High Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way

I was not prepared to like this book. I’ve never met the author or heard him speak, but I admit to having a bias against the premise that is at the heart of all consulting—that everything can be taught. It’s not a false assumption; it’s just not a complete one. Context is everything, which is why history often has less to teach us than we may think.Too many books of this genre are written by people who have been drinking the Kool-Aid and come to believe they have discovered the true essence of water. Burchard, thankfully, is not that author. You may not agree with everything he writes, but you will ultimately conclude that he is authentic, and that’s about the highest compliment I can pay a person.Every good consultant will start their session with their objective. Brendon is no exception. “This book is about how people become extraordinary, and why others block themselves from that possibility. It will show clearly and unmistakably why some excel, others fail, and far too many never even try.” A few pages later he adds, “It will reveal what it takes to become not just an achiever but a high performer—someone who creates ever-increasing levels of both well-being and external success over the long term.”Then comes the hook. Every consultant knows the old saying, “Them that can, do; those that can’t, teach.” That’s why they always give you the pièce de résistance, the handful of words that describes why their idea is different. It can normally be shown as a geometric shape or simple graph. In this case, it is, “High performance is not achieved by a specific kind of person, but rather a specific set of practices, which I call high performance habits.”At this point, I admit, my expectations were being met. And then things went from bad to worse. “Taken together, the six habits you’ll learn here won’t just get you to excellence, they’ll make you happier—and the data proves it. The positive emotions of engagement, joy, and confidence that define the high performer’s emotional state can be yours.”Happier? I am a sexagenarian who has known modest success and far less modest failure. If there is one thing I’ve learned it is that happiness will not give your life meaning or you contentment. Having the world by the tail is not the path to a purposeful life.But I persevered through the book. I am a curious person and do not give up easily. And the author has achieved more success in high performance coaching than most of us will ever achieve in much of anything. He has a Rolodex (an outdated term, for sure) of the most powerful and influential people on the planet, from Oprah to past presidents and Olympians.I read the book pretty much straight through although I have long practiced one of the tidbits of advice the author offers. I refuse to multi-task and believe it is the scourge of inefficiency and incomprehension. But I do believe in taking breaks, in changing the scene, and augmenting the primary objective (in this case, reading) with the indulgence of a good coffee or a piece of chocolate.I won’t share the six habits of high performance (HP6) that are the heart of the book. And the reason is that we don’t learn if we don’t learn in context. And that task is up to the author, not me, a reader.I will tell you that one thing all six habits have in common is that they are deliberate. They require conscious effort. There are no little green pills. The book, in fact, might have been called The Power of Being Deliberate.Burchard is also not a therapist. “I’ll remind you, I am not a psychologist, psychiatrist, neuroscientist, biologist, or any other title I’m aware of that ends in ‘-ist.’ I am a professional high performance coach and trainer who is paid for results, not discussion or theory.” Fair enough. That’s probably what most people who will consider this book are looking for. Otherwise you’d be in the religion or philosophy sections.There is some jargon but it’s admittedly modest for a book of the genre. There is talk of prolific quality output (PQO, of course), and “performance necessity,” and you will have to get your head around, “They [high performers] remember that the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” It’s a central theme.The HP6, as I was reading the book, did remind me of a variant of cognitive behavioral therapy but that’s not a criticism. It’s a function of the very deliberate nature of the process and practices described. In the end, high performance, as Brendon describes it, is a verb, not an achievement. “Connection [for example] is less about comfort than about challenge.” (I personally think it’s about trust.) And, “…it’s so thoroughly obvious that high performers are generating the feelings they want more often that taking the emotions that land on them.”My biggest pause came with the quote: “The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe to it.” It’s a quote from Joseph Campbell, an American writer known for his work in comparative mythology. He’s probably most often remembered for the counsel, “Follow your bliss.” It’s a quote that is often misinterpreted but is a little too nihilistic for my taste.And when he writes, “There are only two narratives in the human story: struggle and progress,” my first thought was that Camus would disagree. But that’s too much of a digression to get into here.The money line for me was, “Superiority draws us off track a quarter inch at a time.” This is a man who believes in his mission. It is a quality that resonates throughout the book and is, perhaps, the book’s greatest contribution. Too many “successful” people, in my experience, talk humility, but walk superiority. Humility is not an attitude. It is a way of living.It was here that the author earned my 4 rating. The book is probably longer than it needs to be but, in the end, I found it worth the journey. It’s an ambitious work by a man that obviously believes in what he does. And that is undoubtedly why he has known such success.

Burchard is a High Performance coach, and acknowledged as one of the best and most popular in the world (he reminds the reader, a tad too often.) His contribution is in concert with that of Aristotle’s view that: “Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”High performance is succeeding beyond standard norms, consistently over the long term. High performers are, nevertheless, less stressed, healthier and happier than their peers. And high performers’ work, has nothing directly to do with traditional rewards.Many high achievers too often feel confused and unfocused, and that they are not making the impact or progress they once did. Having achieved, many feel that they are plateauing at best, or failing at worst, and this despite putting in punishing effort, at great personal expense.High performers’ secret is their habits, and Burchard presents a bucket full of good ideas from which you will no doubt find many that are very helpful in propelling or reinvigorating your success.The accepted norm seems to be “Pretend you’re not working hard, so your friends are impressed with your leisurely posts and photos at breakfasts, but yes, work hard. Don’t wait for instruction, because there are no rules. Try to keep your head on, because it’s a madhouse here. Ask questions, but don’t expect anyone to know the answers... You’ll never figure anything out—just keep adapting, because tomorrow everything changes again.”The zeitgeist has clearly changed the rules of success, which is far more a function of personal effectiveness than ever before.The right habits for your context, professional and social, can dramatically increase your results, as well as the overall quality of your life. Identifying what is right for you is a very personal activity.Burchard presents a six-part, high performance programme, divided into two-parts: personal and social.The ‘personal habits’ are comprised of clarity as to what you want to achieve; having the energy to achieve this; and raising the intensity to make this happen.The ‘social habits’ are comprised of influencing others to advance your productivity; impacting others positively to be more productive; and appreciating that success is on the other side of the struggle - never before.It starts with clarity. Just consider what was clearly most important to you at 20 and each decade thereafter to see the need for an annual review as a first step. Clarity requires answering three deceptively simple questions: Who am I? What do I value, and what are my strengths and weaknesses? (This should be done very slowly, very thoughtfully, and in writing.)Once this is clear, you can formulate your goals and your plans. “Studies show that having a specific plan attached to your goals… can more than double the likelihood of achieving a challenging goal,” Burchard claims.But there is an important difference between “know thyself” and “imagine thyself.” High performers are more focused on imagining a positive version of themselves in the future, that they pursue with vigour.To perform at a very high level also requires a very clear idea of the skill sets that you need to develop now, to succeed in the future in your primary field of interest. This field should be an area in which you can become excellent, and contribute to others. It is almost a tautology that life success (in whatever way you measure it,) comes from adding value to the lives of others – whether it is making their cars go faster, educating them or their children, or enabling them to increase their wealth.The second high performance habit, is generating energy. Sleeping well, (yes, the 20th century aspiration of sleeping as little as you can, is counterproductive,) eating well, and exercising daily.A habit I have not seen mentioned before, is enhancing energy by managing transitions. We move from one activity to another without a break in our focus or feelings. Burchard describes this as “release tension, set intention.”After finishing one meeting for example, pause and simply instruct yourself to ‘release’ from it. Repeat the word until you are released from its mindset and feelings. Then focus on the mindset and feeling you intend for the next one. To convince yourself of the value, try this before you enter your home this evening. Release from your work demands and efforts, and intend to be the type of partner, mom or dad you really wish to be. Only then open the front door.The third high performance habit is to “Raise Necessity”. Necessity differs from the weaker version – desire. Necessity demands action. Necessity doesn’t permit you to wish or hope to succeed, it consistently forces you to work hard, stay disciplined, and push yourself.For something to be chosen by you as your ‘necessity’, it must be congruent with your ideal self: it must be something you see as your ‘duty’, and it must be something you know is urgently required.To build this ‘necessity’ to white heat, remind yourself of who needs you to succeed at this. Tell others because social pressure works! And spend a lot of time with people who challenge and inspire you.The sixth high performance habit is to “Demonstrate Courage”. Mark Twain described courage as “resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” Only experience reduces fear and stress.All situations requiring courage involve risk, fear, and a good reason to act. There are many types of courage, some not recognized by others, such as reassigning your brother because he is not pulling his weight in your business.“If your future best self—a version of you ten years older, who is even stronger, more capable, and more successful than you imagined yourself to be—showed up on your doorstep today and looked at your current circumstances, what courageous action would that future self advise you to take right away to change your life?” Burchard asks.To be a high performer does require hard work, discipline, often boring routines, courage and coping with continual frustrations.A colleague once told me that he doesn’t go to Church every Sunday to learn something new, but to be reminded of things he already knows. So too with a large part of this book, but that doesn’t detract from its value in any way. And there are some strong techniques I haven’t come across before.Readability Light -+--- SeriousInsights High --+--- LowPractical High +---- Low*Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy, and is the author of the recently released ‘Executive Update.

If you’re not ready or willing to change - don’t buy it. If you’d like to have a look inward in order to better yourself, it’s a great book!

É um livro que permite você adquirir ferramentas para facilitar suas atividades no dia a dia. Quando você faz a aliança do que aprende e tem disciplina para executa-las os resultados aparecem muito mais rápido. Éverton Barbosa Coach.

Ótimo conteúdo, rever a forma de pensar as coisas.

Conteúdo pertinente.

Only 40 pages or so into the book, but felt compelled to leave a review as so far it's proving to be both a very digestible and informative book to read.I like how the author is clear as to how he arrived at determining the habits (hint: through extensive research and studies). Plus, how he sprinkles in personal anecdotes relating directly to his coaching clients. Can alreasy see why it has received such high ratings.

Dieses Buch ist kein normales Produktivitäts-Buch. Sonder hier geht es um High Performance. Der Autor definiert High Performance als: "succeeding beyond standard norms, consistently over the long term".Die Botschaft dieses Buches ist: Als High Performer wird man nicht geboren. High Performance ist erlernbar. Und zwar mit den sechs Gewohnheiten, die der Autor aus zahlreichen wissenschaftlichen Studien und seiner eigenen Praxis herausdestilliert hat:1) Klarheit suchen2) Energie generieren3) die Notwendigkeit erhöhen4) die Produktivität verbessern5) Einfluss entwickeln6) Mut demonstrieren.Diese sechs Gewohnheiten mögen erst einmal lapidar erscheinen. Was das Buch besonders macht: Es gibt konkrete Tools an die Hand, wie man diese Gewohnheiten entwickeln kann.Der Autor verschweigt nicht, dass damit Arbeit verbunden ist und die immer wieder bewusste Entscheidung, diese Gewohnheiten zu praktizieren und auf einen höheren Level zu bringen.Ich bin mit dem Buch noch nicht ganz zu Ende. Doch bereits eine der Gewohnheiten, die ich seitdem anwende (Transition Meditation auf S. 100) hat solche positiven Effekte auf meinen gesamten Tagesablauf, wie ich sie mir nicht hätte vorstellen können.In den letzten Jahren habe ich schon einiges von Brendon Burchard kennen gelernt und seine eigene kontinuierliche Top Performance verfolgt.. Dieses Buch halte ich für sein bestes Buch und empfehle es daher für alle, die zu High Performance gelangen bzw. diese verbessern wollen.Ich halte es besonders geeignet für ambitionierte Solopreneure, die an ihrer eigenen Entwicklung interessiert sind und daran, ihr Business auf einen neuen Level zu bringen und verkaufsfähig zu machen. Denn das ist ein langer Weg und kontinuierliche High Performance ist dabei sehr förderlich.