7 Lessons Learned from HPX

I’ve been on a quest for the past few years to lead a High Performing life! My journey started by reading “High Performance Habits” by Brendon Burchard. I gravitated towards the concepts because it was backed with science and when it started changing my life, I was hooked! I then enrolled to become a certified High-Performance Coach™ and have been a coach and student witnessing literal life changes happen before my eyes!

Here are some of the lessons I’ve learned along the way…

1. You are the powerhouse!

I used to think I didn’t have energy to work out until I learned that you and I generate energy. When your energy levels are low, a high energy work out will create the energy you need to pursue your goals! It shifted my perspective on something that held me back for years. I could create energy and I didn’t have to buy in to the lie that I was too tired.

2. Intentional Living Creates Purpose

Often clients will start coaching because they’re looking for their purpose. They may have amazing careers, great family and connections but are searching for their big “why”. What we uncover in coaching is that purpose-driven living comes from intentional daily practice. It’s not a lightning bolt that strikes; it’s deciding how you want to show up that day, in that next interaction or relationship and then generating the emotions and character to align with your intent.

3. Reflection Gives Amazing Perspective

I started journaling and reflecting through the pandemic. It gave great perspective! So many people responded with “same old, same old” when I asked how things were going during that difficult time. I understand why. If we don’t stop, reflect, and capture all the small seemingly insignificant moments, they pass us by. When we capture them, reflect on the joy of the small moment that provided happiness, we start stacking up the joyful moments and gratitude abounds.

4. Breathing is Essential!

Sounds like a given but most of us don’t breathe intentionally. When we’re in high stress situations we tend to hold our breath. When we’re working at our desk eight or more hours a day we tend to be hunched over and we don’t provide nearly enough oxygen to our brains. The coaching journey has taught me the power of deep, intentional breathing. The upside is clearer thinking, a sense of calm and release of good chemicals that ready you to approach your next task with mindful intent. We can also use our breath to fire us up and calm us down

5. Two Minutes Can Change Everything!

It takes only two minutes to restore and reset! In High Performance Coaching™ we go through Brendon’s Two Minute meditation. When I’m coaching c-suite executives, I’m always amused how “painfully slow” a two-minute meditation can be. This is a great awareness exercise! If two minutes seems like a lifetime away from our busy work, remember that this reset will realign your focus so you can dive into your needle-moving activities with greater focus.

6. Don’t Kiss the Frog – Eat it!

Brendon refers to our inbox being a detailed outline of other people’s priorities! When we look at it that way, we can see how we can approach each day with enthusiasm and optimism and quickly be derailed by an urgent message in our inbox. Coaching has taught me to determine my “Frog” (major project/initiative) and tackle it first before opening my inbox. We call it “eating the frog first” because we take care of that one thing that may feel yucky and we may be avoiding it, but it’ll feel like a million bucks when it’s done! One coaching client reported that eating the frog first has massive implications on completing their strategic rocks faster!