“If you have been avoiding an opportunity to step into your own arena, what’s holding you back? What would your life look like if you did?”
Episode Transcript
Hi there, my name is Cameron Conaway. Welcome to 3-Minute Reframe.
Twenty years ago, I was a professional mixed martial artist. And there is a very specific sound that I will never forget: the metallic clank of the cage door shutting behind me. When that happened, it was go time. It felt like life or death.
In that moment, Theodore Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena” speech stops being a quote on a coffee mug and becomes reality. When that door shut, there was no longer time for thinking. In three seconds, an opponent would be charging at me. The only way to defend myself wasn’t with what I knew intellectually, but with the feedback I had absorbed into my body through countless repetitions.
This experience, as it unfurled in my life over the years, shaped how I view some aspects of leadership. We often think giving and receiving feedback is the beginning and end of the process. But in the arena, those moments when your personal growth is kind of on the edge of positive change, receiving even the greatest feedback ever isn’t enough. You have to integrate it. You have to practice it. You have to get it in your body so it’s there when you most need it. Learning how to slip a punch is fine, but unless I had practiced it thousands of times based on real-time feedback, that skill would not have been there when the pressure hit.
Today, my “cage door” moment happens when I step into a lecture hall, hook up my microphone, and look up at rows of students waiting for guidance. The stakes are different—I’m not concerned about a triangle choke or a left hook—but the need to receive feedback, practice it, and prepare still applies and helps ensure I am maximizing the value I bring to their lives.
Today’s invitation: When in your life does the cage door shut? If you have been avoiding an opportunity to step into your own arena, I invite you not to immediately jump in, but to ask yourself why. What would it look like to step inside? You’ll hear from me next week.
Show Notes
Don't Just Keep Up.
Define the New Rules.
3-Minute Reframe isn't just another newsletter. It’s where new language for modern leadership is forged. Explore some of the frameworks shaping the future of personal and professional growth.