Coaching, Leadership, Mindset, Performance Psychology

Testing Capacity vs. IMPROVING CAPABILITY

Race cars speeding on Daytona International Speedway.

Deliberately making this distinction is about understanding the importance of context to inform your behavior.

The only wrong answer is deciding one over the other without understanding what for.

Testing capacity is all about performance outcome. The purpose is to compete with yourself and/or others and see where you rank. This is valuable feedback… every once in a while.

Go there. Feel all the pre-jitter intensity and attributes of performance pressure–scrutiny, expectation, consequence. We evolved to run away from the lion or to hunt the bison; therefore, we are neurochemically rewarded for this level of exertion, but only when it is not the norm.

What should be the norm is improving capability. Improving capability is all about behaving in ways to promote greater mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual adaptation. This is the purpose of having a practice. The practice is our medium for consistently developing and refining our skills.

Our practice prepares us to be tested and our tests inform us of how to adjust our practice. This is the cycle and infinite game of mastery. Rinse and Repeat.

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Drawing from my education, experience, and devotion to guiding leaders (including myself) at different stages in their journey from individual contributor to leader, I help leaders like you to develop the trust and the tools to model and enable exceptional team performance.

Jared Cohen

Leadership Coach, M.A., M.B.A.