One Thing: Joy

Alysa Liu and the signal of sustainability.

Hi friends,

As the Olympics wrap up, the reality sets in (again): I am not going to be an Olympic athlete. Most of us are not training for one high-stakes event. But we are performing in our own “stadiums:” work, home, parenting, leadership. There is no medal ceremony. It is the long game.

Sustainable performance is the ability to joyfully perform at a high level over time without sacrificing health, relationships, or integrity.

Alysa Liu is a beautiful example. She returned from early retirement with clarity that skating would be on her terms. She shows us what sustainable performance really is: choosing an effort you can repeat without losing yourself.

Joy

Here’s the part most performance talk misses: joy.

Alysa’s joy is palpable when she skates. As she’s learned, joy is not a nice-to-have. It is a crucial performance indicator.

Joy is both data and due diligence. It gives early feedback on alignment, and over time it tells the truth about what is sustainable.

A quick check in:

• Where did joy show up last week?

• Over the last six months, where has joy been a reliable signal that you were on the right track? Where has its absence been a warning you explained away?

Over the next few weeks, I’ll share the framework I use to build sustainable performance in real life, with joy leading the way.

Take good care,
Lisa