The email that became a Blog…… Yes, it is true, in a few days’ time we move to the big time – Tumblr here we come! This is the official leak to the public. I will deny ever telling you about it before it is live – not sure what my agent would say (well actually nothing because I do not have an agent). And please do not worry I will still clutter you inbox every day with a daily email – that is unless you unsubscribe (but I am getting off the point). There are many reasons to make the leap – the key one for me is to keep the history of this written journey in a form that makes it easy to read, review and share. Seemed to me to be the right time to publish in the now ubiquitous Blog format. The name of the Blog will be the High Performance Life. Each of you are living it so we might as well celebrate it (and publish it). For those of you who have been reading along you realize that the high performance life is not just about exercise. It is about how you think, what you do, how you live and how you measure yourself and your contributions. It truly is something that you grow into – it is about how “you” live your life – that is right – in this context high performance is how you choose to live every day. What do you do – how do you think – what do you want to accomplish. It is an active life, not passive – nothing happens to you – rather you make it happen. I think by now you are starting to get the picture (or at least I hope so). And so what gives? If it is really about our choice and under our control why do so few people live this way? Here are a few reasons, they can be overcome if you so desire.

I think that for most people living a high performance life is scary – yes, scary. Why? Because you have to hold yourself accountable to a set of goals, commitments, measures and maybe even a bit of scrutiny. Funny thing about it is that the only one who will measure you is you (haha). If you think that other people are sitting around wondering about your life you are mostly mistaken. They can barely take care of themselves so why might they then worry about you?

We are not really sure what high performance means – and we do not know how to drive towards it – or to measure it. So, we stop before we start.

Lastly, the body likes to stay at rest – so does the mind. It takes effort to work towards high performance. So what to do? A high performance life sounds intriguing but there are so many obstacles – natural, learned and observed.

Here are a few suggestions

OK, here is the starting / doing plan:

Start with very small and achievable goals. Just like our dance with Sally – all we need is one second of improvement and we have started down the path towards high performance.

Make high performance to be part of your total life – sometimes it will be really easy to succeed (eg. Be nice to everyone you meet) Be happy with what you have. You are becoming a high performing social person
Find role models for high performance and watch them and copy them – there is no charge for this and It really works.
Commit to writing down your goals and what you do each day to get to them. This level of personal accountability is not that hard – takes all of one minute a day – and boy does it change how you feel about your commitments and accomplishments

Just a few more…..

Don’t let this life be static. If you grow bored because you become an expert at science, pushups, tennis, finance then take up something new and do it again
Believe in it – just keep telling yourself that you are a high performer – because you are – and one day you will actually believe it.
Feedback is really important – seek it out – listen to it – then do something with it – it will make you better.

I think each of you can write you own list – have fun with it. And please keep living the high performance life – we all need company.

Another late date with Sally – I think one day I want to try doing it when the sun is up. Leaving the excuses for others – I got to the end. Yea, it was easy (NOT). Push ups 167 – lots a few since yesterday. 4:17 is a long time

I look forward to sending you the link to the Blog next week. Till then – have fun, love life and spread the word.

Ciao

And loving life, as always

Joe