Are You Ready for Training?
In my past life as a sports medicine physician and prior to that, as an athlete, I came to appreciate the importance of a strong “ready position.” This is a body position, common to most sports. Your feet are at least shoulder width apart, your head is up, your knees are bent, and you are on the balls of your feet. Your shoulders are square, and your elbows bent, hands out, palms ready to receive. Your eyes are looking down the field. Your whole body is ready to take on whatever is coming your way. This position is common to soccer, basketball, football, baseball, golf, skiing, tennis, etc.
Injury often occurs when we get too far out of our ready position. We fail to move our feet and overreach to try to make a play. Our center of mass gets away from us and our base of support is overwhelmed.
The same can be said of leadership and relationships. We need to find and train into a strong “ready position.” We need a keen sense of self awareness. We need to know what our values are and how we can best live into them. We need to be clear about what fuels our passions and aspirations and into what situation we best “fit.” When are we at our best? We need to know who supports us and our values and who we can count on. These are the things that make up our base of support. If we can identify these things, then we can understand when we are over-reaching and putting ourselves at risk of injury.
Diving to make a play on the field can look amazing and garner a lot of attention, but the risk of injury is high. It is the same in our careers. Overreach or diving to make the play might feel like saving the day but often has ramifications that we don’t understand until later. It can also tempt us to ignore our teammates. It is hard to do in the heat of the moment but try to stop yourself and ask, “is this really my job or is someone else in a better position to make this happen?" “Do I really know all I need to know before I take action, or could we pull the team together and talk about this first.” “What are my motivations for doing this. Is this about the team, the organization, or more about me?”
To train your ready position, understand your values, passions, aspirations and where you fit best to be at your best. Tasha Eurich talks about this very eloquently in her book “Insight.” I highly recommend this. Routinely review your actions against your values. Are you authentic in your role? Is your work an expression of your values and passions?
