High Performance Habits

Brendon Burchard’s six high performance habits help you invest in your personal development. Like 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, this book gives personal and inter-personal practices. The habits are Clarity,  Energy, Necessity, Productivity, Influence and Courage. The first three are Personal Habits, they are internal, involving only yourself. The latter three are Social Habits, these are external, your interactions with other people.

Habit 1. Clarity

You need to be clear on who you are, what you want and how to get it. You need to know what is meaningful and fulfilling in your life. Constant self-assessment is all part of gaining clarity. Knowing what you are not clear about and working to become clear about it is also important. Taking time to understand yourself as a leader and how you want to be a leader will help you on your leadership journey. Knowing what parts of your leadership style still need work is also important for your growth.

Habit 2. Energy

Energy is a holistic concept that includes physical, mental and emotional energies. Your positive, passionate energy is your motivation to act with intention and increase enthusiasm. This is a self-perpetuating positive cycle, as you express this energy, you will act more purposefully and this will generate more energy. Positive energy and understanding the connection between physical, mental and emotional energy puts you in position to be an effective leader as you act purposefully.

Habit 3. Necessity

Necessity is based on the four concepts of identity, obsession, duty and urgency. These are a way to present your values that allow you to see what is most important to you and so what you should be focusing your energy on. When you act in line with your values and follow through with what you intend to do, you will be doing what needs to be done. Another facet of necessity is to be able to differentiate between real and imposed deadlines. This will help you plan what needs doing better and reduce stress, making you more productive. Apply the concept of necessity to create a clear plan of how you will express your values to achieve your goals.

Habit 4. Productivity

Being productive happens when you set clear and challenging goals, which allow you to maintain your energy and focus. Enjoyment of what you are doing increases productivity as you have more motivation to work on the project, instead of only wanting to complete it so you can move on to something else. It’s also important to be productive on the right things. If you get a lot done with something that doesn’t matter, it is much less productive in the long term than working on the important things. Having the first three habits (Clarity, Energy and Necessity) figured out, will help you spend more time on the things that matter, increasing your productivity. Working with a team you will have lots of opportunities to practice being productive, including delegating tasks to the members of your team who are best suited for them. Working on the tasks that matter to the team and that matter to you (if your interests are well aligned with the team, these will often be the same), is also the most productive.

Habit 5. Influence

Influence is the ability to shape other people’s beliefs. This can be on the large scale of changing a community belief system, or on the much smaller scale of getting help on a task. Asking for what you want is often all it takes as most people are more willing to give help (be influenced) than we think. Understanding what you can influence easily and what needs more work is important so you know where to focus your energy. You will have developed much of your ability to influence on your journey to becoming a leader. Once you are an accepted leader, it is much easier to influence your team. Of course, influence can be positive or negative and as a good leader, it is your responsibility to have a positive influence on your team.

Habit 6. Courage

Courage is to act despite fear, not the lack of fear. Practising something that makes you scared is the best way to lessen the fear. This takes courage, but the more you practise, the less fear you will have. Courage is related to risk, fear and a reason to act. What is at risk if you act? How much fear do you have? Is there a good reason to act that outweighs the risk and the fear? Courage can be physical, mental, psychological or everyday. You will likely have lots of opportunities to practise courage on your leadership journey. Deciding to act as a leader might be the first act of courage you take. Standing up for your team’s culture against internal dissenters will also take courage. There may even be times you need to display physical courage to protect yourself or your team.

The online High Performance Index test that goes along with this book allows you to see what your score was for each of the six habits. This lets you see where your strengths and weaknesses lay and from there, you can better implement the habits and practices in the book. With these tools as a foundation, you are investing in yourself on your journey of personal development.