1.) Stay patient.

Patience is hard. You get anxious for immediate results. When you compare yourself to others, your level of anxiety increases and patience decreases. You may think doing one more workout in the last few weeks will put you that much closer to what you desire. Fact: It won’t. Stay patient, stay focused on no one but you. Your journey is your story and no one else’s. Bring along who you want on your journey and let everyone else be a bystander to your success. Patience is a hard virtue to learn, but very rewarding when it comes to fruition.

2.) Execute, not over analyze.

If today’s agenda calls for hard, go hard. But only go hard 20% of the time. Get better at executing the fundamentals and foundations. It makes finessing the final details easier. You can’t build a castle on quick sand, so why would you build your performance on weak fundamentals? Execute the day’s plan and be thankful for what you accomplish. Write down what went great. Focus on here and now, instead of then or what’s to come.

3.) Work on your confidence game.

For every hour you spend on your passion, spend an equal hour on your mind game. Mindset prep is essential for finish line pep! Meditation, logging off social media, and building your confidence game will help you to listen to your inner voice. Confidence blocks out fears, diminishes doubts, and builds strength. Confidence determines the winners from the losers. Why wouldn’t you want to be the most confident that you could possibly be? Pick adjectives that describe your most confident self and live them every day. For example, mine is: “I am confidently charging after my courageous goal with fearlessness and focus.” Live it, learn it, breathe it, and go after it. Don’t let your mind limit your potential.

4.) Work on your fueling game.

Energy in = Energy out. If you are always pushing on the gas pedal, eventually you will reach empty. Empty is filled with burnout, pressure, stress, chaos, and heartache. Full is filled with excitement, eagerness, electricity, and excellence. Full potential requires a full tank. Learn how to be self-aware of your energy tank. Protect your energy. Fuel your body. Don’t pursue your packed day if you didn’t eat properly or hydrate appropriately. Find the low hanging fruit in your metabolic state and work on optimizing them. Powders and gels, lab work and supplements, takeout and food prep, hydration and satisfaction, it takes a lot of commitment but a well-fueled body is an injury-free body.

5.) Rest and Reset.

Resting is perhaps the most essential building block in reaching peak performance. You can’t be at the top all of the time. You do require rest to regenerate. Do you always expect more out of yourself but find it difficult to reach that next step? Are you facing the repeated injury cycle or limiting your immune system’s strength? Do you feel burnout and status quo rather than alive and well? It’s time to hit the brakes and check out. Turn off the blue screens and notifications – it’s great! I promise! Go for a walk at sunset. Take a short trip away from your every day environment. Plan a mini escape with no commitments and no agendas. In a world filled with constant chatter, immediate notifications, and self-absorbing technology, it’s important for the human body to rest and regenerate properly for peak performance – whether this is in professional pursuits, personal passions, or social adventures. Rest to become your best.

Peak performance is a puzzle, but it’s up to you to find the perfect fit. Don’t leave out the one missing piece if you expect to unlock the next level of unlimited potential.