Habits of High Performers
There are books, blogs, and podcasts that talk in-depth about the daily habits that high performers do to succeed. There is enough literature to do some research and reading to help determine the best daily practices that help us succeed in achieving goals or even living a fulfilling, sustainable life.
On a personal note, growing up, I did not have opportunities to help support a sustainable, fulfilling journey. Instead, childhood hardships, losses, lack of opportunities, and support made me believe that I was not worthy of joy, belonging, or success. After all the stories, I thought that I was not good enough or smart enough to accomplish anything; if I completed school, that would be a miracle since I was “the loser of the class.” Fast forward to adulthood and the opportunity to live in a country that provided endless growth opportunities.
I must say it wasn’t easy at first; I did not use to having these opportunities. What would I do with that? It’s not like I was taught to think outside the box and go for rainbows! My reactions at first, are to run. I can’t do this. There is no way I can create success in my life; I don’t think I can. So, the best thing is to stay low and think small; that is what I do best, after all. I carried on with this mentally for a while until I was left behind, lack of fulfillment took over, and life felt without purpose. I felt stuck and trapped by fears of rejection, limiting thoughts, and failure. I was afraid to face my fears and failures, so I avoided anything that would put me in a compromising position. Until I was no longer able to do it, l came to a crossroads and realized that to branch out and achieve growth, I had to face my fears through all of it. I learned to cry and laugh at my failures, and accept and have compassion toward myself. It is genuinely during times of hardship that I found myself at my highest level of growth. With all the challenges, trials, and errors, there are many opportunities for learning and development. Pushing my limits, facing my fears even though it’s a work in progress, and having a growth mindset and thirst for knowledge will take me far in my journey. As such, with some readings, learning from others, and research, I have adopted daily habits that help support my growth and accomplishment to get to where I am today.
On that note, as Jim Rohn quote said, “your level of success will seldom exceed your level of personal development because success is something you attract by the person you become.”
Are you dedicating time to your personal development? Are you creating habits that can help you sustain consistent change and support your growth? What are high performers do to develop such habits? How to become a better version of yourself?
Let us look closely at those habits for high performers, CEOs, millionaires, athletes, etc.
Practice silence for greater clarity – Why? Seeking clarity on who you want to be? How do you want to interact with people? How do you want to show up in the world? What you want, and what will bring you meaning? It is essential to your journey and creating a successful habit; it generates energy, provides perspective-taking, and brings focus, and self-awareness.
Generate energy and stay in silence attentively – Why? It takes a lot of energy and time in the long run to succeed; with holistic living, you can create a sustainable practice that includes positive and resilient mental, physical, and emotional vibrancy. It’s a key element for high performers to succeed. Their passion, motivation, and stamina to keep going (e.g., release tension, manage stress, practice gratitude to bring joy to your life, setup time in your day to practice those things, exercise, and establish good eating habits and stick with it.)
Performance necessity – Why? The drive to excellent performance is the most powerful human motivation. You can’t become extraordinary without having a sense of wanting to excel. This necessity for excellence fuels your identity and engagement and activates your sense of urgency to act. Without that, you are not able to create tactics or strategies to set out to do what you need to do.
Increase productivity – Why? Busy work is just that; what matters is producing a quality of output that matters. Multitasking is a distraction, and perfectionism is an excuse and delay response to a production of work because you are not dealing with underlining issues of insecurities, lack of confidence, or fear of failure. You must maintain focus if you are going to be productive interruptions during your day are other problems add up to time-sucking that keep you away from what’s need to get done. To become more productive, you must master the primary skills needed to win in your role or field interest.
Develop an influence – Why? Having influence is the ability to gain followers and shape others to believe in your vision, product, or ideas resulting in scaling those ideas and goals into action, creating a significant impact. To influence others, you must share your experience and learnings with them. You must challenge their development and model the values you wish them to follow.
Demonstrate courage – Why? Individuals who have exceptional courage in life are found to have clarity, energy, necessity, influence, and productivity. There is no growth without risk-taking and vulnerabilities along the way. Courage helps you climb those high mountains; courage drives fear away (courage and fear cannot live together; one always wins over the other). You must choose whether you live a life crippled with worries or a life driven by courage and honesty. Honor the struggles no one accomplishes success without struggles and adversities that test every part of our heart, soul, and above all, courage. Share your truths own your story, and express your ambition to pursue your dreams. Do not stay small to please others, and to remain under the radar, don’t feel guilty or limit yourself in how far you could go. Fight for someone or something you believe in.
In Summary, if excellence and high performance are what you seek, then you become what you choose to be by practicing and getting good at creating habits that will help support your goals and keeping you in the game. Be aware of internal traps that sneak up on you, such as negative beliefs, feelings, and thinking that slowly and over time, rob us of our zest, humanity, and well-being. Stay curious, humble, grateful, and caring.
