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Last updated April 10, 2022

Status:: { Books MOC Author:: Medium:: #literature/books/ Tags:: Links: { High Performance Habits Application

{ High Performance Habits

HPH

1 - Clarity

Practices

Envision the future four

High performers are clear on their intentions for themselves, their social world, their skills, and their service to others. I call these areas self, social, skills, and service, or the Future Four.

PP
  1. When I think about the Future Four—self, social, skill, and service—the area that I haven’t had as much intention in as I should is . . .
  2. The areas in which I have not been considering those I serve and lead are . . .
  3. To leave a lasting legacy, the contributions I can start making now are . . .
Determine the feeling you’re after

Ask yourself frequently, “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?”

PP
  1. The emotions I’ve been experiencing a lot of lately are . . .
  2. The areas of life where I’m not having the feelings I want to are . . .
  3. The feelings I want to experience more of in life include . . .
  4. The next time I feel a negative emotion come up, the thing I’m going to say to myself is . . .
Determine what’s meaningful

Figuring out what is going to be meaningful to their life experience. They spend more of their time doing things that they find meaningful, and this makes them happy.

PP
  1. The activities that I currently do that bring me the most meaning are . . .
  2. The activities or projects that I should stop doing, because they are not bringing me any sense of meaning, are . . .
  3. If I was going to add new activities that bring me more meaning, the first ones I would add would be . . .

Actions

2 - Energy

Make improving your energy a commitment. Start taking more moments during the day to release the tension in your body and mind. Choose to bring joy to your everyday life experience. And decide right now that over the next twelve months, you’re going to get in the best shape of your life. I know, that’s a high bar to set. But if that were the only decision you ever made from a book like this, the effort alone would change your life

Practices

Release tension, set intention

Master transitions between activities and environments

PP
  1. The things that cause me the most amount of tension each day are . . .
  2. A way I could remind myself to release that tension throughout the day is . . .
  3. If I felt more energy each day, I would be more likely to . . .
  4. When I reset my energy each day with this practice, I’d like to start the next activity feeling . . .
Bring the Joy

Joy won’t just make you a high performer, it will cue almost every other positive human emotion we desire in life. I don’t know of any more important emotion than love, though I also believe that love without joy can feel hollow.

PP
  1. Three questions I could ask myself every morning to prompt positive emotions for the rest of the day could be . . .
  2. Some new triggers I could set for myself include (see my examples of notification, doorway, and waiting-in-line triggers) . . .
  3. A new routine I could begin for replaying the positive moments of my days is . . .
Optimize Health

Fitness, diet, sleep

PP
  1. I want to get as physically healthy as I can at this stage of my life because . . .
  2. If I was going to get in the best shape of my life, the first three things I would stop doing would be . . .
  3. The things I would start doing include . . .
  4. A weekly schedule that I could use to get healthier and actually stick to would be . . .

Actions

3 - 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 !Pasted image 20211208112349.png

Know who needs your a-game

From now on, whenever you sit down at your desk—that’s the trigger action—ask:

“Who needs me on my A game the most right now?”

Flow Conditions
  1. You have goals that are clear and challenging yet attainable.
  2. Strong concentration and focused attention are required.
  3. The thing you’re doing is intrinsically rewarding.
  4. You lose self-consciousness a bit and feel serene.
  5. Time stops—you feel so focused on the present that you lose track of time.
  6. You’re getting immediate feedback on your performance.
  7. There’s a balance between your skill level and the challenge presented. You know that what you’re doing is doable even if difficult.
  8. You have a sense of personal control over the situation and the outcome.
  9. You stop thinking about your physical needs.
  10. You have the ability to focus completely on the activity at hand.
PP
  1. The people who need me on my A game at this point in my life are . . .
  2. The reasons each of those people need me include . . .
  3. The reasons I want to become a high performer for each of these people are . . .
  4. I know that I’m on my A game when I think, feel, or behave . . .
  5. The things that throw me off my A game are . . .
  6. I can deal more effectively with those things by . . .
  7. A few reminders I could set up for myself to be my best for the people in my life could include . . .
Affirm the why

Confidently affirm their goals to themselves and others

PP
  1. Three things I would like to become extraordinary at doing are . . .
  2. My whys for becoming excellent in each of these areas are . . .
  3. The people I will tell about these goals and the whys behind them include . . .
  4. The things I can say out loud to myself to affirm these whys—my affirmations—are . . .
  5. Some ways I can remind myself about these important goals and whys are . . .
Level up your squad

Get around some new people who expect and value high performance. Expand your peer group to include more people who have greater expertise or success than you, and spend more time with them. So it’s not just about increasing time with your current squad of positive or successful peers, but about adding new people to the squad as well.

PP
  1. The most positive people in my life who I should hang out with more include . . .
  2. To add to the number of high performers in my network, I should . . .
  3. Some new routines or get-togethers I could create to bring together the positive and supportive people in my life could include . . .

4 - Productivity

Practices

Increase Important Outputs

Produce more than your peers in the long-term.

Figuring out what you are supposed to produce in your field, and learn the priorities in the creation, quality, and frequency of that output

Spend 60% of your time on your prolific quality output (POQ), and the other 40% supporting it

PP
  1. The outputs that matter most to my career are . . .
  2. Some things I could stop doing so I can focus more on PQO are . . .
  3. The percentage of my weekly time I will allocate to PQO is . . .
Chart Your Five Moves
Steps
  1. Decide what you want
  2. Determine 5 moves
  3. Do deep work on the 5 moves; >60% of your time, until they are completed
  4. Remove or delegate everything else into the other 40%
PP
  1. Biggest goal or dream I have to plan out right now is…
  2. The five moves taht would help me progress swiftly toward accomplishing that dream are …
  3. The timeline for each of my five moves will be …
  4. Five people who have achieved taht dream who I could study, seek out, interview, or model are
  5. The less important activities or bad habits I’m going to cut out of my schedule so that I can focus more time on the five moves in the next three months include…
Get Good at Key Skills
Steps

Related to Deliberate Practice

  1. Determine a skill that you want to master.
  2. Set specific stretch goals on your path to developing that skill.
  3. Attach high levels of emotion and meaning to your journey and your results.
  4. Identify the factors critical to success, and develop your strengths in those areas (and fix your weaknesses with equal fervor).
  5. Develop visualizations that clearly imagine what success and failure look like.
  6. Schedule challenging practices developed by experts or through careful thought.
  7. Measure your progress and get outside feedback.
  8. Socialize your learning and efforts by practicing or competing with others.
  9. Continue setting higher-level goals so that you keep improving.
  10. Teach others what you are learning.
Example
  1. You determined that you specifically wanted to develop your skill as a freestyle swimmer. (You decided you weren’t going to mess with the backstroke, breaststroke, or butterfly.)
  2. You set goals for how fast and efficiently you entered the water, swam a lap, executed a turn, finished your last ten meters.
  3. Before every practice, you reminded yourself why it was so important for you to get better at this, and you talked about your goals with someone who cared about your performance. Maybe your why is to get fitter, win a swim meet, or lap your best friend a few times.
  4. You determined that a critical factor to success was your ability to work your hips efficiently in the water and that your major weakness was a lack of finishing stamina.
  5. Every night, you visualized the perfect race, imagining in detail how you would move through the water, kick off the turn, power through fatigue, go for it in the last few strokes.
  6. You worked with an expert swim coach who could give you regular feedback and who helped you design harder and harder practices to reach higher and higher goals.
  7. You measured your progress in a journal every time you swam, and reviewed the journal, looking for insights on your performance.
  8. You consistently swam with people you really enjoyed swimming with, and you entered competitions so that you could face better swimmers than you.
  9. After every swim session, you set higher goals for the next session.
  10. Once per week, you formally mentored another swimmer on your team or taught a swim class at the local community center.
PP
  1. Three skills I could develop that would help me feel more confident or capable are . . .
  2. The simple steps I could take to improve those skills include . . .
  3. The coaches or mentors I could seek out concerning those skills are . . .

5 - Influence

Practices

Teach People How to Think

“How should we approach . . .” “What should we be paying attention to . . .” No doubt, you’ve said one of these things to someone recently. You were trying to elicit an idea or guide their thinking.

When people complain, be they children or our peers at work, we have an extraordinary opportunity to direct their thinking. What if you shared with your child how you used to think about homework, and how a simple change in the way you thought about it helped you do better in school and even enjoy the process? What if you asked her what she thought of herself while doing the work, and helped her reframe her identity? What if you brought in how to think of her teachers and peers? What do you think might happen if you spoke with her about how the world perceives people who follow through?

Prompts to know prior to confrontation:

PP
  1. Someone in my life I would like to influence more is . . .
  2. The way I would like to influence them is . . .
  3. If I could tell them how they should think of themselves, I would say . . .
  4. If I could tell them how they should think of other people, I would say . . .
  5. If I could tell them how they should think of the world in general, I would say . . .
Challenge People to Grow
Challenge their Character

give people feedback, direction, and high expectations for living up to universal values such as honesty, integrity, responsibility, self-control, patience, hard work, and persistence.

“Looking back, do you feel you gave it your all?” “Are you bringing the best of you to this situation?” “What values were you trying to embody when you did that?”

Challenge their Connections

challenge others concerns their connections with others—their relationships

“Listen to one another more.” “Show each other more respect.” “Support each other more.” “Spend more time with each other.” “Give each other more feedback.”

Challenge their Contributions

push them to add more value or to be more generous.

PP

Think about a person in your life you are trying to influence positively, and complete the following sentences:

Character

  1. The person I am trying to influence has the following character strengths . . .
  2. She could become a stronger person if she . . .
  3. She is probably too hard on herself in this area . . .
  4. If I could tell her how to improve who she is, I would tell her . . .
  5. If I could inspire her to want to be a better person, I’d probably say something like . . .

Connection

  1. The way I want this person to interact differently with others is to . . .
  2. Often, this person doesn’t connect as well with others as I would like, because he . . .
  3. What would inspire this person to treat other people better is to . . .

**Contribution **

  1. The greatest contribution this person is making is . . .
  2. The areas where this person isn’t contributing well enough are . . .
  3. What I really want this person to contribute more of is . . .
Role Model the Way

Seventy-one percent say they think about it daily. They say they want to be a good role model for their family, the team, and the greater community. Think about it much more often and specifically in relation to how you are seeking to influence others to achieve a specific outcome

Be as much of a role model as your own role models.

PP
  1. If I were going to approach my relationships and career as an even better role model, the first things I would start doing are . . .
  2. Someone who really needs me to lead and be a strong role model right now is . . .
  3. Some ideas on how I can be a role model for that person are . . .
  4. If, ten years from now, the five closest people to me in my life were to describe me as a role model, I would hope they said things like . . .

Actions

6 - Courage

Persistence despite fear Define our personal definition of courage and live that way.

Practices

HONOR THE STRUGGLE

Society has been avoiding struggle, we need to make it positive and necessary, to utilize it

PP
  1. A struggle I’ve been facing in my life is . . .
  2. The way I could change my view of this struggle is . . .
  3. If something great could come from this struggle, it would be . . .
  4. The way I choose to greet life’s inevitable hardships from today forward is . . .
SHARE YOUR TRUTH AND AMBITIONS

Don’t hide what you’re trying to do

Do not dare play small, my friend. Do not feel guilt because you have high aims. Those dreams were seeded in your soul for a reason, and it is your duty to honor them. Do not hold back in life just to comfort or placate those around you. Holding back is not humility; it’s lying. If the people in your life do not know your true thoughts, feelings, needs, and dreams, do not blame them. It is your lack of voice or vulnerability or power, not their lack of understanding or ambition, that is building the barricade to your potential. Share more, and you’ll have real relationships that can support you, energize you, lift you. Even if they don’t support you or believe in you, at least you lived your life. At least you put it all on the table. At least you honored the hopes of your heart and the calling of your soul. In your full expression lies your freedom. My friend, your next level of performance begins at your next level of truth.

The most important thing in connecting authentically with others is to share your true desires with them. Have the courage to open to others each day a little bit more of what you’re thinking, feeling, dreaming of:

“You know, honey, today I was thinking about starting X because I’d love to Y.” For example:

PP
  1. Something I really want to do that I haven’t shared with enough people is . . .
  2. If I were going to be more “me” in my everyday life, I would start to . . .
  3. When I put myself out there and someone makes fun of me, I’m just going to . . .
  4. A major dream I’m going to start telling people about and asking for some help with is . . .
FIND SOMEONE TO FIGHT FOR

We will do more for others than for ourselves. And in doing something for others, we find our reason for courage, and our cause for focus and excellence.

PP
  1. A courageous action I will take this week because someone I love needs me to take it is . . .
  2. Another courageous action I will take this week, because a cause I believe in needs me to take it, is . . .
  3. Another courageous action I will take this week, because my dream requires it of me, is . . .

High Performance Killers

Superiority

Dissatisfaction

Neglect

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list from { High Performance Habits AND !outgoing({ High Performance Habits)

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Created:: 2021-10-12

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