Mount Vernon High School

February 16, 2024 Perspective Drives Performance It’s another long day, filled with another long list of things to do and boxes to check. You know what your very best today requires, but let’s be honest. Fatigue and familiarity and frustration are getting the best of you. You’re struggling to muster up a winning performance, and you’re realizing now why, of all the words they could’ve chosen to describe this experience, they decided to call it the grind. If that’s you here today, then there may be value in taking a minute to recalibrate your perspective. In the midst of the grind, it can be easy to lose sight of some things that help to re-center our focus and re-energize our spirit. The truth for each of us is that our perspective is so important, because our perspective drives our performance. I want to challenge you today to do what champions do - despite the fatigue and familiarity and frustration. That starts by clarifying a few things that might be easy to forget. Here are three specific places you can look to reset your perspective and kickstart your performance… 1) Look back. Sometimes there’s value in taking a minute to stop and remember where you came from. That means recognizing that despite all the challenges and difficulties that are a part of this experience, there’s someone who’d kill to be able to do what you're doing today, and that someone might very well be the previous version of yourself. It’s quite possible there was a time in your life when all you really wanted was to have the chance one day to sit in the very seat you’re sitting in now. You were dreaming of holding the position, accepting the responsibility, and seizing the opportunity to spend your time and energy in exactly the place you're in today. 2) Look down. When you look down at the long list of things you've got to do today, it can be easy to see the burden before you. Especially if your responsibilities today look a lot like they did yesterday and a lot like they will tomorrow, it's easy to dwell on the negative. But what if, instead of focusing on the burden your work has become for you, you focused instead on the blessing your work could become for someone else? I’m confident that whatever’s on your list today has the potential to positively impact the life of someone else - if that’s your intent. That simple perspective shift doesn't change what you're required to do. It just changes why you've decided to do it...and sometimes that makes all the difference. 3) Look ahead. There’s also value in taking a minute to focus not only on where you’ve been previously and where you are now…but where you want to go moving forward. What is the vision you have for the future? In the midst of the grind today, it can be easy to lose sight of tomorrow. But when we recalibrate our perspective and include our vision for the future, it clarifies our purpose for the here and now. Maybe it’s more clarity on what future success requires you to do today. Or maybe it’s more clarity on who future success requires you to be today. A new perspective helps you see today as a test meant to determine whether you've got the commitment and the character that future success requires, and helps you see today as an opportunity to validate that you are in fact someone worthy of the success you say you’re after. What I'm saying is maybe, if you’re struggling today, your performance problem is actually a perspective problem. Success for you might start with recalibrating your focus. That might mean taking a minute to appreciate how fortunate you are that you get to do what you do today. It might mean recognizing today as an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of those around you. It might mean clarifying that future success is counting on you to do your part here today. Whatever it means for you, just don't underestimate the power of your perspective. It all starts there. It's the place your winning performance begins. -Travis