High Performance: Lessons from the Best on Becoming Your Best

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I really enjoyed this book at first, and highlighted many important lessons and constructive ideas I could implement. It has a good amount of references from various books as well as great in person examples of high performers.

Their competitor was working just as hard, was just as determined, just as focussed, just as ready, just as driven….

The summary page at the end of each chapter is really helpful for referring back to key themes in the future.

After binging the first series over a weekend, really enjoyed the varying perspectives from many different career paths.

High Performance has already impacted some of the best players and coaches across the world, but Jake and Damian's insights are equally valuable to people from any walk of life. Drawing on interviews with leading athletes and entrepreneurs, they uncover the nine hidden principles that high performers use to excel: from taking absolute responsibility for their situation, to working out their non-negotiable ‘trademark behaviours’, to getting the very best out of their teammates. Jake joined BT Sport at the start of the 2013/2014 season as the face of BT Sports Premier League coverage. On reflection I think I’d have got more out of using the time I spent reading this book (which was maybe four hours at most- it’s 200ish pages in quite large, widely spaced font) re-listening to my favourites episodes of the podcast. This books gives very detailed lessons in ways and which you can high preform in all aspects of your life.

I know some people say that you come to things when it is the right time in your life, but boy do I wish that I had found either this book or the podcast earlier. I'm a big believer in being 100% responsible for your own life and taking control of your reaction to a situation. High Performance is a cumulation of knowledge that Humphrey and Hughes have accumulated from the time that they have spent doing their podcast: High Performance. The only criticism is that at times the author’s own ego seems to come out in places that are not necessarily as useful as the book ascribes these parts to be.

High Performance reveals the methods the world's most remarkable athletes, coaches and entrepreneurs use to excel. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.

While the book does not have every guest as an example, I found it to be a more digestible way to understand some core concepts that anyone who achieves at the top of their chosen field. However, the book is mostly based on stories from sport-related careers and sometimes it is hard to make the connection to a working day in a normal office. The book itself is like a ‘Greatest Hits’ from the podcast and ultimately there are a lot of helpful insights in it. Take any success story - take any famous person - who is famous because they are successful, and they will regale you for hours with stories about their training programme, the sacrifices, the early morning starts…. From taking responsibility for your situation to finding your 'trademark behaviours', thinking flexibly to crafting a high performance culture, Jake Humphrey and Professor Damian Hughes identify the eight crucial steps to becoming the best 'you' possible.It will help every reader apply these insights to their own lives - so they can become high performers themselves.