Higher Performance – an Interview with Mark Verstegen
What does it take to become a top performer? I recently interviewed EXOS founder Mark Verstegen to learn about the four pillars of peak performance and uncover how anyone can become great at work, in sport and in life. Here are some of the top takeaways:
Mindset
Performing at your best starts with a positive mindset. This isn’t simply about cognitive function, it’s about understanding, intent, behavioral upgrading and a desire to continuously improve. To develop a positive mindset, you need to understand your ‘it’. Why do you do what you do? What drives you every day? Once you define this, you can focus on growing and becoming better tomorrow than you are today.
Nutrition
For 100 Days to Greatness®, you have to fuel your body and mind in the right way. If you don’t, you’ll suffer from inflammation and low energy and it will inevitably become harder to win because you’ll lose your self-discipline and your focus. A powerfully effective way to improve your overall nutrition is to keep your intake super simple and be more mindful of what you eat. Fueling from the inside out will drastically change your entire performance.
Movement
To have great cognitive function and behavioral health, you need to move. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to hit the gym or make drastic changes – just embrace and elevate what you already love to do and you’ll build your strength and mobility. If you already enjoy yoga, for example, build more of that into your game plan. Also, focus on unlocking movement quality – it doesn’t have to be more, but it should be better.
Recovery
The absolute limiting factor to performance is the ability to recover day to day, month to month and year to year. If you want to perform to the best of your ability, you need solid recovery strategies that are really simple to do on a daily basis and that support you as you continue to evolve. Whether it’s setting regular breaks or improving your sleep quality, if you pay attention to recovery you’ll become more resilient and be better equipped to deal with challenges and setbacks.
No one in this world is average – we’re all uniquely capable of being world-class in our own space. If you want to learn more about top performance, listen to the latest episode of “It’s a Good Life”.
Eric
