Welcome performers. Since you’re following this blog after the initial post, I know you’re a performer of some variety. It could be athletics, business, art, politics or many other activities where you are judged on the basis of performance. However, as I mentioned in the initial post this blog is only for a subset of performers — those who are truly interested in an approach to their craft resulting in sustainable excellence. Let’s answer a few questions to see if you are in that group.
1) Do you understand that regardless of your field of expertise raw talent will not be sufficient to consistently excel at the highest levels of performance?
2) Are you willing to adopt structure and discipline to your approach to performance outside your traditional coaching and training? Do you understand that you will not achieve your ultimate potential as a performer unless you are willing to do this?
3) Do you realize that raw talent is merely “the price of admission” at the highest levels of any performance oriented activity?
If you answered these questions affirmatively, this blog is for you. You have probably been able to rely on your natural talent to this point in your career. You can be successful doing that to certain point because your natural talent was superior to those you were competing against. The greater your talent level, the longer you can survive and achieve success without developing skills to compliment your raw talent. But you will ultimately hit a wall when you rise to the level of competing against others who realize performance excellence is not simply about raw talent. I’ve worked with many elite performers who had their careers suddenly ended (and not by their own choosing) because they realized this hard truth too late in their careers. The world of performance ultimately renders judgments swiftly and coldly to those who rely solely on raw talent.
At the highest levels of performance, championships are won or lost, business promotions are received or denied, concerts are sold out or poorly attended and elections are won or lost not on the basis of natural ability alone. In this blog, we’ll be discussing the skills needed by performers to maximize and leverage their raw talent. Stay tuned!