Books : The Breakout Principle : Excerpts

Chapter Two: Anatomy of the Trigger

At some point -- when you've been racked by debilitating stress or faced an overwhelming obstacle at work or in your personal life -- you've probably been advised to "let go" or "back off" or "release it." At first, such counterintuitive counsel may seem useless. But in fact, our research shows that "backing off" is far more effective for solving problems and generating creativity than we might ever have imagined.

To put this another way, you will recall that the fundamental principle that drives the Breakout Principle is the ability to break away from prior mental and emotional patterns. In other words, it's necessary to sever your consciousness completely from negative "mental tape recordings." This change of inner direction will automatically turn on an inner switch, which will enable you to generate regular Breakouts and peak experiences that can transform your entire life.

Although this basic trigger mechanism may appear deceptively simple, the process is actually rooted in complex biochemical interactions that occur throughout the brain and elsewhere in the body. As we'll see in the next chapter, for instance, my research suggests that the effective "letting go" of a problem triggers the internal release of nitric oxide, which has been linked to the production of neurotransmitters such as endorphins and dopamine. These neurotransmitters are chemical agents that are produced in brain cells and are sometimes called the body's "natural tranquilizers." They include morphinelike components that enhance feelings of well-being and help mask pain.

Also, the Breakout-related neurotransmitters are associated with positive mental and emotional states, as well as greater creativity, learning ability, memory, and productivity. Such molecular events can be tracked with highly sophisticated medical research tools, such as the fMRI brain-mapping procedures, and innovative techniques of blood analysis.

Even though the Breakout Principle biology is extremely complex, the process can be jump-started by one or more easy-to-understand triggering techniques. But what exactly is this Breakout trigger? How does it work? And most important of all, how can you activate your own internal triggers and open inner portals that may lead to significant personal benefits?

What Is the Breakout Trigger?

You'll recall from the previous chapter that the Breakout trigger is not some isolated event but, rather, constitutes the second step of a distinct four-stage process -- (1) struggle, (2) release, (3) Breakout/peak experience, and finally (4) return to a "normal" but enhanced level of insight or performance. In fact, it's extremely difficult, if not impossible, to trigger a Breakout unless you go through that first step, which I've called the struggle.

To facilitate our discussion of the four-step Breakout process and to clarify the role of the trigger, I've reproduced below the diagram from the previous chapter, with a few minor revisions.

In this revised diagram, you can see that the struggle and release stages now emphasize an important truth about the Breakout process:

A preliminary period of stress is necessary to trigger the benefits of a Breakout -- but the stress should increase only to a certain point.

The struggle stage usually entails extensive preparation, hard work, or comprehensive training. As we saw in the previous chapter, this initial stage may begin voluntarily, as with the decision to embark on a difficult project at work. Or it may be initiated entirely involuntarily, as with a traumatic external event such as the death of a loved one or a national calamity. But regardless of how the process begins, significant stress will be involved in the early stages.

Easily understood illustrations of this phenomenon can be found in any field of endeavor -- from business management...to scientific research...to writing fiction...to religious disciplines...to competitive sports.

Basketball can provide us with a simple illustration of how the Breakout trigger works. For an accomplished shooter to get "in the zone" in a game so that he begins to sink baskets practically every time he attempts a shot, he must first have countless preliminary workouts. Of course, even if a player has logged in extensive hours of practice, he or she may still have a bad game. But the struggle phase will put the player in a much stronger position to experience a Breakout -- as the experience of Cathy demonstrates.

The "go-to" guard

Beginning when she was only nine years old on a community league team, Cathy, a shooting guard, spent many hours on the basketball court. By the time she reached high school, she had taken thousands of practice shots from every conceivable angle and position on the court. As the years went by, she gained a reputation as the best outside shooter on her middle school and junior varsity high school teams.

Finally, after working her way into a starting position on the varsity in her junior year, Cathy became the "go-to" player who was expected to score regularly in double figures and hit crucial shots that could make the difference between a win and a loss. At first, however, the pressure of this role didn't lead to superior performance.

In one of her early junior-year games, on orders from the coach, Cathy took thirteen shots from the field -- and missed every one. She ended up with only three points, all of which came from the free throw line. To make matters worse, her team lost by a wide margin. Depressed by her performance, Cathy began to wonder if she had picked the right sport. The constant weight of responsibility for her team's performance caused her to tighten up even more in subsequent games, and she continued to shoot erratically.

About halfway into the season, a trusted adult adviser who was a teacher, helped Cathy put the situation in perspective. The teacher encouraged her to try to understand that "basketball is not life." The man approached the girl's problem with a two-part strategy. First, he emphasized that friendships, family relationships, and "higher personal values" were more important in the long run than a high school sport. Second, he suggested that Cathy focus on the performance of the entire team, rather than just on her own statistics.

"Remember there are always four other players out there on the court," he said. "Try thinking about them more than you think about yourself. Try forgetting yourself for once! By placing your importance in front of everything, you're getting in the way of a successful outcome."

This was a classic statement -- rooted in a particular spiritual tradition -- in the principle of "letting go," "backing off," or "releasing" the stress and pressure that accompany every preliminary struggle experience. So before Cathy would play in a game, she got into the habit of invoking what her teacher called an "altruistic moment." She consciously placed a mental image of each team member at the forefront of her mind and gently turned away from thoughts of herself.

Finally, Cathy's teacher did some periodic personal cheerleading to reinforce her newly emerging, outward-looking mind-set. For example, he would say, "Come on, Cathy! Let it go! Give it over! We both know basketball is just a game. It's the members of the team -- those friends of yours out there on the court -- who really count. So when you get out there, have fun, and see what happens!"

With such adult encouragement, Cathy's stress declined to manageable levels, and her shooting during games improved markedly. But paradoxically, the most powerful factor in her transformation seems to have been her new selfless attitude, which resulted in dramatically improved teamwork. She found that she was constantly being set up for easy shots because her teammates were now thinking of her almost as much as she was thinking of them.

In a regional play-off game during her senior year, Cathy turned in an almost unheard-of performance in basketball: a near perfect shooting game. She sank eight out of eight free throws and seven of eight field goals, including several three-pointers, and led her team to the next round of the state play-offs.

Throughout the game, Cathy sensed that she could do no wrong, either in her shooting or ball handling. Somehow, she was at one with the basket and with her teammates. In other words, she was playing "in the zone." Yet this peak experience had become possible only because she had successfully negotiated the struggle phase of her training and then "pulled" the Breakout trigger with an altruistic, "let go" attitude.

This story has a happy epilogue. The tape of this play-off game was a decisive factor in Cathy's being recruited by several college coaches, and she went on to play varsity basketball in college.

To sum up, then, years of sweat and struggle will typically precede a Breakout, which has the power to transform your life. Without preliminary hard work and stress, a superior performance in any field of achievement -- and especially a series of superior performances -- is unlikely. Sweat must always precede release.

But far from being just a restatement of some superficial self-help formula, the dynamic movement from struggle to Breakout is backed up by a long tradition of scientific research -- which has implications that reach far beyond the sport of basketball.

The Science Behind the Struggle

In the annals of modern medicine, one of the earliest statements of how the struggle stage works came from Robert M. Yerkes and John D. Dodson, two researchers who worked in the Harvard Physiologic Laboratory almost one hundred years ago.

They demonstrated conclusively in 1908 that as stress increases, so do efficiency and performance. In other words, in the initial phase of any project, we need to prepare, work hard, and analyze to be maximally productive. But the link between pressure and performance persists only to a certain point. When stress becomes too great, performance and efficiency tend to decline, the Harvard researchers discovered.

Most of us have experienced this "backfire" quality of stress when such factors as excessive hard work, anxiety, or insomnia begin to cut significantly into the potential for superior achievement. This often-overlooked Yerkes-Dodson Law can be expressed in the following diagram:

For years, scientists have been intrigued by the simple yet profound conclusions of Yerkes and Dodson. For example, Indian researchers, testing the relationship between menstrual stress and decline in performance on intelligence tests, affirmed the basic operation of the Yerkes-Dodson findings (Psychological Reports 78 [1996]: 51-58). Moreover, a Swedish study explored the application of the Yerkes-Dodson Law to impairment of memory in eyewitnesses who are under excessive stress (Psychological Bulletin 112 [1992]: 284-309).

Over the years, I have also made some contributions to the Yerkes-Dodson concept, especially as the law applies to business leaders. For example, in an article I coauthored in the Harvard Business Review with Robert L. Allen, former executive director of the Henry P. Kendall Foundation, we used the Yerkes-Dodson Law as a springboard to discuss ways by which executives could balance stress to achieve maximum productivity in a corporate setting. Our basic message was that those under significant stress at work must back off before the stress begins to undermine productivity and creativity (HBR 58 [1980]: 86-92).

In the end, the person who successfully balances stress according to the Yerkes-Dodson Law will be in a strong position to experience a Breakout. But those who hope to trigger a Breakout must educate themselves, as with any new concept, so that they can recognize the circumstances that typically accompany this phenomenon.

Becoming more alert for Breakout opportunities

I sometimes hear this complaint: "I'm not accustomed to thinking in terms of Breakouts -- so I worry that I may be missing chances to become more creative or improve myself. How can I take better advantage of my Breakout possibilities?"

Plunkitt of Tammany Hall once said, "I seen my opportunities and I took 'em!" A similar mind-set will work with Breakouts if you can condition yourself to recognize and exploit situations during the "struggle" phase that have the potential to trigger these experiences. One way to become more alert is to compile your own personal checklist of situations or problems that may lend themselves to a Breakout response. For example, we immediately begin to look for a Breakout solution in situations where the person:

• Confronts a particularly knotty problem at work -- particularly one that demands a creative or out-of-the-box solution.
• Meets a seemingly insurmountable challenge in family or personal life.
• Encounters a person who is especially hard to get along with.
• Wrestles with a spiritual issue.
• Faces any situation that heightens anxiety.

In considering potential Breakout scenarios, we advise dividing the possibilities into one of two types of situations, which were mentioned earlier:

1. A struggle that begins voluntarily with an act of the will.
2. A struggle that is imposed involuntarily, usually by some outside event.

When the Breakout process begins in a mostly voluntary way -- such as in business management, scientific research, or serious athletic competition -- you must usually decide at the outset to put in a significant amount of preliminary hard work and training. In other words, it will take a firm prior commitment and solid preparation before you can hope to build a platform from which a Breakout can occur. Conversely, if you don't work and train sufficiently, a Breakout will probably never happen.

But sometimes -- such as with a family tragedy, the loss of a job, a spiritual crisis, or a community disaster -- the initial stress may be thrust upon you. In such situations, you don't have a choice whether to deal with a problem. Circumstances have generated turmoil and angst.

But even such involuntary stress can lead to the trigger of a Breakout -- especially Breakouts that lead to profound self-awareness. As the following illustration shows, you can respond to the unwanted pressure in a way that increases your chances of triggering a Breakout and an accompanying resolution of the problem.

Triumph over national tragedy

In the wake of the horrific terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001, Chuck, a former New Yorker whom I have known for many years, was beset by inner turmoil. Because he was in touch with many friends in Manhattan who were dealing with the disaster, he found he had trouble focusing on his work or sleeping at night. Also, he worried about the future of the American economy and political stability.

As Chuck contacted his New York acquaintances, he found many of them far more numbed, grief-stricken, and disoriented than himself. To varying degrees, they were experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, which may follow exposure to war, a serious crime, or other physical attack.

Some wrestled constantly with their fears that the terrorists might strike again. Others were afraid to return to their offices in other Manhattan skyscrapers. Still others, in their efforts to explain events in a comforting way to their frightened children, became frustrated as they dug deeply into their spiritual and emotional resources for answers. They sometimes found that these reservoirs of strength were much shallower than they had ever suspected.

Worried about the anguish of his friends and the future of American society, Chuck felt immobilized for days after the disaster. Even though he now lived far away from New York City, he periodically lapsed into tears for no obvious reason -- a probable sign that he was grieving. But then two experiences helped stabilize his emotions by moving him into the Breakout process.

The first Breakout occurred after a particularly intense phone conversation with a friend in Manhattan who had lost a business associate in the World Trade Center collapse. That discussion, plus exposure to ongoing television reports about the disaster, left Chuck wide-eyed on his bed that night, with anxious thoughts rushing through his mind.

But then he remembered a familiar passage from the Psalms that he had always found comforting -- "The Lord is my shepherd..." (Psalm 23). Following advice I had given him years before, he began to repeat this phrase silently over and over to himself. The comforting repetition of the passage soon broke Chuck's train of worried thoughts, and he drifted off to sleep. The next morning, he felt more at peace and sensed he had somehow tapped into spiritual resources that were stabilizing his emotions and enabling him to deal with the tragedy.

To maintain his more tranquil feelings of self-awareness (see Chapter 6 on the "peak experience" of self-awareness), Chuck continued to repeat the line from Psalm 23 regularly during the day. But he still remained concerned and confused about what the terrorist attacks meant for the future of American society and the economy.

In the midst of one of these confused periods, an unexpected event -- President George W. Bush's address to a joint session of Congress and the nation on September 20, 2001 -- triggered another important inner change in Chuck. Because Chuck had a strong sense that a higher, divine power was at work in the crisis, several sections in the president's speech resonated with him, almost as a liturgical reading might provide "comforting words" in a religious service:

• "I ask you to live your lives and hug your children. I know many citizens have fears tonight and I ask you to be calm and resolute, even in the face of a continuing threat."
• "Please continue praying for the victims of terror and their families, for those in uniform and for our great country. Prayer has comforted us in sorrow and will help strengthen us for the journey ahead."
• "Even grief recedes with time and grace."
• "The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war. And we know that God is not neutral between them."

After the speech, Chuck felt a peculiar inner comfort. He sensed that even though the future might be uncertain, forces were at work that had the power to resolve the crisis. In effect, the speech of a political leader, communicated over his television set, had severed prior negative thought patterns and produced another Breakout.

Caution: In Chuck's situation, as well as in other experiences that incorporate a spiritual dimension, I want to make this clear: I am in no way attempting to minimize the possible presence or operation of some force outside the individual -- a divine force, if you will. As scientists, we are limited in what we can measure. I do know from brain-mapping and other physiologic tests that a biological mechanism is involved in these Breakouts. But I would never deny that a scientifically unmeasurable transcendent force may also be at work in bringing about certain beneficial changes.

As you can see from Chuck's experiences, Breakouts that have the power to move you through life's rough spots can be triggered in a variety of unexpected ways. In fact, in light of ongoing recent research, I now realize that, so long as the basic, underlying biochemical release mechanisms are engaged, literally countless triggers can produce Breakouts. These Breakouts can, in turn, open inner doors to life-changing peak experiences, such as the increasing sense of inner stability and self-awareness that Chuck discovered. Now, let's explore how you might select a trigger that will best suit your problem and personality.

Selecting Your Trigger

Although it's impossible to draw up an exhaustive list of every activity or setting that may produce a Breakout, each of the triggers mentioned below has worked well for at least some individuals. In other words, they represent categories that have demonstrated the power to stimulate the biological changes commonly associated with Breakouts and peak experiences.

As you read through these options, stop at each one and ask: Is it possible that this approach, or something like this approach, would work for me?

Also, arrange to have a pen and paper, or better yet -- a personal journal -- close at hand. When you are reminded of a particular activity or event in your life that's similar to the one listed, jot the memory down for later reference. From now on, you'll be compiling data that you'll use to formulate your personal Breakout strategy. In the end, you'll discard much of what you record, but a few of your thoughts in the next few minutes -- perhaps just one or two -- may very well constitute your first step toward a Breakout.

Above all, remember your ultimate objective!

What you're trying to do in these pages is to gather information and formulate guidelines that can revolutionize your life. You're searching both for the secret to transforming your life fundamentally, and also for the inner staying power that will render that transformation permanent.

Furthermore, as you begin to seek the release mechanism that will automatically throw an inner Breakout switch, you are embarking on the first, or "struggle," phase of this personal experiment. That is, you are studying, thinking, and analyzing -- laying the necessary groundwork so that step two can occur. When the time is right, you'll "back off" and begin to trigger important Breakouts in your life.

Finally, don't worry about coming up with definitive answers at this point about exactly what trigger or triggers to employ. Your objective right now is simply to begin remembering and evaluating the events and experiences in your life that may have the potential to trigger a Breakout. This exercise will firmly fix in your mind some practical tools you can use to switch on this experience.

Now here are some of the broad categories of activities or interests that can trigger a Breakout in your life -- and some illustrations of specific activities that may utilize that trigger. Any of these could break prior mental patterns and lay the groundwork for a Breakout.

Spiritual Triggers

• Prayer, as defined by your religious tradition
• Meditation, as understood by your tradition
• Contemplation, as understood by your tradition
• "Eastern" triggers, such as tai chi, chi gong, or yoga
• Repeating for several minutes any positive or meaningful word or phrase
• Sitting quietly by yourself or with a group in a chapel or house of worship

Musical Triggers

• Listening to your favorite music
• Listening to Mozart or Bach, even if you're not used to the experience
• Playing or singing music with which you are familiar

Cultural Triggers

• Viewing a work of art, such as a painting or a sculpture
• Reading or listening to poetry or a particularly stirring speech or prose passage
• Sitting quietly in a tranquil building or other architectural space

Water-Related Triggers

• Taking a long shower
• Soaking in a bathtub or hot tub
• Sitting or floating in a quiet swimming pool or other water

Rest-Room Triggers

• Shaving
• Putting on makeup
• Grooming with a repetitive routine

Athletic Triggers

• Walking, jogging, bicycling, or performing any other repetitive exercise for at least fifteen minutes
• Becoming absorbed visually in a sport -- such as by focusing intently on a tennis ball or a basketball, or watching closely the players' movements on the court or field without thinking analytically about it
• Combining repetitive mental exercises, such as prayer or meditation, with sports characterized by irregular movements, such as tennis (e.g., counting strings on a tennis racket or meditating silently between points)
• Golfing alone
• Repetitive practice (e.g., golfing range, batting cage)

Repetitive-Movement Triggers

• Needlepoint (see the example of Jason in the previous chapter)
• Regular, conscious breathing
• Slowly beating a drum

Nature Triggers

• Sitting quietly in a garden
• Gazing over a seascape or a mountain range
• Strolling silently through the woods
• Fishing

Housework-Yardwork Triggers

• Doing the dishes
• Gardening
• Doing repair work around the house or apartment
• Cooking
• Folding laundry

Surrender Triggers

• Relinquishing control over a personal or a job problem
• Imagining and accepting a "worst-case scenario" -- or the worst possible thing that could happen to you in the circumstances

Restaurant Triggers

• Eating at a quiet restaurant, either alone or with one other person with whom you feel entirely comfortable

Animal/Pet Triggers

• Sitting quietly with your pet
• Humming to, speaking quietly to, or otherwise communicating with or rubbing a calm animal
• Observing fish in an aquarium

Altruistic Triggers

• Becoming involved in some significant way in helping others
• Turning from a focus on yourself and your problem to the responses and needs of your companions or coworkers (see the example of Cathy above)

Brainstorming Triggers

• Sharing ideas with an occupational or volunteer group about a common problem
• Free-associating with one or more family members or friends about a common concern
• Forming and relying on a Breakout Network to solve certain problems at work or in volunteer activities (see below)

At first blush, these activities may seem totally different from one another. In fact, they all have one major factor in common: the power to sever prior mental patterns -- and that's what the Breakout trigger is all about. In most cases, it's best to "pull the trigger" alone. But as the final example above suggests, in some circumstances the most effective Breakouts result from a team effort -- or what I call Breakout Networks.

A Preliminary Word About Breakout Networks

Although much of this book focuses on the application of the Breakout concept to the individual, groups can also play a broad and powerful role through a Breakout Network.

These networks -- which typically involve three to eight participants -- may work in business and volunteer organizations, as well as in families and other intimate personal relationships. In these small groups, several people work and think together to break prior unproductive thought patterns. This joint process sets the stage to trigger new ideas and insights in individuals or groups that can provide broad benefits to all.

Later chapters will deal in more detail with the operation of these Breakout Networks. In the meantime, to understand the variety of ways that these networks can work, consider this summary of possibilities:

• A "moonshine shop" -- or freewheeling idea-and-innovation team -- may work in unconventional ways at odd hours to create new possibilities in a business organization.
• A college admissions committee may go for a walk together and, during the outing, find a new, more productive way of evaluating prospective students.
• A church or synagogue board may use a spiritual retreat to break administrative logjams.
• A dysfunctional or troubled family may work through serious interpersonal problems while relaxing on a quiet beach.
• A husband and wife on the verge of divorce may repair their marriage by putting aside all talk and spending a weekend at a resort.

Those who succeed in learning to break prior negative thought patterns, either individually or in groups, and who understand the principles of the Breakout trigger, are more likely to move automatically into a life-transforming peak experience. When this happens, certain biochemical responses begin to occur in the body -- including responses that involve what I call the "spirit" of peak experience.