“What really matters is what you do with what you have.” — Shirley Lord
Do you know what high-performance feels like?
We can define high performance as producing results much better than expected.
Brendon Burchard defines high performance as “succeeding above and beyond standard norms over the long-term.”
And my dictionary defines high-performance as “able to operate to a high standard.”
That’s great, but to really internalize it, we need to know what it actually feels like to experience our own version of high-performance.
The good news is that you already have.
You just need to remember those times in your life when you produced better results than you expected and you surprised yourself or others, with what you’re capable of.
In the book Patterns of High Performance: Discovering the Ways People Work Best, Jerry L. Fletcher shares what it’s like to experience high-performance in our lives and in the workplace.
Look to Your Past for High-Performance Experiences
The best way to find your high-performance pattern is to look to your past and remember those times when you produced better than expected results.
Fletcher writes:
“When we begin to discover an individual’s High-Performance Pattern, we start by asking the person to recall times when something he or she did worked better than expected.
We particularly look for situations that seemed to take on a life of their own and blossomed into achievements that astonished everyone.
Every person has had this kind of experience at some time.
Some of our clients tell of modest situations when everything went unexpectedly well.
Others relate complex situations that they were able to resolve without overwhelming effort.”
Examples of High-Performance Experiences
Here is a sampling of some high-performance scenarios that folks have shared with Jerry Fletcher and his team.
Fletcher writes:
- Outstanding personal sales. A salesman remembered a particular time when he walked into a meeting with a tough client expecting a modest sale at best. He emerged with the largest sale he had ever made and with a promise of future orders.
- Landing a dream job. A manager recalled a time when, as a recent college graduate with a broadcasting degree but no experience, she wanted a job so badly that she called the vice president of a major network in New York. She managed to get through to him. She arranged a job interview for a significant position and won her first job over much more experienced competition.
- Overturning a governor’s veto. A public relations specialist told about a time when he was a volunteer in a small nonprofit organization. The governor of the state had vetoed a bill that was important to the work of the organization. Although our client had no previous political experience, he got so angry that he organized a two-week grassroots campaign that led to the overturning of the governor’s veto. Much to the young man’s surprise, the governor hired him as a public relations staff member for his next campaign.
Remember that high-performance is not restricted to world-class results, although it can lead to world-class results.
By embracing your personal pattern for high-performance, you can exponentially improve your results and enjoy the process your unique way.
High Performance Defined– How Do You Define a High-Performance Individual?