Envision the Future Four

Hey, my friend, it's Brendan Burchard. And welcome to a special episode of the Brendan Show. In this episode, I'm going to play for you a section of the audiobook of my book, High Performance Habits. How Extraordinary People Become that way. And I'm gonna play for you a practice that will ultimately help you become a higher performer in anything that you're doing, whether it's related to your health or your career or other positive life outcomes. This is the practice that will really serve you. And I'm gonna be releasing a series of these so that you can get.

A taste of the book.

But also whether you have the book or you don't have the book, you can put these practices into your life to develop the habits that matter the most. That's ultimately what my book is about. Has become so well known for high performance habits is the result and the findings of the world's largest study of high performers ever done. Over 190 countries reporting in over 2 million data points an unbelievable amount of.

Research over a three year period with.

Me and academic research teams to find that strongest correlations we could of which habits led to long term success. And they were also healthy, they were also happy, they also had positive relationships. And that's the magic of it.

All right?

High performance isn't just about getting ahead for achievement's sake. It's ultimately about a distinction of a new way to strive so that you do reach the next level of success. But this time you do it more sane, healthier, more happier and you enjoy the process. You can succeed long term. That is what this book is about. It tells you exactly which habits make the most difference. And we break it down, each habit into three different practices. Now, this audio excerpt today for you is one of those practices. And please just listen, follow the prompts, put this either mindset or philosophy or tactic into your life and you'll see a total change. So I'll be releasing a series of these for you in upcoming weeks and months right here on the Brendon Show. And tell you what, if you like this, you're welcome to go get the audiobook on Audible or anywhere else where you download your audiobooks and you know, it's whatever it is, 1216 bucks for that. Or if you want the deluxe audiobook version which comes with additional training, additional interviews and an online course along with it. If you want that, you can actually get it for free when you order a hard copy book from us@Brendon.com habits. So just listen to the practice if it resonates with you, put it into play. If not, no worries. Keep listening to the Brendon show. You'll find something that's useful, but if it really resonates, go to brendon.com habits.

And get your copy of the book.

From that site so that we can give you the free deluxe audio edition of the audiobook. I think you're really going to enjoy this and as always, I want to thank you all for supporting my message. I deeply believe that as each of us develops deeper motivation and starts practicing these high performance habits, not only can.

We change our life, not only can.

We reach longer term success and be less stressed and crazy and enjoy the process this time, but but we can change the world. The right habits changes your world ultimately changes other people's world. Without further ado, please enjoy this excerpt of high performance habits. How extraordinary people become that way.

Practice one Envision the future for dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so you shall become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be. Your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil. James Allen High performers are clear on their intentions for themselves, their social world, their skills, and their service to others. I call these areas self, social skills and service, or the future for self. Know thyself is the timeless advice inscribed on the Temple of Delphi in Greece over 2,400 years ago. But there's a difference between know thyself and imagine thyself. High performers know themselves, but they don't get stuck there. They are more focused on sculpting themselves into stronger and more capable people. That's another big difference. Introspection versus Intention we found that high performers can articulate their future self with greater ease than others. Tactically, this means they tend to have a faster and more thoughtful, confident response. When I ask them if you could describe your ideal self in the future, the person you are trying to become, how would you describe that self? In reviewing recordings from my interviews, it's clear that high performers have thought about this more than others. Their descriptions came sooner, with the coherent part, the part after the Ms. And good question clocking in an average of seven to nine seconds faster, their responses were less meandering than the others. When I asked people to describe their future best self in just three words, how High performers also replied faster and in a more confident tone. Trying to imagine ourselves in the future with great clarity is hard work for anyone. That's why most people tend to do it only once per year. That's right. On new Year's Eve. But high performers spend a lot of time thinking about their best self and the ideal they're trying to grow into. In interviews with my 10 highest scoring and 10 lowest scoring clients on the HPI, I found the highest performing clients report thinking about their ideal future self and engaging in activities related to that almost 60 minutes more per week than the lowest scoring clients. For example, if you see yourself as a great communicator in the future, you would not only be more likely to imagine scenarios of yourself speaking with others, but also spend more time doing so. You're actively doing things that exhibit a future characteristic you desire. This isn't to say that high performers are more introspective than anyone else. Lots of people journal every week and could be said to be self aware without being high performing. For example, lots of people think about themselves constantly, but much of that thinking is just negative ruminations. So what makes a difference is that high performers imagine a a positive version of themselves in the future and then they actively engage in trying to be that. This part about actively engaging is important. They aren't waiting to demonstrate a characteristic next week or next month. They are living in to their best self. Now you get the point. So let's encapsulate this advice with some simple things you can do. Be more intentional about who you want to become. Have vision beyond your current circumstances. Imagine your future best self and start acting like that person today. This doesn't have to be complicated. When I was 19 years old and struggling to bounce back from a car accident, three one word commands helped turn my life around. These commands, as you may know, were inspired by the lessons I had learned about life when I faced my own mortality. They are simple and concise. Live. Love. Matter. These three words became my clarity checkpoint in life. Every night, lying in bed just before dozing off, I would ask myself, Did I live fully today? Did I love? Did I matter? I've asked those questions of myself every night for over 20 years. The truth is, I don't always go to bed with a resounding yes to all three questions. I have bad days just like anyone else. But the nights that I can say yes to those questions, when I feel clear and on track, are the nights I sleep best. That simple practice has given me more clarity than anything else I've ever done in life. Today, I still wear a bracelet engraved with those three words. I don't need the bracelet. I don't need to continue asking the questions. But I do, because it keeps me clear and on track. This is Similar to the work I had to do with Kate, her identity formation practices had stagnated. She hadn't thought about a better version of herself for a long time because she was already doing so well. So in one coaching session, I asked her to describe herself in various situations over her life over the past few weeks. Upon coming home, while playing with her kids, while making a presentation at work, during interactions with friends, while out on a date with Mike. Then I asked her to do it again, this time describing herself in those same situations as if she were an even better future version of herself. She began to realize that who she had been in the past several weeks was not who she really imagined herself being in the upcoming years. That should be a wake up call for anyone. Next, I asked her to identify three aspirational words that would describe her future self. She came up with alive, playful, and grateful. None of her descriptions or words sounded like merely going through the motions, which was how she had felt recently. This activity was also simple, but eye opening for her. Sometimes it's the simple thought processes that help us reset our focus, and Kate was generally confident. But the issue was she had stopped envisioning a future Kate to grow into. That's what was hurting her. No vision, no enthusiasm. So I had her put her three aspirational words into her phone as an alarm label that went off three times per day. This means that as Kate went about her day, an alarm would go off and she'd see her words on her phone to remind her who she was and could become. Now it's your turn. Describe how you've perceived yourself in the following situations over the past several months with your significant other at work with the kids or team in social situations with strangers. Number two now ask Is that who I really see myself being in the future? How would my future self look, feel, and behave differently in those situations? Number three if you could describe yourself in just three aspirational words, words that would sum up who you are at your best in the future, what would those words be? Why are those words meaningful to you? Once you find your words, put them in your phone as an alarm label that goes off several times per day. Social high performers also have clear intentions about how they want to treat other people. They have high situational awareness and social intelligence which helps them succeed and lead in every situation that matters. They know who they want to be and how they want to interact with others. If this sounds like common sense, let's find out whether it's common practice in your life before you went into your last meeting? Did you think about how you wanted to interact with each person in the meeting before your last phone call? Did you think about the tone you would choose to use with the other person on your last night out with your partner or friends? Did you set an intention for the energy you wanted to create? When you were dealing with that last conflict, did you think about your values and how you wanted to come across to the other person when you talk to them? Do you actively think about how to be a better listener? How to generate positive emotions with others? How you can be a good role model? Questions of this kind may help you look within and gauge your level of intention. I found that high performers also regularly ask themselves a few primary questions right before interacting with people. They ask questions like how can I be a good person or leader in this upcoming situation? What will the other person or persons need? What kind of mood and tone do I want to set? Here are more interesting findings. When asked to choose words that describe their best interactions with others, high performers most often responded with words such as thoughtful, appreciative, respectful, open, honest, empathetic, loving, caring, kind, present, and fair. When asked to choose three words that best define how they would like to be treated by others, high performers most valued being respected and appreciated. The issue of respect specifically comes up a lot in conversations with high performers. They want to be respected and they want to demonstrate respect with others, and this matters to them in all areas of their life, including at home. A field study of 200 couples in the United States who were married 40 years or longer and still reported being happy found that the couple's number one value and strength was respect. The four worst behaviors that lead to divorce criticalness, defensiveness, contempt, and stonewalling often feel so offensive precisely because they smack of devaluing or dis disrespect. What is apparent across all high performers is that they anticipate positive social interactions and they strive consciously and consistently to create them. It's a universal finding. When it comes to their interactions with others, they don't just go on autopilot they're intentional, and that improves their performance. In looking to the future, it's clear they've thought about the big picture of their social life, too. They've thought about how they want to be remembered. They think about their character and legacy. High performers are looking out there beyond today, beyond the meeting, beyond the month's to dos and obligations. They're consistently wondering, how do I want those I love and serve to remember me? Working with Kate, it was always clear that she tremendously valued and loved her family, yet she sensed she was often juggling so many things that she wasn't as present with them as she wanted to be. She once said, I feel they deserve more from me, but I don't know if I have that much more to give. Do you know what the issue with that is? When you are constantly juggling and feeling depleted, you don't think about the future. You're just trying to survive today. And so you start to lose your clear intention for your interactions with your family and and teams tomorrow. This is a common struggle with achievers. They want to be better lovers and parents, but feel stretched too thin. Their mistake is the same one Kate was making. She kept thinking that more time was what she needed to be a good mom or wife. One day she thought, I'll finally get to be the mom I want to be with my kids and the wife I hope to be. But you and I both know that one day really means never. To help Kate change and improve her relationships, I had her imagine in advance her interactions with people and then live into those intentions each day. She didn't need more time or to wait one more day. It wasn't about quantity. It was about quality. So I asked Kate to try this activity, which I recommend you try too. A. Write down each person's name in your immediate family and team. B. Imagine that in 20 years, each person is describing why they love and respect you. If each person could say just three words to summarize the interactions they had with you in life, what would you want those three words to be? C. Next time you're with each of those people, approach your time with them as an opportunity to demonstrate those three qualities. Have those words as the goal and start living into those qualities. Challenge yourself to be that person now. This will bring life back into your relationships. I said it to Kate all the time. It's almost impossible just to go through the motions when you have clear and compelling intentions. Skills next. We found that high performers are very clear about the skill sets they need to develop now to win in the future. They don't draw a blank when you ask them. What three skills are you currently working to develop so you'll be more successful next year. When I'm brought into work with Fortune 500 senior executives, I have them open their calendars and talk me through their upcoming days, weeks and months. It turns out that executives who score higher on the hpi, that's the High Performance Indicator, tend to have more blocks of time already scheduled for learning than do Their peers with lower scores. There is an hour blocked out here for taking an online training, another there for executive coaching, another for reading, and yet another for a mastery oriented hobby like piano, language learning, cooking class, and so on. They've built a curriculum for themselves and are actively engaged in learning. What's clearly linking all these blocks of scheduled time is the desire to develop specific skill sets. The online training is about how to code or manage finances better. The executive coaching is for focus on developing listening skills. Their reading focuses on a specific skill they've been trying to master, such as strategy listening in meetings or story development. The hobby is something they take seriously. They aren't just doing it for pleasure per se, but to actively develop mastery. Here's the big distinction. High performers are also working on skills that focus on what I call their primary field of interest, which we abbreviate as pfi. They aren't scattershot learners. They've honed in on their passionate interests and they set up activities or routines to develop skill in those areas. If they love music, they laser in on what kind of music they want to learn and they study it. Their PFI is specific. They don't just say music and then try to learn all forms of music. Playing guitar, joining an orchestra, singing with the band. They choose, say a five string guitar. Find a master teacher and make time for practice sessions that focus more on skill building than on casual exploration. In other words, they know their passions and set up time to dial in the skills that will turn those passions into proficiencies. This means high performers approach their learning not as generalists, but as specialists. Since by now you have some familiarity with my work, I'll use my career as an example. I began as a change management analyst for a global consulting company. I was right out of grad school. In my first six months on the job, I approached my work the way most of my peers did. As a generalist. I was trying to learn everything about the company, my clients, the world. That's what you do when you're a novice. But soon I realized that many of my partners had specific areas of expertise. And if I was going to stand out among the other 80,000 plus employees, I'd better develop a skill set fast. So I chose leadership, which was also my area of focus in grad school. Specifically, I wanted to develop the skill of knowing how to build curriculum for leaders and their teams. Leadership was my pfi. That stands for primary field of interest. Curriculum building was the skill I requested or created relevant projects. My career skyrocketed when I left corporate America to become a full time writer and trainer. I made similar decisions. I made my PFI Personal Development, but so had many thousands of other writers, bloggers, speakers and trainers. How would a I stand out? I realized that the skill most of these folks lacked wasn't related to their topic, but rather to their marketing of the topic. I was in the same boat. Personal development was always a passion and I already spent most of my personal reading time studying psychology, neuroscience, sociology, and behavioral economics. I was fascinated by those subjects. So I didn't need more focus there. I needed more focus on building my brand. So I made a huge shift. I made marketing my pfi. This was a monumental decision for me because I had absolutely no talent, skills, strengths or background in marketing. But I recognized it as the key that would unlock the door to my success in my new career. So I started drilling down into skill sets. I didn't focus on every skill related to marketing as a generalist would do, just as I hadn't focused on everything related to leadership in general at my corporate gig. Instead I zeroed in on email marketing and video production. I took online courses on these topics and I went to seminars. I hired a coach. My calendar was full of building those two skills. For 18 months, I focused almost exclusively on learning and trying new things related to email marketing and and making videos. Specifically, I learned to capture emails and send those subscribers weekly newsletters that link to a featured video training on my blog. I also learned how to put all my videos in an online members area and charge people money to access them. Eighteen months later, I found I had succeeded as an early pioneer in online education. Thousands of people were signing up for my online courses, some of which cost over $1,000. Many people in my industry thought it was some sort of magic act or assumed that I was some kind of online genius, but neither was true. I had simply looked to the future, identified what it would take to win in the industry in coming years, and then realigned my activities to develop the skills I needed to succeed. The lesson was simple but powerful. Look to the future. Identify key skills. Obsessively develop those skills. This sounds easy, but in a world where we are so distracted and reactive, it has become a lost art. We just forget to develop our own curriculum in life, even those of us at the highest levels. I remember I once had the blessing of being brought in to speak to Oprah and her executive team. The aha moment was this idea that high performers build their own curriculum. I remember being surprised that after I finished the training of all the things I said, the team posted this one quote from me to summarize our session. If you leave your growth to randomness, you'll always live in the land of mediocrity. I hope the takeaway is clear. No matter your current level of performance, clarifying your PFI and skills you need to master for your next level of success must be a priority. Reconnecting with your passion and setting up structure to develop more skills related to it is a game changer. It's just one thing Kate did to burst through her feelings of just going through the motions. We spent time talking about what it was going to take to win in her PFI in the next 10 years and realized she could learn new skills related to her industry. After she signed up for a few courses and found a mentor at work to help her learn more, she sent me this Amazingly, at some point in my career, I got so good at what I was doing that I forgot how much I really loved to learn. I took my eyes off what I needed to learn in the future, but today I finished an online course and I can't describe how accomplished that simple act made me feel. It was like graduating from high school all over again. That kind of optimism for the future came back into my life because learning opens the mind and begs it to play. I can't believe changing how I feel was as easy as choosing to learn again. You can follow Kate's lead. Try this Number one Think of your PFI primary field of interest and write down three skills that make people successful in that field. Number two under each skill, write down what you will do to develop it.

Will you read?

Practice? Get a coach? Go to a training when set up a plan to develop those skills. Put it in your calendar and stay consistent. Number three now think about your PFI and write down three skills that you will need in order to succeed in that field five to ten years from now. In other words, try to imagine the future. What new skill sets will you likely need? Then keep those skills on your radar and start developing them sooner rather than later. Service it had been too long since Kate felt the difference she was making. She had lost the spirit of service to others, and that's what had caused her to start merely going through the motions at work. Though nothing there had changed, she began perceiving her days as a series of empty tasks. Specifically, while she was a phenomenal leader at work and she truly felt the spirit of service in leading her teams, she had lost connection to those ultimately affected by their work. Her customers it turned out that Kate hadn't actually spoken with any of her customers in years. She'd become an internal executive in a big company, far removed from the front lines and the real people that her organization served. So she started a monthly practice of visiting her customers and really listening to them and asking what they wanted from her company in the future. Soon, her enthusiasm for work came roaring back. The last of the four futures after Self, Social and Skills concerns how high performers look to tomorrow and consider their service to the world. Specifically, high performers care deeply about the difference they're going to make for others and in the future in general. So they cater today's activities to delivering those contributions with heart and elegance. This might sound like a broad description, but it's how high performers talk. They often speak of how all the extra efforts they make to wow people today are vitally important to leaving a lasting legacy tomorrow. That's why for high performers, the details of how they treat others or approach their work truly matter. The high performing waiter obsesses whether the table is set with symmetry and precision, not just because it's his job, but because he cares about the overall customer experience and how the restaurant will be perceived now and in the future. The extraordinary product designer obsesses about style, fit and and function not just to create strong sales through this season, but also to create devoted fans and to serve a larger brand vision. What ties all these things together is the future focus conveyed in this how can I serve people with excellence and make an extraordinary contribution to the world? The opposite is easy to spot. When someone becomes disconnected from the future and their contribution to it, they underperform. They have nothing to get excited about tomorrow, so they stop caring about the details today. That is why it's so vital that leaders continually engage their people in conversations about tomorrow. What will provide the most value to those you serve? This is a question high performers obsess about. And I don't use the word obsessed lightly. In our interviews, we we found that high performers give an extraordinary amount of thought to questions of service, how to add value, inspire those around them, and make a difference. Their attention in this area could be best described as a search for relevance, differentiation and excellence. Relevance has to do with eliminating things that don't matter anymore. High performers don't live in the past and they don't keep pet projects at the forefront. They ask what matters now and how can I deliver it? Differentiation allows high performers to look at their industry, their career, and even their relationships for what makes them unique. They want to stand out for who they are and to add more value than others do. Excellence comes from an internal standard that asks, how can I deliver beyond what's expected? For high performers, the question how? How can I serve with excellence? Gets more attention than perhaps any other. In stark contrast, again, underperformers are too focused on self over service. They give more mindshare to what do I want now? Than to what do those I serve want now? They ask, how can I get by with the least amount of effort? Instead of how can I serve with excellence? Underperformers ask, why don't people recognize my unique strengths? While high performers are asking, how can I serve in unique ways? At the end of this chapter, you'll get a worksheet tying together all the ideas of the future. 4 For now, let me introduce you to a section that will conclude each of the practices in this book called Performance Prompts. These prompts are sentence completion activities that will help you reflect further on on the important concepts you're learning. I highly recommend you write out and complete each of these statements in a separate journal. If you would like a companion workbook with all the prompts included and more space for reflection, visit HighPerformanceHabits.com/that's HighPerformanceHabits.com tools whether you use the worksheet or just grab a journal of your own and freeform your thoughts, I suggest you sit and write out what you want of life. No goals, no growth, no clarity, no change. Performance Prompts these are the sentences you should complete. Number one When I think about the future for self, social skill and service, the area that I haven't had as much intention in as I should is number two. The areas in which I have not been considering those I serve and lead to leave a lasting legacy. The contributions I can start making now are.

Okay, my friend, I hope you enjoyed that audio excerpt of my book High Performance Habits. How Extraordinary People Become that Way.

Again.

If you really enjoyed that and you'd like the deluxe audiobook version for free, go to brendan.com habits get the book through that site and we'll go ahead and give you the deluxe audiobook version of the entire book for free at no cost.

As my thanks for ordering through our.

Website, I want to thank you as well for supporting my message. You know, we really started this worldwide performance conversation. We've got dozens of companies and major organizations who have bought the book in.

Bulk, who are sharing it with their.

Teams and employers, employees who are sending their people through our assessments, who are getting all the tools that we Built around this book, we're changing the conversation about performance in major organizations and small businesses around the world. And if you'd like to support that, just pick up a copy of the book, get some amazing results, tell us your story and we'll try to get out there the best way that we can. It's an honor to serve each and.

Every one of you.

I began this journey to decoding what it really takes to become a high performer now, gosh, 20 years ago in my life. So having it all come together in these set of practices in high performance habits has been quite the journey. You know, the last 10 years of my life being a high performance coach and then this last three years of.

Academic research to prove it all out.

At least to find what the data suggests and leads us to in terms of the strongest correlations. I know you're going to love this book. So for those who already got it, thank you. Keep sharing the message because if you'll post on social media highperformancehabits of you listening to this episode or reading the book every single day and week, we are still out there giving away all, all expense paid trips, giving away swag, t shirts, cups holders, free online courses. It's my students, we're celebrating you. So just go post on social media, tell us what you thought of this episode and just again, use highperformancehabits and the brendon show so that we know you listen to us on the brendon show and we'll go ahead and try to find you and give you some free gifts. We can't do it for everybody but we're out there consistently doing it and I mean, I've already given away, I don't know, 50 to $100,000 worth of stuff just this month already. So it's been pretty active and I thank you all, all of our students who've made this the best stellar all.

Of our students who supported the message.

All of our students who've committed to their continued education, their personal growth. I'm honored to be on that path with you. So thank you again for supporting the brendon show. Thank you for supporting high performance habits. I look forward to seeing you out on the road someday. Until then, remember, you can change your habits and change your life. If you're going to practice any new habits, practice the ones in high performance habits and as always, go out there every single day of your life. Live fully, love openly and make your difference Today.