Controlling your enviroment: We become the
company we keep. We are the products of our
environment, so what we think about and surround
ourselves with matters. Carefully select what you
read, what you do and the people you spend time
with by the quality of the content that lies
within them. Act on all your learning--apply it,
and test it. When we repeat something of quality
over and over, it becomes a part of our
subconscious, and our actions naturally reveal
what has been learned. Next time you read
something with strong value, brainwash yourself
with the content. When it affects your actions,
performance is enhanced.

Work ethic builds personalities: If a person
makes something look really easy, you can bet
there was a great deal of work behind that person'
s performance. When you immerse yourself in your
work and obtain deeper knowledge of your business,
it builds excitement and confidence, which
impact your performance.
It's not popular to use the word work as one of
the keys to peak performance. Every day, we're
exposed to countless products that promote
instant gratification--lose weight in a day, get
rich in a week, grow hair in an hour.

We want everything we desire to be easy, fast and
immediate. When you work hard for something, you
appreciate the earned return on effort. When you
start to stretch and struggle to reach greater
heights, it helps you build a strong foundation.
If you feel discouraged, remember this proverb: "
The work will teach you how to do it."

Pushing past your fears, developing courage: Fear
stops us from achieving peak performance because
it keeps us from trying new things that would
advance our goals. We don't want to fail, we don'
t want to look foolish in front of our peers, and
we don't want to take chances when we don't have
control over the outcomes. But that's when we can
grow most! When we attack our fears, we
ultimately diminish them. Belief in our abilities
and actions is what gets us past our fears. As
Mark Twain said, "Courage is resistance to fear,
mastery of fear--not absence of fear."

Positive thinking with the right attitude: Our
bodies will only follow what our minds direct.
When we approach a project, a sales call or any
other situation where we want to improve our
performance, our attitude and mind-set will
determine the outcome more than any other factor.
To get into the right mind-set, start by
following the first three steps mentioned earlier.