The Crux: Pursuing Performance Excellence
If you have had a chance to read a few of my latest blog posts, there have been several instances where I have referenced the concept of performance excellence and while the words themselves definitely provide appeal, I have yet to explain what performance excellence actually is. An oversight on my end and I apologize, but here it is. Better late than never, right? Performance excellence is critical to any performance and a huge indicator of success. I want to utilize this space to provide a more thorough explanation of what performance excellence is, why it’s important, and how we can continue to cultivate it in our lives.
WHAT IS PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE?
Performance excellence, generally speaking, is the ability to consistently perform at the upper range of one’s abilities in a way that provides the most meaning and fulfillment in experience (Aoyagi et al., 2017). Now, this may sound similar to other concepts like performance enhancement, but there are some key distinctions between performance enhancement and performance excellence: 1. Enhancement implies a limited focus on outcomes which is not our primary goal, and 2. Excellence belongs to the individual pursuing it, meaning it can look different for each person whether it be defined solely by results, or even broader, encompassing all performance and life goals. The way I choose to pursue and teach strategies to achieve performance excellence really embodies the nature of the second point because I see life as a performance. Whether or not we are aware of it, we are all striving for something and we all want to achieve something. Sometimes we are just not aware of best practices that will allow us to continually achieve whatever defines our versions of performance excellence and that is what drives me to do the work I do.
WHY IS PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE IMPORTANT?
The importance of pursuing performance excellence cannot be understated. Understanding what contributes to individual ideas of performance excellence helps define the journey and illustrate one’s purpose. Renowned sport psychologist of the Seattle Seahawks, Michael Gervais, said it best in one of his recent Finding Mastery podcast episodes; he said, “Your job is to be good at being you.” This message really resonated with me personally and professionally because I don’t think there is a more meaningful and fulfilling process than the one that enables you to better explore and understand who you are. I believe this is the key to defining and finding success in whatever it is you choose to go after in this life. Whether it be in athletics, school, a relationship, or a career, to name a few things, more success is found when people understand who they are in the pursuit of those things. What I love about what I do, and the field of sport and performance psychology (SPP) in general, is that it is so much more than just helping someone get better at what they do, rather it is about helping people understand and get better at who they are. YOU are the foundation of your success and understanding that allows us to continually achieve, refine, and pursue our individual ideas of performance excellence.
HOW DO YOU CULTIVATE PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE?
Firstly, it is important to understand that cultivating performance excellence in life is never a quick process and it will likely be a fluid, ongoing journey seeing as life changes and therefore, what contributes to our idea of performance excellence probably will too. That being said, I think the most crucial aspect of performance excellence is understanding what truly matters most to you in your life; what drives you? In SPP we refer to this idea as values identification and clarification and I believe this is the foundation of performance excellence in anyone’s life (Prochaska & Norcross, 2014). It’s no secret that if you understand why you are doing something, you will be much more effective in being able to execute. This is because once you know what you value and hold dearly in life, you’ll understand what behaviors are needed to embody those values. They key is to be completely honest with yourself. Identify what your values ARE, not just what you want them to be. Once you can identify what you stand for, write them down. I tend to find that 3-5 values is an ideal number of values to focus on. Consider what defines those values for you. How do you know that you’re living out those values? What does it look like when your values are put into action? This idea seems simple yet it is so powerful because from here, you can begin to implement other processes and routines that will help keep you aligned with what you want to accomplish, but more significantly, they will keep you aligned with who you want to BE while you accomplish it.
Performance excellence may be a new idea to some of you or it may be familiar to things you have heard before. However, I wanted to elucidate how I define and understand it because it is crucial to my personal and professional approach in life. Performance excellence is about consistently performing your best when you need it most. In any performance, I believe people will be able to produce more quality and receive more from their performance AKA perform better when they are in alignment with who they want to be. Understand that this process is much more difficult than it appears because identifying and clarifying the values that define you requires heightened awareness and willingness to approach any incongruence with what you want your values to be and what they actually are. From there, we must learn how to embody those values and apply them practically in our lives every day which can be quite challenging seeing as there are numerous other variables that may inhibit us from demonstrating behaviors in alignment with our identified values from time to time. As a mental performance coach, that is my goal: provide the understanding and mental resources needed to better understand who you are so you can put it into action and take ownership of every performance, every experience, and ultimately, your life. It will not be easy, but it is more than worth it.
“Never forget who you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.”
AUTHOR: Stephanie Hale
References:
1. Aoyagi, M. W., Cohen, A. B., Poczwardowski, A., Metzler, J. N., & Statler, T. (2018). Models of performance excellence: Four approaches to sport psychology consulting. Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 9(2), 94-110.
2. Prochaska, J., & Norcross, J. (2014). Systems of psychotherapy: A transtheoretical analysis (8th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.