Whether we are referring to hall of fame athletes, legendary musicians, exceptional business leaders, or life-changing educators, it all comes down to their winning habits that separates them from everyone else.

I want to highlight three winning habits that are universal when it comes to high-performance. These habits have impacted my life in so many ways and I am confident that they can be of great value for you as well. Here are three winning habits of high-performers.

1. They protect their thinking.

Our mind is one of the greatest assets that we have. How we think, what we think about, and how often we prioritize our thinking not only expands the quality of our lives, but also our level of achievement. It is no secret that world-class athletes often credit their mental training as one of the key reasons for their athletic success. But mental training and the power of our mind doesn’t just relate to athletes. This applies for every industry and occupation.

If you want to elevate your level of performance, it’s imperative you protect your thinking and analyze what you think about most of the time.

In order to bring this mentality into our daily lives, we must train for it. This doesn’t naturally happen, especially when the challenges of life continuously strike. A routine that has been a game-changer in my own life is to spend just twenty minutes a day in solitude. We live in a noisy and distracted world, and if we don’t make time for peace and quiet, our lives will soon become noisy and distracted as well. After I spend a good five minutes in solitude focusing on the present moment, I will briefly dissect any negative thoughts or worries that may be lingering around. For me, most of my anxieties and worries come from events that haven’t even happened yet. I take out my journal and write those worries down. I then go on to ask myself three questions and write the answers for each. Has this event that I am worrying about happened yet? If not, why I am spending precious energy worrying about it? What is one positive action that I can take right now to counteract this negative feeling? After I write the responses to those three questions, I start to feel much better than I did before.

From there, I will finish my time in solitude by reading an empowering book or listening to a positive message to reinforce the type of energy I want to experience for the rest of my day. Regardless of what your process looks like, spend some time playing around with what works for you. The more we can expand the quality of our thoughts, the more we can positively impact our performance and well-being.

2. They have a long-term vision that invigorates them.   

There is one thing I know for sure. We will all experience setbacks and challenges in our lives that will have some of us start to question everything. There have been countless examples of men and women throughout the course of time who have been through heart wrenching tragedies, one after the other, but still went on to do remarkable things with their lives.

We all need a powerful vision of the future that pulls us forward. There is a big difference between pushing yourself and being pulled. Pushing yourself or someone else consists of motivation. That is a temporary feeling of pushing forward even when you may not feel like it. Being pulled forward is completely different. When our vision of the future is clear and compelling, it energizes and serves as a magnetic pull.

To help create this powerful and vivid long-term vision, there are a number of different practices that have worked exceptionally well for me. Some people think I am crazy when I tell them that I already have my eulogy written, but the benefits I have experienced by doing this has been nothing short of extraordinary. Thinking about death from time to time can be incredibly powerful. It reminds us that life is short and prompts us to ask ourselves if we have been living a life well-lived up to this point. It brings unbelievable urgency to what matters most.

Secondly, after I create my goals for the year, I spend some time revising my long-term goals which are ten to twenty years from now. These goals are enormously big, but they play a huge role in helping me stay focused whenever I experience short-term setbacks and remind me to keep moving forward.

3. They are lifelong learners.

Whenever I meet someone achieving excellence in their line of work, I am not drawn to their accomplishments even though they are often times astonishing and will easily leave you speechless. However, the one thing that constantly amazes me is their dedication to become a lifelong learner regardless of past accolades or notoriety. High-performers are hungry for best practices, and they never stop learning. It is no secret why they are where they are, and there is no special framework that will speed up the process of greatness. It requires a lot of hard work, persistence, and an obsessiveness to continually get better.

Becoming a lifelong learner can mean a lot of different things, but most importantly to me, it’s more of a mindset than a specific set of actions. When you have the mindset of a lifelong learner, you are never too good to learn something new, change the way you have done something for the past ten years, or frequently step out of your comfort zone. You also realize that you can learn something new from every single person you meet.

I have incorporated this mindset into my own life in a number of different ways. Each year I always set a goal of how many books I want to read. I am an avid reader, and always try to read a minimum of fifty new books every year. At the end of December each year, I highlight specific dates on my calendar that will be devoted to personal and professional development. This can consist of attending conferences as an attendee, hiring different coaches for multiple areas of my life, and enlisting a group of men and women who I can reach out to on a quarterly basis to work through some challenges I may be experiencing or tweak my strategy.

We all want to experience higher levels of achievement, achieve more audacious goals, and enhance the quality of our lives in some way, shape or form. In order for us to enhance our performance, we first have to become a better version of ourselves. There is no shortcuts. You can’t just dream for it to happen and then not take massive action. It requires a lot of intentional effort and hard work, but it is well worth it. Not because of what we achieve, but because of the man or woman we end up becoming in the process.

One of my favorite sayings is, “We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.” I couldn’t agree more.

The post 3 Winning Habits of High-Performers appeared first on Matt Mayberry.

This threat is widespread, of course, because, in the business world, the demands, obligations and expectations entrepreneurs face to continually deliver exceptional results, seems never-ending. Not to mention that, when you combine all of the different personal obligations you face, you begin to see why stress so often is called the silent killer.

And while, initially, they may seem simple and just plain common sense, remember: What’s common sense isn’t always common practice. Here are four ways to decrease stress and maximize performance.

1. Maximize endorphin production.

Nothing has positively benefited my life more than getting into the habit of having a workout during the course of my day, especially when I have a lot going on and feel stressed out.

One of the quickest and surest ways to diminish the negative side effects of stress is to get your sweat on. When you partake in some sort of physical activity during your day, your body releases endorphins, which end up triggering a positive feeling in your entire body. Not only will you decrease your stress by getting a workout in, but you will be lightening your mood and setting yourself up for a more productive day.

Personal experience: A few months ago, I was completely worn out and on the verge of burnout. I was traveling all the time and giving the upper hand to my excuses as to why I wasn’t working out and taking better care of myself.

After three weeks of feeling miserable, I knew I had to do something fast. It didn’t matter where I was in the world: I made a commitment with myself to get two workouts in each and every day. So, I did a quick workout first thing in the morning to jump-start my day and then another workout later, which usually consisted of cardio at the end of the day.

This was the exact same routine I’d used when playing professional football and college football. Even though I was no longer an athlete, this routine of maximizing my endorphin production twice a day worked exceptionally well. I started to feel a whole lot better about myself and noticed positive changes in my work.

The message here is, you don’t have to get in two workouts each and every day like me, but you should make it a priority to maximize endorphin production at some point during your day. I have found from personal experience that one of the most efficient ways to increase productivity, reduce stress and spark creativity is to just get moving.

2. Learn how to say “no” more often.

As an ambitious and highly motivated individual, I find that one of the hardest things to learn over the years has been to say “no”more often. When you are looking to take your life and business to the next level, saying “yes” and agreeing to every little opportunity that presents itself is almost second nature.

But the fact of the matter is that many of the daily obligations and opportunities we agree to aren’t going to move the needle for us. Of course there are things that need our attention, as the day goes on, which we didn’t plan for, but I advise planning your day the night before and never having more than five tasks on your daily to-do list.

What this simple habit does is force you to zero-in on what matters most for that particular day that will give you your biggest return on energy and time.

Personal tip: Another key strategy that has helped me say no no more often is having in front of me at all times a list of the three biggest priorities that will impact my business the most. When a decision is needed or an opportunity comes knocking, I glance at those priorities — an action which then guides me, on where my time and energy will go.

If the opportunity doesn’t include one of those three things on my priority list, I will decide whether it needs to be delegated to a team member or if another course of action needs to be taken. Learning how to say no more often is a game-changer.

3. Go make someone else’s day.

One of the main reasons why a lot of us get easily stressed and let anxiety and worry take a place at the forefront of our lives is that we get too caught up in our own little world. Yet, there is so much more to life than what we ourselves are experiencing.

When I notice that I’m feeling stressed and that my daily workload is getting the best of me, I make it a habit — and it’s one that brings me great joy– to go make someone else’s day. For you, this might involve calling up a friend and asking how his or her day is going, lending a listening ear to someone who has it much worse than you do or giving back to the local community.

There is no right or wrong way on how to make someone else’s day, but the next time you feel stressed, I challenge you to explore different ways to be of service to someone in that particular moment.

Personal tip: I keep a stack of cards next to my desk, and not a week goes by where I don’t write a thank you note to someone that I am extremely grateful for. My grandfather always used to tell me when I was younger about the significance of handwritten notes, and I haven’t forgotten that advice to this day. Want to instantly elevate your well-being? Go be of service and make someone else’s day.

4. Monitor what you put into your body.

One of the first things people turn to when they’re stressed is junk food. Indulging in your favorite treat from time to time won’t harm you, but when you consistently fail to fuel your body with the right food, you’ll lose your chance to achieve a level of peak performance.

According to Mark Hyman, New York Times best-selling author of Eat Fat, Get Thin, eating whole, real food restores balance and reduces the negative effects that stress has on your body. Replacing harmful substances such as caffeine, alcohol and refined sugars with clean proteins, fruits, vegetables and healthy fats helps regulate your hormone levels — including the stress hormones.

Personal tip: I tell people all the time that one of my best decisions for elevating my performance and decreasing stress levels was getting my blood tested to see what my deficiencies were, then hiring a nutritionist to show me how to fuel my body to fill those specific needs.

After one month of changing my eating habits and getting rid of the junk, I felt like a new man, able to perform at a higher level for a longer period of time than what I’d previously achieved. You can have all the success in the world, but if you don’t have your health, that success means absolutely nothing. So, make your health and what you put into your body a priority. Use the four strategies I’ve described.

And, don’t let the hustle and bustle of life and negative side effects of stress be the reason why you don’t begin the journey of living your best life. Start today to decrease stress and start the pursuit of becoming the best version of yourself.

Originally Posted on Entrepreneur.com

The post Decrease Stress and Maximize Performance appeared first on Matt Mayberry.