Closing the Gap Between Performance and Peace

I am a Christmas person. I have been collecting beautiful glass Christopher Radko ornaments since high school, and I listen to Rat Pack renditions of holiday classics long before December. This season, I realized I am fixating on the concept of peace. Peace on earth may feel out of reach, yet peace in our everyday lives is possible. A year into running my own business, I am learning that peace is not created by big choices alone. It grows out of the day-in and day-out alignment between the work we do and how we feel doing it.

Earlier this week, I attended a webinar with Patrick Lencioni that connected directly to this idea of peace. He asked why some people can work a straightforward 9-to-5 and feel burned out, while others put in long hours yet remain energized. The answer lies in his Working Genius model, which explains the connection between our natural professional gifts and why certain types of work give us energy while others drain us.

That alone was insightful, but what really struck me was Lencioni’s point about the guilt-and-blame cycle. We channel grit to push through and get better at all parts of our job, yet Lencioni reminded us that we were never meant to be good at everything. You can force yourself through any task, yet doing so makes you more prone to experience a disconnect that leads to self-doubt, guilt, and a constant sense that you do not quite fit the mold. Burnout is only one consequence. The real cost is the erosion of peace.

This disconnect and guilt-and-blame cycle creeps into my clients' work lives, too. They have a coach because their company believes they are high-performing and high potential. They are achieving their KPIs, yet many of them spend an enormous amount of time ruminating on how they come across, whether they say the right thing, or whether others misread their actions. The guilt turns inward, and the blame turns outward in subtle ways, such as attributing their own overwhelm to someone else’s pace or process. Their calendars are full, but their minds are even fuller.

Which raises an important question for this time of year:

If your performance looks strong on paper, why do you not feel confident?

So here is my challenge as we close the year:
Look beyond your KPI performance and ask how aligned your work is with your natural gifts. Where did you feel energized, and where did you feel yourself shrinking? How much time did you spend doing the work, and how much time did you spend questioning yourself for doing it?

Peace at work does not come from perfection or universal capability.
Peace comes from correcting the disconnect between what you do well and what you feel good doing.
Peace grows when your work reflects your strengths, honors your limits, and allows you to show up without guilt or rumination.

That is the kind of peace I am choosing in the year ahead.