Continuum Performance

BE ABOUT IT

High Performance Habits. How Extraordinary people become that way.
Eric Belliveau • Mar 06, 2019

Ever since graduate school I have made a point to read as often as I can, even if it is just a few pages a day. In the recent weeks, I have been reading the book High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard. This book has really hit home and has given me a different take on how I handle each day.

Burchard breaks the book into three sections with the first two sections being habits both personal and social. Those two sections then had three parts to them. Personal Habits is divided into habit 1: seek clarity, habit 2: generate energy and habit 3: raise necessity. Seeking clarity was defined as how one thinks about tomorrow while staying connected with what matters today. Creating that habit can aid you in staying engaged, continuing to grow and stay fulfilled over the long haul without burning out with whatever you do daily.

Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them and it will change your life – Amy Poehler.

Generating energy should not constantly feel like a burden to you. If you struggle with this then most likely your overall happiness and is lower and your enthusiasm for taking on challenges is lower. This makes it extremely difficult to be a leader. The more energy someone has, the more likely they are to work their way to the top of their field of work or interest. The last personal habit was raise necessity. This chapter started off with a quote by Albert Einstein “Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason, mastery demands all of a person”. This quote is the epitome of what we at CPC do day in and day out.

We must be “all in” every time we coach or else we are doing a disservice to our athletes and clients. Burchard defines necessity as the emotional drive that makes great performance a must instead of a preference. Necessity demands us to take action not just want to or think about taking that action.

Section two in the book that focused in on the social habits was also broken into three sections. Section 1: increase productivity, section 2: develop influence and section 3: demonstrate courage. Increase productivity can be related back to my previous blog about goal setting. Burchard talks about how the fundamentals of becoming more productive are setting goals and maintaining energy and focus. This then tends to create a greater sense of flow and enjoyment of what you are doing! The second social habit stated was develop influence. This is often a struggle for most individuals. People often struggle to gain influence in their personal and professional lives because they do not ask for what they want. We are all guilty of this. We all underestimate the willingness of others to engage and help in what we are trying to achieve or do.

A powerful quote in this section in which I shared with the CPC staff because it resonated what we are about: “Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them and it will change your life” – Amy Poehler. As a leader, you must surround yourself with individuals who not only make your team better but inspire you to be better day in and day out.

The third section of social habits was demonstrate courage. In this section Burchard talks about honoring the struggle and meeting difficulties and not backing down from them. Data shows that courage and high performance are directly related. In this section, it was stated that courage is the cornerstone habit of high performance.

Now I want you think of these statements and ask yourself what do you do? Do you speak up for yourself even when it is hard? Do you respond quickly to life’s challenges and emergencies rather than avoid them? Do you often take action despite fear? Do you rarely act outside your comfort zone? Think about what you do each day when you are faced with a challenge. The key take away that I found in this section was this statement: The important thing is that you define what being more courageous means to you and start living that way.

High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard was a great read! I would highly recommend adding it to your reading list. Each section can be related to life in general as well as the work place. Be about it!

The Meat Hangover

By Eric Belliveau • 07 Oct, 2020
When it comes to taking meat out of your diet, some people have the idea that they will only see positive changes immediately following this choice. While those positive changes are definitely part of the deal, so is an adjustment period for your body.

We're Trying

By Eric Belliveau • 23 Sep, 2020
We were all thrown on this crazy ride together. Emotions were running high but so were patience, empathy, inclusion, and respect. Most of us could rally behind the #WeAreInThisTogether manta. We wanted to do right by each other - donate to charities, lend a hand, check-in on one another. Do our part. As the days turn to weeks and the weeks into months these dispositions decayed rapidly. I know that this Quarantine order has been going on for a long time. I know that a great number of us do not agree on the why. I know an even greater number of us are “over it”. I am painfully aware of the difference of opinions surrounding the pandemic. It is impossible to NOT be aware of this. This leads us all to frustration, anger, resentment, and the feeling that you are not being heard. Very real and very human emotions! It is okay to feel this way. I am not only writing this from the perspective of a fellow struggling human. I do find myself struggling with everything I mentioned above. Not just daily but multiple times a day. My ability to focus has been challenged by my worry. My ability to create time for myself and focus on self-care has been derailed for fear of other things becoming more pressing. I work on this every day. I am not only writing this from the perspective of one of the business owners who were never given a playbook for this. For weeks on end I thought WTF happened to the business and how would our model need to change and remain viable, how each business owner had to either weather a period in which we were completely shut down or allowed to operate under capacity restrictions, etc. The unknown of what the timeline would bring and whether we would be able to continue our dreams or make an extremely difficult decision of not continuing. This still haunts every one of us daily. I AM very much writing this as a service provider! I am writing this as an impassioned human who genuinely loves what I do for a living. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to have built a career surrounding something I get excited about every day. I am making a stand for all of us that make their living in the service industry. To the receptionist, hostess, waiter, cook, dry cleaner, teacher, technician, barista, utility worker, automobile service technician… It is truly impossible to be inclusive of everyone here.  No one human mentioned above asked for this ‘situation’ we are in. We are sure as hell trying to provide a level of normalcy, service, care, and happiness to the lives in which we choose to serve. With added restrictions, added expense decreased capacity and the fear of being fined or shut down for doing it incorrectly, everyday.

The Meat Hangover

By Eric Belliveau • 07 Oct, 2020
When it comes to taking meat out of your diet, some people have the idea that they will only see positive changes immediately following this choice. While those positive changes are definitely part of the deal, so is an adjustment period for your body.

We're Trying

By Eric Belliveau • 23 Sep, 2020
We were all thrown on this crazy ride together. Emotions were running high but so were patience, empathy, inclusion, and respect. Most of us could rally behind the #WeAreInThisTogether manta. We wanted to do right by each other - donate to charities, lend a hand, check-in on one another. Do our part. As the days turn to weeks and the weeks into months these dispositions decayed rapidly. I know that this Quarantine order has been going on for a long time. I know that a great number of us do not agree on the why. I know an even greater number of us are “over it”. I am painfully aware of the difference of opinions surrounding the pandemic. It is impossible to NOT be aware of this. This leads us all to frustration, anger, resentment, and the feeling that you are not being heard. Very real and very human emotions! It is okay to feel this way. I am not only writing this from the perspective of a fellow struggling human. I do find myself struggling with everything I mentioned above. Not just daily but multiple times a day. My ability to focus has been challenged by my worry. My ability to create time for myself and focus on self-care has been derailed for fear of other things becoming more pressing. I work on this every day. I am not only writing this from the perspective of one of the business owners who were never given a playbook for this. For weeks on end I thought WTF happened to the business and how would our model need to change and remain viable, how each business owner had to either weather a period in which we were completely shut down or allowed to operate under capacity restrictions, etc. The unknown of what the timeline would bring and whether we would be able to continue our dreams or make an extremely difficult decision of not continuing. This still haunts every one of us daily. I AM very much writing this as a service provider! I am writing this as an impassioned human who genuinely loves what I do for a living. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to have built a career surrounding something I get excited about every day. I am making a stand for all of us that make their living in the service industry. To the receptionist, hostess, waiter, cook, dry cleaner, teacher, technician, barista, utility worker, automobile service technician… It is truly impossible to be inclusive of everyone here.  No one human mentioned above asked for this ‘situation’ we are in. We are sure as hell trying to provide a level of normalcy, service, care, and happiness to the lives in which we choose to serve. With added restrictions, added expense decreased capacity and the fear of being fined or shut down for doing it incorrectly, everyday.
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