One of my favorite commercials I’ve run across recently is one from Red Bull with monks in a sand garden. It’s the subtle genius of it. The commercial shows a young monk raking an area of sand in circles. He started from the outside and worked his way in close to the center only to find himself stuck in the middle of a pile of sand with no place to move. The older monks respond with a comment of the young monk making the typical beginner mistake. He started from the outside.
While Red Bull gave this young man wings to work his way out of his predicament, the reality of life doesn’t let us become successful working from the outside in. For authentic and sustainable growth and success, the priority must come inward for us to be great outward.
The inner game represents the mentality we choose to bring to all of life’s endeavors. It’s how we choose to show up each day ready to grow and develop. It’s how we bounce back from adversity. It’s how we seek challenges for growth. The inner game is building the mind to embrace the journey to find our best authentic selves.
The outer game is the skills and abilities displayed in public. It’s what we accomplish at work or the relationships we have. It’s the music or sports we can play. It’s the workouts we do and the food we intake for our body. All a very visible part of the world.
Success can happen in the outer game with natural talent. Someone could be naturally strong and big and look good in a weight room. Another person may have a great feel for working with others and always has great sales numbers. The problem becomes natural talent plateaus at some point and growth and development slows drastically. Not only has stunted growth become an issue but this outer game success no longer is sustainable. If we want continued success in the outer game, we must develop sustainable habits that come from working on the inner game.
When the inner game becomes a focal point to how we invest in our personal development, we start to understand and embrace the daily habits we need for our authentic success. We stop becoming only outcome focused and bring in a broader perspective that failures now lead to lessons learned on our path to success. We develop our perseverance to handle the hurdles life will put in front of us. We see the benefits that come with the struggle of challenging ourselves because those struggles open the mind to realizing we can do hard things.
The inner game will always be the catalyst to growing and developing our outer game success. While we may struggle with patience and have the thirst for immediate outer game success, winning the inner game creates the behaviors and standards for long lasting success. When the inner game is won, the outer game will come.
Take your step: identify one area in your life that you’re working to improve but have been too focused on short-term results. Reflect on the habits you’ve instilled and where your focus has been. Does the focus tend to be only outcome based? Outcomes matter, but there must be investment of time well beyond short term results. Shift to allocating more time to working on your inner game. Challenge yourself, look at opportunities as ways to grow, and take the rough spots that come with growth head on. Invest time and energy in the inner game to create a path of more sustainable success.