There are a lot of people who have come to me seeking ways to Perform at their Best Every Day.
But is this possible?
Can we Truly Perform At Our Best Every Single Day?
Well, usually what these Individuals are actually trying to ask me is whether they can hit the Measure of their Best Performance Every Single Day, or Better.
So, if you were to think of this in terms of Sales, it would look something like this...
Let's say Bob's Best Sales Day was 100 Calls in a Day with a 50% Successful Close Rate.
What Bob is really asking me is How he can hit 100 Calls "Every" Day and "Always" Successfully Close 50% of those Calls, or Better.
However, Bob also wants the "Best" to Improve.
So Bob will eventually want to hit 150 Calls "Every" Day and "Always" Successfully Close 60% of those Calls.
Then Bob will want to hit 200 Calls "Every" Day and "Always" Successfully Close 70% of those Calls.
Now, if you are ahead of me you'll see the Problem that is coming up.
When this is how you look at doing Your Best Every Day, there will become a Point were it is Completely Unsustainable.
Bob will may discover that he Physically is unable to make More Calls unless he adds more hours to his days (Unsustainable) or is Unable to do a Complete Sale in the Amount of Time Required (Unsustainable).
Or Bob may discover that due to the Quality of the Calls Decreasing, a consequence of the Length of Time on Calls, that his Successful Close Percentage begins to Drop (Unsustainable).
If Bob continues to try to Push these Unsustainable Boundaries, it will Lead to Burnout.
So if this is what You mean by "Performing Your Best Every Day", then the answer is Absolutely Not.
You will "Never" be able to "Perform Your Best" when, in so doing, it leads to Unsustainability.
The Largest Issue here is that "Best" is being defined by a Static set of Results that are Limited by Resources (specifically Time and Quality in Bob's Case).
The other aspect of this is that when you reach Burnout, your Results will Diminish as well.
So, if Bob's Goal is to hit that Unsustainable "Best", he will eventually be Unable to Meet It "Every" Day, which will Increase his Dis-Stress, Leading to Burnout, which will make his Daily Results Consistently Worse Over Time.
However, this understanding that a "Static Measure" of "Best" is Unsustainable also becomes the Solution to our Problem.
If "Best" is Not Static, but a Moving Target that can Increase "and" Decrease from Day to Day, then we have a Different Answer to the Original Question.
When our Best is Determined by what is Sustainable within that Specific Day, based on the Multitude of Variables in our Lives (Mostly Outside Our Control), "Then" we Can Perform At Our Best Every Day!
In Fact, it has been shown Time and Time again in Research, that a Sustainable Moving Target for "Best" actually "Improves" our Performance "Significantly" Better and Faster than the Static Target!
So in Bob's Case, the Target may Start as Total Calls and Percentage of Successful Closes, which he adjusts based on his "Sustainable Best" each day.
But, what changes for Bob is that he begins to discover other variables that are "More" Important for his Success than these Goals.
So, Instead of 500 Calls to whoever he can (Unsustainable), Bob might discover that if he Narrows his Focus to 50 Specific Customers that his Total Sales actually Quintuple the Sales he was getting when he was Failing at reaching 200 Customers Consistently.
Now his Total Sales is Dramatically Outpacing what his Former Static Efforts could Hope to Achieve!
Based on Human Psychophysiology, we literally become Unable to see things like that when we are in Burnout, but they begin to become Blatantly Obvious when we find Sustainable Daily Bests.
Why?
Flow States.
See, we Perform at our Best when we Consistently hit Flow States.
This is where Innovation, Productivity, and Creative Problem Solving are at their Best.
However, the requirements to get into Flow Change Daily.
What got you into Flow Yesterday will almost certainly be different from what gets you into Flow Today, even if it is slight.
But there will be days where that Difference is Dramatic.
Being able to Adjust based on the Dramatic Differences, what makes it Sustainable, becomes the Differentiator for Performing at your Best Every Day.
If you can hit that Moving Flow State, sometimes Higher and sometimes Lower, and you can do "That" Daily, then you Absolutely Can Perform At Your Best Daily!
It all Depends on your Understanding of what Your "Best Every Day" actually Means.