The One Success Factor that separates the Best from the Rest (that you probably didn’t think of)

We live in a world where we over-glamorize the big and beautiful. Meaning that we often only look at the great achievements and performances thinking that we want to do the same.

What is often missing from that equation is the reality of how that #Performance was actually made possible. We forget the reality of hard mundane work and daily habits that are required to climb that mountain.

The truth is that the top spots are reserved for the top dogs, unfortunately.

And as much as we want to make sure there are enough slices of the cake for everyone, the very best pieces and the creamiest toppings are reserved for the ones who have this One factor in common.

Let’s use a simple example from the sports world. Take someone like Michael Jordan, the basketball superstar and one of the most famous athletes of all time (using him because everyone has at least heard his name).

He at the age of almost sixty would still beat pretty much everyone on the planet in a game of one on one. Well, give or take but here’s the point:

The reason for that is that his Baseline Performance is so strong and far up compared to the rest of the world. The space where he operates from, is extremely high compared to even your regular basketball player.

Michael Jordan is obviously an outlier in every sense and I’m not by any shape of the word here trying to inspire us to become the next MJ, but what we ALL can learn from top athletes is that a High Baseline and a strong Foundation are extremely important.

I recently interviewed Ruth Gotian, Ed.D., M.S. for her latest book " Success Factor" for High Achievers which covers this element in detail.

Listen to the whole interview on Spotify here:

Baseline factor in Real Life

Let’s also answer this question from a non-sports-related angle.

Think of having a robust and high baseline of health where your immune system operates from a solid foundation. What can that do to your day-to-day Energy levels? How about the sick days and the ability to recover?

Emotional #Resilience and the ability to Persevere have a baseline too of course.

How will you handle difficult situations from that space of high Emotional foundation?

#Mindset . A strong base for the mind where your thoughts arise, and you make decisions. Would a high mental baseline help you at work and in your personal Life?

How about your physical activity then??

Are you able to get up and run 10km at a good pace at any given moment or at any time of day? At 3 am in morning, if someone woke you up and said let’s go running, could you do 10km without hesitation?

That is what I mean by a high baseline in different life circumstances.

Previously I wrote about the three ways we can practice and lift this baseline higher; you can read that article here .

I also shot a quick 91-second video about this idea that you can watch here .

The fact is that lifting this baseline and doing the work required for it is the least sexy or glamorous part of the puzzle. We want to get to the top as quickly as possible; I get that…

But here are two of the biggest reasons Why the robust and high baseline matters so much in the long game.

2 other reasons for a high Baseline

First, by working the path up every single step of the way, any Success that we ever achieve will be easily repeated since we know exactly how we got up to that mountain top.

Compared to an idea that you took a helicopter to the snow line and only walked up the last part to the summit…? That would be a hack and a shortcut that has obvious downsides to it.

Next time you want to climb up your mountain, you would get lost and have no idea what to do from the start as you never did the groundwork nor even got to base camp on your own!

The Idea here is to bring that base camp as high as possible!

The Second fundamental benefit of a high baseline is the fact that our highs get higher, but so do the lows.

Think about it. When you operate from a space of a high baseline, you never really sink as deep as a regular performer would do.

Even on your lowest days you still Perform above the highs of a low performer!

This is only possible thanks to that high baseline that has been achieved over the course of Mundane daily pursuits and practice hours.

A simple handwritten graph to illustrate this point!

What are your daily actions to push and pull that baseline higher?

How can we simultaneously make it a strong and robust foundation that won’t fall in the first storm?

I’m Rooting for your Success and the continuous pursuit of your Potential!

Tuomo

PS. If you feel a need for robust support, do reach out to me here on LinkedIn Today!