Photo by simonw92

“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well” – The Olympic Creed

The underlying emphasis in the above message seems to be based on a human being’s journey towards overcoming one’s own limitations and achieving personal peak performance – in a way, somehow transcending oneself. Watching the Olympics over the last few days has brought to fore the ability of certain individuals to do this with uncanny consistency. While Michael Phelps, Tiger Woods, and Roger Federer are great recent examples of this in sports, various individuals like Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, and Neil Armstrong have achieved this state at the very highest levels, in other fields as well.

In this post, I have attempted to capture what I believe are some of the most critical ingredients for achieving this level of peak performance in any type of profession or vocation we maybe engaged in.

Is it your calling?

For starters, is it a job or a career or your calling that you are pursuing? A detailed study of attitudes and general orientation towards work, done in 1997 by Dr. Amy Wrzesniewski, a professor of business at the New York University, showed workers broadly divided into three groups – those who saw their work as a job, those as a career, and those as their calling. The people in the first group are in employment because they really need the monthly paycheck and may be willing to move to another organization for higher salary. The second group is focused on building a career – for them it’s more about the position, growth, and the prestige. However, they may get disenchanted when the string of promotions stop. Finally, there is a small percentage of people engaged in what is their true calling – they are extremely passionate about what they do every day and work is like play for them. Being engaged in your true calling, I reckon, is an essential part of creating the conditions for peak performance to occur. Such an alignment with higher purpose results in staying committed to action and the process, without attachment to the result. After winning a record eight gold medals in Beijing, Michael Phelps said,”My goal is not personal records but it is to change the sport of swimming.” As Brad Kearns captures Tiger Woods’ purpose in his book, How Tiger does it, “the only thing I can do is to give back. If it works, it works”. Such commitment to inspiring others towards their sport or to giving back to community makes their focus on the game almost selfless. They are then more committed to higher goals and achieving genuine excellence than to chasing their personal glory. Such commitment to our calling can provide us the true inspiration to operate at a much higher level and away from the delimiting struggle around winning and losing. Also, when we are in sync with a higher purpose, the universe supports us in our journey in powerful ways – effectively raising our ability to transcend ourselves. As Patanjali, the great India sage who lived in the 6th century BC, said, “When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all of your thoughts break their bonds; your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be”.

The stillness within

The second big area that consistently comes up, for becoming ready for peak performance, is the ability to live in the present. All the peak performers, from sportsmen to artists to spiritual gurus, have the ability to shut out the rest of the world as well as their inner thoughts and concentrate single-mindedly on the task in front of them. The game is not fought at the physical level but at the mental level. As the commentators remarked about Phelps, “If anything, he just wouldn’t lose his concentration. It wasn’t just his power and speed that made this happen, it was sharp mental focus.” That’s how Pete Sampras and Federer consistently pulled off aces when they needed them the most. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “I try to strive on without fear of failure and without hope of success.” Similarly, such thoughtlessness is the key to hitting the bull’s eye in archery or to immaculately conducting those incredible gymnastics routines – the athletes have to be able to totally immerse themselves in the moment and not be ruminating over a previous miss or be excited about the potential win. As sports psychologist James Loehr describes in his book “Stress for Success”, the ideal performance state is “physically relaxed, mentally calm, fearless, energized, positive, happy, effortless, automatic, and confident.”

Character

And, finally, it’s the strength of their character. Consistent peak performers strive hard to build a strong character. They are highly self-aware and commit to living their core personal values in all aspects of their life. As Albert Einstein said, “Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.” A strong character provides them the inner strength to keep forging ahead as well as the courage to see their failures as mere stepping stones in their quest for fulfilling their purpose.

As one reads about these awe-inspiring individuals and reflects on the themes of their purpose, character, and ability to live in the moment, their accomplishments seem very much like an out-of-body, spiritual experience. Needless to add, I believe, among other factors, the path of personal mastery – of high level of self-awareness and living one’s purpose – which I have been writing about, seems an integral part of the journey towards transcending ourselves.