Which of the following is not a value that leads to peak performance and excellence?

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Peak performance occurs when you perform to the best of your ability. To perform to the best of your ability, you need to be clear on what you want to achieve and what is important to you. You need to focus on your life and your priorities. You can never achieve peak performance if you are trying to live by the standards of others. Peak performance does not require you to be selfish; it requires you to be self-centred. By putting yourself at the centre of your life and ensuring that you live your life to the best of your ability, you benefit everybody that you interact with. You raise the standard, motivate and inspire others; helping them to perform better too.

4 Pillars of peak performance

The following are the 4 most important criteria for peak performance. If you implement these steps, you will take giant strides towards performing at your peak.

1. Know your purpose

When you are clear about who you want to be and what you want to achieve with your life; you know where to focus your energy. Just as important; you can easily identify the many urgent but unimportant activities which you need to let go. Urgent but unimportant activities tend to increase your stress levels, steal your time and they offer you very little reward in return.

These activities should be avoided and when you have a clear sense of purpose, it is much easier to do this.

2. Live your values

Your values are a reflection of who you are. What you value helps you to decide what life means to you and what actions you need to take. Your values are the things that you believe are important in the way you live your life.

Each person has their own unique definition of a successful life. When you are living effectively, your values help you to determine your priorities and measure the progress you are making. You do not need to compare yourself with others as your values and purpose are unique to you. Therefore, tin order to determine the level of success you are experiencing you must also assess whether you are living true to your values.

The opposite is also true; if you live in a manner which contradicts your values, you will experience inner turmoil, stress and guilt.

3. Set goals which serve your purpose

Many people set goals, either formally or informally, and yet they are not fulfilled. In some cases they may not have the motivation to take the actions necessary to achieve their goals, while in other cases they do achieve their goals but they do not feel fulfilled. There is usually one major reason behind either scenario i.e. their goals do not serve their purpose.

Think about it for a moment, if you do not know what you are ultimately trying to achieve with your life, how can you set effective goals which will lead to your personal fulfilment? Peak performance means that you live the best life you can where you do your best to fulfil your purpose. For that reason, your goals must serve your purpose. If you find that you lack the motivation to take action on your goals, or that achieving your goals does not lead to fulfilment; you need to get clearer on your purpose and ensure that your goals are linked to it.

4. Prioritise your goals

You will never have the time to do everything which you would like to do. Therefore, it is necessary that you set clear priorities and work on those. Your priorities should be set to help you achieve your goals which in turn, serve your purpose. With peak performance, you are consistently working on your most important goals.

An effective productivity system will help you to capture all of your commitments so that you are always in a position to determine the most important task which you can complete with the resources available to you at that specific moment.

Peak performance allows you to live the best life you can. Performing at your peak, benefits everyone that you come in contact with; not just yourself. There are many activities in life which you could give your time and attention to. However, if you want to achieve peak performance, you need to be able to maintain your focus on the small number of important activities which will enable you to create the life you desire. Peak performance is a life commitment. You will always be able to find new ways to improve your performance, if you are willing to look for them.  If you put in place the 4 pillars of peak performance, you will build the framework for a life of continuous improvement where you consistently perform to your peak.

You can discover your purpose here.

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