Zup kids?
Reel Life Wisdom?
This month I've picked 4 topics that describe key truths that changed my life. To help make them more memorable I've created a highlights reel with 4 scenes … one for each week, each with a different title that sounds like a famous movie title.
SCENE 1: “Trouble with the Curve.”
So there’s a great Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams movie called, “Trouble with the Curve.” It’s about baseball and people with discernment of those possessing latent skills to play the game. This post isn't about that. Baseball has a unique feature that other sports don’t have: a built-in rule to cheat. It’s called stealing. This post isn't about that either, except for the title of the movie … I want to steal that. Bazinga!
Experts who do their thing at, well, the expert level, all know about the curve. World-class musicians know about the curve. Professional athletes know about the curve. Military special-forces types know about the curve. Spies and covert-ops people (at least according to TV and movies) really understand the curve.
Now I’ll be honest … with a degree in physics and a career in science, this curve wasn’t new to me … until I encountered it afresh about a dozen years ago, in its connection with human beings.
Before I tell you what the trouble with the curve is, I better introduce you to it first … but let me do it in limerick:
There’s a curve in the shape of a bowl;
Inverted to serve a great goal.
It’s significance is rife,
In the details of life.
That it’s almost as if it has soul.
OK, perhaps a wee-bit dorky, but I’m allowed a few eccentricities now that I’m collecting two different pension cheques each month. :-P
Here it is:
“That’s just a bell curve,” you’re saying. Or maybe upon closer inspection you realize that it is a full wavelength of a sinusoidal (or co-sinusoidal) curve.
Yah – kind of. But it’s not the exact amplitude and wavelength (shape) of the curve that is interesting … it’s mostly just the fact that it is low on the ends and high in the middle. I can rattle off lots of examples of physical things in the world that follow a curve like this, for Halifax:
- sunset time from January to December
- annual temperature February to January
- daytime temperature (in Halifax) from pre-dawn to pre-dawn
- height of the highest tides from first quarter to last quarter
“I got it Dad,” you’re frowning.
OK …but, did you know that it also describes a great number of things relating to humans:
- progesterone levels during that latter half of the monthly menstrual cycle
- endometrial thickness from Day 7 to Day 7 in the menstrual cycle
ok …. so Faith, you might have known this … but did either of you also know that it describes:
- 24-hr body temperature variation from 6am to 6am
- 24-hr cortisol concentration in the blood from dawn to dawn
- 24-hr human growth hormone variation from noon to noon
- plasma melatonin levels during the sleep cycle
It even describes life expectancy from the equator to the poles! ("No way!" you say .... "Yes way!" I say)
Now let’s get a lot more personal … regarding things that we can actually control:
- human performance vs quantity of food
This is intuitive: no food, you die (zero performance) … too much food, you become obese and sluggish and your performance deteriorates. Clearly, there’s a peak in the curve somewhere in the middle. There’s a “sweet spot” of just the right amount of food in order to achieve peak performance.
Of course, it’s not just food. This curve also looks the same for:
- human performance vs quantity of sleep
- human performance vs quantity of exercise (yes, you can exercise too much … although I've never been guilty of that)
OK … it’s like this curve has universal application to human beings. But there’s one more example that I want to share … it’s the one that changed my life, once I understood it.
Our performance is at a peak when our stress is at some optimal level (not maximum). There is a “stress sweet spot,” which affords us with the opportunity to perform/function at peak capacity:
- cognitively … concentration; memory recall; problem solving
- emotionally … sensation of wellness; resilience; capacity to adapt
- physically … strength; endurance; flexibility
- spiritually … be intentional and purpose-driven
So let me ask you, “were you surprised that the curve looks the way it does and that it isn’t simply a straight line going from upper left to lower right?” Maybe you’ve heard me talk about this so you weren't surprised.
Here’s the problem … here’s the trouble with the curve:
WHY DON’T THEY TEACH THIS IN SCHOOL?
It isn't just world-class athletes, musicians and SEAL-team members that need to know this. Every human being deserves to know this. Every human being NEEDS to understand this.
I've been observing the world around me since learning this and have identified three huge problems that, to me, explain a significant portion of society’s struggle with anxiety (which is the result of un-metabolized stress):
- Most people don’t know that stress has a sweet spot, and that having too little can be just as bad as having too much;
- Even when people know and understand this curve, they live as though they don’t know and understand it;
- Most who actually want to find that sweet spot whenever they need it simply don’t know how to do it.
Question: What is the one thing that you need in your life in order to be able to find that sweet spot of stress in order to optimize your performance?
Hints:
- It’s not balance – the thing I’m talking about helps you find balance
- It’s not happiness – happiness is simply a by-product of optimizing your stress, which happens only when you have this thing
- It’s not rest and recovery – the thing I’m talking about informs you on when to rest
- it's not discipline - actually, discipline is easier to develop when you have this thing
Answer: I’m going to leave this with you … the answer comes next week. Meanwhile … think about it. Christian, discuss it with Ashley. Faith, same thing with Justin. Heck, do something crazy and discuss it with each other.
I love you.
Dad
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