Hey, hey Bold Leaders. Welcome to The Bold Leadership Revolution Podcast,
I’m your host Tara Newman and I have a passion for helping everyday humans perform in extraordinary ways. This is the place where we dish on everything from mental toughness to emotional wellbeing and what it takes to really perform your best at a high level. We are here to help you embrace your ambition and leave that grind behind.
Today’s topic is one that has been on my heart and mind for a while. Over the last 4 years, I have worked with some spectacular high achievers but I noticed something. They often sacrificed true productivity and high-performance protocols for their achievement.
Furthermore, the achievement wound up not really being what they wanted to begin with. There seems to be a giant disconnect between achievement and performance.
Now, like all things on this podcast — this is my opinion. It’s an assumption I’m making based on the anecdotal data.
Anecdotal data is based on small, personal accounts and stories that I collect from my clients and community. These come from examples and observations I make.
Something to note here is that I have wanted to talk about this subject more but so many people are attached to the label “high achiever”, I have been afraid of calling people out or having anyone feeling like I’m pointing a finger at them.
I’m not.
The purpose of this conversation is to call my high achievers up into a higher and ultimately more sustainable level of performance.
My plan is to keep this episode brief and share some characteristics or examples of what I think a high achiever is vs. what a high performer is.
Before I get started, I want to say that I see this as a spectrum with high achiever on one end and high performer on the other end. If you’re looking to become a high performer, you have to start somewhere and starting as a high achiever is a great place to be. This is about going from being great to being exceptional or being in a place of excellence.
Most of you will probably identify with the high achiever and some of the high performer.
DEFINE HIGH ACHIEVER:
- Only sees tangible results and ROI in terms of dollars. Things I’ve learned from my first mentor, 20 years ago, have paid themselves forward in all kinds of ways throughout my life — in tangible and intangible ways. Be open to the journey and all you can experience without limiting yourself to the concrete or the here now.
- Never sees their wins. This will make you successful, never.
- Focused on short-term results and cash. This will make you successful in the short term but does nothing to build stability and sustainability in your business.
- Talks a good game — lots of theory and book knowledge and regurgitated learnings from others but hasn’t taken the time to test, hone, evolve, and make their own. This only works if you want to be one step ahead. This is not the pinnacle of leadership.
- Effort and work come from the energy of not good enough or need to prove yourself worthy or be the smartest person in the room.
- You don’t understand what your unique and true value is.
- You’re driven by fear of failure
- You flex your hustle muscle way too often.
- You get stuck in perfectionism — here’s why I believe this happens.
- You carry shame around not hitting your goals because you have the most fantastic death grip on them.
- You’re crushed by the thought of failure.
- Constantly outputting.
- Overconsumption of content
- Focused on tactics and external sources of success.
- Hello, control freak!
- You say you’re open to learning and trying things differently but when people give you feedback or ideas…you’re thinking yeah, but…
NOW, LET’S LOOK AT HIGH PERFORMERS.
The equally ambitious but less overworked, worried, and worn out companion of the high achiever.
High performers do things differently — they are radically intentional and deeply discerning. Essential as Author Greg McKeown would say. High performers truly look at the world through a different lens.
And what I find is that many of them have started off as high achievers and walked the path to high performance by carefully mastering key concepts along the way.
I think the first concept is one of recommitment. They recommit to being their highest performing self, every day.
They are meticulous about habits and routines to the point of them being ritualistic. Everything has a purpose with a high performer. The create filters or rules for how to make decisions to reduce decision fatigue. The routinely press the pause button to put some time between stimulus and response.
Authenticity isn’t a joke. It has very deep meaning to a high performer. Anything that brings them deeper self-awareness is worth the time and energy. HIgh performers are in it for the long haul. They are attracted to mastery and they know the thing they must master first and foremost is themselves.
They know that they are their best tool for the impact that everything they desire or want to birth into the world comes from them. Their energy.
So they fiercely protect themselves. Like Greg McKeown discusses in chapter 6 of Essentialism, they protect the asset.
All the things a high achiever believes stands in their way of success, high performers double down on — sleep, nutrition, taking care of themselves emotionally, financially, and spiritually.
High performers get 10x results not because they do 10x the work but because the focus 10x.
They are discerning with everything including and most importantly their learning environments.
High achievers think the answer is in the next thing — the next course, the next mentor, the next connection they make. High performers are agile and discerning learners. They are open to learning from life, clients, peers but they put themselves in intimate spaces where they feel an energetic connection. They put themselves in safe spaces with inherent and consistent integrity.
High performers are goal-directed not because goals are awesome but because they provide a structure through which things are created. Setting the goal, breaking down the steps and creating small actions are a part of their process. Then they release attachment to goal knowing things always work out in their favor.
The #1 fear I hear from successful people is that they won’t reach their true potential. They won’t make the impact they know they are here to make.
They don’t realize that reaching your potential goes hand in hand with leaving your achiever behind and stepping into your highest performing self.
Ok, bold leaders…now I want to hear from you. I want you to head on over to Instagram and post a picture of you listening to this podcast with ONE insight or take away.
If you’re someone who feels excited by this idea, I want you to head on over to the show notes and fill out an application for The Bold Leadership Mastermind in 2019.
It’s a year-long mastermind with other bold leaders. We’re going to be talking strategy but we will focus the most on mindset (behaviors, beliefs, bullshit stories) and Energy in all aspects of your life, not just in business.
This is for small business owners looking to BECOME the next best version of themselves. Leaders looking for accountability. Leaders who want to have a clear and focused rallying cry for 2019. Leaders who don’t want to play it safe. They know the power in putting themselves in a room with people who will challenge them to grow.
Space is limited as this is an intimate opportunity.
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Be sure to tune into our next episode to help you embrace your ambition and leave the grind behind.
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