Patrick Mosher uses physics to reframe stress as potential energy you can store and release for power. A coiled spring, heated water, inflated balloon: stressors work like these systems when they push you out of comfort. High performers convert stress into action by learning from challenges and releasing energy at exactly the right moment.
Chapters
Power. It has both positive and negative connotations, doesn't it? Power is defined as the capacity or ability to direct influence on the behavior of others. Power then is capacity or potential. I prefer the physics definition of power: work exerted over time. In the scientific world, Power isn't potential, it's active. It's, it's in the world. Physics would define capacity to exert power more accurately as potential energy. And potential energy is like a hot water temperature gradients between air and water, or it would be an inflated balloon like with air pressure, or a coiled spring that that has elastic energy in it, or a ball dropping, which has distance and gravity. You see, the ball, water, spring, and balloon don't have potential energy until you do something to it. You stress their comfortable situation. Potential energy builds when it wants to return to a more stable state, but it can't. Isn't the same true for us? We define stressors as those things that make us uncomfortable, driving us to action that returns us to a more comfortable state. We even use science to describe potential energy. Time to drop the shoe, which is like gravity. Let's heat things up, which is a temperature gradient. Gotta bounce back, which is a elasticity. Gotta set higher goals, which is a pressure. If you want to learn how to reframe stressors, think of them as potential energy generators, and all it takes is a mindset shift. Think of any stressor you're experiencing right now. Could be a difficult relationship, a missed deadline, an unrealized ambition. You got it? Now, ask yourself these 3 questions: How can this stressor build competency to fill a huge gap? Or how can this stressor be viewed as revealing a new piece of knowledge? Or how can this stressor generate a lesson learned? Here's some mental images you can use to envision and store That stressor is potential energy. Think of that stressor as recoiling springs storing up energy, ready to pop. Think about that stressor turning up the heat on that pot of water on the brink of letting off steam. Think of that stressor as a balloon filling up with more air, stretching the sides. Or think of that stressor as a ball getting lifted higher up in the air, getting ready to drop. In every stressor, there's an opportunity to store beautiful potential energy. Isn't that a more empowering way to look at your stressors? So now that you've stored that stressor's potential energy in a positive way, when should you release it? Well, you see, an object itself doesn't have power. A pot of water just sits. An uncoiled spring just sits. A deflated balloon just sits. And a ball on the floor just sits. Potential energy is defined by the system, not the object. So the water needs a container, it needs heat, and it needs air. The spring needs something to hold it back, like a brick, and it needs that pressure. The balloon needs air and that little hole on the top and a little bit of pressure, and boom, there that is. And then the ball needs the ground, it needs height, And it needs gravity. Are you ready for the real mic drop though? Systems generate power, not people. You don't have power. You exert energy into a system and see how much power is generated by how much people move. Do people act differently because of the energy you released? Now that's power. Finding the optimal time to release your potential energy means you need to read the system, determine the right offer, the right people, and the right time for the maximum impact. In summary, high performers efficiently store potential energy from stressors. They learn from pain, challenge, difficulty, and losses. And then they release that potential energy with the right offer, with the right people, at the right time. This generates power. And this is when you achieve your goals. And this is when you fundamentally change the way people work and live in your community and the world. And this is wisdom for humanity.
