Michael Neill and I are leading a workshop in Portland, OR for people that are interested in tapping into new levels of fulfillment and performance in work and life. A Good Life is Good for Business. As we get closer to the dates, I’ve been reflecting on my own journey and the new realizations I’ve had around what is required to do well in both.

Seven years ago, I was living in Paris and working as the head of talent management, leadership development and all learning for a large global organization. I loved my job. I loved the people, the opportunities, the travel and living abroad. I would have said I even loved the pace, the challenge, the push and the excitement of everything we were doing.

But here’s where I was clueless. I had no idea that I was walking around in a constant feeling of pressure, internal stress and bogged down by thinking. In fact, if you had asked me if I was stressed I would have said, “No.” And meant it.

I thought busyness and stress was a given in the business world. And the higher up you are, the more that’s true. And tolerating it well was a badge of honor. I thought my intellect, my ability to think ahead, plan, was one of the reasons I did so well.

What I see now is that I was living in an “unhealthy norm”. I was swimming in a level of contaminated water but because it was my norm, I didn’t know. Because busyness, pressure, drive, strive were all norm to me, and I even respected it, I didn’t realize there was a downside.

I didn’t know that there is a SIGNIFICANT UNRECOGNIZED INFLUENCE ON PEOPLE IN BUSINESS.

There was something affecting me and by not being aware of it, I was a victim of it.

What is it? My state of mind or better said, THE QUALITY OF MY MIND.

The quality of our minds is the single most influential factor in our day to day performance both in life and in business.

And when we don’t know that or see it – we often pull the wrong lever when we’re trying to improve ourselves or our results.

When we are walking around in an unhealthy norm, a disturbed mind, a busy or pressured mind, there are implications to our mental bandwidth, our creativity, our communication, our judgement and our general feelings of well-being.  And we often feel drained.

When it becomes our norm, we miss it. We have learned to tolerate it. High tolerance in this case isn't necessarily a good thing. We don't see it as a factor in our performance or our ability to connect because it looks normal to us.

When this gets visible it becomes hugely helpful.

We begin to experience for ourselves the connection between a more free and open mind; a less driven and pressured mind; to higher levels of performance and deeper feelings of connection and fulfillment.

Ease, well-being, lack of tension become more the norm. And from there, our capability naturally rises because the quality of our mind improves.

We know where to go; what to do or not do. We get touched by life in new and surprising ways.

When we see the source of our performance is NOT our drive or pressure but is ACTUALLY the quality of our minds; we are then pulling the right lever.

We learn to respect a more clear and free mind then bearing down on our thinking or adding more internal pressure and push. This helps us to access more of the potential of our minds.

The video below is an excerpt from a conversation Michael Neill and I recently had about our own personal journeys. In this clip, we share how we were blind to our own unhealthy norm and how waking up to it, was instrumental in changing the way we go about our businesses and has had a profound impact on the quality of our lives.

If you’d like to listen to the full conversation you can do that by clicking here.