Level Up Your Squad

Foreign It's Brendon Burchard. And welcome to a special episode of the brendon 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 going to 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 a practice that will really serve you. And I'm going to 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 and 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 the 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 habit 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 audio books 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 Brendan 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 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 three Level up your squad. Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you. Spend a lot of time with them and it will change your life. Amy Puhler When I'm hired to coach someone to high performance, one of the easiest quick wins is to have them spend more time with the most positive and successful people in their support network. Your support network comprises the people who are consistently closest to you at home, at work, and in your community. It's the people you talk with or see the most. I tell my clients that their job is to start spending more time with the best in their peer group and less with the more negative members. That's an easy win, but it's not the full picture. If you truly want to increase your performance in any area of your life, get around some new people who expect and value high performance. Expand your peer group to include more people who have greater expertise or success than you and and spend more time with them. So it's not just about increasing time with your current squad of positive or successful peers, but about adding new people to the squad as well. You probably already know that you should do this because you've heard there is power in your peer group. But you may not appreciate just how powerfully your social environment affects you. Over the past decade, researchers have made fascinating discoveries about a phenomenon called clustering. They found that behaviors, attitudes, and health outcomes tend to form in social clusters. The people around you even affect how much you sleep, the food that you eat, and how much money you spend or save. This dynamic, which has been dubbed social contagion, has been shown to have both detriments and benefits. On the negative front, researchers have found that bad behaviors and outcomes such as smoking, obesity, loneliness, depression, divorce and drug use tend to grow in social clusters. If your friends smoke, you probably will too. The more of your friends who are overweight or divorced, the higher the odds you'll get there too. Likewise, positive things such as happiness and pro social behavior also seem to spread within social groups. For example, if you have a friend who is happy in life, your chances of feeling happy go up by 25%. Researchers have even noted that expertise in world class performance in music, soccer, art, baseball, tennis and other fields happen in clusters. This contagion effect is usually relevant up to three degrees of separation. This means that it's not just your friends and family who can affect you. Research shows that your friends friends exert an influence. So do your friends friends friends. With each degree of separation, the effect of your environment becomes less with non significant effects beyond 3 degrees of separation. This is why it's so important to carefully curate who is in your social circle. Of course, we can't always determine who is in our circle, especially when we're young, which is why so many people have poor behaviors today. They had bad influences. Those who grew up in homes with major household dysfunction, for example divorce, drug abuse, mental illness, neglect or abuse, have an increased risk of negative future outcomes related to mental and physical health. These children also suffer significant cognitive and emotional ramifications of the abuse they experience, for example, smaller prefrontal cortexes, which is the decision making area of the brain, smaller hippocampi, the memory center of the brain, and hyperactive stress responses. Kids who grew up in poverty also face significantly higher levels of crime, violence, incarceration, lack of parental supervision, drug use, and sexual and physical abuse. All this evidence may seem overwhelming for people who aren't lucky enough to have hit the social lottery. It can make people ask, am I just doomed to live at the level of my peer group? The answer is an unequivocal and resounding no. It turns out that high performance is not tied to your culture or social environment. That's because high performance, as you'll remember, is about the long game and over time you can take back your life from negative influences and direct your mind, habits and social environment toward high performance. This isn't just rah rah stuff. Research has consistently shown that people can rise above their cultural programming and influence if they have the right beliefs and strategy. Simply adopting the belief that you can improve with effort, for example, has helped kids in disadvantaged neighborhoods go from terrible scores to the top of their class in study after study. A recent study of over 168,000 10th graders helps us prove the point. Researchers collected data related to students academic achievement, socioeconomic status, and beliefs about their ability to improve with effort. As you might predict, students from higher socioeconomic strata performed significantly better than students from low income families. This relationship, however, was offset in children who believed they could improve with effort. In fact, children who came from the lowest 10% socioeconomically yet believed in their ability to improve performed as well as kids in the top 20% who believed that their abilities were unchangeable. This means that the economic gap and all the negative factors that often accompany lower economic status, such as higher stress, worse schools, poor nutrition, were largely erased in children who believed they could improve with effort. Scientific research consistently shows that certain people maintain their strength even when the environment or culture around them is less than ideal. The difference is how they think. This means that with or without social support, you can use your thoughts to improve your mind, mood, memory, reactions, happiness and performance. None of us is shackled to our past or environment. We have tremendous personal control over the factors that improve our lives and performance. I share this because too many people think they can't win without the ideal peer group. So before I tell you to improve your peer group, don't for one second think you can improve your life on your own. Social support just makes personal development and overall life success easier, faster, and more enjoyable. For all these reasons, high performers spend more time with positive people than with negative people. They are more strategic and consistent in seeking to work with others at or above their level of competence, experience, or overall success. They seek networking activities or group affiliations with more successful people at work. They communicate more with people who are more experienced and often above them on organizations, organizational charts. In their personal lives, they volunteer more, spend less time in negative or conflict ridden relationships, and ask for help from their more successful peers more than others do. This doesn't mean that high performers have gotten rid of all the negative or challenging people in their lives. Somewhere there's this myth that to be happy or succeed, you have to get rid of all negative people in your life. We hear things like if someone doesn't support your dream, dump them as a friend. Your spouse doesn't cheer you on and meet your every need. Get a divorce. The kids at school don't like your son. Change schools. This is half baked advice. Learning to live with people who are different from you and who challenge you is just part of becoming a mature and resilient adult. Cutting people out of your life just because they're not a bright and shiny ray of light all day, every day will only result in you alone on an island to talking to coconuts. Okay, everyone has bad days. Everyone struggles in life and not everyone needs to cheer you on every step of the way. We need to accept that and not bail on everyone who isn't in a cheery mood all the time. Your friends, family and co workers are going to have a lot of bad days and a lot of their attitude toward you has nothing to do with you. They're in their own world and going through difficulties. Most people will have their lives affected by a mental illness. Most of your friends will come and go in your life. This idea of just swiping people out of our lives isn't mature or reasonable. Sometimes love equals compassion and patience. Build what you need. Make a conscious effort to surround yourself with positive, nourishing and uplifting people. People who believe in you, encourage you to go after your dreams and applaud your victories. Jack Canfield still, you don't need to spend extraordinary amounts of time or give tremendous mindshare to negative people. People on a path of purpose don't have a lot of time for drama. So here's what I Instead of getting rid of all the negative people in your life, especially if they are family, friends, loyal peers, or those who are just in need, spend more time hanging with your positive and successful peers and b Building a new positive peer group. You can give your time to the drama and conflict of telling people they aren't what you want or need in life. Or you can use that same time to build a new circle, tear down relationships, or build new ones. I'd focus on building. I also want to address the excuse I hear all the time, especially from younger people, that I have no access to successful people. That's almost always an unexplored personal belief, not a reality. In fact, in a globally connected world, it's a pretty thin argument to say you don't have access to somebody somewhere who you can learn from, collaborate with, work for, or follow to advance your life. The real question isn't whether they exist, it's whether you're willing to do the work to find them, contact them, hound them, or work hard enough to rise until you get into their orbit. How do you do that? Here's my go to list for helping someone get around a more successful peer group. Number one Add one more awesome friend to make a difference in your life. You don't need dozens of new friends. You need one more positive person who brings out the best in you. So Find your most positive and successful friend and ask him or her to bring one or two of his or her friends to your next night out. Then start hanging with them a little more often, just a half hour more per week. One more positive person leads you one more step toward the good life. Number two Volunteer. This is always my first move in working with people who feel surrounded by negative people. Volunteers are spirited, positive people. They are givers. You want to be around that spirit of service for your own personal and spiritual development. Anyway. You also want to be around volunteers because they tend to be more educated and successful people. People with higher levels of education are more likely to volunteer than those with less education. In the United States, almost 40% of those over the age of 25 who have a bachelor's degree or higher volunteer. That compares with 26.5% for those with some college or an associate's degree, 15.6% of high school graduates, and only 8.1% of those with less than a high school diploma. Often, the people who staff nonprofit organizations, especially at the board and committee levels, are the richest people in a community. But volunteering isn't just about getting around richer or more educated people. It's about serving others and developing the kind of empathy and spirit of service required to deal with all your relationships in life. If you have a negative person who keeps getting under your skin, the perspective you gain about the world through volunteering might help you chill out. To find great volunteer opportunities in your hometown, start by asking your friends. You'd be surprised how many already volunteer. Also, look up your town's name and volunteer and you'll see plenty of options. And do it this week. When you meet more people who strive to make a big difference in the world, it makes a big difference in yours. Play sports. Join that intramural league. Visit that racquetball club. Get that golf membership. Hit the park and join more pickup games. Being in competitive situations teaches you to pay more attention to your own performance. And, as we've learned, self evaluation of performance promotes increased performance. Competition can bring out the best in us when we view the process of competing as a striving for excellence, personal bests, and team contributions. It's only bad or maladaptive performance when all you care about is rank, outcome, or smashing the competition. Number four Seek mentorship. I tell high performers to have one or two lifelong mentors. Older, wiser, highly respected, successful people. I want you to call them once per month. I also want you to have one new domain mentor every three years. This means someone who has precisely the expertise you need to succeed in your field. You should also call that person every month. These two mentors, one for life and another for specific domain expertise, will give you extraordinary perspective. To find mentors, start again with your friends and family. Ask who do I know who has great wisdom and influence? Who I might be able to learn from? You might find a mentor at your workplace or by doing the actions above, say volunteering or playing sports. You can also type my name and how to find a mentor into YouTube and watch my video for more ideas. Number five earn it. You want to get around more successful people? Then earn your way into that party by becoming exceptional at what you do. Work hard, practice the high performance habits, never give up, add a tremendous amount of value, and stay on the path to mastery. When you become supremely skilled and successful and at what you do, doors will open and you'll meet more and more extraordinary people. Imagine how much better your life would be if you got better people into your social network. And no, I don't mean your Facebook group. I mean real people with real pulses who you actually see, call, work with, hang out with, exercise with, have fun adventures with. Choose to surround yourself with people who bring joy and growth into your life and are secure enough in themselves to be real and solid. Whether you shine or struggle. Bring your squad and their standards up. You'll become a more extraordinary person by having more extraordinary people around you. Performance Prompts Number one the most positive people in my life who I should hang out with more. Two to add to the number of high performers in my network, I should Number three Some new routines or get togethers I could create to bring together the positive and supportive people in my life. Include.

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 liked 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've 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 and the set of practices in high performance habits has been quite the journey. 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 highperformance habits of you listening to this episode or reading the book every single day and week, we are still out there giving away 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 high performance habits and 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 seller, 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 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 it.