In mechanics, a flywheel is a rotating device which begins spinning when an initial energy force is applied to it. It keeps spinning and maintains its momentum, also known as rotational inertia.
Flywheels are critical components of machines which help them perform with high efficiency. They enable engines to run smoothly during the production of power, and they can deliver energy at rates beyond that of a continuous energy source. Flywheels can also store energy and then release it for high intensity activities.
Now, imagine if human beings had flywheels in their bodies. Imagine that you could go for a jog in the morning, and when you were finished, your body would still produce energy, keeping your body running very efficiently throughout the day. Imagine that you could eat a certain type of food where the energy isn’t consumed immediately, but rationed out to you through- out the day. Imagine you could settle a dispute at work or come up with the answer to a difficult question simply by taking a moment of pause, enabling your personal battery to recharge with energy.
We can do all of that. These functions that I described are exactly what our metabolic system, digestive system, nervous system and other systems in the human body are designed to do. But as busy professionals, we often face obstacles which prevent these systems from performing at their best. If we identify and address these obstacles, then we will enable our minds and our bodies to achieve peak performance.
Performance Cycles
We all experience performance cycles. Sometimes we reach a peak where everything seems to being going right. We have high levels of energy, our minds are sharp, our attitudes are positive, and we’re in a productive groove at work. But sometimes we enter a valley where we feel sluggish, negative and a bit dull, despite our best attempts to move forward. Unfortunately, many of us find ourselves in the valley more often than at the peak.
These cycles are natural and unavoidable, but they are certainly manageable.
We can learn techniques to assess when we are about to enter a valley, utilize tools to actively climb out of the valley and adopt new rituals to increase the time spent at our peak. The Triple A FlywheelTM (Figure 1) is a personal performance framework designed to do exactly that. The framework consists of three phases:
Phase 1: ASSESS.
Reflective questions to determine your current position (e.g. peak or valley), your trajectory and what percentage of your top priority goals you have achieved
Phase 2: ACTIVATE.
Physical and mental exercises to accelerate your pace towards your peak (e.g. nutritious food, fitness, deep breathing, meditation)
Phase 3: ADOPT.
Ritual-building tips and techniques to keep your trajectory pointing towards your peak
In the context of executive health, the Triple A Flywheel™ is a mechanism of continuous improvement. By first adopting a single, healthy activity into your routine and leveraging its benefits, you will find it incrementally easier and more efficient to add subsequent healthy activities. It’s called ‘the flywheel effect.’
Once you build up a consistent routine of healthy activities, you will gain tremendous healthy momentum. Your performance will be high, and it will be relatively easy to keep it high. A stressful week in the office, a long business trip or a minor compromise to your healthy eating routine won’t derail your performance plans. You may slow down a bit, or you may lose sight of your work-life goals and priorities momentarily. But, if that happens, rotate your Triple A Flywheel™, and you will be on a fast path to your peak once again.
When trying to improve our physical or mental performance, we sometimes bite off much more than we can chew. Meat lovers dive into a plant-based diet program, or fitness novices commit to a personal trainer three times per week. In these cases, we are trying to spin a heavy flywheel from a stand still position to full speed, instantly. This approach is bound to fail or be a very painful and non-enjoyable process. We must learn to crawl and walk before we can run.
Let’s start the flywheel spinning.
The above post is an excerpt from Chapter 2 of Edwin’s book: “Fit for the Corner Office: An Executive Health Guidebook to Achieve Peak Performance at Work and in Life.”