All the notes were taken directly from “High Performance Habits” by Brendon Burchard!
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HABIT ONE: SEEK CLARITY
Practice 1: Envision the Future Four
Have vision and consistently set clear intentions for who you want to be each day, how you want to interact with others, what skills you must develop to win in the future, and how you can make a difference and serve with excellence. Never enter a situation without thinking through these four categories (self, social, skills, service)
Performance Prompts
• When I think about the Future Four—self, social, skill, and service—the areas that I
haven’t had as much intention in as I should are . . . and what I could do to cue myself to
be more intentional in those areas is…
• If I was more intentional with those I serve and lead, then I would start . . .
• To leave a lasting legacy, the contributions I can start making now are . . .
3 words you want to be in your best future:
3 words to sum up interactions:
5 skills I need to develop for success:
5 ways to add value to those around me:
Service and Contribution
Anticipate positive social interactions and the emotions you want to feel
Enthusiasm, Connection, Satisfaction, Coherence
Be able to quit everything else that is not right enough for you
Practice 2: Determine the Feeling You’re After
Ask yourself frequently, “What is the primary feeling I want to bring to this situation, and what is
the primary feeling I want to get from this situation?“ Don’t wait for emotions to land on you;
choose and cultivate the feelings that you wish to consistently experience and share in life.
Performance Prompts
1. The emotions I’ve been experiencing a lot of lately are . . .
2. The areas of life where I’m not having the feelings I want to are . . .
3. The feelings I want to experience more of in life include . . .
4. The next time I feel a negative emotion come up, I’m going to tell myself . . .
Practice 3: Define What’s Meaningful
Not everything that is achievable is important, and so achievement is not the issue—
alignment is. Look to upcoming months and projects and determine what might bring you
enthusiasm, connection, and satisfaction— then spend more time there. Always be asking,
“How can I make this effort personally meaningful to me?”
Performance Prompts
1. The activities that I currently do that bring me the most meaning are . . .
2. The activities or projects that I should stop doing, because they are not bringing me
any sense of meaning, are . . .
3. If I was going to add new activities that bring me more meaning, the first ones I would
add would be . . .
HABIT TWO: GENERATE ENERGY
Practice 1: Release Tension, Set Intention
Use transitions between activities to renew your energy. Do this by closing your eyes, practicing
deep breathing, and releasing tension in your body and thoughts in your mind. Try to do this at
least once every hour. Once you feel tension lift, set a clear intention for your next activity, open
your eyes, and get to work with vibrant focus.
Performance Prompts
1. The things that cause me the most amount of tension each day are . . .
2. A way I could remind myself to release that tension throughout the day is . . .
3. If I felt more energy each day, I would be more likely to . . .
4. When I reset my energy each day with this practice, I’d like to start the next activity
feeling . . .
Practice 2: Bring the Joy
Be responsible for the energy you bring to your day and each situation in life. Focus especially
on bringing joy to your activities. Anticipate positive outcomes from your actions, ask yourself
questions that generate positive emotions, set triggers to remind you to be positive and
grateful, and appreciate the small things and the people around you.
Performance Prompts
1. Three questions I could ask myself every morning to prompt positive emotions for the
rest of the day could be . . .
2. Some new triggers I could set for myself include (see my examples of notification,
doorway, and waiting-in-line triggers) . . .
3. A few new routines I could begin for replaying the positive moments of my days is . . .
Practice 3: Optimize Health
If the demands of your life require you to learn quickly, deal with stress, be alert, pay attention,
remember important things, and keep a positive mood, then you must take sleep, exercise, and
nutrition more seriously. Work with your doctor and other professionals to optimize your health.
You already know things you should be doing. Do them!
Performance Prompts
1. I want to get as physically healthy as I can at this stage of my life because . . .
2. If I was going to get in the best shape of my life, the first three things I would stop doing
would be . . .
3. The things I would start doing include . . .
4. A weekly schedule that I could use to get healthier and actually stick to would be . . .
HABIT THREE: RAISE NECESSITY
Practice 1: Know Who Needs Your A Game
You cannot become extraordinary without a sense that it’s absolutely necessary to excel, for
yourself and for others. From now on, whenever you sit down at your desk, ask: “Who needs
me on my A game the most right now? What about my identity and external obligations makes
it imperative for me to deliver today?”
Performance Prompts
1. The people who need me on my A game at this point in my life are . . .
2. The reasons each of those people need me include . . .
3. The reasons I want to become a high performer for each of these people are . . .
4. I know that I’m on my A game when I think, feel, or behave . . .
5. The things that throw me off my A game are . . .
6. I can deal more effectively with those things by . . .
7. A few reminders I could set up for myself to be my best for the people in my life could
include . . .
*Set a clear goal
*Commitment to High Standards of Excellence
*Self-monitoring
Practice 2: Affirm the Why
When you verbalize something, it becomes more real and important to you. Speak your “why”
to yourself out loud often, and share it with others. This will motivate you to live in congruence
with your commitments. So the next time you want to increase your performance necessity,
declare—to yourself and others—what you want and why you want it.
Performance Prompts
1. Three things I would like to become extraordinary at doing are . . .
2. My whys for becoming excellent in each of these areas are . . .
3. The people I will tell about these goals and the whys behind them include . . .
4. The things I can say out loud to myself to affirm these whys—my affirmations—are . . .
5. Some ways I can remind myself about these important goals and whys are . .
*Develop Curiosity
*Identify with the Obsession
*Duty Deadlines
Practice 3: Level Up Your Squad
Emotions and excellence are contagious, so spend more time with the most positive and
successful people in your peer group. Then continue building your ideal network of supportive
and empowering people. Ask, “How can I work with the best people as I embark on this next
project? How can I inspire others to raise their standards?”
Performance Prompts
1. The most positive people in my life who I should hang out with more include . . .
2. To add to the number of high performers in my network, I should . . .
3. Some new routines or get-togethers I could create to bring together the positive and
supportive people in my life could include . . .
To meet people:
• One more friend
• Volunteer
• Sports/Clubs
• Seek Mentorship: Life mentor and Domain mentor
• Earn it
HABIT FOUR: INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY
Practice 1: Increase the Outputs that Matter
Determine the outputs that matter the most in determining your success, differentiation, and contribution to your eld or industry. Focus there, say no to almost everything else, and be prolific in creating those outputs with high standards of quality. Remember that the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
Performance Prompts
1. The outputs that matter most to my career are . . .
2. Some things I could stop doing so I can focus more on PQO are . . .
3. The percentage of my weekly time I will allocate to PQO is . . .
…and the ways I’ll make that happen are . . .
10 Categories (Not about hours but harmony):
⁃ Health
⁃ Family
⁃ Friends
⁃ Relationship
⁃ Mission/Work
⁃ Finances
⁃ Adventures
⁃ Hobby
⁃ Spirituality
⁃ Emotion
Busy vs Burnout
Breaks
Prolific Quality Output (PQO): Find Golden Proportion (PQO vs everything else)
• What to produce
• Learn Priorities in the creation, quality, frequency
Avoid
• Procrastination (Motivation problem and Fear of Failure)
• Perfectionism
Practice 2: Chart Your Five Moves
Ask, “If there were only five major moves to make that goal happen, what would they be?” Think of each major move as a big bucket of activities, a project. Break the projects down into deliverables, deadlines, and activities. Once you’re clear on these things, put them into your calendar, and schedule the bulk of your time working on them.
What are the next 5 moves to get the goals: Tasks – Deadlines (Calendar)
Setting goals and maintaining energy. Problems
• Being overwhelmed by data
• Distractions interruptions
Goal plan, five moves, timeline (for each move), 5 successful people who I can study/model, and determine less important activities and habits to cut out
• Determine the Skill
• Micro Macro Goals to develop the skill
• Attach high levels of emotion and meaning to the journey
• Factors critical for success
• Visualization
• Challenging practices
• Measure progress and get feedback
• Socialize the learning and effort
• Renew goals for ones of higher level
• Teach other what you learn
Example to write a book in 5 moves:
• Finish the craft, nothing else matters
• Get an Agent
• Social Media (blogging to get email list) and subscribers
• “Book” web promotion page offer + awesome bonuses
• 5 to 10 people influencers to promote my book. In exchange (Promote them later or Portion os sales)
Performance Prompts
1. The biggest goal or dream I have that I need to plan out right now is . . .
2. 5 moves that would help me progress swiftly toward accomplishing that dream are . . .
3. The timeline for each of my five moves will be . . .
4. Five people who have achieved that dream who I could study, seek out, interview, or
model are . . .
5. The less important activities or bad habits I’m going to cut out of my schedule so that I
can focus more time on the five moves in the next three months include . . .
Practice 3: Get Insanely Good at Key Skills
Determine the five major skills you need to develop over the next three years to grow into the person you hope to become. Then set out to develop those skills with obsessive focus through the ten steps of progressive mastery. The most important thing is to always be developing the critical skills to your future success.
Performance Prompts
1. 5 skills I could develop that would help me feel more confident or capable are . . .
2. The simple steps I could take to improve those skills include . . .
3. The coaches or mentors I could seek out concerning those skills are . . .
… and my main question in meeting or studying these people is to specifically learn…
HABIT FIVE: DEVELOP INFLUENCE
Practice 1: Teach People How to Think
In every situation of influence, prepare by asking yourself how do you want other people
to think about (a) themselves, (b) other people, and (c) the world at large. Then go
communicate that consistently. Shape people’s thinking by saying things like: “Think of it this
way . . .” “What do you think about . . .” “What would happen if we tried . . .”
Influence – Self Confidence
Who are the 2 people who influenced you the most?
Heroes as people who shape how we think, they challenge us and they serve as role models
Not profit, attraction and retention of customers, staying on purpose
Performance Prompts
1. People in my life who I would like to influence more are . . .
2. The way I would like to influence them is . . .
3. If I could tell them how they should think of themselves, I would say . . .
4. If I could tell them how they should think of other people, I would say . . .
5. If I could tell them how they should think of the world in general, I would say . . .
Practice 2: Challenge People to Grow
Observe people’s character, connections, and contributions, and actively challenge them to
develop those things even further. Ask people if they gave their all, if they could be treating
those around them better, and if they could give even more or serve with even greater
excellence and distinction.
Build strong perception of yourself, ask questions
Open the communication by giving and asking all the time
Pro active suggestions, resources and connections: Giving trust, autonomy, decision making authority, praise them in public
Genuine appreciation and encouragement
Manipulation won’t get you ahead in the long-term. They burn bridges and create disconnection, lack of support and loneliness
Give People feedback, direction and high expectation for living up with universal rules by challenging their character
Challenge the way to connect with others (how they treat and add value to other people)
Challenge their contributions
Performance Prompts
1. The person I am trying to influence has the following character strengths . . .
2. She could become a stronger person if she . . .
3. She is probably too hard on herself in this area . . .
4. If I could tell her how to improve who she is, I would tell her . . .
5. If I could inspire her to want to be a better person, I’d probably say something like . . .
6. The way I want this person to interact differently with others is to . . .
7. Often, this person doesn’t connect as well with others as I would like, because he . . .
8. What would inspire this person to treat other people better is to . . .
9. The greatest contribution this person is making is . . .
10. The areas where this person isn’t contributing well enough are . . .
11. What I really want this person to contribute more of is . . .
Practice 3: Role Model the Way
Seventy-one percent of high performers say they think about being a role model daily. They
want to be a good role model for their family, the team, and the greater community. So ask,
“How can I handle this situation in a way that will inspire others to believe in themselves,
be their best, and serve others with integrity, heart, and excellence?”
Leave the drama and role model the way
Performance Prompts
1. If I were going to approach my relationships and career as an even better role model,
the first things I would start doing are . . .
2. Someone who really needs me to lead and be a strong role model right now is . . .
3. Some ideas on how I can be a role model for that person are . . .
4. If, ten years from now, the five closest people to me in my life were to describe me as a
role model, I would hope they said things like . . .
HABIT SIX: DEMONSTRATE COURAGE
Practice 1: Honor the Struggle
When you have the opportunity to learn and serve, you don’t complain about the effort
involved. View struggle as a necessary, important, and positive part of your journey so that you
can and true peace and personal power. Don’t bemoan the inevitable hardships of self-improvement
and chasing your dreams; have reverence for challenge.
Performance Prompts
1. A struggle I’ve been facing in my life is . . .
2. The way I could change my view of this struggle is . . .
3. If something great could come from this struggle, it would be . . .
4. The way I choose to greet life’s inevitable hardships from today forward is . . .
“What have I been avoiding because of hardship”
“How would your future self tell you to live?”
Practice 2: Share Your Truth & Ambitions
The main motivation of humankind is to be free, to express our true selves and pursue our
dreams without restriction—to experience what may be called personal freedom. Follow this
impulse by consistently sharing your true thoughts, feelings, needs, and dreams
with other people. Do not play small to placate others. Live your truth.
Performance Prompts
1. Something I really want to do that I haven’t shared with enough people is . . .
2. If I were going to be more “me” in my everyday life, I would start to . . .
3. When I put myself out there and someone makes fun of me, I’m just going to . . .
4. A major dream I’m going to start telling people about and asking for some help with is . .
“No one wants to be in connection with a fake person.”
“Do not dare play small, my friend. Do not feel guilt because you have high aims. Those dreams were seeded in your soul for a reason, and it is your duty to honor them. Do not hold back in life just to comfort or placate those around you. Holding back is not humility; it’s lying. If the people in your life do not know your true thoughts, feelings, needs, and dreams, do not blame them. It is your lack of voice or vulnerability or power, not their lack of understanding or ambition, that is building the barricade to your potential. Share more, and you’ll have real relationships that can support you, energize you, lift you. Even if they don’t support you or believe in you, at least you lived your life. At least you put it all on the table. At least you honored the hopes of your heart and the calling of your soul. In your full expression lies your freedom. My friend, your next level of performance begins at your next level of truth.”
Practice 3: Find Someone to Fight For
We need a noble cause to rise for. High performers tend to make that cause just one person—
they want to fight for that person so they can be safe, improve, or live a better quality of life.
You will do more for others than for yourself. And in doing something for others, you will and
your reason for courage, and your cause for focus and excellence.
Performance Prompts
1. A courageous action I will take this week because someone I love needs me is . . .
2. Another courageous action I will take this week, because a cause I believe in needs me
to take it, is . . .
3. Another courageous action I will take this week, because my dream requires it of me,
is . . .
… the reasons all these actions are so important to me are…
“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.”
Traps
1: Beware Superiority
High performers face a unique set of character traps because they are, by definition,
outperforming so many around them. When you are succeeding beyond others, it’s easy to get
a big head. You can begin to think you’re special, separate from, better than, or more important
than other people. Of course, you probably would never say to yourself, “One day, I want to
start feeling that I’m better than other people.” So consider these prompts closely.
Performance Prompts
1. A recent situation where I found myself being overly critical or dismissive of others was…
2. The thoughts I had about myself in that situation and the others involved were . . .
3. Had I reimagined the situation from a more humble and appreciative view, I would
probably have realized that . . .
4. The best way I can remind myself that everyone is dealing with difficulties in life and that
we’re all more alike than we are different is . . .
Don’t judge others as below you or separate from you.
Everything is trainable
“You are not the first entrepreneur to face financial ruin, parent to lose a child, manager to be cheated by an employee, lover to be cheated on, striver to lose your dream, CEO to run a large global company, healthy person to find yourself suddenly battling cancer, person to deal with depression or addiction in yourself or a loved one.”
Margin of mistake: What’s my percentage of error?
“Seek others ideas for improving anything you do to discover your holes”
“Hire someone that challenge your thinking. Consistency in receiving feedback is key”
“Remind yourself that trust is earned through caring for others”
“Take ownership of your actions by reflecting on your role: How am I distorting the situation, am I putting myself as the hero or victim”
“Gratitude and humility are “mutually reinforcing”
2: Beware Dissatisfaction
Do not listen to those who say, “Never be satisfied.” Satisfaction is something you should feel
as you strive, not one day when all is perfect. Being satisfied, then, doesn’t mean “settling.” It
simply means accepting and taking pleasure in what is. It’s allowing yourself to feel contentment
whether or not a thing is complete or “perfect.” You have to reach yourself to feel fulfilled and
enjoy the journey now. These prompts will help.
Performance Prompts
1. The areas of my life I’ve felt consistently dissatisfied with include . . .
2. Some good things that have also happened in those areas include . . .
3. Something I can say to myself the next time I feel dissatisfied, to get me to notice the
good things and continue moving forward, is . . .
4. Someone who probably sees me dissatisfied more than I want them to is . . .
5. If I were going to inspire that person to believe you can enjoy life as you work hard and
succeed, I would have to change these behaviors . . .
“Start journaling what’s going well, appreciate your blessings, any progress, enjoy the journey, and record your wins.”
“Get your team together once a week for no other reason than to talk about what’s working, what people are excited about, what difference your efforts are making in real people’s lives.”
“Start meetings by asking others to share one great thing that has happened that can give the team a sense of joy, pride, and fulfillment.”
3: Beware Neglect
It’s easy to neglect the important people and things in our lives when we get overcommitted or
overreach. Perhaps that’s why this is one of the most important chapters in the book. Read it
twice. Trust me. No one wants to wake up and realize they took their eye off what matters.
These prompts will help you remember what’s important.
Performance Prompts
1. An area where I am neglecting someone or something important in my life is . . .
2. An area where that neglect will cause me regret later on is . . .
3. An area where I can return my focus, reallocating my attention to things that matter, is…
4. Some areas in my life where I feel overcommitted right now are . . .
5. The things I need to learn to say no to more often are . . .
6. An opportunity I really want to chase right now that I could schedule to revisit in few
months is . . .
7. The main things moving the needle toward my success that I should be focused on right
now, despite all the other exciting interests and opportunities I could chase, are . . .
8. The way I’ll remind myself not to take on too much is . . .
“Slow down, be more strategic, and say no more often.”
“Don’t forget the positive habits that brought you to this level of success, forgetting what was working for us”
“The culprits that steal your success are not lack of values or intelligence. The culprits are ultimately allocations of attention. You feel separate from others, so you stop paying attention to feedback, diverse viewpoints, new ways of doing things. You get so good that you start noticing only what’s wrong, and a constant state of disappointment drains your passion. You rationalize neglecting one area of life so you can get ahead, saying it will be “worth it,” so you stop focusing on what really matters in life.” “Avoiding this traps will keep you humble, satisfied, and focused.”
THE #1 THING: CONFIDENCE
Curiosity x 3 Factors = Confidence
“I know what to do and how to add value here (or at least I believe in my ability to figure things out and I’m willing to go for it).
I know I’m living in alignment with the person I want to become.
I know I’ll do well with others, because I’m genuinely interested in learning about them and serving them.”
Practice 1: Develop Competence
High performers are confident, in part because they are good at what they do. While most
people think of confidence as a general belief in oneself, the kind of confidence that is most
tied to performance improvement comes from belief in one’s abilities in a specific task. This
means that the more knowledge, skill, ability, or talent—that is, competence— you have at a
given task, the more likely you are to be confident and perform well.
Performance Prompts
1. The competences—knowledge, skills, abilities, or talents—that I have worked hard to
cultivate in my life include . . .
2. If I gave myself credit for learning all those things, I would start to feel more . . .
3. Something I’ve learned to do in the past few years that I have not yet given myself credit
for is . . .
4. I feel that I can handle a big challenge in my life right now because I am good at learning
how to . . .
5. A practice I’ll begin doing every week to help me start feeling more confident is . . .
“They allow their wins to integrate into their psyche and give them greater strength.”
“They belief that they can learn what is necessary to win in the future gives them as much confidence as their current skill sets.”
Practice 2: Be Congruent
At some point—often a major moment in their lives—high performers took control, defined
who they wanted to be, and started living in accordance with that self-image. They shaped their
identity by conscious will and have aligned their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to support
that identity.
Performance Prompts
1. The person I really want to be in life could be described as . . .
2. Three things I could do each week to live more congruently with that vision for myself
include . . .
3. Three things I should definitely stop doing in my life so I can live in greater congruence
with my ideal image of myself are . . .
“They shaped their identity by conscious will and have aligned their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to support that identity.”
Practice 3: Enjoy Connecting
Confidence comes as much from our social settings as our skills. High performers have learned
the tremendous value in relating with others. They’ve discovered that it is by connecting with
others that they learn more about themselves and the world. It’s their connection with others
that inspires greater congruence and competence, and thus confidence.
Performance Prompts
1. The main reason I want to become better with people is . . .
2. I know I’ll become more confident with people when I . . .
3. To gain more confidence with people, from now on when I talk with them, I’ll think to
myself . . .
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