Prime (noun)
the state or time of greatest vigour or success in a person’s life.

Hi, I’m Jason. This is where I share openly about the challenges, insights and lessons from my own journey. My hope is that these thoughts spark reflections that help you navigate your own path to living better and leading better. 

Jason Leavy
Founder

Prime Perspective:
Reflections on Leadership and Growth

As I write this I’m sitting in the rooftop cafe of Mission E1 in Spitalfields, London. I’ll be 54 in just over 2 weeks and here I am doing my first ever calisthenics competition.

I’m deliberately writing this now, as regardless of how it plays out, the fact is I wouldn’t be here in the first place if it wasn’t for progressive overload.

If you’ve ever lifted weights consistently or prepared for a marathon, you’ll know all about the principle of progressive overload: gradually increase weight, reps, or frequency to force your muscles to adapt and grow stronger. Without progression, you plateau… or even worse, you decline.

However, I strongly believe progressive overload isn’t just a fitness principle, it’s the fundamental law of growth in every facet of life.

Just think about anything you’ve achieved to date and there’s a certainty about it involving progressive overload:

• Think about that new role that felt overwhelming at first 

• Think about the process of learning a new language or musical instrument

• Think about all those things you never thought you’d be able to do, but eventually managed.

In all those cases, you came through because you applied yourself consistently and you understood that trying to take short cuts or go from 0-100 overnight would not get you where you wanted to go.

Use It Or Lose It 

Neuroscience can teach us so much in this space: “Novelty, focused attention and challenge are essential components of enhancing cognitive function,” according to research published in Neuroplasticity and Clinical Practice.

As a leader, your cognitive performance is your superpower as it dictates your ability to:

• Make complex decisions under pressure

• Manage stress levels

• Regulate your emotions

• Creatively problem-solve 

However, if you truly want to be on your A-game, you need to be intentional about applying those same principles of progressive overload that you may use in the gym, to your capability as a leader.

Don’t retreat into that illusionary ‘comfort zone’ of expertise, adopt an explorer mindset and seek out new experiences that will stretch and challenge you.

The current AI revolution is a perfect example. There’s an inevitable temptation to retreat to what you know when change feels destabilizing. For any leader, that’s a mistake. That way lies irrelevance.

My advice? Reframe this as an opportunity and take off the self-imposed pressure by adopting that explorer mindset – be curious, experiment and embrace those uncomfortable signals in your brain. Remember, that discomfort is evidence of new neural pathways forming, so lean into those sensations instead of avoiding them. It’s progressive overload in action.

Progressive Overload As A Framework For Life

The reason I feel so strongly about this is that the more I’ve studied this, the more excited I’ve become about its effectiveness. It’s evidence-based and in most cases it’s measurable. And the beauty is that it’s personalised in the truest sense of the word in that it scales with your capability. This is your journey, no-one else’s. 

Look at those ‘buckets’ of your life through this lens and think about how you can apply this in practical terms:

• Cognitive: Learn something that genuinely challenges you daily, not easy consumption

• Physical: Set a new goal that you know will challenge you rather than going through the motions 

• Professional: Adopt new skills that will stretch you, not ones you could do in your sleep

• Personal: Think about where you want to show up better, what’s your measure of progress there 

Do it with an explorer mindset.

Do it consistently. 

Just do it. 

Your Choice

Stick to your old patterns and comfort zones and in business terms you’re choosing the path of managed decline. 

So the only question for you right now, is what’s your progressive overload plan for life?