Dr. Marcus Elliott, a Harvard-trained physician and the owner of P3 Peak Performance Project, is no ordinary physician.
In The Comfort Crisis, Michael Easter describes Elliot’s dedication to misogi, an artificial construct designed to discover what mentally and spiritually you can put yourself through to become a better human.
Today, Elliott is considered a pioneer and one of the world’s foremost sports scientists.
Kyle Korver, an NBA All-Star, and jump-shot artist is fourth on the all-time three-pointer list. Korver credits his most clutch performances to the lessons of misogi.
Korver said Elliot’s paddleboard misogi led him to break the NBA record for the most consecutive games with a three-pointer.
MISOGI Uncovers Your Latent Potential
New research shows that depression, anxiety, and feeling like you don’t belong can be linked to being untested.
“Misogis can show you that you had this latent potential you didn’t realize, and that you can go further than you ever believed. When you put yourself in a challenging environment where you have a good chance of failing, lots of fears fade and things start moving,” Elliot states.
Scientists at the University of Michigan investigated the evolutionary origins of fear. Our current fears are often driven by our past lifestyles.
“Failure even a hundred years ago could mean that you die,” said Elliott. “But people vastly overestimate the consequences of failure today. Failure now is that you fuck up a PowerPoint presentation and your boss gives you a bad look.”
Variations of the misogi myth exist through time and space. Greek, Mesopotamian, Buddhist, Norse, Christian, Hindu, and ancient Egyptian mythology all have some version of what Joseph Campbell called “the hero’s journey.”
The hero exits the comfort of home for adventure. He’s hit with a challenge. It tests his physical, psychological, and spiritual fortitude. He struggles. Yet he manages to prevail.
Flow State – Drive Happiness & Growth
Misogi may uncover the coveted “flow state.”
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a young psychology researcher in the 1960s, noticed something fascinating about artists, how they could become completely present and engrossed in their work. In this state, action, and awareness would merge.
Csikszentmihalyi began studying this state. He would name it “flow state.”
Lapsing into flow requires two conditions: The task must stretch a person’s limits and it must have a clear goal.
The flow state, Csikszentmihalyi and the other researchers now believe, is a key driver of happiness and growth.
It is the opposite of apathy. Csikszentmihalyi discovered flow provides “potential to make life more rich, intense, and meaningful; it is good because it increases the strengths and complexity of the self.”
Watch this 3-minute video on Flow Theory by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
A friend of mine, Brian Harrington, recently shared an idea:
“Leaders seek change, managers seek routine. Managers own processes, leaders’ own relationships!”
When you lead, you seek change in yourself, your business, and your people.
Great Leaders Create a Misogi (Think BHAG, 3HAG) to challenge the team.
A great leader achieves flow in your business, your people, and yourself.
To create an environment where everyone is inspired to give their best, contact Positioning Systems today to schedule a free exploratory meeting.
Growth demands Strategic Discipline.
Building an enduring great organization requires disciplined people, disciplined thought, disciplined action, superior results, producing a distinctive impact on the world.
Discipline sustains momentum, over a long period of time, laying the foundations for lasting endurance.
Meeting Rhythms achieve a disciplined focus on performance metrics to drive growth.
Let Positioning Systems help your business achieve these outcomes on the Four most Important Decisions your business faces:
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