As a coach, I often get asked about what “high performance” means, and how it differs from any other type of coaching. To pare it down to the most basic description, someone who is a high performer is one who reaches for and sustains the highest levels of performance and potential in all that they do.

Now, this doesn't mean high performers are perfect, it just means they are always striving for optimized living.

The fact is, most of us want to become the best at what we do. We don’t wake up wanting a mediocre day, with average results. We want to reach success, and we want to keep doing it over a long period of time.

So how do you become a high performer?

Research has shown that high performers have several things in common that set them apart from others. Let’s take a look at 5 qualities of high performance that Brendon Burchard has researched in his High-Performance Training.

Clarity

High performers know who they...

You don’t need to watch the news every day to know that we are living in some pretty interesting times. With so much uncertainty, it's easy to find ourselves unsure how to approach the daily negativity. We’re all being told to stay positive, but what does that mean?

And more importantly, what doesn’t it mean?

To start, let’s lay it all on the table: there is a fundamental difference between being positive and being optimistic and we need to understand that so we stop spreading a harmful message to those around us when we say, "Just be more positive!"

Positivity vs. Optimism

Being positive can often sound like “everything is going great!” and “just keep smiling!” It’s often empty sentiments and can sometimes present itself as a form of denial that things are better than they really are.

Optimism, on the other hand, is a core belief that although things may not be great at the current moment, they...

When it comes to making meaningful changes in life, we often have to go through a cleaning and decluttering process. Just like we take time to purge our home of old, broken or no longer used items, so it goes with changing our mindset.

While there are many things in life that we find ourselves unable to control, our mind is not one of them. As meaningful human beings, we have the power to direct our thoughts, emotions, feelings, and actions. This has never been more important to understand than right now, in the midst of a world pandemic, the likes of which most of us have never experienced before.

We Can't Control Our Circumstances

We’ve all become quickly aware that the circumstances surrounding us are not within our control. We can no more change the path of an invisible virus than we can control how those around us handle the situation. But you can control your thoughts and manage your emotions in a healthy way in spite of the worry, fear and anxiety...

You’ve done it.

You’ve hit your stride and business is booming. You can barely remember what free time looked or felt like, but you’re ok with that.

If you’ve struggled with growing your business, this can feel like a welcome time of growth and opportunity. But eventually, you will need to get "picky" about your opportunities so that you can provide the best service. Now, it’s you choosing who fits your mission the best, instead of the other way around.

But how do you choose between competing opportunities? While it’s tempting to pick the business that will pay the most, that is only the tip of the iceberg.

I’m here to help you with a simple way to evaluate your opportunities in order to be the most successful.

First and foremost, it’s important that you are taking on work that exceeds your own terms of agreement. What goes into your terms? Consider how much time, energy, resources, money and sanity...

Do you lack motivation?

When things are going well and you‘re on a roll knocking down obstacles and taking home successes, it’s easy to find motivation.

But what happens when things slow down and you’re starting to feel uninspired? When you haven’t had a new “win” in a while, it can be difficult to put in the effort to get the ball rolling again.

Today I want to talk about how to get and sustain motivation in six easy steps. With a little effort, I’m confident you can gain a motivated spirit in no time.

1. Ambition

High performers are full of ambition. That desire for something more is not always easy to come by. Sure, at one time you were probably brimming with it! But for some reason or another, you now find yourself searching for that feeling of inspiration.

Allow yourself to dream about your wants, goals and passions again! What are your big-picture dreams?

2. Expectancy

To sustain motivation,...

As a high-performance coach, my job is to guide people to success. While everyone’s end goal is unique, we can all take a similar approach in finding our own success.

So what does that look like?

First, it’s important to note that high performers enter into tasks with the expectation of success. They don’t set out to succeed just “hoping” to do a good job. No, they set out to reach their goal each and every time!

Now, this doesn't mean that they can't accept failure. High-performers just know that failure is an opportunity for learning.

To be successful, it’s important to make it a “must,” not just a preference. Here is how you can make success a must.

1. Associate your identity with doing well.

Researchers have found that high performers associate their identity with doing well. They have positive self-talk that identifies them as successful. They psych themselves up to be successful before...

“I don't have time.”

“It's too much.”

“It's too risky.”

Do any of these sound familiar? At one time or another, you’ve probably used one of these excuses. Whether it’s putting off a difficult task that is one of many on your journey to success or it's not diving into something you know you should do, we are all guilty of making excuses.

Where are some of the most common areas we catch ourselves making excuses?

One of the top reasons we make excuses is because we are afraid to be embarrassed and we are afraid to fail. We make an excuse not to step out with boldness because we are afraid of what others will say or think about us. Many of our fears about others are often unfounded. We think our friends and families have thoughts about us that aren’t even real or that they will say things that they’ve actually never said before!

It’s also common to make excuses because we are afraid that we...

As a High-Performance coach, I deal with clients who tell me all the time that one of the biggest obstacles to greater success is distraction. They talk about how their attention gets pulled in so many directions and that they are easily distracted whenever they have to step out of their zone of genius.

Is this you?

The definition of distraction is “a thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else.” While the explanation of what a distraction is remains the same for everyone, what distracts us differs greatly from person to person.

We can be distracted by too much noise, too little noise, large crowds, being alone, and let’s not forget our devices. With plenty of social media to keep us occupied in all the wrong ways, we are used to constant mental stimulation.

As business owners, we can sometimes be distracted by keeping up with our clients, tech issues, product problems, or in other ways. We can even allow...

No matter how much you have to get done, we are all working with the same time restrictions: 24-hours in a day.

Sometimes, this amount of time can seem like an eternity––especially if you’re taking care of boring or menial tasks. But most of the time, we’re all hurrying around at the end of the day trying to get everything done before bedtime.

How often in that timeframe are you thinking about your future goals?

How many of your completed tasks are getting you closer to reaching your goals?

If you’re trying to grow your business, this adds an extra layer of pressure. But what if it wasn’t about working within the confines of 1,440 minutes? What if it was about how you used those minutes?

What if you could increase your productivity and get more done with the same amount of time that everyone else has?

A trick to getting things done is easier than you think! It’s called a battle board, and it’s...

Everybody wants success. And wanting success isn’t a bad thing, but sometimes we forget that the little decisions we make today are either helping or hurting our chances for success in the long run.

Think about it...if you keep doing the same thing every day but wanting different results, it's not going to happen! It's time to change your habits. While change is uncomfortable, you can’t expect new results if you keep doing the same thing, day in and day out.

It sounds easy, but I’ll be the first to admit that changing habits is difficult. After all, habits are almost mindless–– we do them without thinking! Habits are powerful but they can be reshaped if we take time to learn about why we do them and then become intentional about change.

Here are a few ways to start changing your habits so you find the success you want.

1. Find clarity.

People often think that they lack motivation when it comes to achieving their goals....