The Three Essentials for Growth and Performance
Any coach or educator knows that growth varies by person.
Adult training programs, for example, receive a range of ratings on learner impact. Same trainer, same content, different outcomes.
As for why this variability occurs, a number of reasons have been given, and some of them have been proven to be false.
For instance, some people will say that people have fixed abilities at a certain point in their life. One CEO said to me last week, “People are either good dealing with people or they aren’t. You can coach them, but they will revert back to their personal mean over time.”
In fact, research from Stanford and other top neuroscientists refutes this claim. According to experts, you and I can grow and improve in any area over the course our lifetimes.
Brain researchers call this ability “plasticity.”
Neuroplasticity & Neuromodulation
To achieve plasticity — and this is so important for you and me if we want to grow and improve — neuroscientists say that we need to release certain neuromodulators, which are chemicals that help the brain change.
There are three neuromodulators in particular that foster the brain states required to grow and improve:
- Epinephrine, which is produced through agitation. Plasticity will not occur unless the brain is agitated. This is why people say growth and comfort can’t coexist. Discomfort might occur through vulnerability, feeling a bit exposed, or taking a risk outside your comfort zone. It can also happen in the midst of uncertainty, when you don’t know how things will turn out, and in tandem with humility, when you admit you’re wrong or need to improve.
- Acetylcholine, which is produced through attention. Plasticity also requires focused attention on the area of growth. Before you can do this, you have to get clear about where you need and want to improve and then spotlight your attention on the intention. This means you’ll want to engage in the difficult effort of “anti-scanning.” Rather than multi-tasking from inbox to device to distraction, you’ll need to maintain your attention, ideally for 90-minute intervals.
- Dopamine, which is required for alertness. Plasticity needs you to be alert, awake, and alive. Eating healthy foods at the right times during the day (and not right before bed); limiting sugar, alcohol, and other mood-altering drugs; and breathing exercises all help produce dopamine, the neuromodulator required to be alert. Optimize your wellbeing through things like quality sleep, awe-inspiring nature, fitness, and healthy consumption.
Don’t shortchange yourself. Your ability to grow — and how far you will go — is up to you. Here are just five ways you could foster more Agitation, Attention, and Alertness so you can realize your full capacity to grow and improve throughout your life:
- Engage: Show up and open up. Join a group, attend an event, accept the invitation, even — especially — if it pushes you outside your comfort zone.
- Pause: Put yourself in inspiring spaces. Go for a walk, take a wild trip, wake up 10 minutes earlier to sit in the quiet.
- Codify: Update your life plan. Clarify your goals, priorities, and routines, and let them be the guiding force behind your actions.
- Develop: Raise others up. Invest time, energy, and money in the people around you. Helping others will also help you grow.
- Change: Get on a program to grow. Take a course, work with a coach, track your progress, commit to growth!
Whatever you do to foster Agitation, Attention and Alertness, be someone who grows.
How will you be the person who gets the most out of learning opportunities?
