What does being a high performer mean? Does it mean being a highly successful individual?
What does being a high performer mean? Does it mean being a highly successful individual? Or a person who sets and achieves every goal they set?
While these are basic qualities of a high performer, it doesn’t fully define them. Here I will discuss things high performers do to get ahead and enjoy winning lives.
A high performer is a person who identifies and understands their behaviors, skills, and personal traits.
And then uses this to achieve their personal, professional, and organizational goals. As a high performer I have grown accustomed to doing things my own way, not because I believe I’m a bad ass… no, it’s because of the roles, responsibilities, learning by trial and error and a life time of experiences.
We as high performers come up with solutions, improve our lives, and that of the people around us. Enough about who a high performer is, would you love to become one?
Here I am going to take a look at the things high performers do to stay ahead, and how you can emulate these traits! Sounds like fun huh? Let’s get it!
1 WE HAVE CLEAR-CUT GOALS
High performers know what we want and are ready to go for it! The first step to becoming successful is to identify your long-term and short-term goals and how you can turn these goals into actionable plans.
But it isn’t just about having goals; it is equally important that your goals are clearly defined! High performers don’t say, “I want to be rich in 5 years.”
We understand this is a vague goal that could mean different things under different circumstances.
Rather, we say, “I want to create multiple streams of income in 5 years, get a new home, and be financially independent.” See the difference?
The first sounds more like a wish, while the other signifies what a properly defined goal should look like. By having clear-cut goals, high performers can create a defined plan dedicated to achieving these goals.
2 WE ARE POSITIVE
Positivity is a common trait of high performers; we know that crying over spilt milk is pointless, so we choose to look at the brighter side of things!
In our relationships with other people, we also radiate positivity, whether it is an interaction with a superior or a junior team member on a job, or any other person in life.
High performers understand the importance of attitude in the workplace; a negative attitude will tense the environment, which could hinder creativity and collaboration.
I myself am a master at conflict resolution and labor relations, yet these are all skills that I have developed over decades and are all very strong and dynamic in my regular life, with regular people as well.
Positive attitude on the other hand enhances creativity and allows high performers to put all our focus on the task at hand.
Importantly, when high performers are assigned challenging tasks, we do not complain, instead we look at it from a positive angle, making a challenging task look easier.
3 WE ACCEPT CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM
Constructive criticism isn’t to undermine your abilities, nor is it an opportunity for people to throw a middle finger to your efforts. Constructive criticism is actually an attempt to help you become better at what you do!
To become a top performer, you have to be willing to accept constructive criticism. know that it isn’t to take away the good things you might have done, but to help you become better at it!
It is important not to take things personally, as this is not an attack on your personal life.
Instead, ask questions on how to improve something. getting emotional and defensive is just a confirming sign that you have a beta, defeated mindset.
And don’t know how to relate and address your affairs as a mature and rational adult.
Also, use this as a learning opportunity, and be sure to thank whoever criticized your work, as this constructive criticism will do you better in the future!
This is how you build and wield power!
4 WE ARE CONSISTENT
Rome wasn’t built in a day; it’s a result of consistent efforts. While this might sound like a cliché line, it’s a simple philosophy most high performers live by.
Consistency is the key to achieving your goals, it means you are dedicating yourself to these goals, no matter how difficult things might get.
Consistency in the workplace also means that top performers complete their tasks on time, and also are reliable.
Their colleagues at the office can count on them to complete their quota of every task, which in turn will make them stand out!
Consistency in relationships, romance, family life also is a derivative of these traits also and will gain you the high ground when earning and commanding respect and being seen as a leader and good energy to have around.
If you want to become a top performer, you have to put in the work, there’s no other way around it. If you aren’t willing to do the work, you are simply lazy and really, just weak… you might have to settle for less in life.
5 WE ARE WILLING TO MAKE SACRIFICES
High performers are always willing to stay late just to ensure the job gets done. We are the ones that go the extra mile to complete a task.
Sometimes, we even put the needs of other people, or an organization before ourselves, all in a bid to achieve a desired result.
However, making sacrifices can have an astounding effect on an individuals’ mental and physical health. Some of these individuals might push themselves to work on weekends and holidays.
Leaving them with barely enough time for themselves.
This then makes it crucial to draw a line between your personal and professional life. While it is important that you must make sacrifices to become a top performer.
It is equally important that this doesn’t affect your personal life in adverse ways.
6 WE KNOW WHEN TO SAY NO
Top performers are known to make sacrifices, but this doesn’t suggest that they say yes to every assignment! I definitely never did and that is why it has always been best for me to just own my own businesses.
High performers love to take on new tasks, as this will present a learning opportunity and chance for growth, but we also know that there are limits to this!
If we say yes to every request, every assignment, it is only a matter of time before everyone dumps their tasks on us. Hence, it is critical to know when to say no; in fact this is an important professional skill for every individual.
Saying yes to every request will naturally increase the work you have to do, and this can cause you to lose track of what’s important.
So, moral lesson: set important boundaries and say no with a smile on your face.
7 WE PAY ATTENTION TO OUR HEALTH
It is very easy to forget about our health when discussing self-development and personal or professional space. This is because family, friends, lovers employers and colleagues are usually interested in your output, and not in the body that produces this output.
Top performers know this and give the right attention to their bodies and health. Even though we don’t talk about this, your physical and mental health determines your output!
A person suffering on a hospital bed isn’t at their most productive, and they probably won’t be able to complete important tasks.
How do you inculcate healthy habits? For starters, ensure you never substitute your rest and sleep hours for something else! And only go to bed when your body is fully ready to sleep.
Never go to bed if you are not really sleepy, just because of what a clock says. Top performers do not ever have this issue, we burn to the end and are fucking exhausted when we hit the bed and will almost always be asleep within minutes!
Night-time is for sleeping; working by or till 3 a.m for example. doesn’t make you the most hardworking person out there, it only damages your health! If your body is at it’s last bit of performance, go to bed!
Exercising regularly is also a common trait of high performers; take billionaires for example, a of them follow strict fitness routines, including Richard Branson, Jack Dorsey, and Mark Zuckerberg.
8 WE FOCUS ON QUALITY
It can be tempting to want to complete as many tasks as possible in record time; who wouldn’t want to boast about how many tasks they completed on their to-do list?
However, high performers don’t necessarily buy this sentiment. We are more interested in the quality of the task completed, rather than how many tasks we can complete!
Focusing on quality will eventually make it easier to complete tasks in record time, as you would have done these tasks over and over, while still maintaining utmost quality.
9 WE KNOW WHEN TO ASK FOR COMPENSATION
Being a top performer means you know when to ask for what you deserve.
If you are contributing heavily to the success of an organization, then you have every right to ask for a salary increase!
Since high performers are also confident individuals, asking for compensation isn’t so much of a problem for us. Especially if you own the company…
A rule I live by is that I always ask for the business, keep selling until I am given an affirming “NO”! And I always ask to be paid and on time.
Most times, if these top results aren’t balanced with the right reward, most of us high performers don’t mind walking away to work elsewhere, pass on a job or a client.
When they won’t step up, you step away!
10 WE LEAVE OUR COMFORT ZONES
Do you expect things to change if you keep doing the same thing over and over, just because that’s how you know how to do them?
Well, hate to be the bearer of bad news, but things won’t get any different if you fail to leave that comfortable spot! A high performer knows that staying in their comfort zone limits their ability to think outside the box!
So, rather than sit and wallow in an endless cycle of failures, they decide to do things differently, seek new knowledge, and break more boundaries!
11 WE HAVE OPEN MINDS
“No one is an island of knowledge,” is a phrase no one believes stronger than high performers. We know that there is always something to learn that would present us with a huge load of opportunities!
Having an open mind also means we are willing to change our stance on a subject when we discover something new.
The world is an ever-changing place, and what you knew as the truth 5 years ago could be different today. To become a top performer, you must always ask the right questions and listen closely to the answers.
12 WE READ
Is there anything you want to learn that hasn’t been written down in a book?
I don’t think so! Books contain almost every piece of information humans have gathered over the years on practically every subject.
By just dedicating a few hours of your day to reading, you have not only invested in learning something new, but you have also taken an active step toward finding a life-changing idea!
This is because reading forces us to be imaginative, and a sharp imagination does a lot of good to your creativity.
Why else do you think high performers read a lot of books online, paper back, hard back or pdf?
13 WE DEVELOP OUR EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
We all can agree that there is more need for technical skills in today’s world, but does this mean that these are the only essential skills to learn? Not!
Learning soft skills, which is in tandem with improving your emotional intelligence, is just as important as having technical skills.
No matter what you do, there will always be the need to interact with others, no matter how minor.
And high-performers understand this emotional intelligence could be the difference between being just that guy and being great!
Treating people and reacting to situations are just as important as the other skills you bring to the table!
If you’ve wondered why high performers are excellent with everyone, it’s because we have developed our emotional intelligence and improved our people skills.
Sounds cool, right? You can also be just like us!
14 WE NETWORK WITH OTHER PEOPLE
The importance of meeting new people cannot be overemphasized; networking opens you to new experiences, skills, and opportunities, and it all begins with knowing the right people!
High-performers show genuine interest in other people, we ask important questions, and we also listen intently.
This is the way to build genuine relationships, personal or professional, and mastering them could mean much more for your personal life, romantic life and your career!
15 WE LEARN NEW SKILLS
What would qualify a person to be a high performer if they had the same skills as everyone else? What makes high performers different is how skillful they are and how willing they are to learn new skills!
Learning new skills also shows that you are willing to go far and beyond to improve the quality of your work, which in turn will benefit an organization.
Learning new skills also gives top performers leverage to ask for better and improved remuneration. Finally, as you would have seen, high performers have no magic gene that makes us different.
It is nothing but a series of conscious efforts to make ourselves different, and who says you can’t become a high performer?
With a positive mindset and a willingness to put in the work, you are on your way to becoming a high performer and a winner in life!
#alphalife
About the Author
I don’t think the title of your article matches the content lol. Just kidding, mainly because I had some doubts after reading the article.
Your article helped me a lot, is there any more related content? Thanks!