The biggest lie in my industry is that high performance is only possible for people with perfect lives.
You know the characters:
The 5 a.m. cold plunge crowd.
The “no excuses” people whose systems all assume unlimited energy, no family responsibilities, zero curveballs, and no invisible disabilities in sight.
If that is the standard, most real humans are “failing” before the day even starts.
Here is what I know instead:
I am a tech CEO, a bestselling author, and the 2025 Inspirational Speaker of the Year.
I do all of that with narcolepsy and a 125 pound Great Dane service dog who comes on stage with me because my brain literally has a finite number of hours of focus per day.
I am not successful because I push harder.
I am successful because I design differently.
If you want something practical, here is a simple 10 minute Accessible High Performance audit you can do this week.
Pick one goal you care about right now.
Then check it against these three levers: Energy, Friction, Support.
1. Energy: Where are you burning fuel for nothing?
• What part of this goal drains you the most: the thinking, the starting, or the follow through?
• Cut or shrink one energy leak this week.
Examples:
• Stop starting this task at your worst time of day.
• Turn a 60 minute block into 3 x 20 minutes.
• Remove one extra approval, meeting, or report that adds no real value.
2. Friction: Where is your system making it harder than it needs to be?
• List the steps between “I should do this” and “this is done.”
• Circle the steps that are manual, confusing, or repetitive.
• Automate or simplify exactly one of them.
Examples:
• Create a template email instead of rewriting it every time.
• Use a checklist for the task you always forget one step on.
• Batch similar work instead of context switching all day.
3. Support: Where are you pretending you can do this alone?
• Ask: “If this really mattered, who or what should be helping me?”
• Choose one concrete support to add:
• A person: delegate a subtask, or ask for a review instead of struggling in silence.
• A tool: calendar block, automation, project board, AI draft.
• A boundary: a meeting you decline, a time you protect.
Extraordinary results do not come from perfect conditions.
They come from strong support, well designed systems, and the decision to keep moving forward even when fear or difficulty shows up.
