In this edition, I’m breaking down how risk boosts our performance, real word examples of it being applied, and the different versions of this flow trigger.
Connect with me on LinkedIn so we can keep the conversation going.
Next flow trigger up is possibly my favorite…
But before we jump into it, I want to make sure you’re seeing the bigger picture when it comes to this one…
Think about a time in your life where the triumph was worth it because you took some risk to achieve it, or you simply felt alive while pursing it.
Whether it was doing something as a kid you weren’t suppose to be doing and avoiding getting caught.
Pulling an all nighter to cram for an exam.
Or pulling off a pass you know will piss your coach off, but it gets right to your teammate, and of course they score haha.
Jim Rohn sums up high consequences/risk perfectly by saying:
“I’ll tell you what changed my whole life: I finally discovered that it’s all risky. The minute you got born it got risky. If you think trying is risky, wait until they hand you the bill for not trying…all of life is a risk; in fact we’re not going to get out alive.”
It’s something we can’t avoid in life, so me might as well leverage it to peak our performance.
High Consequences
High consequences are about threats lurking in our environments. This could be a CEO stepping into the boardroom, a soldier sneaking behind enemy lines, or a coach going for it on 4th down. In whatever case, danger is a built-in feature of the experience.
Risk increases the amount of norepinephrine and dopamine in our system. In fact, the entire idea of an “adrenaline rush” is a misnomer. Very few people actually like the feeling of adrenaline. But damn near all of us will line up for dopamine and norepinephrine.
How I Use High Consequences 😎
After starting in sales, I passed 6 promotions in 9 months and became a District Manager of my own territory. One thing I appreciated most about the DM opportunity was the risk involved.
It truly forced me to rise to the challenge and I often say that it was the rites of passage I needed to make it through my Life After Sports transition.
Me and a fellow New DM for the Tuscaloosa territory had gotten close during our promotions. He was our Division Manager’s right-hand man just like I was to my District Manager. He had family in the Florence, Al area and if Tuscaloosa wasn’t such an attractive option, Florence would’ve been his pick.
This was in 2014. There were no linktree or affiliate links or promo codes like we have today. The gateway to running a business was far more difficult.
I paid over $2,000 for mailers to be sent out in the territory. My monthly business expenses for the office were $5,500 a month—rent, phone lines, internet, insurance, supplies/literature, receptionists, etc. I had to get a certificate of occupancy from the City of Florence after I negotiated the lease. After negotiating the lease for my 1,000 sq/ft office, I had to write a check for close to $2,500 to get the keys.
I recruited 3 girls to be a part of my receptionist’s department. And then it was time to open the doors for business.
These were high stakes for a 23 year old and it pushed me to perform my best.
How The Greats Use High Consequences 🤌🏾
For Cristiano Ronaldo, danger was a built-in feature in his life with being a child with heart disease and fueled to rid of his mom of their poor living conditions.
This risk amplified his performance to arguably being the best soccer player of all time—with an estimated net worth of $490 million.
Danger is also a built-in feature in the sport of boxing. Mike Tyson is famous for the quote, “Everyone has a goal until they get punched in the mouth.”
This level of risk forced Mike to focus so much on the task at hand that it made it to where he was doing most of the punching in the mouth—not the other way around.
This Wayne Gretzky quote says it all: There are very few athletes, when you go watch them play, they can bring you out of your seat at any given time. The greatest athletes in any sport really seem to enjoy the game when it seems to be more on the line. And that’s what separates stars from superstars.
Different Versions Of Risk🫣
It’s important to point out that the high consequence trigger doesn’t necessitate physical risk.
Risky Social Environments: ask any kicker about lining up to kick the game winning field goal against a rival team and you’ll under the high consequences from a social environment.
Risky Creative Environments: ask any artist about their first showing at an official art gallery and you’ll understand the high consequences from creative environments.
Risky Intellectual Environments: ask any doctor in training, medical school is a high-consequence intellectual environment
This Week’s Book Recommendation📖
In “The Rise of Superman”, Steven Kotler quotes Harvard psychiatrist Ned Hallowell by stating: “To reach flow, one must be willing to take risks. The lover must lay bare his soul and risk rejection and humiliation to enter this state. The athlete must be willing to be scorned and despised by critics and the public and still push on. And the average person—you and me—must be willing to fail, look foolish, and fall flat on our faces should we wish to enter this state.”
Last Words…
The high consequence trigger tell us something about those Silicon Valley companies with “fail forward” as their de facto motto.
This motto creates a consequence-friendly environment, which makes it a high-flow environment. If employees don’t have the space to fail, then they don’t have the ability to take risks.
At Facebook, there is a sign hanging in the main stairwell that reads: MOVE FAST, BREAK THINGS.
This kind of attitude is critical to any innovation culture.
And peak performance, doing the capital I Impossible (the stuff that has never been done before), or the lower case i impossible (things we believe are impossible for us) are all a kind of extreme innovation.
Which means we’ll have to embrace high consequences.
Hope this added the fuel to ferociously launch your week! ♾️🔥🚀
See you next Monday! 😎
And when it comes to the infinite game of life…
Choose Flow.
Be Brilliant.
Ball Out.
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