Values
Values provide a place of peace that cannot be disturbed. When grounded in values that one deeply feels and believe in, you create space and move forward with conviction. Values are the pillars of trust. Trust in when we envision our desired future, our values are secure the path towards attainment.
Trust
An individual’s world view is shaped by their belief system rooted in personal values. High performance teams and leaders recognize trust drives perseverance. Loose values, vague values, arbitrary and externally influenced values ultimately stifle trust and productivity. When operating from this state of lack, the tendency is to push harder, to grind more in effort to acquire an outcome. We have been conditioned to believe control builds strength. However, results do not need to come from strain or struggling for control. Often, pushing harder, grinding more moves you away from the peace the outcome was supposed to bring, and mny lead to burn out.
When a person depends on results or proof to exist externally before they trust, they’ve stepped into a hedonic state of seeking greater control forming unhealthy habits, unconstructive attitude, and a fixed mindset. Without trust, resistance automatically projects onto the unknown, defeating oneself of achieving more than momentary peace. Dopamine and serotonin levels dysregulate becoming yo-yo fluctuations, while cortisol levels remain chronically elevated. Emotionally, this increases actions based on fear - fear of failure and fear of judgement – and has also been linked to increased risk of addictive and risky behavior.
Values, Trust, and Free Will
The relationship between trust and control can seem like a futile effort to escape from an infinity loop, parallel to debating free will and determinism. In this analogy, free will is control experienced as the ability to let go while determinism assumes no control in the outcome. The size of the gap between them depends on establishing values and conviction in those values. Uncertainty in values allows fear to drive behavior, and fear becomes what’s valued. Fear rejects free will and secures a “fate” of negative outcomes. Conviction in core values (i.e. gratitude, humility, accountability) creates an undeniable emotion independent of and impervious to fracture by what is happening in the environment, and this collapses free will and determinism into a single principle: trust. Letting go of control does not mean forgoing care or effort. Letting go trusts change, chaos, uncertainty is an opening for what you truly believe is meant for you to enter.
Of course, there will be days challenging values, letting go, and trust. Adopting a growth mindset teaches us to see these as opportunities disguised as tests? An opportunity to tune into our values. Time is space and deliberate use of that space can amplify autonomy and agency, moving from reaction to response. Typically, we move from reaction to reaction. Reaction stems from the amygdala’s perception of stress and signals the hypothalamus to release hormones to regulate the perceived threat. Operating from values engages the prefrontal cortex, opening the aperture to respond vs react. Practicing value-driven responses reduces the time spent in fear/threat/fight, flight, freeze to where we ultimately become an observer - not a participant - and choosing to take actions that are value aligned, which might mean taking no action at all.
The Path of No Resistance
Framing letting go, being still, and remaining in alignment with values as forms of control is a sign of being caught in the infinite loop because a) values are not understood/defined; b) lack of trust in stated values; c) both. Conviction is the innate belief breaking apart the circular loop, laying out a path towards desired goals. The intrinsic belief creates an emotional (aka energetic) connection between values and goals yielding ttrust in “the process.”
In turn, without any external validation present, living in the present with the emotional state of the future you desire establishes space to create and respond to challenges while remaining on the path. For example, a team at the beginning of a season establishes core values. These are bidirectional values between leadership and individual players. Consolidated values produce clear, measurable goals. The same process takes place for each player, or for an individual sport. When a player or team goal is derived from core values, pursuit of those goals is based off conviction and the connected emotions. Challenges, losses, injuries, etc are interpreted as part of the process, on the path towards their goal. Possibilities that would have been shadowed or overlooked by the twin thieves (fear of failure or judgement) when values were excluded from identity, now transform into elevated motivation. Failure is redirection enabling the right opportunities to take shape. What you learn from these failures prepares you for when the right opportunity arrives, you will be ready.
Part 2 explores high performance leadership, integrating the “science” (supporting evidence from psychology), with the “art” (brain-body or heart-mind coherence).