The Muscle Memory We Build in Hard Times

This essay originally appeared in the Monday morning newsletter on 3/30/20.

I heard something last week that reframed my thinking about the unique situation we find ourselves in now. 

A podcast I listened to talked about tech entrepreneur Ben Horowitz and his book (The Hard Things About Hard Things), which discusses the idea of wartime CEOs vs. peacetime CEOs.

I haven’t read Ben’s book, but from what I gather, the general premise is that a certain type of leader is needed when all is going well and a different type of leader is needed when everything is going sideways. It’s a thought-provoking idea and interesting contrast.

Like many of you, work is feeling pretty stressful right now. Assisting with crisis communications and mitigation for a national grocer currently means intense, around-the-clock, impactful work (and nothing compared to the actual employees in the store or the heroic medical professionals in our communities… to all of you, THANK YOU!).

I’m learning a ton and working with one of the best teams around, but I’ve had my moments of overwhelm and burnout. 

Chatting on the phone with one of my co-workers, I filled her in on how I was feeling and she responded with a similar story. For some comic relief, we started sarcastically reminding each other of what used to stress us out at work, before all of this. Each thing we listed felt so trivial in comparison to what we were dealing with now. 

After we hung up, I pondered if we would one day be stressed by those silly things again. Or, are we building up somewhat of a resilience? When one of those silly things comes up in the future, will our muscle memory kick in and remind ourselves of what we’re capable of? 

Relating the wartime vs. peacetime CEO idea to my own professional life, I thought about being a “peacetime” employee. I know how to succeed in times of peace. It’s easy to support a winning team, especially when I have adequate time to train, ask thoughtful questions and define expectations.

But it’s a whole different ball game right now. And while periodic feelings of stress and overwhelm are bound to happen, what if this is also an opportunity to prove to myself that I can survive (and maybe even thrive) as a “wartime” employee? Additionally, if I seize that opportunity and show myself I can survive as a wartime employee, I’m actively building the muscle memory I’ll call upon in future situations and expanding my thinking around what I’m able to handle.

Going outside of work, I think this idea can be applied to a variety of facets in our lives: our commitment to keeping certain habits, the person we are in relationships with family, friends and loved ones, the way we treat ourselves, etc. 

If we can make the effort to show up as our best selves amidst the current circumstances, just imagine what we can do in “peacetime” circumstances.

So this week, I encourage you to look for the moments of joy, be the friend/daughter/sister you strive to be, do the workout and crush it at work. Deciding to thrive in just one of these areas is going to build your muscle memory around how strong you are and what you are able to handle. I know you’ve got this! 

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