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November 13 - November 18, 2019
What is apparent across all high performers is that they anticipate positive social interactions and they strive consciously and consistently to create them.
“one day” really means “never.”
High performers are also working on skills that focus on what I call their primary field of interest (PFI).
focus more on skill building than on casual exploration.
Look to the future. Identify key skills. Obsessively develop those skills.
high performers build their own curriculum.
“If you leave your growth to randomness, you’ll always live in the land of mediocrity.”
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Think about your PFI (primary field of interest) and write down three skills that make people successful in that field. Under each skill, write down what you will do to develop it. Will you read, practice, get a coach, go to a training? When? Set up a plan to develop those skills, put it in your calendar, and stay consistent. Now think about your PFI and write down three skills that you will need in order to succeed in that field five to ten years from now. In other words, try to imagine the future. What new skill sets will you likely need then? Keep those skills on your radar, and start
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high performers care deeply about the difference they are going to make for others and in the future in general, so they cater today’s activities to delivering those contributions with heart and elegance.
They often speak of how all the extra efforts they make to wow people today are vitally important to leaving a lasting legacy tomorrow.
“How can I serve people with excellence and make an extraordinary contribution to the world?”
Relevance has to do with eliminating things that don’t matter anymore.
“What matters now, and how can I deliver it?”
Differentiation allows high performers to look at their industry, their career, and even their relationships for what makes them unique.
Excellence comes from an internal standard that asks, “How can I deliver beyond what’s expected?” For high performers, the questi...
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“What is the primary feeling I want to bring to this situation, and what is the primary feeling I want to get from this situation?”
My automatic emotions don’t have to be in charge. My feelings are my own.
For high level athletes and high performers from all walks of life, flow is a feeling they choose. It is summoned, not a lucky emotion that conveniently happens to show up
In your everyday life, start asking, “What do I want to feel today? How could I define the meaning of the day so that I feel what I want to?”
if you want a positive life, you would do well to summon as much enthusiasm as possible.
“What can I get excited or enthusiastic about
Social relationships, especially with those closest to us, are the most frequently reported sources of meaning in life.
Connection is less about comfort than about challenge.
Passion + Growth + Contribution = Personal Satisfaction
their efforts align with something important, that their work is significant, and that their lives are creating a legacy and feeding a larger purpose.
Clarity Chart™. It’s a one-page journal sheet that I asked her to fill out every Sunday evening for twelve weeks. You can find the short version below, and you can download the full-page version at HighPerformanceHabits.com/tools.
HIGH PERFORMANCE HABIT #2 GENERATE ENERGY “The world belongs to the energetic.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson RELEASE TENSION, SET INTENTION BRING THE JOY OPTIMIZE HEALTH
High performers have the magical trifecta of capital “E” Energy—that holistic kind that includes positive and enduring mental, physical, and emotional vibrancy.
Stress is the ultimate energy and well-being killer. It slows the production of new brain cells, reduces serotonin and dopamine (which are critical to your mood), and fires up your amygdala while simultaneously decreasing your hippocampus function—making you a frazzled person with decreased memory.
you don’t have to “wait” for joy, motivation, love, excitement, or any other positive emotion in life. You can choose to generate it, on demand, any time you want, through the power of habit.
the easiest, fastest, and most effective way to help them increase their energy is to teach them to master transitions.
Close your eyes for the next minute or two. Repeat the word release in your mind over and over. As you do, command your body to release all the tension in your shoulders, in your neck, in your face and jaw. Release the tension in your back and your legs. Release the tension in your mind and spirit. If this is hard, just focus on each part of your body, breathe deeply, and repeat the word release in your mind. This doesn’t have to take long—just a minute or two repeating the word release. When you feel you’ve released some tension—and it doesn’t have to be all the tension in your life!—move to
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RELEASE TENSION, SET INTENTION
If you’d like to go to another level of mastery, try a twenty-minute practice called the Release Meditation Technique (RMT).
Neuroscientists continue to find that people with more meditation experience show increased connectivity within the brain’s attentional networks, as well as between attentional regions and medial frontal regions that are critical to such cognitive skills as maintaining attention and disengaging from distraction.
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if you decide to set one intention that will raise your energy and change your life more than any other, make it to bring more joy into your daily life.
love without joy can feel hollow.
Neuroscientists have even found that positive emotions prompt new cell growth (plasticity), whereas negative emotions cause decay.18
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What can I be excited about today? What or who might trip me up or cause stress, and how can I respond in a positive way, from my highest self? Who can I surprise today with a thank-you, a gift, or a moment of appreciation?
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Neuroscientists have found the same: Anticipation can be just as powerful in releasing hormones such as dopamine, which makes you happy, as the actual positive event.19
Every time I walk through a doorway, I say to myself, “I will find the good in this room. I’m entering this space a happy man ready to serve.”
Whenever something positive happens around me, I say, “What a gift!”
Whenever things felt like they were getting out of hand, I’d stand up, take ten deep breaths, and ask, “What’s the positive thing I can focus on and the next right action of integrity I should take now?”
Exercise increases production of brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF). BDNF causes new neurons to grow in your hippocampus and other areas in the brain, creating increased plasticity and the ability to learn faster, remember more, and improve overall brain function.27
HIGH PERFORMANCE HABIT #3 RAISE NECESSITY “Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.” —Albert Einstein KNOW WHO NEEDS YOUR A GAME AFFIRM THE WHY LEVEL UP YOUR SQUAD
Necessity is the emotional drive that makes great performance a must instead of a preference. Unlike weaker desires that make you want to do something, necessity demands that you take action.
These are the factors in performance necessity (which I call the Four Forces of Necessity): identity, obsession, duty, and urgency.
journaling every night and considering this line of questioning: “Did I perform with excellence today? Did I live up to my values and expectations for giving my best and doing a good job?”
the fastest way to get back in the game is to expect something from yourself again.
You are stronger than you think, and the future holds good things for you. Sure, you might fail. Sure, it might be uncomfortable. But what’s the alternative? Holding back? Landing at the tail end of life and feeling that you didn’t give it your all? Trudging through life safely inside your little bubble bored or complacent? Don’t let that be your fate.
