar with the problems above. Who of us has not had a personal experience or has not had a friend or family member touched by the ravages of the physical, economic, political, or equity issues of the COVID era crisis? We know the problems, but we also know many solutions to the problems. The internet is rife with resilience hacks. We know that exercise is an elixir for many of our ills. We are aware that by simply walking, we can prevent or delay many of the problems associated with metabolic syndrome. We know that drinking pure water keeps us hydrated and that it has myriad health benefits, cognitive functioning, and well-being. We understand the importance of sleep, balanced nutrition, and healthy relationships. Yet, we often don't do what we know would enhance our well-being. And that is the REAL problem. I have been privileged to work with thousands of world-class performers in hundreds of corporate, athletic, military, and professional domains. Myriad leaders have increased resilience, expanded energy, and sustained performance in the face of fatigue and unrelenting demands. This work is now more critical than ever. Some people sail in heavy winds; others sink. A small but growing population segment is learning to thrive in the storm. A key question remains: What is different about these people's mindsets and methods? What can we learn from science regarding the hardy, anti-fragile few who flourish rather than flounder in the face of unrelenting challenges? I will share what I have learned about how people change and grow in the pages ahead. I will provide you with something much more valuable than a laundry list of to-dos. I will give you some of the key insights we have learned regarding how people rise in the face of challenges, overcome poor habits, and adopt a resilient way of life. We will explore the science of addiction, stress, and change. If you choose to employ the strategies and methods described, you can learn to flourish rather than flounder during difficult times. Rather than "admire" the problem by dwelling on what is not working, you will know how to invent personalized solutions to experience the resilience, vitality, and well-being you want and need to live the life you desire. Introduction After graduating from the Air Force Academy, UCLA graduate school, and pilot training, my first job was as a pilot in the US Air Force. I held a top-secret security clearance and flew support for US embassies around the globe. After four years of flying, I returned to the Academy to teach organizational psychology and honors leadership classes in the Department of Behavioral Science and Leadership. Every third day, I traveled to the airfield where I taught cadets to fly. I was privileged to provide instruction for several young men and some of the first women to graduate from the Academy during those years. Student pilots can make significant mistakes in the air and survive almost anything, but an error in the landing phase can be deadly. A pilot needs to roll out on the final approach at approximately the right altitude, airspeed, and position and then make continual adjustments to complete a safe, smooth touchdown. To achieve that aim, a pilot must use all their senses, one of the most important of which is vision. Faulty vision medically disqualifies potential pilots more than any other cause. You may have heard the proverb, "The people perish for lack of vision." This statement is a truism for all, but it is front and center for a pilot. At the Air Force Human Performance Lab, my friend and colleague, Colonel Jeff Koonz, was one of the first to identify the relationship between anxiety and the loss of peripheral vision. Peripheral vision gives pilots the depth of field cues needed to indicate how far they are from the runway and their height above the ground. For obvious reasons, this information is essential to execute a safe landing. If a pilot becomes anxious before landing, the sympathetic nervous system triggers a fight, flight, or freeze response, unleashing cortisol, and adrenaline (the stress hormones), resulting in a loss of peripheral vision. It is as though these anxious students are looking through a pipe. They see the runway but lack a sense of distance from it or the height above it when they most need those cues. The common expression for this is "tunnel vision." To prevent this debilitating response, when turning to the final approach, I asked my students a simple question, "Are you breathing?" Of course, they were breathing, but their respiration was fast and shallow, like a puppy panting. My question was a prompt reminding them that we had discussed the importance of controlling their breathing to sharpen productive focus in critical phases of flight. If they slowed their breathing, their peripheral vision would return, giving them the needed cues to land the plane. What is valid for a student pilot is true for all of us. Any of us can tighten up and become tunnel-visioned. We can lose the perspective needed to perform well. Deep, slow, relaxed breathing triggers the vagus nerve and the parasympathetic nervous system to increase the secretion of serotonin (the feel-good hormone) and oxytocin (the so-called love hormone). In turn, heart rate decreases, blood pressure declines, oxygen moves from tight muscles to the brain, the PH of the blood balances, and adrenalin and cortisol levels drop. When we breathe this way, we feel more relaxed and perform better physically and mentally. Imagine that a silent alarm from your watch or phone vibrates 10 minutes before the top of each hour. When it does, you take three slow, deep, relaxing breaths. In just three deep breaths, you can refresh your physiology, enhance your emotional posture, and improve your focus. This breathing change is a simple, personalized resilience routine that can help you realize a refreshing sense of recovery and renewal throughout your day. You can perform this practice no matter where you are or what you are doing - even if you are in front of a group, making a presentation. While others remain unaware of your routine, you enjoy its benefits. In this book, we will dig deeper into resilience routines and learn how to personalize and change them to serve worthy aims. We will learn about how the brain works and how we better harness it to increase productivity, sustainability, and fulfillment in life. I will draw from neuroscience, physiology, psychology, nutrition, philosophy, personal experience, and the best resilience practices of the past 5000 years. As we proceed, I will use flying as a metaphor and illustration of the evidence-based principles needed to chart and execute a successful course from where you are (even if that is a good place) to the place you would prefer to be. As the pilot of your life, you can learn to use tools to transform what might be a dangerous endeavor into a safe, enjoyable, and even exhilarating experience. Welcome aboard!