The secret of peak performers

If you are to read one book this year, I would suggest it is the new Tim Ferriss book “Tools of Titans”, out on 6 December this year. I read the first chapter which Tim sent and I can’t wait for the book to be published.

I loved the quotes above. We are a product of our beliefs. Our believed determine our reality and yet most of our beliefs are picked up unintentionally. We are not aware of most of our beliefs. They are our often invisible masters. That is why, being able to uncover the hidden beliefs, particularly those the limit us, is a rare gift. One way of shining light on the hidden beliefs, is to pay attention on the things that bother me and ask ourselves “What do I need to belief for this to be true?” or “How is this serving me?” Tim Ferriss also suggests to ask yourself why is something frustrating/insulting and to check whether you came to that conclusion by thinking it through or through unconscious beliefs that you picked up. The key difference between people who are able to achieve their goals and those who don’t is the ability to challenge their limiting beliefs and replace them with empowering ones.

The second quote is particularly relevant for women, at least most of the women I know. All through my life I have been focusing on improving myself, addressing my “areas of development” and neglecting my strengths, well because I already have them so I take this for granted. This culture is wrong and while in some cases people need to improve themselves, focusing and enhancing our strengths will lead to bigger wins faster (and it feels better most of the time).

I read just the sample chapter from Tim’s new book and I already got a lot out of it. There are two key actions for me - 1) evaluate and consciously select my beliefs, and 2) maximise my strengths.