Learned Excellence

Learned Excellence Plot Summary

Introduction

When the stakes are highest, what separates those who thrive from those who crumble? Imagine standing at the edge of a hundred-foot cliff preparing to dive, entering a burning building as flames rage around you, or simply walking into a crucial presentation that could make or break your career. In these moments, your physical abilities and technical knowledge only take you so far. The real difference lies in what happens between your ears. Most of us have experienced that critical moment when despite all our preparation, something inside falters. Our breathing quickens, thoughts race, and suddenly our abilities seem to abandon us. This mental component of performance remains the most overlooked yet influential factor in achieving excellence in any field. Drawing on decades of work with Navy SEALs, Olympic champions, business leaders, and everyday strivers, this exploration reveals that mental performance isn't an innate gift possessed by the lucky few—it's a learnable set of skills accessible to anyone willing to develop them. The journey to excellence begins not with superhuman talent, but with understanding the fundamental mental principles that drive extraordinary performance in every domain of life.

Chapter 1: Build Your Foundation: Discovering Values and Setting Meaningful Goals

The path to excellence begins with knowing who you are at your core. While most people focus obsessively on what others think (reputation), top performers anchor themselves in identity—their authentic values, motivations, and purpose. This distinction isn't merely philosophical; it fundamentally determines how you respond under pressure. David Colturi, a professional cliff diver, experienced this transformation firsthand. Despite competing at elite levels, diving from heights of nearly ninety feet, David was constantly preoccupied with his reputation. "I was super emotional," he recalls. "I was concerned with other people's opinions, and all the distractions and noise, I didn't have the ability to shut them out." This reputation focus limited his performance until a near-fatal accident in 2018 became his wake-up call. During a promotional dive from a paraglider, David misjudged his entry and severely lacerated his spleen, nearly losing his life. Through his recovery, David underwent a profound shift from reputation to identity. During this period, David developed his personal credo—a set of ten core values including selfless, discipline, grit, mindful, stoic, clarity, character, courage, ikigai, and evolving. "I started thinking that I was a human first and diver second," he explains. "For the first time in my career, I was able to completely overcome the phenomenon of reputation." This identity-based approach transformed not just his diving but his entire relationship with performance. To build your own foundation, start by crafting your personal credo. Take several weeks to notice what brings you energy, joy, and motivation. What characteristics best describe you at your core? Consolidate these into ten words or fewer that represent your values. This isn't a quick exercise—it requires reflection and honesty. Ask trusted friends to write their version of your credo and notice the overlap and differences. Once your identity is anchored, establish clear goals across six pillars: career, relationships, health, spirituality, hobbies, and legacy. Ask yourself: What do I want to be true in each area one, three, and six months from now? Make these goals specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timebound (SMART). Write them down, share them with others, and create accountability plans to dramatically increase your likelihood of achievement. Understanding your "engine"—what truly motivates you—completes this foundation. As baseball legend Yogi Berra observed while working with elite players, everyone has something that drives them, whether it's not losing, winning, or something deeper. Identifying your authentic motivators, especially when they align with your core values, creates a powerful framework for consistent excellence that transcends temporary setbacks or external opinions.

Chapter 2: Master Your Mindset: Choose and Cultivate Optimal Thinking Patterns

Mindset isn't something you're born with—it's something you deliberately choose and cultivate. The most successful performers understand that how they set their mind to face each situation determines their capacity to excel under pressure. But what exactly is mindset, and how can you develop one that serves your highest aspirations? Katy Stanfill, a former Navy helicopter pilot, discovered the transformative power of mindset after a harrowing experience early in her career. During her first deployment, she was performing a "vertical replenishment" mission, moving cargo between ships via helicopter. As she descended toward a Navy ship carrying a heavy load, the flight controls suddenly felt rigid and unresponsive—a dangerous situation with lives at stake. Though she managed to detach the cargo safely, her confidence was shattered. "I couldn't bring myself to fly the helicopter close to the landing pad," she recalls, eventually having to hand control to her copilot. Equipment checks revealed no mechanical issues—"What was broken was up here," Katy says, tapping her temple. This failure forced Katy to radically transform her mindset. Rather than fixating on outcomes (landing the helicopter perfectly) and the shame of failure, she intentionally redirected her thinking toward process—focusing on each step of flying. "Just keep doing it, you will get better, you will get there," she told herself. This shift allowed her to rebuild her confidence and continue a successful military career. Her key insight? "What is there to learn from this? Every setback, failure, or rejection has yielded different answers to the question." To master your own mindset, start by identifying the traits required for success in each of your important roles. For example, being a successful teacher might require patience, empathy, and flexibility, while a prosecutor needs to be stern, tough, and relentless. Then activate these traits through what's in your "circle of control": your attitude, effort, and behavior—everything else lies outside your influence. Practicing attitude means managing your self-talk. When Dave Wurtzel, a champion firefighter, fell during a competition, negative thoughts consumed him: "All I could think about was falling. I had run that course over a hundred times successfully, but all I could think about was the one time I failed." Through deliberate practice, he replaced this negative inner dialogue with positive affirmations until his mindset shifted. Research confirms this works—studies show second-person self-talk ("You are a great performer") often proves more effective than first-person ("I'm a great performer"). Practicing effort means consistently choosing to invest time in improvement, even when easier options beckon. Erik Spoelstra, head coach of the Miami Heat, takes this so seriously he has players sign written agreements committing to sacrifice and growth before each season. "To be part of something special and bigger than yourself, there has to be an intention and understanding of what sacrifice means," he explains. To truly excel, you must also regularly step outside your comfort zone. Navy SEAL Jimmy Lindell embodies this principle even after retirement: "I can't sit back and chill like a man my age should probably do. I can't stay comfortable, I won't." His solution? Trying things he's terrible at—like singing Styx songs in his car and filming it. This willingness to risk failure and embrace discomfort is what builds the growth mindset that characterizes all elite performers.

Chapter 3: Trust the Process: Develop Consistent Routines for Success

Excellence comes not from sporadic brilliance but from consistent, methodical processes that stand up under pressure. While most people fixate on outcomes, the truly exceptional focus relentlessly on process—the systems and routines that generate those outcomes. A special forces soldier learned this lesson the hard way during a Close Quarter Combat training exercise. Using a new holster that was slightly different from his usual equipment, he accidentally shot himself in the leg while drawing his weapon. The slight change in equipment collided with hundreds of hours of muscle memory, resulting in an unintended trigger pull. Though his injury was relatively minor, the incident illustrated a critical truth: even the smallest disruption to established processes can lead to catastrophic outcomes. Rich Hill, a Major League Baseball pitcher, discovered the power of process after a disappointing playoff performance with the Chicago Cubs in 2007. "I was just happy to be in the big leagues, and was much too preoccupied with the outcome," he recalls. "I lost sight of the moment, lost sight of what I was doing." The result was a quick exit from the game and a series sweep. This experience triggered a fundamental shift in Rich's approach. "I developed a whole different intensity about me, a focus on the moment, conviction and confidence that it all will come together." For Rich, process became about controlling what was controllable—particularly the moment the ball left his hand. "The time and intensity that you put into your work and process is what matters," he explains. "You don't have to be as perfect as you think but the mentality has to be aggressive." This process-oriented mindset allowed him to manage pressure and perform at the highest levels of baseball well into his forties. To develop your own effective process, start by maximizing your twenty-four hours. Many high performers schedule every hour of their day, eliminating the "blank spaces" that lead to procrastination and wasted time. Ted Brown, an executive at Lockton Denver, reviews his calendar every Sunday evening and color-codes appointments: green (flexible), yellow (somewhat flexible), and red (sacred). "My routine is sacred," he says. "I'm almost maniacal about maintaining it." Next, establish a trust map of information sources. Who provides you with the most reliable feedback? The best sources are loyal (committed to your success), honest (will tell you the truth, not just what you want to hear), knowledgeable (understand your field and personality), and challenging (push you to improve). Be wary of unvetted sources—like the barista who once confidently diagnosed a professional athlete's technique issues between coffee orders. When you do need to change your process, do so deliberately and incrementally. After failure or disappointment, resist the human tendency toward outcome bias, availability bias, and action bias—all of which push us to make sweeping changes. Instead, evaluate your process objectively, adjust one variable at a time, and test the results. As wakeboard champion Mike Dowdy discovered after working with Dr. Potterat, "Athletes are doers. We always need to have something to do, so the overall structure of the day becomes very important." This structured approach to process transformed Dowdy from an inconsistent performer to a world champion.

Chapter 4: Conquer Adversity: Techniques to Manage Stress Under Pressure

When faced with intense pressure, even the most skilled performers can falter as their bodies instinctively trigger the fight, flight, or freeze response—a physiological reaction designed for prehistoric survival that often sabotages modern performance. Learning to manage this stress response separates the truly exceptional from the merely talented. To demonstrate this principle to elite athletes, performance expert Andy Walshe once orchestrated a startling scenario. During a training camp for world-class competitors, participants were casually journaling when suddenly a "park ranger" came sprinting toward them shouting "Bear! Bear!"—followed by Bart the Bear II, an 8.5-foot, 1,300-pound grizzly movie star. When Bart stood on his hind legs and roared just feet away, these normally composed athletes scattered in panic—some falling to the ground screaming, others pushing colleagues between themselves and the bear. The exercise (conducted safely with the trained bear stopping at a predetermined mark) proved its point instantly: no one is immune to the stress response. John Marx, a police officer for twenty-three years, experienced how devastating unmanaged stress can be. "I saw a lot of death, horrible murders, and other human tragedies. I wasn't equipped to handle it all," he recalls. Without proper mental tools, many officers turned to alcohol to cope—a destructive pattern that led Marx to eventually found the Law Enforcement Survival Institute after a colleague's suicide. The good news is that specific techniques can help manage this response. Visualization with all five senses—what researchers call kinesthetic motor imagery (KMI)—is one powerful approach. Professional esports competitor Alex Myers uses this before tournaments: "Before I go to a competition, I find pictures of the arena, then I visualize being in there and hearing the noise of the crowd. Doing this has changed a lot for me. I have much more control of myself." Contingency planning is another critical technique. Big-wave surfer Ian Walsh systematically prepares for everything that could go wrong during his dangerous rides on 70-foot waves. "I look for any possible holes in the process, and I put a system in place that allows me to stay in the water when speed bumps happen," he explains. This preparation paid off when his brother suffered a catastrophic fall during a session. Because they had planned for this scenario, they quickly got him safely to shore and medical care. Among the most accessible techniques is 4444 breathing: inhale for four seconds, exhale for four to six seconds, for four minutes, four times daily. This simple practice activates the parasympathetic nervous system, counteracting stress hormones. When senior attorney Deena Ryerson faced a high-stakes closing argument and suddenly "drew a complete blank," deep breathing brought her back to clarity. "I've learned over the years this can happen to me when I'm really nervous," she explains. Other effective techniques include practicing self-awareness (checking your mental vital signs before performance), creating pre-performance routines, segmenting overwhelming goals into manageable parts, and "black-boxing" distractions or mistakes during performance to address later. These tools don't eliminate stress—nor should they, as performance psychologist Joe Maroon notes: "Stress is a good thing. We need it." Instead, they transform debilitating distress into productive energy that fuels peak performance.

Chapter 5: Maintain Balance: Ensure Recovery and Sustained Excellence

Excellence isn't sustainable without balance across all domains of life and intentional recovery after periods of intense performance. Even the most dedicated achievers learn—sometimes the hard way—that maintaining this equilibrium is essential for long-term success. Steve Idoux, a successful business leader, initially believed relentless work was the key to his success. "My attitude was, I will put in more hours," he recalls. "I will answer your call at midnight, at five a.m., on the weekend." This imbalance eventually caught up with him during a meeting with a team member. "Suddenly, I found myself yelling at him. I became this snarling person! I remember the look on his face. I thought, I don't want to be that person." Steve realized he had become exactly the type of person he didn't want on his team—a jerk—because his life lacked proper balance. True balance comes from investing across six fundamental pillars: work, relationships, health, spirituality, hobbies, and legacy. Think of these as supports holding up your life—a structure built on just one or two pillars will always be unstable. If one pillar gets compromised, the entire structure can collapse. But with a solid foundation across multiple domains, you remain resilient even when facing challenges in any single area. This doesn't mean perfect equilibrium at all times. As Oregon prosecutor Deena Ryerson discovered, "There are balls that have to drop. Once you realize that, you have to forgive yourself. I can't be everything I want to be for my job without sacrificing what I am for my family, and vice versa." The key is making intentional choices about which pillars need attention at different stages of life, while planning to rebalance when circumstances change. Recovery is equally crucial for sustained excellence. When Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell returned from his harrowing experience in Afghanistan (later documented in "Lone Survivor"), his well-meaning friends immediately wanted to take him shooting—precisely the wrong activity for someone needing mental recovery. Just as race cars require pit stops for maintenance, performers need deliberate recovery periods to rejuvenate. Effective recovery techniques vary widely. For many elite performers, sleep is paramount, often supplemented with tart cherry juice (a natural source of melatonin) and strict limits on blue light exposure before bedtime. Others use float tanks (sensory deprivation chambers) to enhance mental recovery and focus. NBA coach Erik Spoelstra insists on workout time, telling his staff, "I'm doing this so I can be better for you." Nature walks for 1-2 hours have proven remarkably restorative in research studies, as have yoga, meditation, and practicing gratitude. Figure skating Olympic champion Nathan Chen finds recovery in activities where excellence isn't the goal: "When I play guitar, I'm not trying at all to be excellent. I can still work on getting better, but I don't get frustrated. I don't have the need to be the best guitarist." This mental shift creates space for true recovery while maintaining the joy of learning and growth that drives all top performers.

Chapter 6: Apply Excellence: Daily Practices for Real-World Results

The principles of excellence aren't theoretical concepts—they're practical tools that transform everyday performance across all domains of life. By applying these fundamentals consistently, anyone can elevate their capabilities and experience the satisfaction of operating at their highest potential. Bob Reiff, a senior vice president at Lincoln Financial, saw a golden opportunity to implement these principles when the COVID pandemic hit in 2020. As his team transitioned to remote work amid unprecedented uncertainty, Bob deliberately modeled and communicated excellence principles. He emphasized focusing on controllables—attitude, effort, and behavior—and coached his team to view failures as opportunities to learn and adapt. He shared visualization and positive self-talk techniques and encouraged proper sleep, nutrition, and exercise. The results were remarkable. "I was very impressed by their resilience," he recalls. "A lot of people found themselves during the pandemic. They questioned how they were approaching their business, how they were going to market." For parents seeking to instill excellence in their children, former baseball player and Navy SEAL candidate Derrick Walker offers wisdom from raising his eight children: "Most of my development came as a result of failure. Parents need to let their kids go along their journey and give them opportunities to fail." Rather than protecting children from challenges, top performers consistently recommend creating "micro failure" opportunities where kids can experience setbacks in safe environments. Walker pairs this with thoughtful questioning: "Why did you do that? Is there another way to think about that? Is the thought process the most beneficial one?" To begin your own excellence journey, start by creating your personal credo—the foundation of values upon which everything else builds. Set clear goals across each life pillar and establish an accountability system with trusted partners. Develop your time management process, filling calendar blanks with intentional activities rather than letting life dictate your priorities. Create a feedback ecosystem with vetted sources who will give you honest, constructive input. Practice adversity tolerance by choosing one technique—many start with 4444 breathing—and integrating it into your daily routine until it becomes automatic. Pay attention to balance and recovery, scheduling them as non-negotiable appointments rather than "if I have time" afterthoughts. And remember that excellence isn't about comparing yourself to others or achieving perfection—it's about consistently improving your performance relative to your own potential. As Nathan Chen, Olympic gold medalist figure skater, observes: "Most people have an inherent ability which gets them to a certain point. Beyond that, getting better has to be learned." No matter your starting point or field of endeavor, the mental fundamentals of high performance can be systematically developed through deliberate practice and consistent application. Excellence isn't a destination—it's a continuous journey of growth that transforms not just what you accomplish, but who you become along the way.

Summary

Throughout this exploration of mental performance, one truth emerges consistently: excellence isn't inherited or accidental—it's learned through deliberate practice of fundamental principles. The journey begins with a shift from reputation to identity, establishing a foundation of authentic values that remain steady even when circumstances change. From this foundation flows a chosen mindset, consistent processes, mastery over stress responses, and balanced recovery—all working together to create sustainable peak performance in any domain. As Will Durant wrote, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." Your capacity for excellence exists right now, waiting to be developed through consistent application of these principles. Begin today by crafting your personal credo—the ten words that define your core identity. This simple act starts a transformation that extends far beyond any single performance to encompass your entire approach to life. The path to mastery isn't found in dramatic gestures or innate talent, but in the daily commitment to learn, practice, and embody the mental fundamentals that enable you to perform at your best when it matters most.

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Eric Potterat

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