What the World's Largest Trees Can Teach Us about Sustainable High Performance

On one of my recent (uphill) bike rides, an insight came to me: We spend so much time and energy trying to reach as high as possible (achieving more and more in our career, finances, education, and even Facebook or Instagram "likes"). We read about celebrities, legendary business, and technology leaders that we admire and wish we can be more like them. What our culture does not examine or helps us understand is what's required to help us stay deeply grounded so that we can go on and achieve high levels of performance, and more importantly, sustain that growth over an entire lifetime. Like Kobi's performance during the game, we watch in awe in how effortless his game was. But we don't pay much attention to how much work and practice that supported his fantastic performance.

In this short article, I want to share some ideas about building deep roots that can sustain high performance, achievement, and produce fulfillment along the way. Can we learn from the world's most giant ancient trees about sustaining high growth? I'd like to highlight just three elements that I've been exploring more fully this past year. Much of this work has been articulated by Angela Duckworth's excellent book, Grit.

“If your life’s work can be accomplished in your lifetime, you’re not thinking big enough.” - Dr. Wes Jackson 

Fertile Ground (Passion + Purpose)

The giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) grows in high elevations where they get plenty of water, sunlight, and the right nutrients from the soil. They are also connected deep into the ground to each other. A question to consider is what is feeding your soul, your mind, and your body? Are the primary sources of energy sustainable, and will they serve you over the long haul? For example, even though drugs and alcohol produce the right biochemical reactions in your brain that put you in a flow state, that practice would not serve you well over the long haul - certainly not over a 40-year career! Besides, do we have deep or shallow roots? Have we invested time in the right relationships and networks -- from family members to professional colleagues and friends? The harder the goals, the deeper your roots will need to go, anchor, you, and ground you.

Fertile ground is also connected with a meaningful purpose and being passionate about something bigger than ourselves. Someone passionate about helping and serving others will find a lot more energy than someone who is merely thinking about making more money so they can buy the next luxury thing being marketed to them.

Perseverance

As you wake up each day and march towards your vision, your goals, and purpose, you will experience a ton of resistance. Some days will be good; others will be hard and feel like you're going through hell. Athletes and other elite performers see this as a good sign; that they are on the right path. In any field or domain of knowledge, nothing excellent or worthwhile comes about from chilling on the beach. Hell (fires, droughts, and lightning) comes first, then the perseverance to get to the other side that produces those large and unusual trees that provide shade and shelter for generations. When things get tough, and we feel the heat, we must practice smiling and celebrate that the team and we must be getting near another important milestone or even the end.

“If you are going through hell, keep going.” Winston Churchill

Resilience

If you look up at a tree that has survived a few hundred years of storms, fires, droughts and beetle infestations, and even lightning strikes, you will have witnessed the awesome power of resilience. In a word, resilience is "toughness" – It's the ability to recover quickly from hardships, setbacks, and failures. Edison was resilient. Elon Musk is resilient. Here's what Edison thought about resilience: "Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time." I started by describing the fertile ground of support, passion, and purpose because when those elements are stacked, resilience becomes a more accessible capacity to carry you through and to keep going.

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.

Thomas Edison

This week, let's plan to practice Grit and be mindful when we feel like giving up and just work to push ourselves just a little bit harder to build our perseverance and resilience muscles. We should also remember to actively recover and get the rest we need to practice the process all over again.