Episode 21 – Getting to your Peak

• I just finished an amazing book called PEAK and I want to share a few ideas that really stood out and that apply to the topics I often talk about in this podcast
• The main concept that runs through this book revolves around deliberate practice
• And before I dive a bit more into deliberate practice – I want to tell you that the authors have shared some great examples of people that have achieved incredible results in their life – from a variety of backgrounds – sports, music, chess, math, spelling and so on
• Really good stories – I encourage you to read them – they are definitely not ones you have heard before
• And over many years of research they discovered … drumroll …. that all these super-talented and gifted people had one thing in common – and its not their genetic predisposition – but their relentless pursuit of a goal through deliberate practice
• They were not lucky or special in any way – but they developed extraordinary skills which all of us can develop as well
• Through purposeful practice, people we call geniuses and masters and originals – people like Mozart and Einstein, and Tiger Woods and Michelangelo – all of them did the same thing – they actively shaped their brain and body through targeted and conscious practice
• What stand out clearly after reading this book –
• instead of bringing out the potential in someone, as we so often say, which assumes they are somehow born with it, we should rather say that we will develop their skills and abilities
• all of us have at some point in our lives pursued a goal. Large or small. We set out to do something. Often – we don’t make a big deal about it. We don’t shout it out to the world. We simply make a silent decision within ourselves to pursue a target that has gained importance to us.
• As you read the examples in this book, you will notice that many of the highly successful people did have had a few advantages.
• The main one that stood out to me is that they started very early in their life.
• And often that was initiated and encouraged by their parents.
• But don’t get discouraged with that
• The book also has other examples, of people who start much later in life
• The point of PEAK is not so much to get us to become Olympic champions, in which case you probably need to start fairly early –
• but it wants to demonstrate that todays and yesterdays geniuses are not a special breed of humans – they merely practiced in a very deliberate way
• and if you decide to pursue a goal, you can apply the same technique
• So lets talk about deliberate practice:
• Deliberate practice refers to a practice that is purposeful and methodical
• Its different from regular practice (which the author calls naïve practice) and often includes include unfocused repetitions,
  • Example – any sport you do regularly without tracking your time or performance in any way – you just do it.
  • for example – I swim but I never measure my time to see if I am improving week over week
• deliberate practice requires focused attention and is conducted with the specific goal of improving performance.
• there are a few key elements that set apart deliberate practice from just regular practice

1. You set a well-defined goal
   • I bet you have friends that threw things out there like: I am going to lose 20 lbs in the next 3 months, or I am traveling the world and want to visit 50 countries in 50 days, or I want to qualify for the Boston marathon by next year
   • Without a clear goal, you have not identified the direction you are heading towards
   • The larger goal then gets broken down into steps that you identify will be required to get you there.
   • To lose weight, you will need some sort of diet and exercise plan.
   • Hopefully you will be aware that excess weight is an oversupply of energy you have consumed in the past. Your body was unable to use all that energy and therefore stored it. Those little storage areas become visible over time and drive us mad.
   • So – you decide to rid yourself of them. And hopefully you know that you have 2 options to do this -– you either consume less food so your body is required to access the stored reserves, and or you shake it loose with exercise, or a combination of the 2.
   • If you want to travel the world and 50 countries, you need to lay out a good travel route that shows you how you can accomplish that
   • To qualify for the Boston marathon you need to be able to run under a certain time limit, depending on your age group. Then you need to figure out how much practice this will require, which marathons you will run prior to that, and so on
   • You see how these 3 examples required some thinking work and breaking down of steps.

2. Purposeful practice is focused
   • This to me self explanatory – clearly you cannot get to your goal if you don’t focus
   • Focus to me means that you prioritize your goal over other things in life
   • Practice is an activity, not just a thought, so will need to make room for it in your daily agenda
   • If loosing weight is a focus, time for exercising may replace something else in your calendar.
   • Controlling your food intake may now demand that you cook more at home, a time commitment you need to take into consideration
   • Traveling around the world no doubt will require time and so does training for a marathon that has a very strict time limit
   • Focus to me also implies a dedication and a strong commitment
   • It’s the one intangible part of this pursuit that needs to come from within
   • We are usually great at the first one – planning and laying out steps
   • It gets us pumped up.
   • But once we start, we quickly lose interest
   • So really think about focus and the next element can help with that
3. Purposeful practice involves feedback
   • Direct feedback come from your results
   • And they will either motivate or discourage you
   • But they are necessary so you can measure how you are doing
   • It’s the weight on your scale, or the list of countries visited or the time on your watch as you finish each run
   • Its something measureable
   • It can also come from others observing you
   • If you are intent on achieving your goal, your results will drive you forward
4. It requires that you get out of your comfort zone
   • Your goal in itself should be something that you have never done before, or involve a skill you don’t possess
   • Your goal should push you beyond the familiar and comfortable
   • In order to reach it, you should continuously challenge yourself
   • Otherwise, you will not improve
   • And your results will reflect that
   • Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight for the first time knows this.
   • Losing weight is very hard
   • But once you successfully do it, you learn what works for your body and should you gain it back, the next time around you probably know what you need to do to get it back off
   • There will be elements of this journey that you enjoy, but there will be others that are super hard
   • You will get stuck and then you need to call on your resourcefulness and find a new approach
   • This may involve engaging a teacher or a coach, something the authors cite is very common among people pursuing serious goals
   • You need to consider something more tangible that just trying harder, which often doesn’t work for long
   • Many people give up when the road gets tough
   • So think about your motivation before you start – and work something into your plan that you can refer back to when things get hard

• Keep in mind that the examples I picked for this are mostly goals. I want to illustrate that you can apply deliberate practice to any goal you set
• In fact, if you do you are laying the groundwork for success
• The books emphasis is on acquiring new skills
• – a language or a computer program or a sport
• something new and far-reaching, something that, when successful leads to excellence
• and the four elements of deliberate practice I just spoke about are your starting point
• the book has much more to offer so I strongly suggest you pick up a copy of it has been difficult to you to stick to a plan
• and especially if you are one of those people that things that excellence is reserved for a selected few
• I believe the reason not more of us are world star performers is that we give up to soon
• We shy away from the hard work that it often requires
• Or we get stuck and don’t know what else to do. Instead of searching for new routes, we throw the towel
• And very often we content ourselves with “good enough”
  • We didn’t lose 20lbs, but only 10 and we settle with that
  • We didn’t travel all 50 countries, but 30 is ok too
  • We didn’t make it to the Boston marathon but ran half a marathon
• We make it ok for ourselves in our mind
• But I am pretty sure somewhere deep inside we are left with the little knock from time to time – what if I had not given up?
• Read page 48 paragraph

• By speaking about this book, I want to encourage you to think about a goal you want to pursue that pushes your boundaries
• A goal that gives you a level of expertise beyong “good enough”
• You become an expert, a master, a talent someone people call
• Maybe something you can turn into a living
• I feel too often in life we are just happy with what is
• We push ourselves from time to time, but more often than not we just give up or we celebrate too soon
• We have one life. Lets take advantage and try ourselves at being great.
• Everyone else lives the norm. you can be better than that. You can accomplish something more
• Will it hurt for a while? Probably.
• Will it isolate you from your regular social life? Possibly.
• But I say – its worth it.
• I have definitely experienced some of this since starting this podcast. Its an immense time commitment. Its not only the time of actually Doing it, there is also so much learning involved. And learning takes time.
• Think about this today.
• And if you have that huge goal in life that you want to pursue but don’t know how to start, or maybe you started and got stuck, gave up …
• Send me a note
• Maybe I can help

• Read page 179 paragraph