High Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way

by Brendon Burchard

passion or busyness blinds you to what’s important, just long enough for things to fall apart.

don’t overcommit yourself just because you’re good at what you do. It’s a short hop from badass to burnout.

Don’t let obliviousness to what really matters, or reaching for what doesn’t, slow down all your hard-won momentum.

Confidence is the secret ingredient that makes you rise to the challenge.

When someone is more confident, they consistently have greater clarity, energy, productivity, influence, necessity, and courage.

the more confident you are, the less likely you are to feel burnout from work.

Becoming more confident is good for your health; it decreases burnout; and it makes you feel happy, willing to take on new challenges, and more fulfilled. For these reasons, I like to say that nothing correlates like confidence.

What I found was that high performers simply thought about things that gave them more confidence than others, more often did things that gave them more confidence than others, and avoided things that drain confidence more often than others did.

the more knowledge, skill, ability, or talent—that is, competence—you have at a given task, the more likely you are to be confident and perform well.

Only by showing up consistently, even when you’re the greenest novice, will you ever get that experience and confidence.

This is a vitally important distinction. Underperformers rarely reflect on their lessons learned, and if they do, they are too hard on themselves. And even when they win, they rarely integrate that win into their identity. They did well yet don’t feel any stronger because of it. They just don’t let themselves feel the win. They didn’t get what gamers would call a “power-up.” In conversations with them, it’s obvious that they don’t recognize how much they’ve learned, how far they’ve come, what they are capable of doing now or in the future. They lowball themselves even when they’ve put in the miles. And so they lack confidence.

Confidence comes from being truthful with yourself and others.

Simply put, high performers have learned the tremendous value in relating with others. They’ve discovered that it is by connecting with others that they learn more about themselves and the world.

Curiosity x (Competence + Congruence + Connection) = Confidence