High Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way

by Brendon Burchard

the world cares less about your strengths and personality than about your service and meaningful contributions to others.

at the end of this book, you’ll say to yourself, “I finally know exactly how to be consistently at my best. I’m confident in my ability to figure things out, and fully capable of overcoming adversity on the path of success, for the rest of my life.” You will have a standard mental operating system and proven set of habits that reliably lead to long-term success across many different situations, and across multiple domains of life.

With the right habits, anyone can dramatically increase results and become a high performer in almost any field of endeavor.

High performance is not achieved by a specific kind of person, but rather by a specific set of practices, which I call high performance habits. Anyone can learn them, regardless of experience, strengths, personality, or position.

the central question shifts from “How do I achieve more?” to “How would I like to live?”

high performance refers to succeeding beyond standard norms, consistently over the long term.

It’s not just about achievement in a profession or in just one area of interest. It’s about creating a high performance life, in which you experience an ongoing feeling of full engagement, joy, and confidence that comes from being your best self.

High performers are more successful than their peers, yet they are less stressed.

High performers love challenges and are more confident that they will achieve their goals despite adversity.

We must see beyond what comes naturally to us, and develop into what we must be in order to grow, serve, and lead. High performers get that. They’re less into “finding their strengths” and more into “adaptive service”—exploring what needs fixing and growing into the person who can fix it.

The question they ask is less often “Who am I and what am I good at?” and more often “What is required to be of service here, and how can I grow into that or lead others to deliver that?”

the journey to greatness begins the moment our preferences for comfort and certainty are overruled by a greater purpose that requires challenge and contribution.

Take the assessment at HighPerformanceIndicator.com

the mindset you choose to adopt2 the focus you give to your passions, and the persistence you pursue them with3 the amount of practice you dedicate yourself to4 the way you understand and treat others5 the discipline and constancy with which you strive for your goals6 the way you bounce back from losses7 the amount of physical exercise you do to keep your brain and body fit and your overall well-being cared for8

Seek clarity on who you want to be, how you want to interact with others, what you want, and what will bring you the greatest meaning. As every project or major initiative begins, you ask questions such as “What kind of person do I want to be while I’m doing this?” “How should I treat others?” “What are my intentions and objectives?” “What can I focus on that will bring me a sense of connection and fulfillment?”

Generate energy so that you can maintain focus, effort, and wellbeing.

Raise the necessity for exceptional performance. This means actively tapping into the reasons you absolutely must perform well.

Increase productivity in your primary field of interest. Specifically, focus on prolific quality output (PQO) in the area in which you want to be known and to drive impact.

Develop influence with those around you.

Demonstrate courage by expressing your ideas, taking bold action, and standing up for yourself and others, even in the face of fear, uncertainty, threat, or changing conditions.

Seek clarity. Generate energy. Raise necessity. Increase productivity. Develop Influence. Demonstrate Courage. These are the six habits that you need to adopt if you are to reach high performance in any situation.

Effectiveness in life does not come from focusing on what is automatic, easy, or natural for us. Rather, it is the result of how we consciously strive to meet life’s harder challenges, grow beyond our comforts, and deliberately work to overcome our biases and preferences, so that we may understand, love, serve, and lead others.

In the past two decades of research in neuroscience and positive psychology, researchers have begun to notice the same and flip the old model on its head. What we do with what we have tends to be far more important than what we have in the first place.

When people talk about how they feel in high performance, they report feeling full engagement, joy, and confidence (in that order).

to be fully immersed in what they are doing, they enjoy what they’re doing, and they have confidence in their ability to figure things out.

Rounding out the top five were purposefulness and flow, as in “I fe...

Start bringing your full attention to the moments of your life. Start bringing more joy. Start bringing more confidence.

HIGH PERFORMANCE HABIT #1 SEEK CLARITY “If you don’t have clarity of ideas, you’re just communicating sheer sound.” —Yo-Yo Ma ENVISION THE FUTURE FOUR DETERMINE THE FEELING YOU’RE AFTER DEFINE WHAT’S MEANINGFUL

When people are struggling with their emotions, they often externalize the situation and ask questions about other people instead of owning it.

Improving a bad thing is easy for the achiever. But messing with a good thing? That’s terrifying.

you don’t “have” clarity; you generate it.

You generate clarity by asking questions, researching, trying new things, sorting through life’s opportunities, and sniffing out what’s right for you.

Who am I? (What do I value? What are my strengths and weaknesses?) What are my goals? What’s my plan?

how positive you feel about yourself is tied to how well you know yourself.

you need to have unambiguous and challenging goals.

You should also give yourself deadlines for your goals, or you won’t follow through.

knowing when and where you will do something—can more than double the likelihood of achieving a challenging goal.

the highest performers had a great ability to focus on the future and divine how they would achieve excellence. They didn’t just know who they were; indeed, they rarely focused on their present personality or preferences. Instead, they consistently thought about who they wanted to be and how to become that.

High performers are clear on their intentions for themselves, their social world, their skills, and their service to

High performers know themselves, but they don’t get stuck there.5 They are more focused on sculpting themselves into stronger and more capable people. That’s another big difference: introspection versus intention.

“If you could describe your ideal self in the future, the person you are trying to become, how would you describe that self?”

*

clients report thinking about their ideal future self and engaging in activities related to that almost sixty minutes more per week than the lowest-scoring clients.

high performers imagine a positive version of themselves in the future, and then they actively engage in trying to be that.

Be more intentional about who you want to become. Have vision beyond your current circumstances. Imagine your best future self, and start acting like that person today.

“Did I live fully today? Did I love? Did I matter?”

Describe how you’ve perceived yourself in the following situations over the past several months—with your significant other, at work, with the kids or team, in social situations with strangers. Now ask, “Is that who I really see myself being in the future?” How would my future self look, feel, and behave differently in those situations? If you could describe yourself in just three aspirational words—words that would sum up who you are at your best in the future—what would those words be? Why are those words meaningful to you? Once you find your words, put them in your phone as an alarm label that goes off several times per day.

In every situation that matters, they know who they want to be and how they want to interact with others.

How can I be a good person or leader in this upcoming situation? What will the other person(s) need? What kind of mood and tone do I want to set?

When asked to choose words that describe their best interactions with others, high performers most often responded with words such as thoughtful, appreciative, respectful, open, honest, empathetic, loving, caring, kind, present, and fair.

high performers most valued being respected and appreciated.