3 Mindset Shifts to Increase Performance

The Ethical Lexicon #17: Build resilience by confronting resistance

“May you always have the wind to your back!”

What if that classic sailors blessing isn’t such a blessing after all?

The strange truth is that we can make better headway steering into the wind than we can with the wind behind us filling our sails.

And that’s true both literally and figuratively.

We all know the rule for working out at the gym: no pain, no gain. So why do we have so much trouble applying the same principle to our professional lives and to our personal development?

We’ve learned that human beings are by design antifragile, meaning that we don’t merely survive resistance but become stronger by facing it. Yet our culture has increasingly embraced the idea that we should insulate ourselves from stress, conflict, pressure, and adversity.

In any case, it isn’t possible. And even if it were, it wouldn’t be to our own benefit.

Do we really want to live in a society that celebrates mediocrity because we’re afraid one person’s success will damage the self-esteem of another? Wouldn’t we all be better off if we challenged ourselves, and each other, to reach for and beyond the limits of our potential?

And yes, those are rhetorical questions.

Please click to read this week’s column in Fast Company.