ELITE

A Modern Success Guide to Purpose and Peak Performance

Dr. Brad Bellard

• Publisher: Purposely Created Publishing Group
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781949134933
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Personal Success

In the United States, the current model of success is defined primarily by a high level of achievement in our careers. For many of us, this success comes at the cost of two things: (1) poor performance in our personal lives and (2) a lack of fulfillment. Unfortunately, the busier we become, the more we neglect our overall performance and fulfillment that are so critical to attaining success. ELITE: A Modern Success Guide to Purpose and Peak Performance explains to readers that this model actually compromises success and leads to decreased productivity, unhappiness, and a likelihood that the desired success will never actually manifest.

In ELITE, readers will find that the key to the success they desire is in maximizing their performance both professionally and personally. ELITE delivers the steps necessary to design a strategic game plan for professionals to create extraordinary results, execute peak performance, and experience success and fulfillment simultaneously.

1

Core Formula

Anything that is going to be built must start with a foundation. A foundation is the most important part of a structure. It provides the strength, support, and sturdiness with which what is built on top will reliably stand. With the appropriate foundation, a structure can stand strong without fear of breaking down despite whatever outside forces or challenges it may face. Take any structure—house, building, roads, bridges, vehicles, and even less tangible structures such as companies—they all start with a foundation, and the more firm and rooted the foundation, the longer they last, the more challenges they can withstand, and the more storms they can weather. Our lives are no different. We must have a firm foundation built upon principles such that when faced with challenges and adverse forces, it can withstand anything. But these firm and sturdy structures aren’t built to be able to withstand strong outside forces by mere chance. Large masterpieces and iconic structures like the Golden Gate Bridge or the Eiffel Tower never just happen by chance. It happened by intention! Someone had a vision of what they wanted to create. They developed purpose-driven plans, then took action to make what they envisioned come to reality. And not only did that vision come to reality, it was built on a firm foundation, and therefore we stand in awe of its greatness and ability to last and stand strong. Again, our lives are no different! An awesome masterpiece life is very possible! That masterpiece life, a life of purpose and peak performance that is able to withstand any outside force and still stand strong, is possible. But just like those structures, a life of peak performance won’t happen by chance. The ONLY way it will happen is by intention, purpose-driven decisions, and consistent effort. It starts with a firm foundation. This chapter explains how to set the firm foundation needed to begin practicing purpose and peak performance, and it starts with the core formula.

CORE FORMULA: RESULTS = MY ACTIONS + GOD’S INPUT

Have you ever felt like despite all the work you are doing, you still aren’t achieving the results you want? Have you ever felt like the weight of the world is on your shoulders? Like you are carrying so much (job, career, kids, marriage, etc.) that it literally feels like it’s physically weighing you down? Have you ever felt frustrated and stressed out because you are trying to juggle so much on your own that you just wish you could catch a break before you literally breakdown? Have you ever felt like you are working so hard, but not really getting anywhere? Well, one of the first foundational principles that must be understood is that we are only in control of a certain portion of our lives, or better said, we do not control 100% of the outcomes and results in our lives—contrary to what you may think. This concept is very difficult for many of us driven professionals to understand and accept. It was difficult for me to come to grips with the fact that I am not in complete control of my life. In the fast-paced, results-based professional world (i.e. Corporate America), the “Get it done!” mentality is engrained in the culture, so when I bring up this idea, many people are like “What?” For anyone who loves to be in control (control freaks like myself) and feels more reassured and comfortable knowing “I’m in control,” this can really be a struggle. I’d heard many clichés such as “If it is to be, it’s up to me” and “I am the creator of my own destiny,” and so forth and so on. And these phrases are not false, but they are not 100% true. You’ve got to add the words “…if that’s what God wants” to each of these frequently used self-help mantras. I, for the longest, thought the equation was “My results = My actions,” but this was a large part of the frustration, stress, average results, and lack of fulfillment in my life years ago. I tried carrying the weight of everything on my shoulders. I carried the weight of being successful in business, being the bread-winner, being a successful doctor, and the weight of so many other things that I was completely weighed down, unproductive, and unhappy. But, thanks to a mentor and friend, I was told to go to God and just let him have his part of my life, to surrender control and allow him to take care of his part of the equation. This, though difficult to do, eventually and drastically changed my perspective on everything I was trying so hard to control. More importantly, it drastically transformed my entire life! I concluded a few things from the core formula:

(1) There is only one part of this formula that I can control— my actions and decisions. Nothing more, nothing less. (2) I cannot control God’s input on the results and outcomes in my life. Therefore, I must simply focus on making sure I’m doing all I can do to maximize my actions and decisions and let God handle the rest. (3) I, no matter what, have personal responsibility for any and everything that happens in my life, because no matter what my actions are within the formula (even if I do nothing), it has an influence on the end result! As a result of coming to these conclusions, several amazing transformations happened. The first was that my stress level decreased, knowing the weight wasn’t all on me! What a relief and huge weight off of my shoulders! What was interesting about coming to this conclusion was that my work ethic at the time didn’t change, but I was getting better results. I began seeing improvement in my medical practice and direct sales business. I realized I was showing up different, less stressed and more optimistic, which had a hugely positive impact on my environment and productivity. It also made me much more aware and responsible for my actions and decisions because I knew those same actions and decisions would undoubtedly influence my results. This change also had a major positive effect on my spiritual life. I now relied more on God and his infinite ability rather than my own, knowing he is much more capable, of course.

When I think about how many of us want to control everything in our lives and try to put it all on our shoulders with no help, I think about being in the gym, working out alone. I want you to imagine lifting weights, bench pressing, and trying to do all the lifting on your own. You try to force your growth, putting so much weight on the bar that you can barely lift it, and become frustrated because you are not getting the results you want. Now imagine someone spotting you and helping you lift the weight, not so much that you don’t do your part to get the weight up, but enough help so that you still grow and see results, without buckling from the pressure. I realized how much I was struggling on my own and when I put my pride aside and finally let God “spot me”, I was immediately able to get the weight up much better, without the fear of it falling on me, but holding on to enough that I could still grow through the process. The result? More tangible success. Question: Where can you use a solid and reliable “spot” in your life? Where in your life are you trying to lift it all on your own and about to buckle under the pressure? Don’t forget the core formula: Results = My actions + God’s input. Remember, all we can control, as it comes to the results in our lives, is our actions and decisions. Since that is all we can control, then that is what we will primarily focus on for the rest of this book. God’s got his part of the formula covered. We cannot control that. But let’s set our attention to what we can control.

BREAKING DOWN DECISION-MAKING

Our actions, the portion of the equation that we can control and has the most direct effect on our results, are functions of our decisions. Any decision we make is directly associated with its expected action. To illustrate this, let’s use a very simple example of dinner plans:

• Decision: It’s dinner time and I decide to have pizza for dinner.

• Action: I go online to find the closest pizza restaurant and call to place a delivery order.

• Result: Pizza is delivered and then devoured for dinner.

Decision → Action → Result. Our decisions directly influence our results. Therefore, if you make different decisions, you get different results. This also means if you make better decisions, you get better results.

We are constantly making decisions—day-by-day, hour-by-hour, and minute-by-minute. Therefore, if we are constantly making decisions, and these decisions directly influence our results, then the goal we should have for our lives is to become the best decision-makers we can be to influence the results we ultimately desire. Peak performance, both professionally and personally, requires being a great decision-maker for your life.

How then, does the decision-making process work? Decisions are functions of two things, our “beliefs” and our “blue-print.” Any decision we make, we take into account both what we believe (our “beliefs”) and the knowledge we currently have (our “blueprint”). For example, I decide to call Pizza Company #1 to order the pizza because I believe they are the best value (belief) and because they are the closest pizza restaurant, that I’m aware of, that delivers in the area (blueprint). But let’s say I was made aware of another pizza restaurant nearby, Pizza Company #2, which also delivers (new knowledge, i.e. blueprint) and it tastes better. Now, I believe the new pizza place has the best value around (belief), so when it’s time to order pizza again, I’ll decide to order from pizza company #2. Our minds deal with all decisions the same way, whether it concerns something as simple as deciding what to eat or as important as deciding to make a career change. For example, if you don’t enjoy your current job and you really want to go after your passion of starting a food truck, but your belief is that you’ll likely fail because someone you know failed at something similar, then you will likely decide not to start the food truck…even if you have a lot of knowledge about food and cooking. With that said, both the belief and blueprint influence the decisions we make. But, our belief influences the decisions we make to a much greater degree than our blue-print. We will discuss this more in depth shortly. But in order to practice peak performance professionally or personally, we must be the best possible decision makers for our lives and intentionally work on our beliefs and blueprints (i.e. reading, learning, and being open to experience and learn more and new things).

THREE PRINCIPLES FOR GREAT DECISION-MAKING

There are three key principles that elite-level performers understand and apply in order to make the decisions that lead to extraordinary results:

1) Seek help/coaching/mentoring/partnering.

This is essential and imperative in making the best decisions for your life. Other people have been where you are and have done what you are trying to do. They’ve already taken the road you are currently looking to take. Imagine going on a road trip and you know where you want to go to, but you’ve never traveled there before. You may have a map to assist you in getting there. However, you don’t know where the gas stations are to refuel, where the speed traps are, the construction and detours. You don’t know alternate routes of getting there if something unexpected happens on the road. However, imagine if you knew someone who happened to have taken that trip. They know where the potholes, construction, and speed traps are. They know where to refuel. They have reached the destination you seek. Therefore, you should seek their knowledge, wisdom, and expertise. Not to do so is foolish! Look at anyone with any significant results in their lives, albeit health, wealth, business, speaking, or otherwise. They received counsel, coaching, or mentorship from someone. Getting help does several things: (1) It increases productivity by minimizing mistakes and (2) increases efficiency by decreasing the time it takes to succeed. Two people working toward one task will always work faster and more efficiently than one person working on a task. (3) Accountability to take action. When in the company of others, you are more likely to take action toward your goals instead of procrastinating or making excuses. (4) Encouragement, motivation and support during the journey. During the times when the road gets bumpy and you want to quit, receiving encouragement and borrowing someone else’s belief is always a great help. (5) Perspective to see the things that you can’t. Too often we miss things because it is hard to see the full picture when you are in the frame. Someone else’s ability to see the picture with you in it will provide clarity because they’ll see things you cannot. You’ll be able to avoid the same potholes they stepped in along the journey. Always seek help when you set a new goal or look to change or transform something in your life. As you start on your journey, the best way to find the appropriate help is to look for someone who has successfully accomplished what you are looking to achieve and then reach out to them.

2) Be teachable and coachable.

There are three areas of knowledge: 1) what we know, 2) what we don’t know, and 3) what we don’t know we don’t know. For example, I know how to do specific procedures in my clinic to improve the health of my patients. Giving someone an injection in their joint would be an example. This would obviously fall into the category of “what I know.” Second, there is “what I don’t know.” I know that I don’t know how to pilot an airplane. Then there are things in this world that I don’t even know that I don’t know. By far, the smallest area of knowledge is what we do know. That said, there’s a lot of knowledge we are completely unaware of, enough knowledge such that if we knew about it, could completely change the way we make decisions. Knowledge is power! Consider this. There was once a time when people smoked cigarettes and were clueless to the fact that it was a cause of cancer. Through research we gained the knowledge that it was literally killing people. This knowledge has been life changing, because without it, many more people would continue to engage in a habit that could lead to cancer. Also, something as simple as the act of handwashing in medicine was a massive discovery. Many people were dying from post-surgery infections prior to the discovery that bacteria was on our hands, and was playing a major role in the infections people suffered. The simple knowledge of the effectiveness of water and soap in killing bacteria ended up saving the lives of millions and has had a drastic effect on medicine ever since. I would consider this knowledge very powerful. Another way to think about it is that lack of knowledge is actually dangerous. Without the knowledge of cigarette’s connection to cancer and the importance of washing bacteria off of your hands, many more people would die as a result! But the first step in acquiring new knowledge and expanding your blueprint is being open and willing to learn new information. Therefore, in order to make the best decisions for your life you must be willing and open to learn new information and just as willing to learn new things about the knowledge you currently have. This is the definition of being teachable, and being teachable goes a long way to being a great decision maker. Otherwise, you run the risk of lacking knowledge that could completely change the way you make a decision, and the results in your life.

For example, while in medical school I was on a radiology rotation, and the attending doctor who ran this rotation began explaining on day one that he was financially independent, saying the only reason he came to the hospital to teach us was because he enjoyed it, not because he needed the money. He then proceeded to tell us that if we wanted to learn the things he learned to become financially independent, we needed to read several books that he’d read, and he gave us the titles. I was 26 years old at the time and had zero financial education, not even sure how to make a budget. I was horrible with money. If I had it, I spent it. During that month rotation, I read the books he recommended. As a result, my life from then on was drastically changed with the knowledge I’d acquired from a three-minute discussion during a radiology rotation. I’d learned things I had no clue about—principles as simple as making a budget, living below my means, and saving money. Being teachable is essential for peak performance. Without it, you’ll miss the lessons needed to learn to excel to a new level in your goals. I would still have poor spending habits and be unaware of how to accumulate wealth had I not been open and willing to learn something new. But once you are open and willing, you must consistently seek new knowledge. Once you learn something about a topic, reading it once is not good enough to reinforce the memory of it in your brain or your ability to put it into practice. You must then continue to learn. You must be consistent with learning. Learning is not a one-time activity, it is a lifetime pursuit, particularly if you want to achieve higher levels of success and fulfillment in your life. Reading personal finance books during medical school was a phenomenal start, but it ultimately led me to read more and learn more so that I could become a great money manager. Because of the continued learning, I was able to eliminate more than $150,000 of school debt in less than six years and accumulate wealth at the same time.

The other characteristic of being a great decision-maker is being coachable. I define coachability as the willingness to change or adjust a certain practice or way of life in order to achieve a certain goal. We’ve already discussed the idea of receiving help from someone who is qualified. However, being coachable means listening and putting into action their advice, coaching, and direction. It requires you to change some ...

Table of contents

• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1
• Core Formula
• 2
• Manifestation Mindset
• 3
• Clear Purpose
• 4
• Defined Goals
• 5
• Morning Habit
• 6
• Consistency
• 7
• Resilience
• Epilogue
• About the Author