Brendon Burchard - High Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way

Copyright 2017 by High Performance Research LLC

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Published and distributed in the United States by Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com Published and distributed in Australia by Hay House Australia Pty., Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au Published and distributed in the United Kingdom by Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk Published and distributed in the Republic of South Africa by Hay House SA (Pty.), Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.za Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books: www.raincoast.com Published in India by Hay House Publishers India: www.hayhouse.co.in. For international rights requests, e-mail support@Brendon.com

Cover design and illustrations: Brendon Burchard

Interior design: Brendon Burchard and Riann Bender

Author photo: Maggie Kirkland, 2017 The Burchard Group

Author illustration on page 349: Nancy Januzzi

Except from The Charge on page 334 appears with permission of Simon & Schuster.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise copied for public or private useother than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviewswithout prior written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of nonfiction. Nonetheless, the names, personal characteristics of individuals, and details of events have been changed in order to disguise identities or protect the privacy of the authors clients and students. Any resulting resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental and unintentional. The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique, either directly or indirectly, as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems, without the advice of a physician. The authors intent is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Cataloging-in-Publication data is on file with the Library of Congress.

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4019-5285-3

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

1st edition, September 2017

Printed in the United States of America

Dedicated to my sunshine, Denise,
the most extraordinary person I know.

CONTENTS

Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.

Aristotle

Why are you so terrified to want more?

A large oak desk separates me from Lynn. She pulls back in her chair and stares out the window for a moment. Were on the forty-second floor, nearly eye level with the morning mist, looking out over the ocean.

Even before I ask the question, I know she wont like it.

Lynn is one of those people you could describe as highly effective. Shes focused and gets stuff done. She exhibits strengths for critical thinking and leading others. Shes received three big promotions in five years. People admire her. They say shes on her way, that shes got the it factor.

Terrified is not how most would describe her. But I know.

She glances back at me and starts to reply: Well, I wouldnt say that Im...

I lean in and shake my head.

She catches herself and nods, smoothing her already smooth brown hair. She knows she cant get away with a fake story right now.

Okay, Lynn says. Maybe youre right. Im scared to go to the next level.

I ask why.

Because Im barely surviving this one.

#

This book is about how people become extraordinary, and why others block themselves from that possibility. It will show clearly and unmistakably why some excel, others fail, and far too many never even try.

As a high performance coach, Ive worked with a lot of people like Lynn. Achievers fight long and hard to succeed, propelling themselves forward by grit and hustle. And then, at some point they could never have anticipated, they plateau, lose passion, or burn out. To outside observers, they may appear steady and calm as they plod ahead. But deep inside, achievers often feel that they are thrashing about, lost in a sea of priorities and opportunities. They feel unsure what to focus on or how to confidently replicate or scale their success. Theyve come far in life yet still have no standard operating principles for sustaining success. Even though theyre capable, many live in constant fear that they will fall behind or catastrophically fail to handle the demands of the next level of success. Why the fear and hardship? And why do some people break free from this reality, keep rising higher, and enjoy the vibrant well-being and abundant long-term success that so many envy or consider out of reach?

To understand the phenomenon, this book pulls together twenty years of research, ten years of insights gained from elite-level performance coaching, and a vast data set on high performers worldwide gathered through surveys, structured interviews, and professional assessment tools. It will reveal what it takes to become not just an achiever but a high performersomeone who creates ever-increasing levels of both well-being and external success over the long term.

During the journey, I will expose many of the prevailing myths about success, including why grit, willpower, practice, and your natural strengths and talents are not enough to take you to the next level in a world that demands you add value, lead others, and manage competing priorities and complex projects. To reach high performance, you have to consider more than your individual passions and efforts, and youll have to go well beyond what you like, prefer, or naturally do well, because, to be frank, the world cares less about your strengths and personality than about your service and meaningful contributions to others.

By the end of this book, you will never again wonder what it really takes to succeed when starting a new project at work or pursuing a bold new dream. You will be empowered with a set of reliable habits that research has shown to work with a broad range of personalities, and in a variety of situations, to create extraordinary long-term results. Youll feel a new sense of vital energy and confidence from knowing where to focus your energies and how to serve most effectively. Youll understand how to keep growing after youve enjoyed initial success. If youre ever thrown into a situation where you must work or compete with others at the highest levels of achievement, youll know exactly how to think and what to do.

This isnt to say you will be superhuman, or need to be. You have flaws; we all do. Yet at the end of this book, youll say to yourself, I finally know exactly how to be consistently at my best. Im confident in my ability to figure things out, and fully capable of overcoming adversity on the path of success, for the rest of my life. You will have a standard mental operating system and proven set of habits that reliably lead to long-term success across many different situations, and across multiple domains of life. In my own work as a high performance coach, Ive seen these habits transform the effectiveness of people from all walks of lifefrom Fortune 50 CEOs to entertainers, from Olympians to everyday parents, from world-class experts to high school students. If youve ever wanted a serious field-tested and science-backed path to improving your life, you have found it, here in this book.