Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success

He doesn’t expend time or energy on anything that is not critical to his mission. “In order to be a maximalist,” he says, “you have to be a minimalist.

the determining factor as to whether the 30 cadets within a squadron improved was the motivation of the least fit person in the group. If the least fit person was motivated to improve, then his enthusiasm spread and everyone improved. If, on the other hand, the least fit person was apathetic or, worse, negative, he dragged everyone down.

Joyner has designed not only his days but, really, his entire life around eliminating distractions and decisions “that don’t really matter.” In doing so, he reserves energy and willpower for the activities that are critically important to him. In other words, the secret to Joyner’s accomplishing so much, to being a “maximalist” in his field, is tha

While there is no single way to develop grit, the trait is often accompanied by a strong sense of purpose. Especially when the going gets tough, gritty people draw upon a greater cause for inspiration and stick-to-itiveness.

The more decisions you make automatic, the more energy you’ll have for the work you deem important. The most essential part about adopting the minimalist-to-be-a-maximalist lifestyle, then, is figuring out what really matters to you—what is actually worth expending energy on—and devoting minimal energy to everything else.

common process across almost all great intellectual and creative performers, regardless of their field: 1.Immersion: total engagement in their work with deep, unremitting focus 2.Incubation: a period of rest and recovery when they are not at all thinking about their work 3.Insight: the occurrence of “aha” or “eureka” moments—the emergence of new id

with each additional sleep cycle we receive another pulse of powerful anabolic hormones. In other words, you can get more of the same hormones that countless athletes have risked their health, reputations, and careers for (by injecting synthetic steroids, aka doping) simply by sleeping for a few additional hours.

What we are suggesting, however, is that for the capabilities you wish to grow—whether they be financial modeling, portrait painting, distance running, or anything in between—you should regularly seek out just-manageable challenges: activities that take you out of your comfort zone and force you to push at the point of resistance for growth.

If we stick at learning something for long enough, what was once a formidable System 2 challenge becomes a simple System 1 task.