High Performance. Cars. Athletes. Moms. Dads.

Like many people, I have always been fascinated by anything that involves high-performance. I spend more time than I should watching YouTube reviews of the latest high-end cars being brought to market by different companies, because it is exciting to see people push the limits of what used to be impossible. Professional Sports in the US alone is a 23.5 billion dollar industry... Which says a lot about how much we love to watch high performance for entertainment.

I have a friend named Casey Baugh that drives a very high-end AMG Mercedes. He admits that he hardly ever does anything else in the car but drive an average speed to work and back. He loves however the fact that the car is CAPABLE of racetrack performance at a moments notice if we wants to punch the pedal. 

We love high perfomance so much that we will pay more than we should for a car, we will pay high prices to watch OTHER people play physical games at an elite level, but what emphasis do we place on achieving high performance in our personal life?

I am energized by the thought that I can aspire to reach elite levels of performance in EVERY aspect of my life, not just the ones that might most commonly be considered. I want to have a high performing marriage, a HP relationship with my kids, a HP attitude about physical fitness and about my role in my church, I want nothing less than HP habits in my profession of direct sales and managing sales teams.

I think oftentimes we find ourselves wanting do to different things than the things we routinely do in order to feel more of a sense of fulfillment and growth. While we should always be ambitious and willing to stretch ourselves with new endeavors, I am reminded of something I was taught by Craig Manning -an awesome coach and author of "The Fearless Mind"- We can get excited about achieving the highest levels of performance in our current responsibilities. In these season of life maybe you are largely occupied with being a husband/father wife/mother, student, employee, and you are looking 'out the window' at the next season of life with some anticipation. Consider that new stimulation can arise within the same things we are doing so often, when we look for the areas we can elevate our performance to an elite level.

It is an interesting challenge to ask yourself questions like..."What does HIGH PERFORMANCE look like in serving in my church calling?" or "What is HIGH PERFORMANCE in my role as a dad to two little kids that can't even talk yet?"

Setting Appropriate Goals

In Craig Manning's book, he talks about being task-oriented vs. Ego-oriented... the summation of this concept is that when we set goals for ourselves that are too big and broad, we feel a lessened sense of control, which leads to high anxiety, which leads to doubt, and ultimately poor decision making. Instead, if we can set goals that are "just beyond our reach" and then make clear and very specific action items on how we will attain the goal, we will feel a greater sense of control, and lower anxiety.

As we approach the end of the year I get excited because it is time to reflect on the goals that were set at the beginning of 2014, and to now write down goals for 2015.

"Potential plus training, minus interference, equals high performance." 
Dr.Craig Manning 

"Excellence is mundane. It is achieved through an increase in quality of the little things we do each day." Dr. Craig Manning

"The Key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities." Stephen Covey