Light Up Your Performance

My Vacation in Costa Rica last week was absolutely amazing, filled with great friends, great food and great adventure. And, to top it off, I was part of the most amazing training program over the weekend in New York City, where I was absolutely inspired to come back and continue to provide services for you to maximize your performance and get what you want out of life!
On that note, the pointer I have today is on the topic of purpose.  So often when I speak with athletes, they don't really know their purpose.  They're going through the motions just because that's what they do and what they've always done.  They don't have that burning desire, that fire that moves mountains, and they wonder why their performance becomes lackluster. 
Your purpose is deeper than your goal.  While your goal describes the ‘what’, what you might want to accomplish, your purpose defines the ‘why’, why you are doing what you are doing.  The what can be easy to define: What I want is to compete at the Olympics.  What I want is to get a scholarship in my sport. And so on. 

The why lies underneath the what, it’s at the source of all that you do and really is that fire that lights under your derriere and moves you to great heights.  My goal in today’s Peak Performance Pointer is to inspire you to do some soul searching so that you can discover your why and uncover your purpose.
The why is what moved Dr. Martin Luther King to go after his ‘what’ of achieving equality amongst all humans.  His why was so eloquently displayed in his moving ‘I have a dream’ speech (if you haven’t read this speech, I urge you to do so by clicking here).

Having only your 'what' isn’t enough to truly move you towards your maximum potential. When you add your 'why', your reason for performing becomes so much stronger, powerful and inspiring that you can move mountains.

I know this from my own experience.  When I was competing, my what was always to compete at the Olympics.  I would train hard every day to achieve my goal, or at least I thought I did.  But, truthfully there were practices when I didn’t really want to be there, there were times when I wanted to give up, there were even times when I quit for a week. And there were so many times that I beat myself up for not being perfect (for more info on perfectionism, look at my post from Wednesday March 14, 2012).

You see when I was only focused on the what, I was completely focused on me. The result being that it put more pressure on my shoulders, and it caused me to take my performance way to seriously and it also made me feel all alone, like winning or losing, passing or failing was all on me.
But the moment I determined my why: that my deeper reason for competing was to gain credibility and experience so that I could inspire others to achieve their dreams and to support them in maximizing their performance, my own performance soared.

 Now my journey wasn’t just for me, it was a gift for everyone.   My failures would support others who were overcoming obstacles and my triumphs would be proof that big dreams are possible. And when I was having a bad day, and wanting to quit, I would think of everyone who was on this journey with me and I would do it for them as much as for me.  My purpose gave me that extra fire to keep in action.  And it’s your consistent action towards your dream that will give you the results you want.

So take a moment today, away from the hustle and bustle of life, grab your journal or a piece of paper, and start brainstorming around these questions:

1. What makes your heart soar?
2. What difference do you want to make on this earth?
3. How does your sport and what you do allow you be a difference maker?

Here’s to you discovering your purpose and using that fire to light up your performance!

Kara

www.performancetolife.com