One day I decided that stress and hurry were no longer going to be a part of my life. Stress is self-created.” I think Frankl’s book is a reminder of the fragility of life, and the limited time we have to explore our potential. If we don’t organise our life in a purposeful way to explore what we are capable of, we become some version that is less than. And the trade winds of the world will push us away from our potential.

The topics Brendon discusses in this book revolve around things that I’ve been struggling with for some time. Because of this personal connection to themes mentioned, I have tried to absorb as much as possible. I’ve gone so far as to write a printout summarizing the 6 main habits to hang up on the wall of my cubicle at work. There are countless such stories of people who fought against the odds and challenged the possibilities that life gave them. They were no different from you and me. They had the same hot, red blood running through them, the hunger for opportunity and the greed to grow. Jake and Damian take some time to reflect on they key lessons and biggest take-aways from each guest, including why we should embrace being wrong with Professor Brian Cox and why we should aim for averageness with Alain de Botton. With Alain they also discuss parenting, how to have a successful relationship and what high performance really means. Both Professor Brian Cox and Alain de Botton challenged Jake and Damian’s understanding of high performance. When they released their book, I knew I needed to read it. I have several books on High Performance because, part of my work requires the design and delivery of high-performance team and leadership programmes. Sometimes I find High Performance books can be in-depth with theory, making them less accessible to someone that isn’t of a theorist style of learning.

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Psychological framework involves the ability to master what’s within one’s control; the ability to live with passion; to have clarity of purpose and subsequent goals; and be able to persevere during difficult times. The mental skills element is about developing—as I mentioned earlier—calm, confidence, deep focus, and the ability to trust oneself in any moment; to adjust to the unfolding unpredictable unknown, the present moment. That requires a self-discovery process of knowing who you are, and who you’re working on becoming, and aligning all of those to run to the edge of one’s capacity on a regular basis. He changed the industry of martial arts, and created a new form. In a deeply-steeped tradition, that’s not easy to do. He was able to disrupt and shift the game. They were not manufactured disruptions; they were authentic disruptions that came through insight and suffering. The combination of those two are very important.

This means you don't have to wait for motivation, love, joy, excitement or any other positive emotion… You can choose to generate it, on demand, anytime you want through the power of habit.” What ends up happening for many very talented people is that they’ve been on the doing path for a long time. And it’s easy to identify as the ‘do-er.’ Part of the exploratory self-discovery process behind becoming the man or woman that one wants to be is recognising that we are far deeper, and far greater, than just the acts that we do. That they are the expression of how we line up our thoughts, and our words. But hey, if you're into that sort of thing, go ahead and give this one a read. Just don't say I didn't warn you.Jake Humphrey has interviewed some of the most iconic individuals around. He has a wealth of wisdom to share. VEX KING, author of Good Vibes, Good Life So, a mark of somebody who has developed their inner capacity, as well as an external skill, is their ability to move freely in the world around them in any condition, any environment.

Danny delves into what he believes makes a great football manager, emphasising the significance of personal management to bring out the best in players and build team momentum. They also discuss Danny’s difficult reality with mental health struggles, including dealing with rejection after new offers failed to materialise. Reflecting on his lowest point when he was arrested for drink-driving in 2019, Danny highlights the importance of mental health care and finding practical solutions to unhappiness. High performance begins in the mind: before you can behave like a high achiever, you must think like one. Next comes behaviour, in which you turn that newfound psychological state into concrete actions. Then, through that behaviour, you can pass a culture of high performance on to your wider team, which will help both you and them. High performance ripples outwards from our minds to our actions, to our teams.” The High Performance Podcast turns the lived experiences of the planet's high performers into your life lessons. Jake Humphrey (broadcast presenter of 20 years) and Professor Damian Hughes (leading high performance expert), speak to athletes, authors, entertainers and experts about the key to their success. But, Jake and Damian look beyond the guests achievements and encourage guests to share how they developed their mindset, what gives them confidence, how they navigate adversity and much more. Hear from guests as you’ve never heard them before. The High Performance Podcast aims to help listeners navigate their own version of high performance. I decided to flip through to the "summary guide" at the end, to see if any of the advice was interesting enough to read more of the book. It wasn't. Basically a rehash of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, but less elegant and somehow even more cliche.The HP6, as I was reading the book, did remind me of a variant of cognitive behavioral therapy but that’s not a criticism. It’s a function of the very deliberate nature of the process and practices described. In the end, high performance, as Brendon describes it, is a verb, not an achievement. “Connection [for example] is less about comfort than about challenge.” (I personally think it’s about trust.) And, “…it’s so thoroughly obvious that high performers are generating the feelings they want more often that taking the emotions that land on them.” But, I found “High Performance, Lessons from the Best on Becoming Your Best” a very accessible book because of how it is written. I was thoroughly underwhelmed by this book and can't believe I actually took the time to read it. I mean, who needs habits to perform better when you already have everything figured out? Throughout the book, there are high performance pit stops laying out practical activities you can do to put some of the ideas described in the book into action. For example, reflecting on how you manage your time and how to become better at it. It’s time to put what you’ve learned into practice

What, from the life of Leonardo da Vinci, do you think can be applied into our present day existence? What he’s done is really captured the complex brilliance of one of the most extraordinary humans in the world. It’s a favourite of mine. There are at least three ways to listen. One is through a mindfulness or meditation practice. Another is through writing. As we write, we have to force ourselves to choose words, and as we choose those words, there’s a connection, you know? A feeling that goes with that, oftentimes. And then, there is talking with wise men and women. Those three functions can help gather a deeper insight about the person that somebody is working on becoming.My perception from first chapters of this book was quite negative (was thinking about 3 or maybe even 2 stars) because it was all about self-appraisal, I could not stand the sales speech on why this book was the best and why he is more entitled that others. This was one of the few books that I actually wanted to stop reading after completing one third. When you are able to ignore this aspect then you will still find interesting insights from it. To be forced to live in the Nazi concentration camps. To have his wife and family members ripped from his arms. To see and live in those conditions . . . He realised that when people in the most frail conditions had something taken away from them—something that mattered to them, like a cigarette or a shirt—they literally would die. They were that fatigued, that depleted. If you don’t ask for help, the right people can’t come into your life. So if the universe isn't giving you what you want, perhaps it’s because amidst all your distractions and silence, the universe just doesn’t know what you're asking for.” After rising through the Youth Academy at Manchester United, Danny played for some of the country’s biggest clubs, including Chelsea, Aston Villa, and Leicester City. He takes Jake and Damian through his football career; from sitting on the bench at Manchester United aged 18, to being a key part of Leicester City’s Premier League winning squad. He shares the emotional rollercoaster of winning the Premier League, as well as the painful moment his Euro's opportunity was taken away. Having worked with legendary figures like Cristiano Ronaldo, Sir Alex Ferguson and Claudio Ranieri, Danny reflects on how they inspired and challenged him, both in his career and personal life. Bruce Lee’s investigation here was about authentic expression. Every moment, we have the opportunity to choose thoughts, to choose silence, and to combine those with emotions. There are millions of opportunities every nanosecond. For many people, what happens is that in favourable environments, it is easier to have thoughts, words, and actions that make sense and feel authentic. But when the conditions change and there are stakes on the line—or if there’s real or perceived danger involved, and a high-stress environment—then it’s harder to line up thoughts, words, and actions. We become less authentic in our expression, and more mechanistic or survivalist.