“High performance is when those factors within our direct responsibility are being controlled and mastered—when we are completely at one with ourselves.”

-Dr. Craig Manning in The Fearless Mind

We perform every moment of every day. Living is performance. We can be both cruising through life and our responsibilities while performing. The key to being successful is not by performing, it is by performing at a high level.

High performance does not just land in anyones lap, nor is it something that once we reach sticks with us the rest of our lives. High performance is working toward an objective, achieving it, and then moving on to the next objective. There is no finish line.

To high performers, whether in athletics, business, or life, there is always another level. They never feel that they have arrived. If we ever feel that we have arrived, that is a clear indication that we have lost focus. No one reaches high performance without constantly focusing on the moment with the purpose to improve. No one is born high performing.

We are born with innate physical skills and personality traits, but these natural abilities are not an indication of what we will do in this life, rather they are indications of what we will most likely not do. A tall and heavy person will most likely not be an elite gymnast. The abilities we are born with can point us in a general direction of what we could become high performing in, but we have to want it. We have to create high performance.

Is high performance winning? Is it being more successful than others? High performance does not depend on any one else besides ourselves. Beating others depends on the skills of our opponent, and that is out of our direct control. High performance is being at our very best. It is unleashing our full potential, and feeling the satisfaction of doing so. High performance is completely intrinsic. High performance doesn’t mean that we have to do something great—any task done to the best of our abilities deserves to be called high performance.

Success and winning are normally byproducts of high performance. If we are continually focused on performing better than the day before the wins will come and so will the success. A problem occurs when we start to shift our focus from improving to beating others. When we focus on beating others we forget the most important thing—personal development. Kilian Jornet, the present day Michael Jordan of Ultra Running said this about winning in his book Run or Die: “Winning isn’t about finishing in first place. It isn’t about beating the others. It is about overcoming yourself. Overcoming your body, your limitations, and your fears. Winning means surpassing yourself and turning your dreams into reality.”

Ultimately, high performance comes through being fearless and overcoming our own limitations. High performance is that moment when everything around us seems out of control, but we stay in control of our minds with a clear focus—when everything just seems to flow.

The Fearless Mind resource center is a critical mental tool for any individual wanting to improve their performance in athletics, business, or personal achievement. Each subscriber gets over 32 individual mental training videos, access to the Mental Strength Journal, the statistics page, and The Zone, a special area with exclusive video content uploaded weekly all for only $20 a month. Click here to sign up The Fearless Mind also offers personal mental strength coaching. To inquire about getting a Fearless Mind coach to work with you personally click here: http://thefearlessmind.com/personal-coaching/

Too often athletes come along who appear to be destined for greatness, but never reach it. They have all the physical abilities: speed, explosiveness, strength, endurance, and intelligence. Yet, for some reason they never reach their full potential. They become crippled by self-doubt despite of their physical abilities. They get caught up in cycles of interference that spiral them back down to mediocrity. And after it all, we are left asking ourselves: What could they have achieved with a fearless mind?

What if we all knew exactly what we want to achieve in this life, and not only that, but had a plan to achieve that vision, and not let negative emotions or thoughts deter us? Do you believe that we could reach our dreams? Do you think we could make it happen? We do not have to fall into mediocrity. We can all reach the highest levels of our potential with a fearless mind.

Our lack of abilities does not hold us back; the interference we allow to occupy our mind does. We lose valuable energy when we have guilt and fear—the two greatest sources of interference. We often focus too much on the aspects of life that are not in our control. Why? It is the way we have been conditioned in this world since we were children. The truth is that the secret to success is not a secret at all. We have known it for thousands of years—only when we remove the interference from our life can we unleash our full potential. Only then can we be successful.

“What we do with our allotted time here on this planet and what we make of our life is a direct reflections of the choices that we make,” Dr. Manning states in his book The Fearless Mind. The choices we make each day create our life, and the way we live influences the choices we make. We often make bad decisions because we are not accountable to ourselves. But what if you held yourself accountable for everything in your control? Why would you waste energy on things that are not in your control? Decisions are made in the present moment, and only when we live in the present moment can we make the best decisions. Fear is interference and lives in the future. Guilt is also interference and lives in the past. Living in the present is the key to being fearless.

The tool to achieve a fearless mind

Every individual with a subscription to The Fearless Mind resource center or who receives Fearless Mind coaching has access to the Mental Skills Journal. The Mental Skills journal was developed to help channel spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical energies. It is a tool for individuals to take responsibility for their lives and their performances. We constantly need to supplement our need to develop mental skills. The journal enables us to have a clear purpose, a plan to achieve our purpose, and an opportunity to evaluate ourselves on a daily basis. When we use the journal with purpose growth is not only likely, it is inevitable.

Click here for more information on The Power of The Journal

The Fearless Mind resource center is a critical mental tool for any individual wanting to improve their performance in athletics, business, or personal achievement. Each subscriber gets over 32 individual mental training videos, access to the Mental Strength Journal, the statistics page, and The Zone, a special area with exclusive video content uploaded weekly all for only $20 a month. Click here to sign up The Fearless Mind also offers personal mental strength coaching. To inquire about getting a Fearless Mind coach to work with you personally click here: http://thefearlessmind.com/personal-coaching/