Is Peak Performance Achievable in Day-to-Day Life?

The Olympics are starting today. The games, the competition, and the athletic feats we’ll witness over the next few weeks always make me feel inspired to do better, to be better. They make me think about peak performance: how to harness the best of myself within a given moment and how to push beyond that to pull peak performance into my every day.

When I say peak performance out loud, it seems like one of those terms that isn’t achievable. Peak by definition is the fringe of capability. In my day-to-day, I think about how hard it is to define peak vs. near peak performance. But the Olympics – and sports in general – deliver those moments.

But Day-to-Day is Where We Live

Thinking about this and applying it to day-to-day life – parenting, working, husbanding, friending, all the stuff – drives me back to my approach to goals and seeing them as a continuous journey , one that can take me to new peaks along the way rather than trying to harness particular peak performance moments.

Unlike sports, there is not a defined world record for cleaning up my 3-year-old’s poop, cleaning up the kitchen, or delivering a benchmark report. The contrast to measure daily performance is less defined and as a former athlete, I think that is something I often miss. I want my effort to be celebrated, and that’s when I start to zoom out of day-to-day to think about the compilation of those activities.

The athletes competing in the Olympics certainly didn’t roll out of bed and win a gold medal. They put together a lifetime of work to achieve peak performance in a world-stage moment. Similarly, caring for my 3-year-old, maintaining a clean space for my family to gather for meals, and striving to create better, more engaging products at work over the course of weeks, months, and years is where the results of labor add up to reveal progress towards peak performance.

A Body of Work, Goals, and Fear

A year and a half ago, I wrote about one approach I’m taking to tap into peak performance by changing my sleep patterns . There is a lot of research to show that sleep is our superpower for healing, health, performance, longevity, concentration – the everything-magic-potion that we’ve had all along. In Why We Sleep , Matthew Walker, PhD, delivers a compelling, data-backed pitch for the power of sleep. I couldn’t recommend this book highly enough, especially for people like me that adhere to a sleep-when-I-die mantra. Spoiler alert, the book makes it real clear that that statement is true, and it’ll happen way sooner than it should.

At the time, my goal was to change from going to bed after midnight to getting up before dawn. I was completing my MBA and that commitment, on top of work and parenting, didn’t leave me with much time. This change was aimed at leaving me with even less time because I wanted to move away from 5 hours of sleep a night to achieve 7 or 8 hours each night.

Going into this change, I was holding onto a lot of fear. Fear that I would let something slip: my schoolwork, deadlines at work, or my parenting responsibilities. Fear can be a painful hindrance, but it can also be an incredible catalyst. I embraced my fear of failure and dove into reshaping who I was in that moment by changing from a night owl to an early bird .

Developing patterns, building habits, driving consistency

I failed often at first but held tight to the approach by embracing the journey, accepting that it would have ups and downs, especially as I worked to form this new schedule built around unfamiliar habits.

I thought back to advice I’ve latched onto over the years, like this from James Clear’s Atomic Habits:

“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity." – James Clear, Atomic Habits

How did I do it?

A ten-minute yoga workout five days a week was my first milestone. It was short enough that I could get it done consistently, regardless of how much work I had. It’s only ten minutes, and so often I’d found that I was wasting ten minutes in a day staring at a computer screen and daydreaming.

Over the course of weeks, I added in longer yoga sessions and meditation. These changes didn’t set me back on things I needed to get done, and I actually found that I was more focused and productive during the day.

Over the course of months, I added in weight training and daily writing and, again, found that my focus during the day improved along with my overall production.

Over the course of a year, I took that ten minutes up to sixty-plus. I’m sleeping better, more energetic throughout the day, able to focus to the level of finding flow with ease (most of the time) and feel better than I have in years.

It’s so easy to get lost in the day-to-day, making it nearly impossible to see progress.

Recognize Progress and Celebrate It

Peak performance is less a destination and more a journey marked by consistent effort and small, achievable steps. It's about finding balance between the exhilarating highs of achievement and the humbling lows of setbacks. By focusing on building strong foundations through daily habits, we can steadily progress towards our goals. Remember, it’s not about replicating Olympic glory in our everyday lives, but about finding our own personal gold in the ordinary moments.

How have you thought about achieving peak performance in your personal and professional life? Share your strategies for finding that sweet spot between ambition and well-being in the comments!

Thank you for reading this far. If you did read this far, please consider recommending this newsletter to someone you think would appreciate it like you do.

Thanks again and have a wonderful Olympic-enjoying weekend!

Gerry