A podcast over my morning walk left me thinking about two things I believe we could all practise a little more: both individually and collectively.
1. Learn to actively seek genuine criticism.
Not compliments. Not reassurance. Not people telling us what we already want to hear.
The uncomfortable feedback too.
Whether in our workplaces, relationships, professions or everyday lives, we need people who are willing to throw us the occasional “spear”, because if we never learn how to receive genuine criticism, how do we expect to grow?
I’d actually love to see more organisations actively creating spaces for this. Not simply asking people for feedback as a tick-box exercise, but genuinely inviting them to challenge, question and contribute.
It gives people a voice, while giving all of us an opportunity to keep developing.
2. Be careful how narrowly you define yourself.
This one really stayed with me.
If I define myself purely by my current job title, what happens when that role changes, disappears, or simply no longer fits?
Our identities can either make transitions harder or give us the psychological flexibility to move through them.
Instead of defining ourselves only by what we do, perhaps there is something powerful about defining ourselves by how we move through the world.
So yes, I’m a high-performance psychologist/founder.
But I also quite like the idea of being a door opener. 😉
Someone who opens doors to conversations, opportunities, ideas, growth, and hopefully occasionally helps others discover doors they hadn’t realised were there.
That kind of identity travels with you wherever life takes you.
And perhaps that’s the connection between these two ideas: growth requires us to remain open.
Open to being challenged.
Open to changing our minds.
Open to evolving beyond the identities we’ve become comfortable with.
It’s also very much the thinking behind ANCHOR, the mental wellbeing platform my team and I are building: helping people develop tools not simply to cope when life becomes difficult, but to understand themselves, adapt, grow and navigate life with greater psychological flexibility.
High performance, to me, has never been about becoming untouchable.
It’s about becoming increasingly adaptable, self-aware and open to growth.
And apparently… occasionally being a door opener too. 🚪
Simon Sinek
@Mary Holland Nader
