11/28/2025
Most high-achieving executives I work with think they have a discipline problem.
They don't.
They have a coordination problem.
Here's what I mean:
You hire a trainer. They push you harder.
You hire a therapist. They dig into emotional work.
You hire a nutritionist. They optimize your meals.
All good moves, right?
Except your sleep is collapsing, your stress is spiking, and your energy is becoming wildly unpredictable.
Why?
Because **local optimization creates global dysfunction.**
Elite athletes figured this out years ago. They stopped hiring fragmented specialists and started building coordinated performance teams. One system. One strategy. Everything working together.
That's why their improvements compound instead of conflict.
Executives? We're still operating like we can optimize one area at a time and hope it all works out.
It doesn't.
Your body works as a system. Your life works as a system. Your support team must too.
When your fitness plan doesn't account for your sleep schedule…
When your stress management doesn't align with your recovery capacity…
When your productivity tools don't consider your energy patterns…
You're not underperforming because you lack discipline.
You're underperforming because your system is fighting itself.
The shift?
Stop hiring specialists to fix problems. Start building a coordinated performance system that prevents them.
That's how athletes perform predictably under pressure.
That's how executives can too.
Quick question: What's one area of your performance that feels like it's fighting against another right now? https://www.kathieowen.com/blog/why-executives-need-coordinated-performance-systems
