and for the author Brendon Burchard the most interesting among them is; What makes someone a high performer?

Well certainly there are factors like IQ and simply a difference in the computational power of the brain between individuals,

but apart from those factors that are mostly out of our reach to influence, what other factors contribute to these differences in performance and productivity.

Well first we need to understand that a large portion of what position you're in and how effective you are, is the product of how you operated so far in your life,

and what you did so far is largely controlled by the patterns by which you willingly or most of the time unwillingly operate upon.

These patterns or habits, control most of your day, and if you do the arithmetic you will agree that they largely control your life.

I mean it's obvious if you think about the past few weeks, I guarantee that you will find some of these patterns, whether you did them on purpose or you developed them accidentally.

So if we put aside IQ, personality traits and other constans, the next logical place to study is the habits of these high performers.

And the first idea or habit, is to have clarity.

A clearly defined and coherent purpose, some kind of goal, and also the steps needed to reach that particular goal.

And really that is not easy at all,

I mean it's difficult to have a clear picture in your mind of where you want to be, what kind of person you want to become, and what kind of relationships you want to forge.

But it's one of the most rewarding habit you can develop,

because if you clearly know what you wish for and you believe in it,

then you are already halfway there, ideas will start to pop up and obstacles start to vanish.

And, you probably associate CEOs with high mental fitness and not so much physical.

And that is simply not the case.

High Performers and CEO's have high physical energy throughout the day.

Also even if you only want to be mentally sharp, as famed psychologist Jordan Peterson said,

exercise is one of the best things you can do to prevent your IQ from decreasing as you age,

because naturally it starts to decrease once you pass your mid 20ties,

so to counter this, make sure your exercise on a daily basis.

Also Neuroscientists have also found that regular exercise increases the production of new neurons and synapses in the areas of your brain that are related to learning and memory.

Exercise also improves mood and lowers cortisol which in turn reduces stress, all of which adds up to greatly enhanced performance.

Third you need to raise necessity to your work.

It's is simply not enough to just want to win or accomplish a goal.

You need to attach something meaning to your work.

For example if you want to learn Artificial Intelligence, instead of just learning it because it is interesting and stimulating to your own brain, you should also think about the different ways it could affect the world.

Maybe it can be used to solve poverty, test ideas like the universal basic income, research new medications and cures and so on.

This way you are more likely to perform exceptionally in your field, because the world, literally depends on you.

Next It's terrible to always feel busy and run down, yet still not getting enough done.

This is a clear sign that there's an imbalance between the energy you're spending and the results you're getting.

This brings us to the fourth habit of high performance: increasing productivity, which you can do by learning how to separate the important work from the unimportant.

This way, you only spend energy on the tasks that really matter.

A useful principle to use here is the Pareto Principle also known as the 80/20 rule, and it says that 80% of results come from only 20% of the work.

So your job is to identify and focus on those 20% that will give you the biggest results.

It's common for underperformers to pay a lot of attention to small tasks that make them feel productive in the short term but add up to very little in the long run.

One of the main contender here is email,.

This is because the simple act of answering an email can give you a reassuring feeling of accomplishment and little boost of dopamine, even though it's likely distracting you from the real important work.

And fifth High performers aren't afraid to take risks and are open about their ambitions.

And this is one of the habits, I still struggle with, that is being not so comfortable with taking risks.

For high performers, risk-taking isn't unusual at all.

Again, attitudes like these aren't inherent personality traits; they're characteristics that high-performing individuals have practiced over time.

They recognize that taking bold action involves a higher risk of failing, but they learned how to confront those fears and take action.

Making a risky move is like any other skill – it gets easier the more you do it, so all you need to do is start taking those leaps.

Most people will avoid this kind of fear, but being extraordinary and reaching your goals means learning how to face challenges.

It's all about having the right perspective, and rather than complaining about life being difficult, you should see each new challenge as an opportunity to grow.