In this week's episode, you'll hear all the secrets to becoming a peak performer in both your personal and professional life. Alex is going to be giving you all the tools you need to set goals for yourself, manage each and every one of your days, and combat the inner voices that might be saying: "you can't do it."
Do you ever wonder how the most successful people manage their day to day lives to set themselves up for big wins? There are steps to follow in order to become a peak performer, and on today’s episode of No Bullshit with Alex Willis, you’ll be guided on how best to incorporate some of these steps into your own life.
Life is a marathon, not a sprint. And as the race goes on, more and more people fall to the wayside while the most committed and disciplined lead the pack, living the best lives they can. Regardless of how you feel about your life now or up to this point, Alex is here to tell you that you have full control over what comes next. This week, you’ll hear what it takes in order to shift your routines, mentally and physically, in order to best prioritize the things you want most.
What to look out for in today’s episode:
In our first segment, The Takeoff, Alex will start off by stressing just how critical discipline and commitment are to becoming a peak performer. You will be asked to identify what targets you want to hit most, and you’ll connect those “wants” to “whys” in order to really set yourself up for success.
Tune into our next segment, The Level, to hear all about “The Pareto Principle,” AKA the 80/20 rule. While Alex will dive in more, it essentially means that 80% of all outcomes result from 20% of all causes for a given event. This is important to understand when prioritizing where to focus your energy most.
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[00:00:00] Alex: Hey, what's up guys? Alex Willis here, the CEO of Leadership Surge, and I wanna personally welcome you to No Bullshit with Alex Willis, the golden source for leadership development in the construction management. What are we talking about today? Man, I'm telling you, I am super, super, super excited today. Uh, because this is something that our viewers have asked for, right?
[00:00:28] Alex: So I get a chance to fulfill our first promise to the viewers. And what are we talking about? Well, we're talking about habits of peak performers. How do you show up and be your best self under high stress, high pressure, and everyday, continuously do it over and over and over again to be your best self?
[00:00:46] Alex: We're gonna dive into that and tell you how to do it, and we're gonna really challenge you to think about looking at yourself. It's similar to an athlete, right? Taking care of yourself like an athlete. So looking forward to it. So, hey, thanks for joining us today. Let's dive in. Let's jump right into the takeoff.
[00:01:02] Alex: All right, my friends, welcome to the takeoff. Hey, when we're talking about developing a dangerous mindset, habits of peak performers, right? And so oftentimes I talk to our, uh, people in the construction industry and understand high pressure, high stress. Trying to get things done, uh, and having to consistently perform at high levels.
[00:01:21] Alex: How do you do it? How do you do it? And so to me, it's kind of similar to a marathon. You think about a marathon race, oftentimes everyone starts at the starting line saying, Hey, I wanna do this. I'm gonna be the best. We're gonna have a great team. We're going to be phenomenal. We're gonna compete at high levels.
[00:01:37] Alex: But truthfully told my friends, as the marathon and as the race goes on, it weeds people out. Oftentimes you only have few people finishing that race. The same is so with life, the same is so with peak performers. But understand this, there are certain habits that peak performers do, that they continually do, that they add to their life, that they add to their routines, that ultimately help them be the best that they can be.
[00:02:01] Alex: And today we're diving into those to talk a little bit about 'em. And so the first thing I need you to know is this. I love this quote by Stephen Covet. Stephen says this, the undisciplined, the undisciplined. Are slaves to moves, appetites and passions, right? The undisciplined, those who have no discipline are slaves to moves, appetites and passions.
[00:02:22] Alex: I mean, whatever goes on, if you lack discipline, you're going to be all over the place. So the first thing that peak performers understand is this. I must have discipline. Discipline with my routines. Discipline with how I take care of myself, my mental health, my physical health, connecting with my close relationships and those people around me.
[00:02:41] Alex: I have to have extreme discipline, especially as the pressure turns up, the more heat, the more stress, the more tension, the more pressure, the more discipline I have to have. Now, here's the crazy part, my friends crazy. The more discipline I have, the more freedom it gives me on the back end. Understand that peak performers understand that the more discipline I have in my life with my habits, with my routines, with how I show up to work, the more freedom it gives me.
[00:03:08] Alex: I know it sounds like an oxymoron, but listen to me on this. Think about it. Let's use a hypothetical example. The more discipline you are with your workouts in the gym, the more freedom it gives you to eat whatever the hell you want to eat. Why? Because you're disciplined in this area and you are extremely disciplined.
[00:03:24] Alex: The same is so with us in life, and so we're gonna dive into how do we do this? Well, well understand. The first thing that we have to understand is this. Peak performers clearly identify what they want in life. They have a clearly identified target, knowing exactly what I want to do, what I wanna do with my career, what I wanna do with my family, what I wanna do personally with my own health.
[00:03:46] Alex: Oftentimes, my friends, a lot of our leaders in the construction industry, we live what I like to call the cat dog life, where we eat sleep, shit, wake up and do it again, right? Eat, sleep, shit. Do it again, right? And so we get in this repetitive cycle and never really clearly identify the target of what it is we're going after, right?
[00:04:04] Alex: So I wanna challenge you, I want you to pause for a second. And I want you to just pull out a scratch sheet of paper and write down gold. What, what do you want in life? What? What do you want? And I want you to be very clear right now, because oftentimes we are not clear on exactly what we want. And so it's hard to get it right.
[00:04:22] Alex: What do I mean by clarity? Well hear me out on this. Oftentimes people say, well, I wanna live a good life, dude. It's hard as shit to measure good. You have to be very, very clear saying, Hey, listen, what do I, what do I really want right now? Once you've identified the what, please understand this. Peak performers understand one simple principle after identifying the what, and here's the deal.
[00:04:45] Alex: Before I get into that, I wanna share what most people do though. Those who are not peak performers, those who are not peak performers, who are constantly at the high point of their game as leaders, they go from what to how? They think about what they want. Well, I want this kind of money. I want this kind of career.
[00:05:02] Alex: I wanna be this kind of leader. I wanna be this kind of mom, this kind of dad, this kind of friend. And they go from what to, well, how do I do that? How do I get that now? That is the worst thing you could do in the world, my friends. Here's why. Because oftentimes the goals that we identify as peak performers are very, very difficult, very challenging, and understand if you go from what to how.
[00:05:25] Alex: The brain does not like confusion. And oftentimes the how can be very confusing, can be very difficult. It may be, uh, a long-term commitment. And if you go from what to how, I guarantee you, you will not stay into your goal and be driven with that long because you're going to give up and quit because of the difficulty.
[00:05:45] Alex: So here's what peak performers do. They go from what to why. Why the hell do you want this? Why do you want to be the best foreperson out there? Why do you want the promotion? Why do you wanna have a phenomenal relationship with your kids? Here's why that's important. My friends, when I go from what I want to, why?
[00:06:06] Alex: The why is the leverage that gives me leverage to put leverage on myself when I wanna quit and when I wanna give up. I want you to think about this for Alex. One of the, what's that I want in my life is to have a phenomenal relationship with my two daughters. One's 10, one's 13. We're in those ages, man, where I'm trying to stay connected to them.
[00:06:25] Alex: Why? Because I wanna have a phenomenal relationship with them as they grow older, right? I want them to be connected to dad like none other. So when I come in from work, dog tired, traveling, I just came in off a red eye this morning. I just got in, right? But hey, when my daughter saw me, they were excited. I was excited to see them, although I was tired as shit.
[00:06:46] Alex: They didn't know it. Why? Because my why is strong enough to give me enough energy to muster through all of the bullshit going on in my head saying that I'm tired. I don't want any, I need to go rest. Don't say hello to 'em. Don't do this. Don't bl don't play around, don't joke with them. I have a strong why, right?
[00:07:03] Alex: So the strong why gives me leverage on myself to get the goal of the what I want. So if you've never thought about your what, start there. Go directly from the identifying what you want in life. And we'll talk a little more about that in our second segment today to go into why do you want it so you can give yourself leverage to really begin to push through when you are tired.
[00:07:24] Alex: Tired, right? So as you're planning out this, what, here's what I need you to do. Peak performers start with big thinking. Oftentimes in construction, we limit ourselves and we have what I like to call negative thinking, right? So we start saying, well, I can't do that. Well, I'm, I'll only be able to make it to this level.
[00:07:43] Alex: Here's why it's important to start big, my friends, because we have something that we call belief, the belief spotlight. All right? So understand this, when I start with limited thinking, my mind doesn't necessarily work as hard to find solutions for me. When I start with limited thinking, I start with a limited belief, and from there it gives me limited possibilities and limited actions.
[00:08:05] Alex: And last but not least, I have limited ultimate possibilities of what I'm going to do. But understand this when I start big, right? When I start with expanding my belief to say, well, wait a minute, anything's possible. Especially if I have a strong enough why, right? I can figure out how later, right? So start with that.
[00:08:22] Alex: Then I have expanded possibilities and my mind's looking for opportunities to do what I said I want to do as a leader. Let me give you a simple example. Simple example, my friends. When's the last time you went to purchase a car? Right? Think about that. When you went to purchase a car, I guarantee before you bought it, as you were driving on the road, you saw that damn car everywhere you turned.
[00:08:45] Alex: Now, please understand, it's not like people went out, went out and bought the damn car because they knew you were going to get it. You're not that cool. I mean, you're cool, but not that damn cool, right? Understand the car had been there all this time, but your brain was tuned into what it wanted to do, and so therefore it was able to identify all of those.
[00:09:04] Alex: Similar cars to yours that was out there on the street that had already been there. The same is true when we go after these goals that we want as peak performers. When I identify the what I have a strong enough why and I really expand my beliefs, my mind goes crazy, my friends to say, okay, that's what you say you want to do.
[00:09:24] Alex: Let's start looking for opportunities, and you begin to understand and find the connections you need. The resources you need, the people you need in your life, the time you need to make it available because you get super, super creative. But here's the deal. I love this graph that we're about to show. So if you're listening, I'm gonna try to explain this graph.
[00:09:40] Alex: Well, if you're looking, you can see it here, but we, we call this graph the graph of beliefs, right? So understand this at the very, very top. Anything you go after as a peak performer and leader starts with how you believe. Do you believe you can do it? Right now, understand my beliefs, my friends influence my expectations, right?
[00:10:01] Alex: So understand if I have limiting beliefs, I'm gonna have limited expectations of myself, right? So starts with beliefs number one. Number two is expectations. Number three, my expectations influence my behavior. How hard I worked, how much effort I put out. My expectations influence my behavior. Now I understand my behavior influences my results.
[00:10:24] Alex: So my behavior influences what I get in life right now as we make a full circle going back to the top, my results that I get in life just reinforce what I ultimately believe in the first place. Let me, let me give you the perfect example. You see my University of Florida helmet here as a walk on football player at the University of Florida.
[00:10:43] Alex: The first day I walked into the waiting there on campus. Now, unbeknownst to everyone else in the weight room and on the team, in my mind, I believed I was a damn superstar. Now, granted, I was a scrub in their minds, but in my mind, man, I was the big man on campus, the big cheese, and I kept that belief and now understand that belief heightened my expectations of what I expected for myself.
[00:11:07] Alex: Where a lot of walk-ons there just wanted to be on the team. They just wanted to get a uniform in a jersey. That was the lowest damn expectation on my damn list, like a jersey. Are you shitting me? No. I'm going to be a starter, a team captain and play here right now. Understand my expectations drove and influenced my behavior showing up in the gym, staying af late after practice doing what other people wouldn't do.
[00:11:32] Alex: Why? Because my expectations drove that and understand my behavior. Drove my results. What did I do? Well, I went from walk on the team captain to scholarship athlete, to ultimately playing in the NFL simply because this scrawny little kid came in with the right belief system. So as a leader, it's important for you to have the right mindset and for you to tune in to have that right belief system because if you can do that my prince, it is a game changer for you for every other area of your life, showing up your best self at work.
[00:12:01] Alex: Your best self at home being all that you can be. I love this quote by Darren Hardy. Darren says, this commitment is doing the thing you said you were going to do long after the mood you said it in has left you. I'm gonna say that again. Commitment is doing the thing you said you were going to do long after the mood you said it in has left you.
[00:12:25] Alex: I jokingly, but seriously say this, you know, oftentimes, When you meet people, if you ever see someone at a bar after they had a few drinks, they make all kind of damn promises and commitment only to wake up with a hangover the next morning and say, yeah, well I'm gonna do it tomorrow. Right? So understand as you talk about being a peak performer, showing up, being the best leader for your organization, the best leader for your team, the best leader for your family, you have to stay committed and make commitments here, right?
[00:12:53] Alex: So, so, so what's the biggest thing you have to do with this commitment thing? Well, The biggest thing you have to do is you have to refuse to negotiate with yourself. Please understand it's my friends. Oftentimes, as leaders, we are terrorists. Terrorists to our own dreams and passions. Why? Because we self-sabotage ourselves.
[00:13:16] Alex: When things get hard, when things get difficult, we have. Little to no accountability to ourselves when no one else is looking. Now, when supervisor, leader, those people are around us, when they are holding us accountable, we do the work. But when we're by ourselves, oftentimes we don't do the work and we let go.
[00:13:33] Alex: So you have to refuse to negotiate with yourself. And what do I mean by that? Well, that requires you as a leader, making this internal commitment to yourself to say, you know what? I refuse to lie to myself. If I said, I'm gonna get up and go to the gym, I'm getting up. Even if I'm dog tired, if I said I'm hanging out with the kids, I'm getting up to do it.
[00:13:50] Alex: If I said I was gonna get that report in, if I said I was gonna do that change order, whatever it is, I'm willing to do it. And I refuse to lie myself because I refuse to negotiate with myself. Right. Huge, huge deal my friends. It's important. So I want you to think about those things. Just kinda recapping.
[00:14:04] Alex: Think about the what, what is it that you want? Why do you want that? Right? Thinking about the why be strong to committing to that. Have an extreme discipline so that you really begin to make that re commitment to yourself and refuse to negotiate with yourself. In the next segment of my friends, we're gonna dive into something to make it a little easier for you because.
[00:14:23] Alex: It sounds like a lot right now. Sounds overwhelming. You're saying, Alec, how the hell do I do that? Dude, I don't have a lot of damn time in my life. I know you don't. So in the next segment we're gonna dive into how do you do it. So in the level we're gonna talk about how do you manage your time in such a way that you're so efficient, you become a time ninja.
[00:14:41] Alex: Check you out on the next segment, in the level with my friends. Hey my friends. I want to thank you for tuning in. I wanna challenge you to make sure you check out the next segment, and I wanna remind you to subscribe to our podcast.