Know Who Needs Your A-Game

Foreign. 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 a 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 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 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, 12, 16 bucks for that. Or if you want the deluxe audiobook version which comes with additional training, additional interviews and 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 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 1 know who needs your A game? Not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something. Henry David Thoreau to help you tap into both the internal and the external demands of necessity, try this simple practice Set a desk trigger for yourself. From now on, whenever you sit down at your desk, that's the trigger action. Ask who needs me on my A game the most right now? Butt hits chair. Then you ask and answer the question. That's the practice. I love this practice for several reasons. First, it's simple and something anyone can do. The trigger is based on something you do frequently. Sit down at your office chair. Whether your office chair is at the kitchen table or in a high rise corner office, I bet you're there a lot. It forces you to do a quick gut check. The mere mention of your A game for forces an internal review. What is my A game? Have I been bringing it today?

What would my A game look like.

In the next hour or so? The question also forces you to think of someone else. Whether by duty, obligation or purpose, they ended up on your radar and now you can have an external person or group to work for. When you have someone external to take action for, you tend to perform better. Finally, I like the phrase the most right now. It is immediacy focused and yet the most makes you examine your priorities and yep, you guessed it, your real deadlines. I started teaching this practice to my clients because I've never met a high performer who didn't consistently ponder whether they were giving their best and not just for themselves, but for others. They have come to assess their performance at regular intervals. By giving you a desk trigger, I'm helping you Bring that skill to your conscious habits. I'm also helping you step into a spirit of service because that's what high performers do. They're grateful for life, so they're generous with others. People often ask me to clarify what it means to be on your A game and how to get there. Being on your A game means that you are giving your best effort with full focus on the singular task. To get it, you need to stoke the internal and external demands of necessity. Specifically, you assume the identity of a high performer and you set up situations that require full immersion. In other words, you get to your A game through the gates of identity and immersion in the game of life. You get to choose your identity, who you aspire to be and how you will show up. That choice of identity will dramatically affect how well you perform. Consider the difference between these identities. Dabblers have a passing interest in the game of life. They look at many things and try many things, but they never really jump into anything with full engagement or commitment. Novices have interests too, but at least they are intent on developing some expertise in an area. They jump in deeper than dabblers, but their issue is they don't deal well with discouragement. Novices stop at obstacles because they don't have much of their identity in the fight. Amateurs have more than interest. They have passion. They've jumped in deep and they truly engage a subject and want to get better. They get through more obstacles than novices do, but they tend to remain at an unskilled level unless they get fast and positive feedback or recognition. In other words, they need a lot of external validation to continue. Players have passion but also greater commitment and skill. With great focus, they teach themselves to master one area of the game. They excel and find themselves happy as long as they get their turn and get compensation. If the game changes or the rules change, though they're quickly embittered. Players desperately need the rules and routines. They don't like disruption or negative feedback. They need a high degree of fairness if they are going to participate. If someone on the team gets paid more than they do, they freak out and quit. They're committed to becoming a success in their position, but rarely achieve a holistic level of success in other areas of the game or life. To them, it's a game to be won and there's not much beyond that. High performers are like players, but with greater all around necessity, skill and team spirit. They are all in on the game. They play at a high level no matter what the recognition or rewards because because the game is intrinsically rewarding and also part of how they view their service to the world. Their identity is tied to the game, but also to the team and those they serve. They don't want to master just one area of the game. They want to be known for the game itself. And yet, unlike players, they don't mind sharing the spotlight. They have such a high degree of personal excellence and duty to the team, they become the go to person in every game. They stand out because they not only deliver exceptional individual performance, but also make every person better through their influence. These are more casual descriptions than I've made elsewhere in the book, but I often share them to help people realize they have a choice. If you want to be on your A game, you can't be a dabbler, novice, amateur or player. You must consciously choose and try to will yourself into being a high performer. If you are going to bring your A game regularly, you have to describe that identity for yourself and step into it every single day. In addition to choosing a high performance identity, you'll have to immerse yourself fully in activities that force you to stretch. You can't just prance around thinking you're good, you have to put yourself in situations that make you good. Fortunately, research has clearly outlined exactly what will help you find those challenging and and immersive experiences. This popular concept in positive psychology is known as Flow. According to Mihaly Cszentmihalyi, flow happens when several of these elements are in play. 1. You have goals that are clear and challenging, yet attainable. 2. Strong concentration and focused attention are required. 3. The thing you're doing is intrinsically rewarding. 4. You lose self consciousness a bit and feel serene. 5. Time stops. You feel so focused on the present that you lose track of time. 6. You're getting immediate feedback on your performance. 7. There's a balance between your skill level and the challenge presented. You know that what you're doing is doable, even if difficult. 8. You have a sense of personal control over the situation and the outcome, 9. You stop thinking about your physical needs and 10. You have the ability to focus completely on the activity at hand. You can use this list of conditions to increase the odds you'll bring your A game to those you hope to serve. Perhaps this last part about serving others is what makes flow even more powerful. That's why I ask that you frame this practice as an opportunity to bring your A game for someone else. Look beyond your individual performance or feelings and connect with a reason to be your best for others. Find somebody or something worth fighting for if you can stoke the necessity to be your best in order to help others, you'll hit high performance faster and stay there longer. Performance prompts 1. The people who need me on my A game at this point in my life are 2. The reasons each of those people need me include 3. The reasons I want to become a high performer for each of these people. 4. I know that I'm on my A game when I think, feel or behave. The things that throw me off my a game. 6. I can deal more effectively with those things. 7. A few reminders I could set up for myself to be my best for the people in my life could include this list of performance prompts is in the book High Performance habits on page 157 and you can download a tool that allows you to fill them out@highperformancehabits.com Tools.

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 forward/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. Take, 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 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 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. You 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 thebrendonshow so that we know you listened 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.