Attributes, rather than skills, are key drivers of optimal performance.
Decisiveness is an attribute crucial for efficient decision-making and acting in uncertain environments.
Humility plays a significant role in optimal performance, allowing individuals to recognize their capabilities while remaining open to learning and growth.
Deep dives
The Importance of Attributes for Optimal Performance
The podcast explores the concept that attributes, rather than skills, are key drivers of optimal performance. The speaker discusses the difference between skills and attributes, emphasizing that attributes cannot be taught but can be developed. He highlights the importance of both optimal and peak performance, explaining that optimal performance focuses on doing the best one can in the moment, while peak performance is the highest level of performance achievable but is not sustainable. The speaker then delves into the various attributes that contribute to optimal performance, including grit, mental acuity, drive, leadership, and team ability. He explores the role of attributes like perseverance, adaptability, and resilience in grit, and discusses the importance of mental acuity attributes such as situation awareness, compartmentalization, task switching, and learnability. He also examines the significance of attributes like self-efficacy, discipline, open-mindedness, cunning, and humility. The speaker concludes by acknowledging that everyone possesses these attributes to varying degrees, and understanding one's own attributes can help optimize performance.
Recognizing the Importance of Decisiveness
The podcast emphasizes the significance of decisiveness as an attribute for optimal performance. The speaker distinguishes between the ability to make a good decision and being decisive, highlighting that decisiveness focuses on speed and efficiency in making and acting upon decisions. He explains that decisiveness is an external expression of mental acuity attributes like situation awareness, compartmentalization, task switching, and learnability. The speaker emphasizes the importance of being able to make decisions even in uncertain environments and outlines the value of decisiveness in high-performing teams. He further underscores that while decisiveness is crucial, it's essential to remain open to adjusting decisions as needed based on new information or insights.
Understanding the Role of Humility in Optimal Performance
The podcast explores the role of humility as an attribute for optimal performance, challenging the notion that seals and high achievers are always characterized by swagger and arrogance. The speaker explains that the best seals often possess humility and are unassuming. He highlights that seals recognize the need for humility due to the challenging and humbling environments in which they operate, such as the ocean and combat zones. The speaker clarifies that humility is not about weakness, but rather a characteristic that allows individuals to recognize their capabilities while remaining open to learning and growth. He emphasizes the importance of finding the balance between confidence and arrogance, indicating that humility can contribute to individual and team success.
Unlocking the Power of Attributes for Success
The podcast episode explores the concept of attributes and their role in achieving success. The speaker discusses the distinction between skills and attributes, emphasizing that attributes cannot be taught but can be developed through deliberate exposure to challenging environments. The episode highlights the need for self-reflection and honest introspection to determine one's own attributes. The speaker suggests conducting an autopsy of past experiences in challenging and stressful situations to assess one's performance, as well as seeking input from loved ones or teammates. He also explains that people possess a unique combination of attributes, and understanding one's own attributes can help identify areas for growth and improvement. The episode concludes by noting that attributes are not inherently good or bad, but rather their effectiveness depends on individual circumstances and environments.
Recognizing the Value of Optimal Performance
The podcast episode discusses the importance of striving for optimal performance rather than solely focusing on peak performance. The speaker explains that optimal performance involves doing the best one can in the present moment, regardless of whether it aligns with an ideal peak performance state. He highlights that optimal performance allows for flexibility and modulation of energy depending on the context, in contrast to the scheduled planning required for peak performance. The episode emphasizes that optimal performance encompasses a broader perspective and allows individuals to adapt and excel in various situations. The speaker suggests viewing performance as a holistic and dynamic process, rather than solely fixating on achieving peak performance.
Why do some people who look can’t-miss high-achievers on paper end up floundering in life, while those who can seem like underdogs end up flourishing?
When my guest noticed this phenomenon while being involved in the selection process of veteran SEALs for a specialized command, it led him to the discovery that beneath more obvious skills are hidden drivers of performance, which he calls attributes. His name is Rich Diviney, and he’s a retired Navy SEAL commander and the author of The Attributes: 25 Hidden Drivers of Optimal Performance. Today on the show, Rich discusses the difference between skills and attributes and how the latter can’t be taught, but can be developed. We then talk about the difference between peak and optimal performance, before turning to the attributes which drive the latter. We get into a discussion of the components of grit, the difference between discipline and self-discipline, why you should become something of a humble narcissist, and much more. We end our conversation with how to figure out the attributes you are and aren’t strong in, and which you need for getting where you want to go.