What Enables You To Perform At Your Best?

You cannot separate peak performance from passion, focus and wellbeing. This implies wellness and being-ness. Good health, presence and peace of mind are equally important to top performance as is knowledge and skill. Being interested – focused and passionate about what you do is critical to your success over time. How you attend to something says everything about you and your results.

Our culture focuses so much on over-the-top dynamic doing that we forget that we are human beings not human doings. We are not endless wells of energy but need filling up with what nourishes us to expend more energy - to be infused with a spirit not just a flat obligation.

Have you ever experienced that flow where you are totally focused, working hard on something but also completely relaxed and at ease? Is this a paradox? No. This is the way we are meant to be. Our minds complicate our expression sometimes.I’ve had “the flow” when painting a picture, facilitating a workshop or reading to my daughter. They all take focus and a certain amount of skill, experience, knowledge or talent. I enjoy these activities but how do I know I am “really on” and performing them well?

Ultimately it’s about other’s feedback and the objective results. Does the painting evoke thought and emotion in others? Is paint skillfully applied? Do workshop participants understand and respond to my questions? Did they learn something? Did their learning effect their life or job performance? Is my daughter engaged in the story? Did the way I read the story engage her to step into another land or character’s mind?

Identify something you are good at and love to do. Can you do more of it? I guarantee this will impact all areas of your life and work.