For years, I have been thinking about, researching, testing, and coaching around high performance. This year, I decided: I am no longer coaching high performance.
Here’s why.
High performance has been glorified as the ultimate standard. It’s about discipline, efficiency, productivity, and measurable outcomes. It looks impressive on the outside. But for leaders, entrepreneurs, and high achievers, high performance has a hidden cost.
The Hidden Costs of High Performance
When we focus exclusively on high performance in one area, we often neglect the very things that sustain our leadership long-term: our health, our closest relationships, and our creativity.
- Running at full throttle leads to less-than-optimal results over time.
- Choosing control over flow blocks collaboration, trust, and innovation.
- Defining worth by achievement means confidence collapses when results dip.
High performance may deliver results in the short term, but it compromises our capacity for vision, innovation, and fulfillment in the long term.
The Shift: Adeline Gray’s Example
U.S. wrestling champion Adeline Gray’s story illustrates this shift perfectly. By 2013, she was a three-time world champion, but the grind left her depleted. After finishing with a bronze, she nearly quit wrestling altogether.
Instead of forcing herself through another season, she paused. With her coaches’ encouragement, she reevaluated her training and mindset. She shifted from grinding harder to training smarter. She began listening to her body and aligning her routines with recovery, purpose, and well-being.
What happened? She came back stronger, winning two more world titles and qualifying for the Olympics in record time.
Her story reveals what leaders need most: results don’t multiply by pressure; they expand through alignment.
High Performance vs. Peak Performance
- High performance = productivity, discipline, results (often at the cost of sustainability).
- Peak performance = flow, presence, fulfillment, and results that last.
A high performer might grind through late nights to meet every deadline.
A peak performer manages energy, health, and relationships so their best thinking shows up at the right moments, without burnout, and while empowering others.
The Leadership Lesson
Peak performance isn’t about balance; it’s about integration. Integrating performance, health, relationships, and vision-driven purpose, so results come with sustainability and fulfillment.
As leaders, our challenge is not to press harder but to lead in a way that regenerates energy, expands vision, and accelerates results. Creating cultures where energy is renewed, creativity thrives, and results compound over time.
High performance delivers excellence.
Peak performance delivers excellence that expands with strength, regeneration, and a vision that leaves a legacy.
Peak performance delivers excellence that expands with strength, regeneration, and a vision that leaves a legacy.
If you’re an executive or leader ready to shift from high performance to peak performance, let’s connect. At The Amplified Life Company, we help executives and teams stop burning fuel and start regenerating energy, so their leadership creates sustainable impact. Message me on LinkedIn or connect here at carmenohling.com.