Peak Performance by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness

What’s the secret behind the top performance? Is this secret common to peak performers across different domains? I believe these were the key questions that drove Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness to do an exhaustive research on performance and finally write a book. Having unique backgrounds makes them a perfect fit to answer the above mentioned question.

Right at the beginning they introduce the formula that growth equals stress plus rest. In this competitive world everyone is maximizing efforts and working longer hours but many forget that the rest has an equal part in the growth equation. Authors are encouraging to look at stress from a different angle. This might have tremendous effects on our performance. 

Good habits drive Performance

Peak performers let nothing to a chance. They want to prepare fully. They are priming their bodies and minds for the peak performance by following the same routines. So the writer has some kind of writing routine, meaning specific activities that they do each time before they start writing. They write in the same room, use the same pen. Peak performers consistently follow their routines day in day out.

Peak performers automate trivial decisions in matters that are not as important for them. They decide upfront, to remove thousand decisions later on. Once they meet a decision what to eat or to wear, they don’t have to decide later on, hence they save mental energy. Authors brought many examples of successful people who eliminated trivial choices from their life.

Purpose

The biggest takeaway from the book for me was the equation about effort. We can find additional reservoirs of energy if a purpose that is higher than us drives us. In order to keep up an outstanding performance when times get rough, we need to either make what we are doing more effortless, for example, by training, or we need to be pushed or motivated by a purpose bigger than our ego.