The key ideas

High Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way

Brendon Burchard, 2017

Why do some people make a big leap and burn out, while others stay at a high level for years? Brendon Burchard surveyed tens of thousands of people and identified six habits that, according to his data, often show up in people who succeed consistently. They can't be put on autopilot, but you can practise them every day.

Who it is for

For people who seem to be doing fine, yet get results only in bursts and quickly run out of energy and clarity.

High performance is succeeding beyond standard norms, consistently over the long term.

What the book is about

Why does one person make a brilliant leap and then burn out, while another stays at a high level for years at work, in family life and in health? Talent, character, luck?

Brendon Burchard, an American coach and author of books on personal development, spent many years looking for the answer. His team surveyed tens of thousands of people around the world and observed the people he coached. The conclusion he reached: people with consistently high results often share six habits. Three are about yourself: clarity, energy and necessity. Three are about dealing with the world: productivity, influence and courage.

An important caveat right away. This data comes from the author's own institute, mostly people rating themselves in surveys. It's best read as the observations of an experienced practitioner, not as rigorously tested science.

Idea 1. Habits that never become automatic

We tend to think that a good habit eventually starts working on its own, like brushing your teeth. Burchard describes something different.

He calls his six habits deliberate habits. You have to switch them on consciously, again and again, especially in new and difficult situations. According to his surveys, high results are only weakly linked to age, gender or education. The link with what a person regularly does is much more noticeable.

High performance, as he defines it, is success beyond standard norms that lasts over the long term. A single lucky burst doesn't count.

You've kept up a morning running habit for years, but at your new job every meeting still takes effort: you have to remind yourself what you want from it.

If a habit needs to be switched on consciously, that isn't always a sign of weak willpower. Perhaps that's simply how it works, and it's worth planning for.

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About the author

Brendon Burchard is an American author and personal performance coach, and the founder of the High Performance Institute. He has written several books on motivation and personal development.

All books by this author: Brendon Burchard

Terms from the book

  • necessity
  • High performance: The author's definition: success beyond standard norms that lasts over the long term, rather than showing up as a one-off burst.
  • Deliberate habits: The author's name for his six habits: you have to switch them on consciously, and they never become fully automatic.
  • Release Tension, Set Intention: The author's practice for transitions between tasks: a minute of calm breathing and a short decision about the mindset you'll bring to the next task.
  • PQO: The author's term, short for prolific quality output, not a generally accepted scientific metric: a large amount of high-quality work that's truly valued in your field.
  • Five Major Moves: The author's technique: break a big goal down into five major steps, and those steps into tasks in your calendar.

All terms

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