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.