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How Do You Optimize Your Performance When Everything Sucks? | Pete Carroll & Michael Gervais

Jul 22, 2020 1h 1m 31 insights
How do you optimize your performance when life is utterly disrupted by a pandemic? Are optimism and confidence trainable skills? Can we get over our fear of other people's opinions? These are some of the questions we tackle in this episode. We have two guests. Pete Carroll is our first interviewee who has a Superbowl ring. He's been the coach of the Seattle Seahawks for ten seasons. He's also the co-author and co-founder of Compete to Create, which is many things: a firm that works with companies to create high-performing teams, an online course that anyone can take, and a new Audible Original audio book. Coach Pete's partner in all of this is our other guest. Michael Gervais is a high performance psychologist who has worked with MVPs from every major sport and Fortune 100 CEOs. He's also the host of a podcast called Finding Mastery. Where to find Pete Carroll online:  Website: https://petecarroll.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/PeteCarroll  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coachpetecarroll/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petecarroll/ Book Mentioned: Compete to Create Audible Origional: https://www.amazon.com/Compete-Create-Approach-Leading-Authentically/dp/B08911JMJX Where to find Michael Gervais online:  Website: https://findingmastery.net/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MichaelGervais Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MichaelGervais/ Podcast Mentioned: Finding Mastery: http://smarturl.it/finding-mastery On July 27, we're launching the Summer Sanity Challenge: a free 21 day meditation challenge. The goal here is to help you build resilience so that you are less buffeted by circumstances you can't control -- and are therefore calmer, happier, and better prepared to show up the way you want to for your family and your communities. To join the challenge, you can visit tenpercent.com/challenge. Other Resources Mentioned: Compete to Create: https://competetocreate.net/ Additional Resources: Ten Percent Happier Live: https://tenpercent.com/live Coronavirus Sanity Guide: https://www.tenpercent.com/coronavirussanityguide Free App access for Frontline Workers: https://tenpercent.com/care Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/pete-carrol-michael-gervais-267
Actionable Insights

1. Embrace Self-Discovery

Engage in self-discovery and introspection to uncover your unique identity, as this willingness to look inward is crucial for finding an authentic purpose that flows naturally from who you are.

2. Define Personal Purpose

Clarify your personal purpose, ensuring it personally matters to you, is bigger than yourself (benefits others), and is a long-term path rather than a solvable end goal.

3. Align Thoughts, Words, Actions

Consistently align your thoughts, words, and actions with your core principles and life purpose to create a foundational and informed approach to living.

4. Build Relationship-Based Culture

Care for people, learn who they are, cherish their unique qualities, and relentlessly commit to understanding and celebrating what makes them special to help them be their very best.

5. Practice Unconditional Positive Regard

Hold an unconditional positive regard for others at all times to help them realize their inherent worth and foster strong, supportive relationships.

6. Recognize Individual Power

Treat every person in an organization as if they possess extraordinary, unique power and quality, as this approach fosters trust and encourages them to give their absolute best without holding anything back.

7. Foster Reciprocal Commitment

Create an environment where people give their all because they trust that you, in turn, are giving them everything you’ve got, fostering powerful and meaningful relationships.

8. Overcome FOPO

Recognize and deal with the ‘Fear of Other People’s Opinions’ (FOPO) by decoupling who you are from what you do, which is one of the biggest constrictors of potential and leads to incredible freedom.

9. Pursue Authentic Self

Cherish the pursuit of authenticity by being the ‘you’ that you truly are, rather than the person you think others want you to be, as this is crucial for genuine performance and well-being.

10. Cultivate Mindfulness for Performance

Work on mindfulness to center your focus, quiet your mind, and achieve uncanny focus, which is essential for being at your best in any performance.

11. Apply Mindfulness Under Pressure

Practice mindfulness to maintain awareness and focus in the present moment, especially under stress, allowing you to be fully present and effective for others by avoiding internal ‘scratchy’ states.

12. Practice Mindfulness Actively

Practice mindfulness by actively engaging in the present moment through daily activities, sports, games, and relationships, seeing the extraordinary value in everything around you.

13. Relentlessly Return to Now

Cultivate a full commitment to relentlessly bringing your attention back to the present moment, whether observing, working, or in daily life.

14. Cultivate Great Listening Skills

Practice being a great listener, especially in conversations, as a form of active mindfulness and a way to fully engage with the present moment and others.

15. Harness Intention & Vision

Harness the extraordinary power of intention and vision by committing with discipline, consistency, and dogged perseverance to what you want to create, understanding that negative visions can also manifest.

16. Start with Truth & Realism

Always connect with and start with the truth and be realistic in your assessments, as this is where you can benefit the most and avoid distorted perspectives.

17. Focus on Controllables & Discipline

Make discipline your most important pursuit by consistently focusing on and practicing the things you have command of and can control, rather than external factors.

18. Consistently Rep Out Discipline

Develop discipline by consistently ‘repping it out,’ focusing on the very next instant and taking each step properly to build accountability and skill over time.

19. Train Confidence Through Success

Train confidence by consistently recognizing and owning your continued successes, as this understanding leads to improved performance when it matters most.

20. Build Credible Self-Talk

Build credible self-talk and confidence by intentionally doing difficult things and testing yourself in challenging situations, allowing you to earn the right to say ‘I can do hard things’ and experience incredible freedom.

21. Train Optimism & Mindfulness

Practice optimism and mindfulness to resist external judgment and critique, maintaining a fundamental belief that the future will work out and staying present in difficult moments.

22. Front-Load Optimism

Develop mental toughness by front-loading optimism, conditioning your mind to believe something good will break open, so you can stay disciplined in difficult moments when your brain urges you to quit.

23. Practice Three Good Things

To train optimism, set an intention each morning to find and experience three amazing things throughout the day, then write them down at the end of the day, as this practice can significantly increase your experience of life over seven days.

24. Explore Purpose Introspectively

Explore your life purpose through mindfulness or meditation, journaling, and engaging in conversations with wise individuals to gain clarity and personal meaning.

25. Thin-Slice Your Purpose

If your life purpose feels overwhelming, ’thin-slice’ it by defining a purpose for a specific period or context (e.g., ‘my purpose during COVID’), making it more digestible and actionable.

26. Memorialize & Align with Purpose

Memorialize your purpose in a concrete, concise way (e.g., a sentence or two) and establish mechanisms to stay aligned and accountable to it, ensuring it guides your actions.

27. Engage Difficult Life Questions

To foster fulfillment, actively wrestle with difficult and challenging questions about life, such as ‘What is my purpose?’ and ‘What am I doing here?’, rather than avoiding them.

28. Address Pain Through Sharing

In times of pain and difficulty, actively share personal stories and experiences, and listen deeply to others, to foster better understanding, empathy, care, and love within a community.

29. Compete to Stay Aware

Actively ‘compete’ to ensure that critical issues and commitments remain constantly on your mind, preventing them from fading from your awareness or focus.

30. Listen and Respond Well

Beyond just listening, actively practice responding well to others, demonstrating full engagement and understanding in your interactions.

31. Join Summer Sanity Challenge

Join the free 21-day Summer Sanity Challenge starting July 27th to boot up, reestablish, or reinvigorate your meditation habits, receiving a short video and guided meditation daily.