Avoiding a Stress Fracture

“It’s a confirmed stress fracture of the lower Tibia”.

Dr Jayant Arora was confident in his diagnosis which was further confirmed by the MRI. This was something I was dreading since the past one month while struggling to cope with severe pain in my lower shin. This diagnosis meant that I was grounded for 2-3 months and being in a job that requires intense travel and also being someone who makes a significant investment in fitness activities, like running, this was a big blow.

How did this happen? Simple – I didn’t realise that my body’s Vitamin D levels had dropped and this caused me pain in my leg. This pain was a signal that I had to stop running, yet being a believer in “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” philosophy, I ran through the pain and caused stress fracture to my lower Tibia.

Insights gained during the course of my reflections – I had more time to reflect given that I wasn’t moving out of home! – shed some light on how one thinks, feels and makes decisions which are as easily applied to my described situation as they are to business life.

Why did I not realise that my body’s D3 levels are low? I simply did not run my body diagnostics regularly. For an athlete, especially when one is well into one’s fifties, it is absolutely imperative to keep a tab on how one’s body is responding to the fitness regimen that one is following. The same is true in Business. We often run business diagnostics when business isn’t doing well but how often do we do this exercise when it is humming? This focus on current performance can lull us into a feeling of confidence, thereby, causing us to miss on important data points and trends which could point to a possible failure in the future.

How did I miss the signals my body gave? My leg was hurting and that should have been a signal enough for me to listen to my body, stop running and get the leg examined. I realised that what happened was that I was running well, making great progress and I was overconfident assuming that this pain is a niggle and will go away with time, though this time I felt the pain was definitely different to a muscle pain. So it happens in business when we stop listening to the signals the organisation and our people give us… several things could play a role here -confirmation bias, denial. By the time we realise that these flags are indeed important, disaster has already struck.

Why did I choose to run through extreme pain? I attribute this to the intense ambition of achieving a target that I had set for myself for my running. This relentless and unreasonable pursuit of ambitious goals meant that I would not brook any obstacle that would hinder my achievement of this target. I wanted to smash through the obstacle and run through the pain. I believe, as leaders we sometimes are so single minded in our ambition to achieve the target we have set for ourselves or the organisation has set for us, we tend to disregard the stress signals that we receive from the Organisation and want to push through against all odds through sheer force of personality.

How does one ensure one doesn’t fall into this pitfall? If it were so easy, one would never have a stress fracture! I believe, we need to create certain conditions through cultivating some habits that could then minimise the chance of this occurrence.

Pause to listen – In the hurly-burly of quotidian business life, we are nearly always running to meet deadlines, targets, closing deals,.. in short, doing stuff. The mind’s pre-occupation with action, results in that much less of mental bandwidth available for us to listen. Listening is the primary skill of leaders and for us to be able to listen, one needs to pause. Pause. Listen. Reflect. Act. In our short-term orientation on results, we tend to skip all preceding steps and jump straight to Act. This is also a Indian cultural manifestation where we tend to act before we think… leave alone, listen. I have found that a daily practice of meditation gives us more of a chance to press the pause button, thus, opening our mind to listening.

Beware of Hubris – as many psychologists say, human minds are wired to think positively of the future when things are going well and vice versa. This is a common bias that also results in investors investing heavily when the markets are rising and selling their holding when markets are tumbling – whereas, financial advisors often recommend that for long term financial success, we hedge our bets when there is a boom and hold fast when there is a bust. Lesson – one needs to be especially careful and play the devil’s advocate when business is running well. Holding firm to one’s value of humility means that we allow for the possibility of failure.

Focus on process – while we are all appreciated or derided for the achievement of targets, results are rarely in our full control. There are so many external factors that can impact results, which are not in our control, it is futile to chase only results. A focus on results definitely adds to stress when none is deserved and lends a sense of complacency when none is warranted. A focus on process instead gives a joy of doing a job well and monitoring progress through milestones.

How does one respond to a stress fracture?

Firstly, accept the changed reality. Denial can lead to a catastrophe, as Dr Jayant warned me. Acceptance of the current less than desirable situation is a pre-requisite to dealing with the situation.

Secondly, adapt one’s practices to the new reality quickly. I moved to a complete “work from home” office and moved as many meeting on-line as possible. I was surprised, how much I have been able to accomplish this way.

Thirdly, adjust my fitness goals and find innovative means to remain in good physical shape. Getting my personal trainer home and swimming are activities that ensure that I will minimise the impact of the injury on my fitness levels till I can resume me regimen fully.

As I recover from this painful injury, I would follow what Francis of Assisi says – Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible and suddenly you are doing the impossible.