I saw one of the Dragons’ Den dragons on my feed announcing a debate on the question of, “Does Talent Want Well-Being or Growth?”.
I reckon it misses the point.
Well-being and growth aren’t opposites, they go hand in hand. But we think we’re forced to choose. No wonder so many people pick growth and end up somewhere on the burnout spectrum.
This morning I watched a video from Lauren Gregory, the trail runner who just won OCC, one of the biggest races of UTMB week in Chamonix.
Months of training and prep. The win of her career. Interviews, celebrations, more interviews.
Then she finally gets to the beach and switches off.
Cue the crash. Tears, emotion, confusion. A feeling that it had all been almost for nothing.
Here’s what struck me.
Her coach had warned her. She knew it might come. And it still floored her. As she put it, being warned is one thing, living it is another.
Exhaustion and emotion travel together. And if it can blindside an elite athlete with a coach and Nike in her corner, it can blindside any of us.
And it does.
A warning isn’t a plan. Something that happens to so many high performers deserves more than a heads-up and “take some time off”.
I’m not having a go at Lauren or her coach. It’s symptomatic of how our whole culture approaches this.
We know how to prepare people to perform. We’re much less interested in teaching them how to remain whole while they do it.
That’s why well-being matters. Understanding yourself, having something solid underneath the highs and lows, and knowing how to come back to yourself isn’t a break from growth.
That IS growth.