Performance is downstream

We've spent the last few weeks on identity, standard, and habits. This week we're at the part most men start with.

Performance.

And as I sat down to write this week, I realized I should have started here and worked backwards. Because this is where every one us begins when something's off. We see the results - or the lack of them - and that's where we go to work.

A VP I coach leads a large team. Their numbers were down a bit, his team was disengaged, and he was putting in more hours than anyone around him. Working harder. Pushing more. Couldn't figure out why none of it was moving the needle. The more he felt the pressure, the harder he pushed.

I asked him, about twenty minutes in: what do you actually believe about yourself as a leader right now?

He got quiet for a second.

“I’m in over my head.” That belief, that he wasn’t good enough, had been quietly setting a standard for him. A standard built around not failing rather than actually leading. And that standard had been producing habits of avoidance, over-control, longer hours and isolation.

He didn't have a performance problem. He had an identity problem that had been working its way downstream for fourteen months.

That's what performance actually is. It's the last stop. The framework goes like this:

IDENTITY ➡️ STANDARD ➡️ HABITS ➡️ PERFORMANCE

Identity has a Standard that requires certain Habits that are lived out consistently and creating our Performance.

So when the results aren't where you want them, the instinct is to go harder. More hours. More effort. More pressure. But if you're working on the performance, you're working on the wrong end.

"All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts." -James Allen

Performance won’t change until the habits change. The habits won’t change unless the standard they are following changes. The standard won’t change until the identity changes.

The Challenge

Pick one area where your performance has been frustrating you.

Don't add more effort this week. Instead, trace it back. What habits are showing up there? What standard are those habits attached to? And what do you actually believe about yourself in that area?

The answer is upstream. It's always upstream.

Today is all you have. Own what’s now.
Live above the line.

For you, Kevin

Thanks for reading this. Share it with anybody you think would find it useful. And as a reminder, NO DRIFT is not mine it is ours. I want to know what you think, what you want to hear about, what you are learning. All feedback is welcomed.