Performance Starts Inside

Performance. Ahh yes, the word which forms the nuclear core of corporate anxiety. Financial performance. Team performance. Performance on the capital markets. Performance of the capital markets. Performance in sales funnels. Key performance indicators. Performance reviews. Performance analyses. Performance improvement workshops. Performance measurement. Performance anxiety (wrong context? though I’m sure it’s something affecting many business leaders ??). I could do this all day.

The business world, for better and (equally often) for worse, is obsessed with performance and results. No matter the domain or industry, so much effort centers on this: how might we improve individual and team performance?

Overwhelmingly we focus on addressing external things. We obsess over KPIs, project plans, processes, customer feedback, observable user behaviors, stock performance, changing the org structures, etc. Those things are convenient because they are “observable” in an external way. We can track them on a board or hire overpaid consultants to recommend changes to them. As so often happens, we can also pump all our time, obsession, and energy into monitoring and “controlling” things external to ourselves.

Rarely do we spend equal energy to address “inner” topics in these performance endeavors.

What is this mysterious “inner world?” Well, it ain’t that mysterious if you pay attention, because it’s a world that most of us live in, even as we think we’re dealing with an objective, rational reality. It is the world of everything that happens inside your mind: thoughts, dreams, fears, conditioning, stories, myths, visions, psychedelic trips, inner monologues, biases, triggers, ideas, etc.

External results matter! We can and should influence results and track our performance through external indicators. We should have an emphasis on good processes and effective planning. But we shouldn’t blind ourselves, like we so often do, to our inner worlds. We obsess over that which is outside, and largely ignore that which is inside.

When was the last time in any business setting you, or the group, formally took time to examine your emotional state, to check in on subtle biases, fears, or triggers at play? Have you ever taken time in a meeting to close your eyes for a moment and connect to what was present for you inside… noticing your emotions and subtle sensations inside your body (i.e. tense, relaxed, etc.)?

If not… why not? This inner realm can impact morale, execution, communication, performance, and results as much as anything.

Our inner worlds shape EVERY decision we make and every task we perform.

Our inner emotional states drive “how” we get things done, which I argue matters far more than the “what” that gets done. As individuals, our inner worlds give us a chance to truly understand, accept, and become ourselves. Especially in our modern age of knowledge work, inner connection and balance shapes our ability to make good decisions and deliver external results.

We should be addressing external performance more often by looking inward first. How can you truly perform at your best if you are tense or compelled by negative unconscious emotions like doubt, shame, or fear? Decision making, focus, and creativity all rely on our inner mental states. It is cliché but accurate to say that we are less effective at ANYTHING when we are full of inner conflict.

This is not to say that we should try to avoid inner conflict or negative emotions… they are a painfully beautiful (and inevitable) part of life. We should become adept at noticing them and exploring them, rather than being unconsciously ruled by them.

One teacher I studied under would say everything comes back to one word: awareness. The journey inward starts with a practiced awareness of first the body, then thoughts, then emotions, and someday… of being aware of the awareness itself. Awareness can only be practiced. It cannot be “learned” because we already know how to do it. We just must use it daily, hourly.

If we do not observe and learn to accommodate all our emotions and inner world, then they drive us. We become little more than emotional children, ruled by our shame, our guilt, our anger, our fear, etc. Which feels familiar if you consider the antics of the emotionally immature boys (not men) running a significant number of global companies ??.

Authentic high performers are often emotional adults: people who take responsibility for learning to accept and manage their emotions, rather than subjecting others to them.

Sustained resilience and focus require an inner world that moves toward balance and wholeness. As individual performers, we benefit greatly from a connection and acceptance to what is happening inside our heads. And individuals working on their own inner selves flows up into the group. Groups only perform well if individuals perform well. While I support organizational efforts to affect group-level change, I believe strongly that the key is first with individuals making inner transformation and growth.

Many studies show how internal practices like mindfulness, forms of meditation, and journaling support individual and team performance. Inner practices help us cultivate stronger skills in areas like:

• Increased mental focus and concentration
• Lower stress / healthier responses to stress
• Increased creativity
• Stronger emotional resilience for when things inevitably get difficult
• Enhanced clarity for decision making and prioritization
• General brain health

Improvements in these areas mean we are making better decisions and solving problems more effectively than when we're internally scattered and disconnected. Yet rarely do we start with these areas when addressing performance in the workplace. Occasionally workshops or team discussions touch these areas, but often the inner world of emotion is considered too "private" (i.e. scary) for the workplace.

Of course, there is value in boundaries. The office shouldn't be your therapy time. But to ignore the inner world as we so often do in the workplace seems silly.

Change isn't slowing down. Obsessing over external processes or outdated KPIs while the world shifts around us is not the way. We must learn to “surf” with change, and that requires us get more comfortable with our inner worlds.

Michael Singer defines the idea of a "material person" as someone who seeks to resolve most problems externally, while a spiritual person is one who seeks to first address all problems internally, before looking outside. We all need to become more spiritual in that sense.

This is partially a quest to disconnect our individual sense of value from external sources. Anyone who ties their sense of self-worth to external results will suffer. I know this from personal experience ??. Inner suffering generally doesn’t support sustained performance in whatever you are doing. Connecting more to inner worlds of emotions and dreams makes us better able to connect to the external world; from a more balanced and effective place.

If you want to improve performance, start inside. Address your mental and emotional worlds first, then look outside.

And far smarter people than me have said the same thing.

Likely the cheapest and most sustainable way to improve your mental focus, clarity, and emotional resilience is through meditation. Meditation techniques are more varied than the fruits at a farmer’s market, and many disciplines have been rigorously studied for thousands of years.

But before this turns into too many words, I’ll pause. Soon (one never knows ??), I'll follow-up with exploration on ways we can work with the world inside.

For now I’ll leave you with this gem from Ram Dass:

The real work you have to do is in the privacy of your own heart. The external forms are lovely, but the real work is your inner connection.