Determining Success
It is important to determine how best to define success so that we can orient our strategies and tactics to increase our chances of meeting those objectives.
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Across all domains of life, we endeavor to be successful. In order to be able to accomplish what is of most importance to us we must develop skills that allow us the best and greatest opportunity to achieve these objectives. In the absence of clearly determining how we defines success, it can become difficult to optimally align our efforts in the direction of accomplishing these goals.
It is important to note that across all domains of life, a common element is the desire to be successful. This should not be confused, however, with there being common definitions of success which apply across all domains of life and amongst different individuals. Indeed, how we define success within each of our lives may be different within different domains and between different individuals.
In many instances the definition of success is synonymous with external outcomes and accomplishments. While it may be easy to understand why this can be the case, it is also important to recognize the significant limitations that can exist with this paradigm. Specifically, it is often the case that we do not have sufficient influence or control over whether or not we achieve external accomplishments because we do not fully or optimally control those outcomes. As such we increase our susceptibility to potential cues of uncertainty, risk, or threat when we do not achieve the external objectives over which we do not have full control. This commonly manifests through emergence of various fears, in particular fear of failure, fear of other people's opinions or judgments, and performance anxiety. The polyvagal informed perspective related to these common fear-based hindrances has been discussed in past articles.
From my perspective, it is highly advantageous to define the elements of success, across any domain in life, on the basis of measures over which we have a greater degree of influence or control. This can provide a scenario in which we are less susceptible to biological shifts on account of cues of uncertainty, risk, and threat resulting from outcomes which we do not control. In order to be optimally effective, determining definitions of success which we can control that simultaneously provide the best opportunity for meeting external outcomes and objectives should be considered.
Emerging from this perspective, we can orientate ourselves towards a definition of success which is to a greater degree under our control and also enables us the best opportunity to accomplish goals and objectives. Applying the polyvagal informed lens, we can make our definition of success synonymous with leveraging our biology towards the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance. Furthermore if we are to define success across all domains of life on the basis of our ability to develop a flexible nervous system we can then exert influence and control over this outcome through the development of the tools within the polyvagal informed toolbox. In addition when we are able to achieve this objective, we provide ourselves with the greatest likelihood of meeting any goals we may have.
From this perspective, success may be defined on a task to task, day to day, as well as longer term basis through the extent to which we are able to flexibly manage our nervous system in response to the cues we encounter across internal, external, and relational pathways. In essence this is equivalent to optimally leveraging our biology in pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high-performance. Given the inherent nature of these pursuits, particularly related to sustainable high performance, we will inevitably encounter cues and situations which may lead to shifts in biological state and our ability to manage these scenarios exerts a significant impact on our likelihood of performing to our capacity and achieving our objectives. Given the clarity of this definition of success, we are also readily able to consider feedback regarding whether or not we were able to flexibly manage our nervous system and learn how to better develop and implement necessary skills in the future.
Within a paradigm in which we orient our definition success on the basis of developing a flexible nervous system, it can be readily appreciated that this is to a greater extent under our control in comparison to emphasizing accomplishment of particular external outcomes. As has been discussed across many articles in the series, we are able to improve the flexibility of nervous system through intentional and deliberate practices to develop polyvagal informed mind-based and body-based skills. Furthermore utilizing the paradigm of strategies and tactics we can also evaluate the degree of flexibility in our nervous system in both short-term and long-term situations across the experiences we encounter.
By orienting towards this definition of success we are able to optimally position ourselves to pursue any and all objectives across any domain of life. In addition with this perspective in mind we have a more clear roadmap of how best to accomplish our goals. This also aligns with the previously discussed reality that the goal of polyvagal informed training and development of skills is not to prevent dysregulation at all times, but rather to develop the ability to experience moments of dysregulation, more rapidly identify those situations, and implement skills to shift back towards ventral vagal stabilization.
In order to optimally pursue health, wellbeing, and sustainable high-performance it is necessary to develop the appropriate skills to allow for implementation of the required strategies and tactics. In order to optimally align these elements, it is beneficial to define success in a way that allows for the optimal achievement of these objectives through the intentional and deliberate practices described above and in other articles. When we are able to embody a flexible nervous system, we are best positioned to manage the cues and stimuli we may encounter across the internal, external, and relational pathways. To learn more, including about polyvagal informed coaching for healthcare professionals and others in high demand domains, visit www.darindavidson.com.
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