Op-ed written by Cyrus Howe, Statewide Worksite Lead, Blue Zones Project - Hawai‘i

Leading up to the Olympics this year were the NBA playoffs, an event where millions of Americans tune in to watch some of the country’s most athletic individuals compete for the title of Champion. Professional athletes are esteemed by people the world over as we’re reminded by this year’s summer Olympics. For many, perhaps even most, these athletes’ performances serve as entertainment or something that captivates us for a brief moment in time. But for others, these competitors are much more than the actor on court – they are icons, heroes, and role models. Indeed, many of the very athletes winning medals and trophies today were inspired by sports stars of their own childhood. Greatness – whether it be in sports, economics, biology, or writing novels – doesn’t just erupt spontaneously because genetics allowed it, or the stars aligned. Greatness is built by people. 

People are the x-factor in our environment, which Oxford Languages defines as “the surroundings or conditions in which a person lives or operates” (via Google). For the purposes of this article, we’ll ignore our physical surroundings and focus just on the people part. Let’s take my history as an example of how peoples’ influence has molded me into the happy, healthy person I am today. 

Not accounted for though certainly unforgotten are people like students, bus drivers, tour guides, restaurant servers, librarians, park rangers, and others who comprise society because though they have played a part in my life. Their impact has been a mix of sporadic and cumulative and therefore difficult to map above. In sum, all the people in my life have contributed to me becoming a good-humored food enthusiast who enjoys good company, travel, the outdoors, entertainment and the arts, and having a positive impact on my community. 

Important figures in my upbringing were, of course, my mom and dad. My soccer coaches’ influence is likewise immeasurable – they taught sportsmanship, stewardship (leave the field tidier than when you arrived), grit and toughness, finesse, and how to function as a team – a sort of organization. Increasingly competitive play led to intensive summer camps and guest trainers from Brazil and Europe. Coerver is a Dutch coaching method that introduced us as young lads to the concept of conditioning – optimizing individual performance in terms of speed and technical/tactical skills for the specific purpose of excelling on the soccer pitch.  

A soccer club's vision is championship, its mission is to win games, and it values team members who can work together to outscore the competition each match - are members of your organization so well aligned? Are your supporters familiar with your intentions and how they can help you attain them?

The world around us is constantly conditioning us – in both purposeful and seemingly aimless ways. My diagram above attempts to measure and even qualify the conditioning I’ve been exposed to. Another helpful approach is to simply think about how we spend our time (and money), for this reflects our true values. We work to provide for our family, perhaps saving up for our kids’ education or a vacation. Do we likewise spend quality time in the company of family and friends? How much time are we spending on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Reddit? Are those friends and Internet strangers a positive influence or not? Social media are domains we can control on two fronts: whether or not to participate at all, and if deciding to, how and with whom to follow. 

A business school story I heard told of an experiment done on two call centers – one had a poster of a professional sprinter running at full tilt on their wall by the clock, and the control had nothing. Productivity in the poster group increased measurably. The point of all these stories? We can shape ourselves, our outlook, and even our performance when we know the impacts of our surroundings and how to improve them for our benefit. Coach Bud Nagamine of University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Women’s Soccer articulates this idea brilliantly in her talk, When the Water gets Hot, be a Coffee Bean, not a Carrot (March 2021). 

Who's in your sphere of influence and how can you improve your well-being by being intentional of who you look up to?

Cyrus Howe brings over six years of workplace well-being consulting experience to local employers seeing to improve their employee experience. Email Cyrus to learn more.