Your Elite Performance In Business and Family Life
“Elite performers are distinguished by the structuring of their learning process…You need to protect and optimize that practice, learning time…” – Dr. Brett Steenbarger, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, SUNY Medical University, and author of Enhancing Trader Performance.
The idea of being an “elite performer” catches the imagination. Having just witnessed the Olympics we are intrigued by these elite individuals whose structured optimize learning and practice helped them to beat the competition (by a mere one-hundredth of a second!), overcome personal limitations (like debilitating painful injuries), and win the gold. It was amazing and inspiring.
I was inspired at the Keller Williams Family Reunion last month by a panel of Mega-Producers. They sold anywhere from 170+ units to well over 300+ in the 2009 market! Mind blowing! Listening to them I learned they have precision systems that they have perfected and they continue to optimize their time.
Now this phenomenon is not limited to world class sports and real estate sales. These are merely metaphors of life. The question is what do you need to do to have the optimal experience of life?
Yesterday my son Jared asked me to go with him to preview a home. As we drove down the road together he noted how great it was that he has the opportunity to work with his dad. It is indeed one of the coolest of life experiences I have experienced from a dad’s perspective. Imagine having a great relationship with your father and being able to be around him every day in a positive life giving way. I didn’t have that with my dad. I wish I did. I can understand how working with family can be challenging, but for our family it has enriched our life experience exponentially.
However, in order for that to happen I had to put myself in a new learning environment. I had to figure out how I could be the professional minister and pastor that I spent 30 years developing and enjoying, and move into the realm of real estate (a huge leap by the way) to be with my wife and adult children.
I will admit that there was a kind of accidental unfolding of events (if you believe is such things) but I have had to be very intentional in structuring and optimizing my time and energy so that I could achieve that which I passionately desire; to be with the ones I love.
My wife (Jennifer), Jared and I were talking about how people prioritize, optimize, protect and manage their family life/time and we observed that how people actually spend their time is a indicator of what is most important in their life. We noted that many people simply have their priorities all mixed up. It is obvious to the observer why they are not happy. By the way, how do you prioritize your time? A brief analysis could be revealing
It all boils down to this one thing; if you want to have an optimal life experience, if you want to be a “mega” liver of life, then you need to structure, protect, optimize, and manage that which is most important to you.
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one (the elite performer) gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:24.
I love you – Bryan Martin
