Are you or your organization experiencing poor performance and having missed expectations. If so, you need to ask some hard questions if you want to turn things around. Everyone reading this site wants to achieve peak performance, both personally and individually. No one wants to be average or nondescript.
The following are five stories about peak performance which will lead you to ask five questions about achieving peak performance in your own life:
How Peak Performance Leads To Peak Production
Toronto Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews is someone I have about previously. Check out 7 Questions Leaders Are Currently Asking About Peak Performance.
Matthews is considered the greatest goal scorer in hockey. Last week, he scored one goal and assisted on two others in the team’s 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins in the NHL playoffs. It was a dominating performance.
Afterwards, teammate John Tavares said in this article from The Athletic, “Just world-class, everything he does. I think when you see the drive every single day and the passion for the game and wanting to be such a difference-maker night in and night out – and certainly at this time of year to have a night like he did was massive for our group.”
We know from this comment that Matthews’s drive, passion, and consistency are keys to his peak performance. But there is also something else.
Teammate Morgan Rielly said, “He never really talks about production at all.” Rielly reminds us that peak performers focus on the processes which lead to outcomes, more than on the outcome itself.
Leaders, are you focused more on the process which leads to peak performance more than the peak performance itself?
A Last-Second Game Winning Shot
With 12.6 seconds remaining and the scored tied at 99 in their playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Denver Nuggets superstar guard Jamal Murray dribbled up the court for a possible game winning. The following is what happened next:
Afterwards, Murray spoke with the TNT studio crew. Below is their interview.
Murray said, “I told my teammates I’m struggling, I’m going to look for y’all and every single one of them told me to keep shooting…. My teammates told me to keep shooting, be aggressive… If it wasn’t for my teammates, I might not even get to that shot. I did what I could today, I tried to pick it up on defense. It was a great team win. We all stuck together.”
There is a common denominator is his breakdown of the shot – “Teammates”. In 70 words, that phrase was mentioned in some for or fashion on five separate occasions.
Peak performance is not a solo effort. You need others to help you. If you are going to have peak performance, you need teammates who will encourage you during challenging times.
Leaders, do you have these type of teammates around you?
The Most Dominant Golfer In The World (Or Is She?)
Nelly Korda, not Scottie Scheffler (more on him later), is perhaps golf’s most dominant player.
This past weekend, Korda won the Chevron Championship, her fifth consecutive tournament championship. Only Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004, 2005) have accomplished this feat on the LPGA tour.
So what makes Korda so dominant and what can we as leaders learn from her to achieve superior results in our lives?
In this article from The Athletic, Korda said, “Sometimes golf can get overcomplicated. There’s a key in the simplicity of it.”
Albert Einstein once said, “The definition of genius is taking the complex and making it simple.” Korda would agree.
Leaders, are you making the complicated things in your industry simple?
The Most Dominant Golfer In The World (Or Is He?)
If Nelly Korda is not the most dominant golfer in the world, it is definitely two-time Masters Champion and world rankings leader Scottie Scheffler. Scheffler has won four of his last five starts.
Now allow me to give you a stunning statistic. Scheffler’s points lead over the No. 2 player Rory McIlroy is greater than McIroy’s lead over Tiger Woods, the No. 788 player in the world. WOW!!!
I’ll ask the question again – So what makes Scheffler so dominant and what can we as leaders learn from him to achieve superior results in our lives? It is his consistency.
In the last two years, Scheffler has finished in the top-3 in 23 of his 51 events.
The greatest performers in any industry are not one-hit wonders or rely on silver bullets, they have defined systems which ensure ongoing success.
Leaders, do you rely on systems or silver bullets to achieve peak performance?
From Zero To Hero
New York Yankees outfielder Juan Soto is one of baseball’s brightest stars. But it did not appear that way earlier this year. Soto finished spring training going 5-for-28 at the plate. But that was then and this is now.
The following is how he is currently playing:
Other than his elite skills, what caused the change? Soto told The Athletic, “If you saw all of my at-bats in the last quarter of spring training, I had some really bad swings. I was pulling off of the ball. I thought it was a simple thing to fix, but I needed to rise my game to get to where I’m at today. I can’t explain what I did because if I tell you, other teams read your stuff. I don’t want to reveal all of my stuff, but I worked with (hitting coach James Rowson) before he left and worked out a little bit down (in Tampa) with my swing. It worked.”
Here is the statement which stuck out to me – “I don’t want to reveal all of my stuff, but I worked with (hitting coach James Rowson) before he left and worked out a little bit down (in Tampa) with my swing.”
As good as Soto is, one of the leading candidates for Most Valuable Player got even better when working with a coach.
If Juan Soto needs a coach, then regardless of what we do for a living, so do you and I? That is one of the purposes of this site. No matter how good you are as a leader, I hope this site helps coach you to get even better.
Leaders, do you have a coach to help you get better?
Conclusion
The following are five questions leaders should be asking if they want to achieve peak performance in their industry:
- Am I more focused on the factors which lead to peak performance than the outcome itself?
- Do I have teammates around me who encourage me during challenging times?
- Am I making the complicated things in my industry simple?
- Do I rely on systems or silver bullets to achieve peak performance?
- Do I have a coach to help me get better?
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