The Ecstatic Height of Health - Peak Performance
April 7th 2007 00:48
Let’s take a moment to look at the heights of health. Instead of focussing on therapy, getting healthy again, let’s focus for at least one post, on when we feel our best.
An example. A friend has just done a performance as an amateur singer in a community choir. This had taken many months of preparation for her and the choir. And it was full of the usual shemozzle that can be so much a part of the amateur scene. However, she knew her part well and though nervous knew she could sing all the notes and give a solid performance. On the night one part especially went fabulously. She felt that she had all the time in the world to sing the next phrase, that her and the conductor were in sync and that she and the audience were caught up together in the song.
Perhaps moments like these are sheer grace: they come unexpected and unpredictably. But there usually are things that we can do to make these moments more likely.
Firstly they are moments of peak performance. We don’t get these moments doing something we’re no good at. To get a peak performance we need to put in the practice – this may only get us to where we can give a solid and reliable performance, but this is the necessary foundation for a peak performance.
Secondly it was a bit of a stretch. And for people to stretch themselves it helps them to know that they are supported; that if they fail they won’t be condemned or shamed. In a proverb: if you want to step out it helps to know the ground beneath you is solid.
Thirdly, there is an element of unity in the person doing the performing. These peak moments are ones where we are doing what we feel is a part of who we are. Our doing flows from our core. There can be grace moments where we are doing tasks that are quite mundane but these are not moments of peak performance.
It seems to me that it is likely that all three of these elements (person, environment and task) are needed for peak performance. That the person feels they are doing what is at the core of who they are, that the person has learnt how to do what they are doing and that there is supportive environment that allows them to take a safe risk.
An example. A friend has just done a performance as an amateur singer in a community choir. This had taken many months of preparation for her and the choir. And it was full of the usual shemozzle that can be so much a part of the amateur scene. However, she knew her part well and though nervous knew she could sing all the notes and give a solid performance. On the night one part especially went fabulously. She felt that she had all the time in the world to sing the next phrase, that her and the conductor were in sync and that she and the audience were caught up together in the song.
Perhaps moments like these are sheer grace: they come unexpected and unpredictably. But there usually are things that we can do to make these moments more likely.
Firstly they are moments of peak performance. We don’t get these moments doing something we’re no good at. To get a peak performance we need to put in the practice – this may only get us to where we can give a solid and reliable performance, but this is the necessary foundation for a peak performance.
Secondly it was a bit of a stretch. And for people to stretch themselves it helps them to know that they are supported; that if they fail they won’t be condemned or shamed. In a proverb: if you want to step out it helps to know the ground beneath you is solid.
Thirdly, there is an element of unity in the person doing the performing. These peak moments are ones where we are doing what we feel is a part of who we are. Our doing flows from our core. There can be grace moments where we are doing tasks that are quite mundane but these are not moments of peak performance.
It seems to me that it is likely that all three of these elements (person, environment and task) are needed for peak performance. That the person feels they are doing what is at the core of who they are, that the person has learnt how to do what they are doing and that there is supportive environment that allows them to take a safe risk.
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