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Leadership Development & Organizational Effectiveness

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YOU WERE TOO CRAZY TO

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Lessons from 100 Executives and Endurance Athletes on Reaching Your Peak

REACH YOUR PEAK THROUGH EPIC PERFORMANCE

Achieving EPIC results is what many dream of every night. We dream about crossing a finish line, standing on the peak of a mountain, having our own business, reaching a career milestone, or achieving financial independence. With a clear vision, solid game plan and guidance, it is amazing what one can accomplish. Too often we place limits on ourselves which reduces are full potential. Bryan Gillette continues to push himself further to turn his dreams into reality. You can do the same.

He has cycled 4,000 miles across the United States, ridden 300 miles in one day and run 205 miles around Lake Tahoe in 76 hours with only 90 minutes of sleep. He has traveled around the world twice, most recently for a year with his wife and two boys. And, he has also been an executive as the Vice President of Human Resources and senior leader for several technology companies. Bryan understands challenges and what is required to succeed.

There are 5 pillars to EPIC Performance and each pillar consists of 3 behaviors. These were derived from interviewing 100 CEOs, founders, CxO’s, Ironman, and ultra-distance athletes. Here is a summary of each.

Book Coming Summer 2022

Are you reaching your peak? This book will guide you there and help you go higher.

Everyone at some point in their life wants to do something big. Something EPIC. But, the clock on achieving your dreams is ticking fast—and probably faster than you think.

From managing multimillion-dollar projects with hundreds of employees to running 205 miles around Lake Tahoe in 76 hours to cycling 300 miles in a single day, performance expert and ultradistance athlete Bryan Gillette knows what it takes to achieve extraordinary results.

After interviewing a diverse group of more than 100 high-achieving executives and endurance athletes, Gillette developed the five pillars of the EPIC Performance framework to simplify the steps so that you can walk your own path and do things you never thought possible.

Program

Enhance your own skills in the five pillars of EPIC Performance by attending  Reach Your Peak through EPIC Performance. This is online program consists of three 90-minute online sessions. Throughout this program, you will learn and then apply the five pillars by creating your list of EPIC accomplishments followed up with a detailed plan to reach several of them. You will learn key strategies to navigate through challenging times and be able to apply them in your own life. And, you will be able to assess your own EPIC Performances. Learn more.

To learn how well you perform, take the EPIC Performance assessment (See: Sample Report) to understand where you excel in achieving extraordinary results. You receive a score for each behavior which then drives your overall score for the pillar. Or, have your team go through and receive a Team Report.

Speaking

Want to bring Bryan into your organization and hear him live.

He will customize a program to meet your needs and focus on the different elements of EPIC Performance. Such topics include:

Leading to the Peak: Trigger Key Leadership Traits to Navigate Around the Great Resignation

Reduce the Excuse: Strategies to Stretch One’s Capabilities and Build Resilience in Yourself and Others

Living the Life You’ve Always Wanted: Avoid Burnout by Focusing on What is Most Important

Contact Bryan to have him speak at your next event.

If we did all the things we are capable of we would literally astound ourselves Thomas Edison Envision - The dreams you have for your career, your organization, and yourself.
Failing to plan is planning to fail. Benjamin Franklin Plan To make those dreams become reality by setting a path to achieve excellence.
The process of doing something again and again, usually to improve it. Cambridge Dictionary Iterate - Your plan to work through the problems and scale your accomplishments
Those who collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed. Charles Darwin Collaborate - With others to learn the successes and failures from people before you.
If we did all the things we are capable of we would literally astound ourselves Thomas Edison Envision - The dreams you have for your career, your organization, and yourself.
Failing to plan is planning to fail. Benjamin Franklin Plan To make those dreams become reality by setting a path to achieve excellence.
The process of doing something again and again, usually to improve it. Cambridge Dictionary Iterate - Your plan to work through the problems and scale your accomplishments
Those who collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed. Charles Darwin Collaborate - With others to learn the successes and failures from people before you.
If we did all the things we are capable of we would literally astound ourselves Thomas Edison Envision - The dreams you have for your career, your organization, and yourself.
Failing to plan is planning to fail. Benjamin Franklin Plan To make those dreams become reality by setting a path to achieve excellence.
The process of doing something again and again, usually to improve it. Cambridge Dictionary Iterate - Your plan to work through the problems and scale your accomplishments
Those who collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed. Charles Darwin Collaborate - With others to learn the successes and failures from people before you.
Performances Put your plan, your learnings, and all your experience into action and run to the finish line.
Envision
Envision your big ideas and goals in all the important areas of your life: career, relationships, hobbies, health, fitness, finances—you name it. This is about understanding what is important to you long term and identifying the more substantial dreams you want to accomplish. It is about being more deliberate with your actions so as you get older you have few regrets.

1. Define your purpose

    • What is most important in your life?
    • What are your four to six core values?
    • Are you living up to those values?
    • What is on your bucket list?
    • What would you want to have accomplished in five, ten, twenty, or thirty years?
    • Is there anything you will regret not doing when you are eighty?
    • What big idea comes back into your head from time to time?
    • What is one dream you want to accomplish?
    • Where do I want to make a difference in the world?

2. Stretch yourself

    • What have you not done because you were afraid to fail?
    • What could you do this year that would make you nervous?
    • How can you build up confidence to achieve one of the items from your bucket list?
    • How much do you want this goal? (0 – Not at all. 5 – I’m indifferent. 10 – I will regret if I don’t do it)
    • What are you most afraid of?
    • How badly do you want this goal?

3. Hone your dream bigger strategy

    • What time of day are you most creative?
    • When was the last time you deliberately thought about your future goals in a meaningful way? And how did it look?
    • Where do you get your best ideas?
    • Is there a physical location you can go and dream?
    • When a big idea presents itself, what do you do with it?
    • What does or will your dream notebook look like for where you story all your ideas?
    • When was the last time you looked over your list of big ideas? Assuming you have one.

Plan
Plan to make those goals a reality and move the vision to action. Once you can Envision the what the future looks like, you can start charting a course to get there. This involves understanding the necessary tasks you need to complete as well as evaluating the potential roadblocks that could hamper your success.

1. Get started

    • What is the first step you will make?
    • Whom will you tell?
    • Who would be a good accountability partner?
    • When will you start this goal?
    • When do you want to finish?
    • What have you written down to make this more real?
    • What does “success” look like?
    • What are all the benefits you will get when you are successful?

2. Develop the plan

    • What short-term goals have you set to accomplish your longer-term dreams?
    • How have you made time to reach your goal?
    • What are the most important elements to accomplishing this goal?
    • What activities or tasks would need to be removed or reduced to make time for this new priority?

3. Assess obstacles and risks

    • What obstacles (physical, mental, financial, time, etc.) are in your path toward success?
    • How can you reduce those obstacles?
    • What criteria will you use to stop or pivot?
    • How many things would have to go wrong before a catastrophe?

Iterate
Iterate your plan to work out the kinks and practice for the difficult times. It is about executing smaller components of your overall goal and finding the flaws. It is a chance to fix those flaws and improve the situation before going primetime. It is also about trying new things and seeing how they work. During this phase, you are working TOWARD perfection, but that is not the goal.

1. Practice with intention

    • What are the key tasks that need to be completed for each milestone?
    • What smaller projects could you work on to improve your skills?
    • What routines or habits can you develop to handle some of the routine activities?
    • What intermediate goals will indicate you are on track and allow you to have shorter-term celebrations?

2. Apply the data

    • How will you know you were successful and what measures will you use?
    • What data points are needed to evaluate progress and your path to success?
    • What areas should you monitor that will have the greatest impact on your progress?
    • How frequently will you monitor your progress?
    • What visual reminder of your dream do you have?

3. Manage obstacles and risks

    • Of the obstacles you identified earlier, what will you do to manage them?
    • Where have you given yourself permission to fail?
    • What aspects of the situation do you have control or influence over?
    • When do you expect the most pain and misery?

Collaborate
Collaborate with others and learn from experts. This involves learning from those who came before you so you can replicate their successes and avoid their setbacks. It is about having long-term advisors who help guide you through life and then preparing the people on your team who will ensure your success. Collaboration takes many forms, but most importantly you should remember that you can’t go it alone to reach your goal. That is why it’s significant to note that while Envision, Plan, Iterate, and Perform generally occur in that order, Collaborate occurs throughout all four pillars.

1. Learn from others

    • Who has done something similar to what you are looking to do?
    • How is it they were successful?
    • What barriers or obstacles did they overcome?
    • What blogs, podcasts, trade associations, groups (online or in person), or other materials exist around this subject?
    • What questions should you ask to learn more about the subject?
    • What plans or templates have already been created that you can customize for your situation?

2. Cultivate key advisors

    • Who are your mentors or advisors in your life?
    • Who are the people you rely on to pick you up when you are down?
    • Who can provide you honest and helpful input or feedback?
    • Who in your life regularly pushes you outside your comfort zone?

3. Prepare your team

    • What do you need from other people to succeed?
    • What will get them excited to participate?
    • When problems occur, what support will you need?
    • What is the role each person plays?

Perform
Perform to your plan and persevere to the finish line. You are now standing at the starting line. Your training and preparation should set you up to now make it to reach your goal and get ready for your next big accomplishment. While this is one of the shorter pillars, it is because you have already done the hard work, and you are ready to shine. But getting to the finish line still requires you to overcome some difficult times.

1. Focus on your goal

    • How will you know you are on track?
    • What “noise” or distractions are impacting your ability to move forward?
    • Where are you most confident in your preparation? Least?
    • What benefits will you receive when you arrive at the “finish line”?

2. Persevere through the tough times

    • How do you find your “Happy Place” when life is not so happy?
    • How does this difficult time compare against your worst experience in life?
    • What will allow you to get up and move forward?
    • What aspects of the situation do you have control or influence over?
    • How have others successfully made it through similar problems?

3. Aim higher

    • What will you do to celebrate your success?
    • Were your worst fears realized?
    • What worked well?
    • What would you do differently next time?
    • What question do you wish you asked before starting this goal?
    • What other possibilities in your life exist?