Book: Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success by Brad Stulberg. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

A great book. I felt like it’s a compilation of some good books I read in the past years. It was not a life-changing book for me but it was great to review the important info I collected in the past years. I would totally recommend this book as the first book for someone looking for performance improvement.

Here are my raw notes about the book:

  • He was not going out to meet girls at night. He was not an average teenager. Of course, average teenagers don’t run 4 minutes miles
  • Like many other good performers, this guy was a combination of good DNA and hard work
  • His friends often joke he was anti-fun (because of the amount of hard work every time). He was grinding but was enjoying it too.
  • Americans will continue to work more and take less vacation
  • Considering all the work done after hours and the “always-on” culture, Americans work around 47 hours a week
  • DNA also plays a significant role in peak performance
  • The overtraining syndrome is commonly found in artists because of their passion and perfectionism. Overtraining is when your body doesn’t want to train anymore but it’s being forced to, so it starts to throw some toxins
  • The right amount of stress + the right amount of rest = growth (not just for muscles)
  • Sleep is very important for peak performance — 💭 not a surprise for those who read Why We Sleep
  • Insert periods of restoration after intense activity.
  • Being on a diet will probably create some fatigue as you have to use your willpower not to eat some things
  • Prepare your environment. It’s incredible how your environment influences your ability to do things
  • Failure and struggle is a good way to learn. If you want to grow, you have to see stress as something positive
  • Growth comes at the point of resistance. Only seek support after you struggle a little bit
  • Good stress is when you find yourself a little out of control but not anxious
  • You should look for tasks that are a bit over your skills so that you can grow
  • It’s not just experience that makes people experts. Experience is not the top measure to distinguish top performers. Experience and expertise do not go hand by hand
  • It’s not time practicing that makes the difference but time practicing deliberately
  • Be fully present to practice deliberately. Don’t multitask for anything
  • According to research, the best way to remove temptation is to get the objective out of view and reach
  • People can’t engage in deep activities for more than two hours — 💭 That’s the case for me and also a reference to Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
  • Working 50-90 minutes distraction-free seems to be the key for peak performance
  • Deep work is a practice that has to be cultivated over time
  • Our minds play an important role in how we perceive food and satiation. It’s not just related to the properties the food has
  • Children with a growth mindset progress significantly faster than their peers
  • If we consider stress as something positive and use it as a challenge, we can thrive even in these situations
  • The sensations you feel before an event are neutral. Your mindset influences how you will feel it
  • Stress at the right doses help stimulate the body
  • Meditating is one way to turn off the stress response related to a particular event. Meditators tend to have better control over how the amygdala reacts to an i.e. painful stimulus
  • A good way to overcome stress is by having a calm conversation with yourself. The pain and stress are normal, and you will overcome it soon. Do not think about how big the pain is and how much you still have to go through
  • Do breaks between tasks. The higher demanding the task is, the longer the break.
  • Rest is sometimes harder than training, and it’s almost that important
  • Walking breaks help to regain focus and have good ideas. Walking lets us free enough to wonder about things but not let the mind wander or focus on different things
  • Mindful meditation is recommended regardless of doing breaks and small meditation throughout the day
  • Have some time with friends after a hard day of work; it makes you feel better. Happy hour is not recommended, that’s where people go to complain about work
  • A mid-day nap can be beneficial if it’s less than half an hour, but it is not a replacement for the missing time slept at night — 💭 This is also mentioned on When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing
  • The best way to find the right number of sleeping hours for you is to take 10 to 14 days and go to sleep when you want and wake up by yourself. Take the average sleep time, and that’s it.
  • Use the bed just for sleeping or sex. No TV, laptop, or cellphone while on the bed, just a paper book maybe.
  • Make your room as dark as I possible
  • Take care of yourself. Fatigue is just an opportunity for growth, broke is just broke
  • Time your vacations after high-stress periods. Totally disconnect from work, both physically and mentally. Use your vacations to do activities you find relaxing and restorative
  • You should not wait to get “in the zone” you should create it — 💭 That’s a good advice. I’m trying to do that nowadays but it’s not that simple. Music usually helps me.
  • Mood affects performance. Build a routine to get in the right mood before starting the task
  • Prepare your environment, so it automatically triggers what you want to do. Keep only objects that will be useful for your task
  • Use the same things on your routine; it will help to signal to your brain that you will soon be in the mood (habit cue) — 💭 It’s also mentioned on The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
  • Build your life around making decisions that matter. Is the traffic jam important for you? If not, try to choose a place to live where you can avoid it. Are clothes important for you? If not, choose clothes that don’t make you think about it. It applies to anything. — 💭 OMG, that’s so true. I do that all the time.
  • Our will power is limited, that’s why it’s easier to do things in the morning.
  • We have limited energy and should devote it only to things that matter.
  • Always exercise at the same time of the day, so you don’t have to even think about it — 💭 That was key to my exercise routine
  • Protect your peak time for the most important task of your day
  • Don’t fight fatigue; use is to rest and let your mind wander. It’s a time when you may have great ideas
  • Motivation is contagious. The feeling of the group is something that affects performance (studies made on squadrons show the least fit person of the group influences the whole squadron to be better or worse)
  • If you’re constantly fighting the mindset of those around you, there’s a big chance you will be dragged down.
  • A chain is just as strong as its weakest link
  • Great performers are not consistently good; they are good on being consistent
  • Everything we discussed until now is about showing up and being the best at what you do. People show up even when they don’t feel like to.
  • When you set to do things greater than yourself, you can do amazing things (lift a car in an accident situation, etc.). It probably happens because we let our ego aside in these situations. Our ego protects our body to not give our full potential, as it may be risky for ourselves.
  • Only when we transcend ourselves, we can achieve our full potential (by removing our ego from protecting us)
  • Are you willing to give yourself for a greater cause? For all great performers we interviewed, the answer was a YES
  • Making part of something bigger is what gives you motivation when you’re in a bad situation. “I make art to make people smile, cry, and connect to the Earth”. — 💭 I would also say I’m currently making software to help people be more productive and have a better life :)
  • Link your goals to something greater than yourself to have a better performance
  • Add values and purpose to your life (or write them down, if you already have them) — 💭 I should read more about the examples are given here; it’s not easy to take notes by listening to audio. I will use the text version as a reference
  • Living up your purpose is the best thing in the world
  • Out of sight is out of mind
  • Take more breaks of at least 5 minutes. Do the dishes, listen to music, go for a walk, etc. Do things that require little to no concentration. You may have an ah-ha moment during your breaks
  • Don’t devote brain power to gossip, politics, or worrying about what people think about you — 💭 ❤️