6 Ways to Leap From Being an Average Performer to a Peak Performer

Many of us allow life to happen to us. We have been taught to do this. From a young age, we learned rules, structure, boundaries, values, began to form our own opinions more solidly after our formative years. Going to school automatically exposed us to being part of a system for the masses.

We marched to the beat of routines, timetables and people who told and directed us what to do, when to do it, what to learn, how to do things….all in the proposed aim of helping us to become well-equipped for adulthood. We didn’t have to think so much or invest much time and energy into creating this; the frameworks were created for us.

We became conditioned to let life happen to us.

As adults, we are much more independent, with greater onus to manage our own boundaries, generate our own income, and develop our own relationships. But as adults, it’s ultimately now our responsibility to figure out where we want to go in life, what we want to be, do experience and have.

With this, great challenges often come particularly if the pathway between where we stand and where we want to be, is not clear, straightforward or unconventional. The stakes are higher, the risk of failing and losing can have greater consequences, and the recovery journey can be much harder.

Despite this, the peak performer knows they must choose to separate from the masses. They take the pilot seat to choose how they want to experience life. Results are a product of planned, calculated and researched deliberate choices, actions and behaviors. By gradually adopting a few key perspectives, you too can be on the pathway to becoming a peak performer on your chosen path.

Here are 6 of our top strategies to shifting from being an average performer to an exemplary one.

1. Living your Wakeful Hours, Considerately and Purposefully.

The average performer might set and follow their intentions as to how they want to spend the majority of their waking time during the day. Work dictates a schedule, and they follow that, perform what’s required and perhaps perform it quite well. They’re satisfied and content, steadily working toward the goal of perhaps getting a promotion and they look to avoid challenges that might be too painful or uncomfortable.

Goals are set to targets that satisfy themselves and their vision does not often extend far beyond their scope of reality. The peak performer, however, has invested time and other resources (and continually does so) determining what their role is to serve a bigger purpose than themselves. Every part of their day has a designated purpose.

Setting Intentions the Night Before – The night beforehand, they plan how they intend to direct their time, energy and attention from the moment they wake up the next day. They are conscious they only have a finite amount of each of these three things each day and that they need to use them wisely. From the waking moment, every activity has a purpose toward their goals.
Morning routine - How we start each day has a great impact as to how the rest of our day will unfold mentally, emotionally and energetically. Exercise in the morning kick starts our metabolism and can help us access the endorphins which allow us to create and feel a positive mood. Practicing semi-structured meditation and imagery helps to stabilize the mind, bring the focus back to main goals and energetically instructs the body to start operating in a way that will help to achieve intentions that have been set the night before.
Nourishment – Peak performers view their meals and food as fuel as opposed to merely a meal to stave off hunger. Eating is seen as premium fuelling their body for a purpose, not simply to satisfy a hunger and provide energy. The quality of energy and nourishment is key. Peak performers deliberately plan, adjust and calibrate their diet according to what their activities require their bodies and minds to do. They’re considered and purposeful in choosing what they eat and drink as opposed to eating what they feel like.
Time outside of work – As opposed to the average performer who may allow spontaneous events to take precedence in their personal or social life, the peak performer is aware of how much or how little social time they can have and want to commit to, to keep emotionally, mentally and physically balanced. They set boundaries around the sorts of activities they partake in (e.g. sport, networking events, professional training, attending only certain functions) and don’t acquiesce to any and every invitation. They calculate what to say yes to and what they will say no to.

2. Peak Performers take Greater Control of their Environment.

Millions of bits of information bombard us from countless directions, every moment, every day. We are unaware of the majority of them yet we are unconsciously taking them on board simply by being repeatedly exposed to them. The psychology of consumer marketing describes how we are much more likely to learn and remember information after being repeatedly and regularly exposed to it. Peak performers know this and use this to their advantage.

As opposed to listening to random news on the radio, the peak performer might choose to listen to an audiobook or podcast whilst traveling on public transport, driving, or going for a run. They are conscious deliberate readers of material that helps them progress toward their goals; they create and choose wherever possible, workspaces that allow their productivity to flourish.

3. They Carefully Consider their Relationships.

Peak performers are deliberate about the relationships they form and which ones they should invest in. They learn to recognize which relationships are healthy for them, supportive, non-judgemental and challenge them to grow. They make efforts to manage and cull relationships that don’t serve, support, or hurt them and actively seek out encouraging mentors, friends, and partners. They also actively seek to build relationships with people who are ahead of them on their chosen journey, people they wish to learn from, emulate and gain advice and feedback from.

4. Create Goals that Emotionally Resonate with Them.

We have often been told to apply a basic SMART goal-setting framework that most coaches will have in their back pocket. However how often have you NOT hit your targets when applying the Specific - Measurable-Adjustable – Realistic – Time-bound framework? How often have you become frustrated and disillusioned altogether?

Peak performers recognize that in setting their goals, they need to be aligned with these on a deeper emotional and values-based level in order for them to be truly achievable and only from this basis can they develop and prioritize the right action steps. Working toward, and hitting goals then comes from a state of ‘flow’. There is no denying there will be challenges along the way, however, the journey feels less arduous. There is almost a sense of knowing that the goal/s will be reached….it’s a just a matter of time as to when not if.

5. Focus on Mastering the Process, not the End Result.

Grammy award-winning songwriter and musician Ed Sheeran beautifully describes Malcolm Gladwell’s theory that 10,000 hours of targeted practice develops you into an expert in your chosen field or subject. But it’s not simply practice. It’s a practice of constantly improving skills and your application of whatever processes are required to help you progress your mastery.

Focusing on achieving a specific result can actually be limiting and restricting. Whereas the individual who focuses on constantly honing their skill and learns to seek enjoyment and satisfaction from developing mastery allows him/herself the opportunity to experience greater rewards and outcomes.

6. Mindful of Distractions.

This can be challenging and confusing for many. When building a business, managing a team of people or training for squad selection there can be many influential people, resources, literature, bright shiny objects, and opportunities can appear to step in helping you move toward your goal/s.

How do we know when opportunities present, are right for us?

The average performer only takes the first step in looking to explore further, these possibilities, learning opportunities, programs we might be recommended or introduced to. This approach does foster growth, but before they know it, they are spread in many directions dedicating time, energy and attention to things.

The proverb below aptly describes this average performer:

He who chases two rabbits catches none.

There are a few short simple questions the peak performer asks his/herself and researches fairly thoroughly before chasing one of these rabbits down the burrow hole:

Does this opportunity/learning/program/strategy/new relationship serve to help me move toward my goals?
Do they fit my current action plan toward my goals, NOW? Or might they serve me later? Do these fit in the next 1-3 steps I am working through right now on my journey?
Energetically, financially and emotionally is this a fit that helps me move toward becoming what I want to do, be, have, experience?
Could this opportunity take me in a direction I had not considered that enhances and/or adds more value to the experience and satisfaction I want to receive from achieving my goals?

The peak performer ultimately asks themselves….Is this a distraction? And if unsure, they seek guidance from a trusted mentor or coach, without an invested agenda, who can help objectively weight the pros and cons.

Stopping to ask oneself these questions, helps to maintain focus, concentration and strengthens one’s ability to say no (or no, not right now). They engage in a decision-making process that works for them and honor this consideration on each occasion.

Adopting these simple and attainable behaviors on a daily basis over time will yield very different results than the average performer. Change is essential.

Peak performers know this and are aware they need to embrace this. However, it is important to remember that change is not always comfortable. To stretch, adapt and acquire new habits can be very uncomfortable, unfamiliar. However, once they become more familiar, they become comfortable.

To download your free comparison checklist of how your current habits compare with our prescription for peak performance, click here.