The Exponential You (Part 1)
I want to introduce you to an idea I call THE EXPONENTIAL YOU
This is a topic that several of my clients have found to be very helpful to them, but before I can explain it, I need to give a little context.
Throughout human history, the relationship between effort and output has been linear. If you spend one hour digging a ditch, you get about ½ as much work done as you get if you spend two hours digging a ditch. There isn’t a ton of innovation or skill involved in ditch digging, so a veteran ditch digger isn’t much more effective than a rookie ditch digger.
However, with the rise of knowledge work over the last hundred years, we are starting to realize that knowledge work doesn’t follow a linear scale. In fact, it follows an exponential scale.
Unfortunately, most leaders haven’t recognized this fundamental shift, so they are leaving a ton of growth and satisfaction on the table for themselves and their organizations.
For knowledge workers there is a third variable = the quality of the version of you that shows up. I call this the A, B, C, and D version of yourself. A drunk ditch-digger produces pretty much the same result as a sober ditch digger. But the exhausted, angry, or distracted knowledge worker isn’t nearly as good as the happy and well rested version.
We all know this from personal experience, the B version of me isn’t nearly as good as the A version of me. But here is what most people miss:
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE A VERSION OF YOU AND THE B VERSION OF YOU IS NOT LINEAR. IT IS EXPONENTIAL.
Most of us are used to functioning as the B version of ourselves. Especially in a Covid-world, we are used to being exhausted, distracted, disillusioned and anxious. But there is an A version of you, an exponential version of you, that is none of these things. Exponential you is almost magical. Maybe you have experienced this
Where your work almost becomes effortless …
Where you are exponentially better at your job …
Where you lost track of time b/c you were having so much fun …
Where you have seen incredible results with hardly any additional effort …
This is not an accident. While looking back those events may seem random to you, they are not. This is the exponential you, the A version of you. If you’ve never experienced this as work, (I’m sorry) but maybe you have experienced it in school or while pursuing a hobby.
You A version of you isn’t a little better than the B version of you. It is a LOT better. And the key to improved performance, happiness and impact is finding, freeing and weaponizing the exponential you.
Questions to Consider:
How do you find the exponential version of you?
What obstacles are keeping you from being the exponential you?
How do you weaponize the exponential you?
