During my many years of coaching top-level executives as well as many elite and talented performers, I have seen many patterns and similarities among them. This certainly will not be a comprehensive list nor article. This is simply a short list of things that I have seen quite often and much-repeated over a lengthy period. The difference in the best of the best and the average leaders and performers is that the consistent high performers commit themselves to do what is right and what is required rather than take the easy road of avoidance.
Authentic success takes a heavy dose of discipline and focused hard work.
Authentic success takes a heavy dose of discipline and focused hard work. To get to the elite high-performance level, it is, at the very least a requirement to pay the prices of it. As I have said many times, every place you ascend to has a price associated with it and if you want to get to that place, you must be willing to pay that price. Today, here are just a few ideas on 5 price tags that I have continually seen over and over that my clients have paid to become elite level leadership performers.
Raise Your Standards
You must have a devotion to yourself that you want to reach the elite level in all that you do. By setting that standard for yourself, people will experience your example and begin to understand that is also what you expect from them as well. This price tag means that you expect nothing less than the best from yourself. Our expectations and thoughts create our words and actions. Our actions create our habits and our habits create our results. So since it all starts in our expectations and thoughts, we have to begin there to create our own reality and our reality is that we are the best each time out.
Be Relentlessly Positive
Your positivity will save you from yourself in a lot of various potential negative circumstances. You overcome negativity with positivity. This too sets the tone for others. Your emotions are contagious and you want people to catch positivity from you. It’s not always easy to remain positive when things get tough but if you want to rise to elite status that is what is required of you to pay. Being relentless about it just describes how tough some days may be, but pursue positivity with a passion and your passion will be contagious.
Have An Unwavering Commitment To Growth
When anything in this world stops growing, it has begun the process of dying. How much time do you spend reading and learning? Unfortunately, too many people spend too much time watching meaningless things on television than they do growing their I.Q. Spending time getting up to speed about where your industry is headed, learning how you can enhance your leadership or simply growing your vocabulary can pay huge rewards. So many spend so few hours doing it, is there any wonder why there are so few at the elite level? Ideas are the commodity of success.
Learn To Celebrate
I just noticed this one this week but it has been in front of me for quite a while. We brush over our successes much too quickly. I have a suspicion that many leaders are afraid that if they celebrate a win, they might lose some of their momentum or some of their edge. That only happens if we allow it. There’s something missing in our lives without celebration that other rewards won’t fill. Some might say they are just happy with the accomplishment or the financial rewards, but research shows that is not the case long-term. The other part of it is that since we are not comfortable celebrating our own achievements, we don’t celebrate with our teams either when they reach milestones. After a while, this is an ugly feeling in the climate of teams that lies just below the surface of team members’ feelings. In short, the best celebrate and even if we celebrated the smallest of things, we would later realize the small things were actually the most important things.
Confrontation Of Your Own Worst Fears
Fears are insidious. They play havoc with our thoughts, feelings, and emotions. They consider torturing and playing with us their most fun time. Fears keep us from being happy. Fears stop us from being all we can be. Fears restrict us from doing things others do which look like they could be fun. Fears keep us from meeting people who could change our lives for the better. Fears keep us from making changes that could make our lives better. Fears keep us from speaking out on things we think are deeply important. Fears double up where conflict is concerned because we are afraid of the conflict and also the situation where possible conflict could be. Double-whammy. The point is that elite high performing leaders confront those things head-on. I am not saying they don’t need encouragement. In many cases they do and I have been pleased to help. The point is that courage is required to face the fear and overcome it. Sometimes many times before it is conquered and sometimes it’s a lifelong proposition. You must confront it to become elite.
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