I actively avoided this book for 2 years because I was under the impression that High Performance Habits would be a shallow, “life-hack” sort of personal development book.
This was a mistake.
When I finally gave it a chance last year, I realized almost immediately that there was a depth to the lessons that Brendon teaches. I’ve now read it twice (partly to reinforce the concepts and partly to write this post) and continue to learn more from this book even when I’m not reading it.
10 lessons from High Performance Habits:
- Excellence in any aspect of life comes from your habits and your actions, not anything inherent within you, your past, or your strengths. This book outlines the 6 habits that Brendon Burchard has found to have the most impact in creating a great life.
- Clarity is perhaps the most powerful habit. Seek clarity and be intentional in who you want to become, how you want to treat others, and what impact you want to make on the world, as well as what your goals are for the week or how you want to feel in this moment.
- A growth mindset and an inner locus of control (belief that you control yourself and your actions, not others or your environment) are critical for growth and success. To become successful in business or life you must acknowledge the power that you have over your energy, your emotions, your actions, and your perceptions.
- To raise necessity, build inner and outer accountability and purpose for your actions. We perform at our best both when we have a high standard of excellence for ourselves and a reason for our striving, and when we are performing for others, whether that be following deadlines or living up to the standards of our peers or leaders.
- Productivity is about doing the right things and avoiding the wrong things. Learn what will move the needle the most in your aspirations, then focus intensely on only those things. Drop whatever you can that is only good, not great. And minimize the time and energy you spend on repetitive, unfulfilling tasks.
- Influence with others comes from changing how they think about themselves and the world around them, challenging them to grow in their character, connections, and contribution, and being a role model for what you’d like to see in others.
- Failure rarely comes from external forces and circumstances. And when it does, the only true failure is not adapting to the new situation and continuing to move forward.
- Excellence requires struggle, whether in business or art or relationships. Expect the struggle, and face it as a friend. It is a that you’re growing and doing something worth doing.
- Confidence and courage come from the belief that you can reasonably succeed at a task or challenge. The more you prove to yourself that you can face new challenges the more confidence and courage you develop.
- Regular review of your habits, perspectives, and actions is difficult and sometimes painful, but it is necessary in identifying where you are, where you are going, and how to get there.
Top Quotes:
- “What we do with what we have tends to be far more important than what we have in the first place. What you’re innately good at is less important than how you choose to see the world, develop yourself, lead others, and remain persistent through difficulty.”
- “The person who is certain is most closed to learning, most vulnerable to dogma, and most likely to be blindsided and overtaken by innovators…high performers outgrow their youthful need for certainty and replace it with curiosity and genuine self-confidence.”
- “Real success – holistic, long-term success – doesn’t come from doing what’s natural, certain, convenient, or automatic. Often, the journey to greatness begins the moment our preferences for comfort and certainty are overruled by a greater purpose that requires challenge and contribution.”
- “The high performance waiter obsesses over whether the table is set with symmetry and precision, not just because it’s his job but because he cares about the overall customer experience and how the restaurant will be perceived now and in the future.”
- “Courage is not fearlessness; it is taking action and persisting despite that fear.”
- “No one who achieved greatness avoided struggle. They met it, engaged with it. They knew that it was necessary, because they knew that real challenge and hardship pushed them, extended their capabilities, [and] made them rise. They learned to honor the struggle. They developed a mindset that anticipated the struggle, welcomed the struggle, [and] leveraged the struggle into reasons to give more.”
- “The kinds of courageous acts that you are proud of at the end of your life are those in which you faced uncertainty and real risk, with real stakes, when doing something for a cause or person beyond yourself, without any assurance of safety, reward, or success.”
I hope that these lessons prompt you to either get grab a copy of the book or listen to it in its entirety for free on Season 2 of the Brendon Show Podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/26xMn3MDbLhuZ3a7VmmuCc
Thank you for reading, and please check out all the other lessons I’ve learned from books here.