Over the last few years, wearable devices have become increasingly popular. I must admit, after reading countless books on health and longevity, I’ve bought into the trend. I started off with an Oura Ring but found it a little awkward; I didn’t like wearing a ring on my forefinger and had to take it off when swimming or in the shower. Then I discovered the WHOOP and I started to get a greater insight into high performance habits.
WHOOP is a screenless, wrist‑worn health and performance tracker that continuously monitors your body 24/7. Its core purpose is to help you optimise recovery, training load, and sleep, rather than simply track activity. It’s widely used by elite athletes and high performers across many fields. This is, of course, why I wear it… I’m a wannabe high performing athlete (chuckle).
But seriously, I prioritise my health, and I’m interested in understanding the data that tells me whether I’m on track or off track depending on my daily decisions. For example, I’m now keenly aware of what impacts my sleep and recovery, and I can decide whether to sharpen up depending on what I’m up to, or relax a little and enjoy that glass of Baileys while lounging in the back garden reading a book (although, I must admit, it’s been more of an indoor activity recently!)
I was never particularly interested in data and statistics and always struggled with these papers in my Computer Science and Psychology degrees. But what I’ve always been fascinated by is the story that collective data tells us over time, whether through a psychology study or a physiological one. It helps me challenge myself in terms of where I should be at this stage of my life.
A simple, eye‑opening question I asked myself a couple of years ago was: “How much overweight is acceptable at the age of 40?” What about at the age of 50? I jumped on the scales and realised that 10 kg overweight probably fell outside of this margin! Seriously though, we rationalise to ourselves that we’re doing fine when the reality, the raw data, tells us we’re way off target.
What are Your High Performance Habits?
With all the biodevices on the market today, it’s not difficult to find this out for yourself. But this article isn’t just about health markers.
- How do you know that you’re being effective in your role?
- How do you know that you’re a good, or even exceptional, leader?
- How are you tracking financially, depending on the stage of life you’re at?
The answers to these questions will vary from person to person; however, if we’re not asking them, and we don’t have a way of measuring our progress, it’s very likely we’ll wake up one morning shocked to discover the reality we find ourselves in.
Paying attention to the data, or the measures, we use to track our progress gives us more choices and may even be a source of motivation. When my WHOOP tells me I’m slacking a little and shows how my decisions are affecting my ability to perform, I pay attention … maybe not straight away but eventually, and kick back into gear.
Rocking and Rolling Through Life: Are You Performing … Mostly?
Of course, it’s not necessary, or even realistic, to be “always on”; it can be draining and uninspiring. However, I like to think of life in terms of rocking and rolling you’re your favourite AC/DC! hit).
When we’re rocking in life, we’re making more of the right decisions for ourselves, and our trajectory is trending upwards. When we’re rolling, our trajectory trends downwards. Life is generally a combination of both.
If we’re rocking far more than we’re rolling, we’re definitely heading in the right direction. But if the majority of our daily decisions cause us to roll, then our overall trajectory is heading the wrong way, and this is likely to lead to health issues down the track, stagnation in your career, boredom, and a lack of fulfilment.
What can help us break a downward trajectory is getting really clear on where we are, determining what “good” looks like in this situation, and then grabbing your electric guitar and start rockin’. The time to start building your high performance habits is now!
And if you’re in the mood for a little rock’n’roll, here’s one of my favourites!
Are you interested in tools for building a high performing team? Then check out my new book ‘Now, Lead Others’.
If you’re interested in hearing more tips about how you can Unleash Your Potential or that of your team, please feel free to drop me a note. I’m always happy to share ideas and help where I can.
