Mastery is an Infinite Game with performance psychologist Mike Gervais
Jul 23, 2024
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In this engaging discussion, high-performance psychologist Mike Gervais shares his insights on achieving mastery without succumbing to burnout. He highlights how focusing on purpose over mere outcomes fosters sustainable excellence. Mike shares intriguing stories, including a samurai sword maker's journey, illustrating the pitfalls of conventional success metrics. He emphasizes the importance of developing a purpose-based identity and mental resilience, empowering individuals to navigate confidence, trauma, and the pressures of high performance.
Mastery involves a deep, artistic journey focusing on continuous growth and self-improvement.
Having a clear purpose beyond immediate goals enhances self-identity and satisfaction.
Deep dives
Mastering Performance Over High Performance
Michael Gervais emphasizes the distinction between high performance and mastery. High performance focuses on executing on demand, while mastery involves a deeper, organic journey with an artistic expression. People committed to mastery understand the importance of continuous growth and self-improvement, shifting the focus from immediate results to a long-term commitment to excellence.
The Importance of Purpose and Identity
Having a clear purpose beyond immediate performance goals can significantly impact one's self-identity and level of satisfaction. Purpose-driven individuals tend to focus on contributing to something meaningful rather than seeking validation solely through achievements. By reframing challenges as opportunities and understanding the deeper reasons behind one's actions, individuals can shift from a performance-based identity to one aligned with a greater purpose.
Embracing Recovery and Daily Practices
Recovery plays a crucial role in maintaining peak performance. Establishing a thoughtful daily recovery program, which includes physical and mental practices to promote relaxation and resilience, can help dissolve performance-based identity and align individuals with their purpose. By creating space through positive self-talk, individuals can navigate challenges with a calmer, more focused mindset.
Optimizing Ideal Performance Mindset
Recognizing and cultivating an ideal performance mindset can enhance one's ability to excel in high-pressure situations. Understanding one's optimal mental and emotional state before a performance and implementing a series of daily rituals to support that state can lead to more consistent and successful outcomes. By reframing nerves as excitement and aligning thoughts with opportunities, individuals can harness their inner resources for optimal performance.
Fierce competition can lead to burnout. How do we train ourselves to maintain excellence without giving in to the pressure to perform?
High-performance psychologist Mike Gervais has a solution. He calls it mastery. Mike's approach to mastering our thoughts and emotions has helped Olympians win gold medals, the Seattle Seahawks win the Superbowl, and CEOs take their companies to the next level.
Mike and I sat down to discuss the psychological tools to fine-tune our inner voices and why focusing on purpose instead of outcome empowers us to accomplish difficult things.
This...is A Bit of Optimism.
To learn more about Mike's work, check out his podcast: