Peak Performance

Phil Stutz and Barry Michels wrote a great book called The Tools. There are five Tools in the book and we may chat about others later but I want to focus on the first for now.

Jack Nicklaus once said that the real key to being a great golfer was “playing badly well.”

Gold-medal-winning mental toughness coach and author Lanny Bassham is all about focusing on the PROCESS of goal achievement. He tells a great story about one of his clients—a pro golfer.

Jason Selk is one of the world’s leading mental toughness coaches. He tells us that the best among us have a “relentless solution focus.”Note: RELENTLESS solution focus.

What do you say to yourself when things don’t go as planned?

Robin Sharma tells us that greatness is all about consistency on the fundamentals.

Have you ever made a mistake?

Whether you’re an athlete, entrepreneur, teacher, parent, manager, or — fill in the blank here —, what percentage of your game do you think is mental?

In our last +1 we had fun cultivating a strong Self-Image via “That’s like me!” imprints.

Georges St-Pierre is one of the greatest mixed martial artists in the world. Ever.

Anders Ericsson is the world’s leading authority on the science of what makes great performers great. If you’ve ever heard of the “10,000-hour rule” you have him to thank. (In a future +1 we’ll talk about the fact that the 10,000 hours idea is a little more nuanced than we’ve been led to believe.)

We’ve talked a lot about how important it is to get out of our comfort zones.

In our last +1, we talked about the fact that the word courage comes from the Latin word for “heart.” Just as our heart pumps blood to the rest of our body, our COURAGE pumps energy to our other virtues.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is one of the world’s leading researchers studying the science of well-being. He co-founded the Positive Psychology movement with Martin Seligman and has written landmark books on Creativity and Flow.

Once upon a time, no British cyclist had ever won the Tour de France. Over 100 years of trying, and, precisely, zero wins.

In our last +1, we entered our World Champion You Training Camp.

Jim Loehr is one of the world’s leading authorities on peak performance.

In our last +1, we talked about Tony Horton and the voices in his head that get him to work out consistently. Today we’re going to talk about another fitness legend, Joe Manganello.

Somehow we’ve spent a year together with these Heroic +1s and we haven’t even talked about the ancient etymology of one of my favorite words: Optimize.

In our last +1, I introduced you to my new watch, Mr. Suunto, who asks me every day, “What direction are you headed today, sir?” To which I reply, “To the BEST version of myself, sir!” (We have a very nice rapport. lol)

In our last +1, we talked about my mission to become a Spartan World Champion.

In our last +1, we talked about Ben Bergeron—the CrossFit Games coach whose athletes have won six world championships. I briefly mentioned his book: Chasing Excellence.

A few +1s ago we spent some time with world-champion CrossFit coach Ben Bergeron.

We’ve been talking a lot about how champions maximize minutes—giving everything they’ve got into being the best versions of themselves.

As we’ve discussed, Steven Kotler wrote The Rise of Superman.

In our last +1, we made our plans to enjoy doing the impossible together over breakfast in the not-too-distant future after following a nice little aggregation and compounding of a bunch of little +4% gains.

Not too long ago, we had fun discussing some wisdom from Jerry Rice—the all-time great NFL wide receiver. He once said: “Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t.”

Continuing our theme of seeking/conquering fear, let’s have some fun with Jon Eliot and his wisdom from Overachievement.

In our last +1, we chatted about The Comparison Game with Alan Stein.

In our last +1, we hung out with Kobe Bryant and Alan Stein in the gym at 4am.

One of the core themes of our work together (in these +1s and in our Coach program, etc.) is the power of constantly (!) experimenting as we find little ways to Optimize.

In our last +1, we talked about some wisdom from Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness’s great book The Passion Paradox.

Wrapping up our tour through Robert Biswas-Diener’s brain and book, let’s talk about another Tool we can use to boost our Courage Quotient.

In our last +1, we made it through one evolution at a time with William McRaven as he endured Hell Week and became a Navy SEAL.

In our last +1, we got an inspiring (Hoosiers-inspired) pep talk from Admiral McRaven right before engaging in our next most important mission.

In our last +1, we talked about Trevor Moawad’s distinctions on Conscious Competence from his great book It Takes What It Takes.

Today we’re going to continue our brief tour through Trevor Moawad’s brilliant mind and book It Takes What It Takes.

We’re kinda on a roll exploring some of Trevor Moawad’s peak performance wisdom from his great book It Takes What It Takes so, I say, how about another idea?

I’ve been thinking a lot about the whole idea of “neutral” thinking since I first read about it in Trevor Moawad’s It Takes What It Takes.

In our last +1, we drew some Venn circles with my Yoda and had fun high fiving God by giving ALL we’ve got.

One of our very first +1s was on a brilliant line from Steven Kotler. At the end of our interview about his great book The Rise of Superman, I asked him what one piece of wisdom he’d share with someone passionate about (and committed to!) Optimizing their lives so they could actualize their potential.