Confidence Classic: How To Hold Yourself To A HIGHER Standard Of Excellence TODAY With Alan Stein Jr., Speaker, Author, & Organizational Performance Coach

Many people believe that if they work hard, practice consistently, and focus on the things they’re good at, they’ll succeed. However, these aren’t the keys to long-term success. What gives successful people their competitive edge? The answer is high-performance habits.

High performers are people who maintain success and well-being over a long period of time. They excel more than their colleagues and can adapt to almost any situation. In High-Performance Habits, personal development trainer Brendon Burchard defines the six habits you need to become a high performer. These habits range from maintaining your health to generating influence. By developing them, you can take your first steps toward increasing your performance.

How do exceptional people achieve exceptional things? What's the secret to their extraordinary success? We often think it's luck, talent, or skill, but sports psychologist Bob Rotella argues that people achieve excellence because of their mindset. In How Champions Think, Rotella explains that champions share similar ways of thinking that set them apart: They nurture a positive self-image, break down ambitious dreams into realistic goals, and learn to grow from setbacks. By adopting the mental habits of a champion, you can unlock your full potential and achieve excellence in whatever you pursue.

In this guide, we’ll discuss ways to develop a positive self-image, train and master your skills, and perform under pressure. We’ll also explore methods for overcoming and learning from setbacks and challenges. Along the way, we’ll present other experts’ tips for high performance and provide additional actionable advice to help you apply Rotella’s principles to your goals.

In Talent Is Overrated, business journalist and speaker Geoff Colvin explores the origins of excellent performance—how some people can perform at a globally impressive level while the average person falls far short. Most people attribute this excellence to talent (an inherent high level of ability in a specific area), but Colvin says there’s little evidence supporting this theory. Instead, he says the quality of a person’s performance depends on how much they practice: Excellent performers achieve amazing results by practicing drastically more than average.

In this guide, we’ll first cover how shifting your mindset from talent to training can help you excel. Then, we’ll explore Colvin’s definition of practice, how it works, and how you can implement it in your life. In our commentary, we’ll look at the psychology behind Colvin’s ideas. We’ll also compare his ideas with those of other experts, like Malcolm Gladwell, and with the experience of excellent performers, like former Olympian Matthew Syed.

What’s the common thread among the world’s most successful business leaders? In Discover Your True North, business leadership educator Bill George argues that it’s not about being the most talented or the most charming person in the boardroom—it’s about being true to yourself and staying focused on your core priorities and values (your “True North”).

After analyzing interviews with 48 international business leaders about their career journeys, George distills their most salient insights into simple guidelines that anyone can follow to become a leader in their organization. In this guide, we’ll explain how to identify your core purpose and ethics by reflecting on your unique life experiences, common mistakes to avoid on your leadership journey, how to hone a team-oriented approach to leadership, and how to maintain a personal support system. We’ll also compare George’s recommendations to those of other business leaders and include tips for executing his guidelines.

Have you ever wondered why some employees can have a big impact at work, while others who work just as hard struggle to stand out? In Impact Players, Liz Wiseman refers to star employees as impact players—people who perform at their highest capacity and know how to make themselves valuable in their workplace. Her research reveals that many smart, talented individuals fall short of their potential because they don’t know how to better contribute. The good news is: By making small changes to your habits and mindset, you can become an impact player yourself, get more praise for your work, and make a bigger difference at your job.

In this guide, we’ll explore the benefits of becoming an impact player, the mindset that makes impact players valuable, and habits you can adopt to increase your impact. Throughout, we’ll compare Wiseman’s research with insights from other experts and provide actionable tips that can help you adopt high-impact habits.

Being a team player who can work effectively with others to achieve a group goal is more important than ever in our interdependent and changing world. However, true team players are surprisingly uncommon, in part because many organizations are unclear on what being a team player means, and as a result, often end up hiring people who undermine teamwork. In The Ideal Team Player, Patrick Lencioni defines the model team player as a person who embodies the virtues of humility, hunger or drive, and people skills. He explains how to transform your organization by developing your current employees into team players and making sure you hire team players in the future.

Peak explores how peak performers in music, athletics, and other fields develop their abilities. Through purposeful practice and the development of effective mental representations, nearly anyone can become an expert in whatever field they choose. The book shatters many illusions about expertise—chiefly, that it comes from genius or “natural” talent. Instead, it comes from rigorous practice and a willingness to improve slowly over time through a series of baby steps. By embracing these principles, you can become whatever it is you wish to be. Your future is entirely in your hands.

Is there something you’ve dreamed of doing, but never have? Are you waiting for the right motivation to move you toward your goal? If so, then you’re going about it all wrong. In The Motivation Myth, Jeff Haden argues that you shouldn’t wait for motivation to start you down the road to success. Instead, you make your own motivation by creating a plan, breaking it into achievable steps, celebrating every win, and persevering through disappointments. Motivation isn’t a push—it’s momentum that you generate yourself.

In this guide, we’ll explain Haden’s approach to kickstarting your path to success and creating a cycle of positive reinforcement that builds motivation as you go along. We’ll compare Haden’s suggestions with those of other productivity experts with practical tips on managing time, avoiding distraction, and maintaining mental focus. We’ll also explore what wellness experts say about chasing ambition versus finding contentment in everyday life.

In Trauma Stewardship, Laura van Dernoot Lipsky writes that we can better care for others who have gone through trauma by learning to care for ourselves—a practice she calls trauma stewardship. Trauma, loss, and suffering are everyday realities, damaging not only to those who suffer from these challenges directly, but also to the caregivers who witness and tend to others’ trauma. Lipsky argues that to be fully present and emotionally available to others, we must address the impact of secondary trauma (the harm we experience when exposed to others’ trauma). Lipsky's trauma stewardship framework addresses how to manage secondary trauma, create a better work-life balance, and practice mindful self-care so you can support others to your fullest capacity.

In this guide, we’ll explain Lipsky’s concept of trauma stewardship, discuss the warning signs of secondary trauma, and provide ways you can replenish your energy for healthy caregiving. Along the way, we’ll provide additional psychological insights about trauma exposure and other experts’ advice on self-care and compassion.

In Self-Compassion, Kristin Neff argues that when you respond to your failings and pain with kindness and comfort, you can manage the most challenging situations life throws at you. This entails understanding that you—like all people—make mistakes and suffer, are intrinsically worthy of care and comfort, and are connected to others through your suffering.

Neff is a pioneer in self-compassion research, whose tenets are rooted in Buddhist psychology. She’s the co-founder of the nonprofit Center for Mindful Self-Compassion, co-developer of the Mindful Self-Compassion training and workbook, and author of Fierce Self-Compassion: How Women Can Harness Kindness to Speak Up, Claim Their Power, and Thrive (2021). Self-Compassion was published in 2015.

In this guide, we’ll examine Neff’s definition of self-compassion and explore the key practices, benefits, and obstacles to embracing it. We’ll also explain how self-compassion can improve your relationship with others, making you a better partner and parent. We’ll also expand on Neff’s claims by comparing them with ideas and advice from other spiritual, psychology, medical, and public health experts.

The way we think about toughness, according to Steve Magness, is all wrong. We traditionally define toughness as a combination of machismo, lack of emotion, and outward displays of dominance and control. But Magness claims that this “old-school” definition of toughness is harmful and that real toughness is defined by confronting reality, acknowledging your thoughts, feelings, and emotions, and using a multitude of strategies to cope with discomfort or adversity. In Do Hard Things, Magness provides a new, more accurate, and more effective way of thinking about toughness, which will help you overcome challenges and make better, more thoughtful decisions.

In this guide, we’ll explore why traditional ideas around toughness are not only ineffective but harmful. Then, we’ll look at Magness’ ideas on what it really means to be resilient, and we’ll provide strategies on how to overcome discomfort and adversity. Throughout the guide, we’ll compare Magness’s ideas and strategies with those of other self-help and psychological experts, helping you become a more thoughtful, versatile, and thus tougher person.