Do you have "three-pane" resilience?
Why you need three panes of protection, just like round windows on airplanes.
Reading time: 6 minutes
Did you know?
Airplane windows used to be square.
They are round now for safety reasons, not because they look cooler.
In the 1950s, square windows caused crashes due to stress concentration at the corners, leading planes to disintegrate midair. The round design now evenly disperses pressure, preventing fractures.
Each window has three panes:
an outer pane that handles pressurization
a middle pane as a backup, and
an inner “scratcher” pane for passengers to touch.
And ever notice the small hole at the bottom of the window? It ensures the outer pane bears the pressure, preserving the inner pane for emergencies.1
Under pressure
Airplanes are under intense external pressure due to the difference in air pressure between the high-altitude environment outside (at 30,000 feet or higher) and the pressurized cabin inside. This pressure difference is substantial, as the outside air pressure at cruising altitude is much lower than the pressure maintained inside the cabin to keep passengers safe and comfortable.
Throughout your career, you’ll also go through periods of intense external pressure. Some examples:
Organizational changes: reorgs, restructuring, teams merging/splitting, new leaders, mergers and acquisitions, cultural shifts
Transitions: promotions, demotions, layoffs, onboarding to new roles, entering new markets, discontinuing unprofitable product lines or ventures
Deadlines: product launches, quarterly targets, regulatory compliance deadlines, board meetings, investor reports
Performance expectations: meeting goals and KPIs, managing underperforming teams, navigating high-stakes negotiations
Interpersonal dynamics: managing difficult personalities, resolving conflicts, navigating office politics, addressing team morale issues, dealing with stakeholder disagreements
Just as a round airplane window relies on three panes to ensure the safety and comfort of the passengers, you also need a layered approach to navigate the challenges you’ll face. Let’s explore how the principles behind these three panes can apply to your own resilience and well-being.
The Outer Pane: Handling the Pressure
The outer pane of an airplane window is designed to bear the brunt of external pressure, protecting the cabin and its “Peanuts, pretzels, chips or cookies?” occupants. Similarly, to withstand external pressures, it’s crucial we develop strategies to create a strong foundation and bear the brunt of any challenges.
Your outer pane is made up of the things that are often the first things to go when you’re under stress. Here’s my list; yours might be different:
Sleep
Moving my body / sweating
Nutrition
Hydration
Meditating / breathing deeply
Being outdoors in fresh air
Close relationships
You need to always be investing in your outer pane. The good thing about the outer pane, though, is it doesn’t require perfection, only consistency.
If you get less sleep for a few days, don’t exercise for a week, don’t spend quality time with your family or close friends for a few weeks, you’ll survive. Your outer pane will stay intact.
Problems begin when you neglect a mix of all of the above over a long period of time — weeks, months, years. Imagine if an airline never did the required maintenance for the outer window panes. Eventually, they would fail.
Enter the middle pane …
The Middle Pane: Your Backup Systems
Behind the outer pane lies the middle pane, which acts as a failsafe in case the first one fails. This represents your backup systems. Look at your non-negotiables from the first layer above. What are their backup systems? Let’s look at a few examples.
Sleep
If you don’t sleep well one night, you might have acute backup solutions like increasing caffeine intake or taking a power nap mid-day.
If you don’t get enough sleep for a week, you need more recovery solutions like taking a day off work or using a sleep aid to help you fall asleep and stay asleep.
Nutrition
If you don’t eat well for a few days, you might use an acute solution like increasing carbs or sugar to feel a hit of energy.
If you don’t nourish yourself well for several weeks, you will need a recovery solution like increasing water intake, supplementation or detoxing.
These backups systems often kick in without us having to think about it too much, which is what makes them “backups.” Acute backup solutions (e.g., caffeine and sugar) are meant to be used sparingly; recovery solutions get closer to the root cause to help us reset faster and rebuild our outer pane.
Let’s say your foundational (outer pane) and acute + recovery solutions (middle pane) fail. This is where things get intense and you’re in need of the backup to your backups. These are the serious solutions.
The Inner Pane: High-touch Help
If you’ve ever sat on a plane next to a small child on a plane, you know how “high touch” the inner window pane is. It’s like a toy to them. The shade goes up and down, up and down, they push their face against the window, they smear sticky fingers along the small hole at the bottom.
When it comes to resilience, the inner pane is your last layer of defense against external pressures. These are your highest-touch solutions, meaning you can’t have them on “auto-pilot” like your backup systems might be. You have to get really involved on these and possibly make some major changes. Let’s go back to one of our examples:
Sleep
If you “haven’t slept well in years,” it will start to affect everything. Your relationships, your work, your goals, your health, your well-being.
Serious solutions might be getting a sleep study done, seeing a sleep specialist, hormone-balancing, investing in a new bed. You have to keep trying and trying until you find answers.
Same goes for everything else on your “outer pane” list.
My personal experience neglecting all of these . . .
Sleep
Moving my body / sweating
Nutrition
Hydration
Meditating / breathing deeply
Being outdoors in fresh air
Close relationships
for over a decade led to needing serious, high-touch solutions. It took a long time, it was painful, it was expensive, and … it was life-changing.
I shared my experience with this extreme burnout on a podcast end of last year.
Be in Rare Air
Planes fly at 30,000 feet or higher for several reasons:
Fuel efficiency & engine performance: Thinner air reduces drag and optimizes jet engine function.
Avoids weather & traffic: Higher altitudes bypass storms and air traffic congestion.
Safety & pressure balance: More glide time for emergencies, with safe cabin pressurization.
Similarly, you need to choose an altitude to live at that reduces drag on you, optimizes how you function, bypasses things and people that congest your energy, and provides you time to react in emergencies.
Be someone who continuously works on their three-pane resilience. Develop
an outer pane that can handle the pressure,
employ your backup systems, and
know when to bring in the high-touch solutions.
With this, you’ll be in “rare air” indeed!
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/84603/why-are-airplane-windows-round