“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” (Location 49)
The world cares less about your strengths and personality than about your service and meaningful contributions to others. (Location 79)
Achievement is not your problem—alignment is. If you’re reading these words, then the odds are that achievement is not the issue. You already know how to set goals, make checklists, knock off to-dos. You care about excelling in your chosen field. But odds are, you’re experiencing your fair share of stress and overwhelm. You can deliver, sure, but you’ll learn something every achiever must discover: Just because people want to put things on your plate because you’re good doesn’t mean you should let them. What’s achievable is not always what’s important. (Location 229)
Certainty is the enemy of growth and high performance. Too many people want certainty amid the chaos of this world. But certainty is the fool’s dream and, thus, the charlatan’s selling point. Certainty ultimately blinds you, sets false or fixed limits, and creates “automatic” habits that become predictable bad thinking and openings for your competitors to surpass you. The person who is certain is most closed to learning, most vulnerable to dogma, and most likely to be blindsided and overtaken by innovators. (Location 237)
For example, high performers don’t “end up” successful at the very last minute of a decade’s efforts. They don’t come crashing across the finish line of success. They’re steady. They regularly beat expectations. There is a consistency to their efforts that eludes their peers. That’s why, when you look at them post-success, you come to realize they are not surprise winners. (Location 263)
As you will learn, meeting this definition of “succeeding beyond standard norms consistently over the long term” requires habits that protect your well-being, maintain positive relationships, and ensure that you serve others as you climb. (Location 266)
High performers are more successful than their peers, yet they are less stressed. (Location 288)
High performers love challenges and are more confident that they will achieve their goals despite adversity. (Location 294)
High performers are healthier than their peers. They eat better. They work out more. The top 5 percent of high performers are 40 percent more likely to exercise three times per week. Everyone wants health, but they may think they have to trade it for success. They’re wrong. In survey after survey, we find high performers to be more energized—mentally, emotionally, and physically—than their peers. (Location 298)
No matter the field, they produce more quality output that matters in their field. It’s not that they get more done, per se; lots of their peers might do more tasks. It’s that high performers get more things done that are highly valued in their primary field of interest. They remember that the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. That focus and effort to create only output that will be meaningful helps them excel. (Location 334)