Basics
October 2, 2020

Jem Fundano

Peak Performance: Elevating Your Mindset About Work and Life

All the victories in your life have something in common, and this is peak performance. Whether it's sports, life, or work, it's a process that shows you've given your all.

From artists, dancers, musicians, businessmen, therapists, and doctors, anyone can achieve peak performance. But, for people to be able to do so, they must engage in certain methods. Here's how you elevate your mindset about work and life to achieve peak performance.

LEARN ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR PROCESS

Peak performance is influenced by a high-performance mindset and the right healthy habits. When you know about peak performance, you develop a sense of awareness. This helps you observe and assess where you're putting your efforts. Here are questions you can ask yourself to reflect:

  • Where am I placing my focus?
  • What are my principles?
  • What do I believe in?
  • What am I feeling about this?
  • How am I responding to the things happening around me?
  • How many things am I focusing on right now?
  • What is distracting me?
  • What are my goals?

Peak performance won't be achieved when you don't acknowledge the hurdles in front of you. What you have in mind and what you're doing can be two different things. It demands honesty when you're getting to know yourself.

CHANGE YOUR MINDSET

A high-performance mindset is achieved when you're able to focus. The result of focus is productivity. Productivity greatly influences peak performance. Being able to focus is like a muscle. When you consistently practice it, you grow stronger.

Aside from focus, it's important to stop focusing on the wrong things. For example, when you want to manage your weight, you don't sit all day and work. What you're doing is productive, but it isn't related to your goal. Your actions should be goal-directed.

Doing a lot at the same time is also commonly mistaken as productive; It isn't. It takes focus to create something high quality, and peak performance can be achieved when you stop multitasking. Give full attention to one thing. Resist the urge when you're thinking of something else.

DEVELOP HIGH-PERFORMANCE HABITS

Unhealthy habits don't just stop and disappear. Habits are learned and it can be unlearned. To replace unhelpful habits, training your brain to adopt healthful habits is the key.

High-performance habits are behaviors that drive you to achieve peak performance. It can be in a form of a healthy coping style; it can also boost your energy and focus. The following are the best habits to have:

  • Exercise
  • Reading
  • Listening to music or podcasts
  • Undergoing coaching for peak performance
  • Going to therapy
  • Eating healthy
  • Journaling
  • Taking a break from work
  • Creating boundaries for others
  • Putting realistic deadlines
  • Being clear with your conversation
  • Doing the pomodoro technique to make use of time
  • Delegating work tasks to other people

Like an athlete, your peak performance can be affected by your unhealthy habits. Your unhealthy habits are usually triggered by stress. It's your unhealthy way of coping, and it's hard to stop it. Here are unhealthy habits you may be doing:

  • Excessive use of alcohol or drugs
  • Saying "yes" to everyone
  • Absorbing other people's work tasks
  • Procrastination
  • Lashing out at others
  • Stress-eating
  • Cramming
  • Multitasking
  • Creating goals with no deadline
  • Refraining to get help
  • Relying on other people to make decisions for you
  • Distracting self instead of looking for ways to manage stress

In order to develop high-performance habits, you must start somewhere. Focus on breaking one unhealthy habit and replace it with one of the high-performance habits.

Related: Why Do We Turn To Food In Times of Stress?


ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR WEAK POINTS AND GET HELP

To achieve peak performance, you must know your weak points. Mastering everything at the same time can create stress. It can also make you feel unfulfilled. When you know you're weak in a specific area, ask help. Peak performance coaching and consulting services are available and can help you out.

When you're struggling with stress at work or your personal life, consult a therapist. When you feel inexperienced but you want to start a business, invest in business seminars or coaching services.

Focus on what you do best and outsource when you need help. There's no shame in asking for help. This only helps you save time and energy which helps you achieve peak performance.

Related: Do I Need Therapy?


CHALLENGE YOURSELF

It's normal to feel defeated when you fail at trying out what you learned. Don't be scared to try again. What matters is that you're out of your comfort zone. With that, you're rejecting mediocrity and that's awesome!

Being able to challenge yourself improves your mental resilience. When trying, it's important to condition your mind with this: first attempts should be for experience and the ones to follow are for results.

As you try again, remember what Samuel Beckett said, "Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better".

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