Learned Excellence: Mental Disciplines for Leading and Winning from the World's Top Performers

by Eric Potterat; Alan Eagle, Alan Eagle

Learn how to perform at your very best, from the psychologist who has advised elite military operators, Olympic medalists, big wave surfers, neurosurgeons, cliff divers, first responders, Cirque du Soleil acrobats, professional athletes and coaches, Fortune 500 business executives, and CIA analysts.   Learned Excellence is a comprehensive and practical guide to the mental disciplines of high performance, from the expert who developed the US Navy SEALs mental toughness curriculum and has worked with thousands of top athletes, elite military personnel, business executives, and first responders.  These stars perform across a wide variety of fields, but they all have something in when they are at work they know how to think clearly, stay focused, and shrug off setbacks under very high levels of stress. They may have superb physical and intellectual traits, but it is the stuff going on above the neck and between the ears that makes them excellent. The difference between settling and achieving, between good and great, between contentment and fulfillment, is based entirely on their mental approach.  This approach isn’t innate; it is 100% learned. The world’s top performers aren’t born that way, they learn excellence. So can everyone else, and Dr. Eric Potterat can teach us.  One of the world’s leading performance psychologists and a retired US Navy Commander, Dr. Potterat has spent over three decades helping thousands of top performers from the military, sports, first responder, and business worlds improve. He served as the lead psychologist for the US Navy SEALs and the Los Angeles Dodgers, and has consulted with the US Women’s National Soccer team, the Miami Heat, Red Bull athletes, NASA astronauts, and dozens of Olympic medalists. In Learned Excellence , Eric distills the insights he’s learned into five mental disciplines for high performance—Values & Goals, Mindset, Process, Adversity Tolerance, and Balance & Recovery. Illustrated with numerous stories and quotes, Learned Excellence features clear principles and practices that anyone can use to raise their game.  We are all performers, at work, at school, at home, and at life. Learned Excellence provides the roadmap to help each of us perform at our very best.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Leadership, Audiobook, Philosophy, Psychology

1 pages, Audio CD

Published February 6, 2024

Reviews

[Jung · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Learned Excellence: Mental Disciplines for Leading and Winning from the World's Top Performers" by Eric Potterat and Alan Eagle offers a comprehensive guide to achieving sustained excellence through the mastery of specific mental disciplines. Drawing from insights gleaned from top performers across various fields, the authors present a roadmap for individuals seeking to excel professionally and personally. The book outlines five crucial mental disciplines that form the foundation of peak performance:

1. Values and Goals: The first discipline involves identifying and aligning with your core values and goals. By crafting a personal credo and setting short- and long-term objectives across different aspects of life, individuals create a roadmap for their journey towards excellence.

2. Mindset: Mindset is presented as a deliberate choice rather than a fixed trait. By adopting mindset traits conducive to their roles and focusing on attitude, effort, and behavior within their control, individuals can influence their chances of success across various domains.

3. Process: The third discipline emphasizes the importance of meticulously cultivating a consistent approach to performance. Through intentional planning and careful selection of information sources, individuals can maximize their time and ensure continuous improvement.

4. Adversity Tolerance: Mental toughness and resilience are highlighted as essential components of peak performance. Practices such as visualization, contingency planning, and the "black box" technique help individuals withstand challenges, learn from setbacks, and grow stronger.

5. Balance and Recovery: Finally, achieving sustainable peak performance requires balancing investment across different life domains and prioritizing recovery. By incorporating activities that promote physical and mental rejuvenation into their routines, individuals can ensure long-term success and well-being.

Throughout the book, the authors emphasize the importance of self-awareness, deliberate practice, and continuous improvement in the pursuit of excellence. By honing these mental disciplines, readers can unlock their full potential and create a life that is both meaningful and spectacular.

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may be biased (@David) but this was an awesome read with clear takeaways and engaging stories. The margins of my copy are covered in notes (and lots of “!!!!yes!!!”) and I’m looking forward to working through the exercises.

[Deanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learned Excellence teaches the skills, mindset, and process needed to manage pressure and improve performance, not just in a career, but as a hobbyist, parent, and person. I found it to be an easy read and I enjoyed doing the excercises.
Early on, it encourages you to list your personal values/credo (compassion, endurance, leadership, goodness, learning, family, etc.), what values you need to grow to be better in each of your roles though they might not be one of your core values (firmer leader), and then set goals in the main areas of your life.
Next, it gets into the best way to tackle individual stressors, from visualization, controlled breathing exercises, contingency planning, and pregame routines, to post game reviews with a focus on the process not the result and how to relax post game as well.
I think this would be a good book for anyone to help their personal growth, students, athletes, leaders, parents, or anyone else.
Skills from this book that I use regularly now are 4444 breathing, pregame visualization, and scheduled free time.

I recieved an advanced reading copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway.

[Mir Shahzad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary:

It has to be learned and earned. The good news is that by honing the mental disciplines of values and goals, mindset, process, adversity tolerance, and balance and recovery, anyone can achieve excellence. The less desirable news is it takes conscious, constant work, day in, day out. That's what makes excellence so impressive.

But what could possibly be more rewarding than dedicating yourself to realizing your true potential, professionally and personally? Indeed, it's the things we didn't try or only half-heartedly tried that we'll most regret on our deathbeds, not that we strove to give our all. By following the five disciplines framework, you can create a life that's as meaningful as it is spectacular.

[Maxine Blackwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has to be learned and earned. The good news is that by honing the mental disciplines of values and goals, mindset, process, adversity tolerance, and balance and recovery, anyone can achieve excellence. The less desirable news is it takes conscious, constant work, day in, day out. That's what makes excellence so impressive.

But what could possibly be more rewarding than dedicating yourself to realizing your true potential, professionally and personally? Indeed, it's the things we didn't try or only half-heartedly tried that we'll most regret on our deathbeds, not that we strove to give our all. By following the five disciplines framework, you can create a life that's as meaningful as it is spectacular.

[Margo · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC from publisher

This is the first book I've read about becoming a great leader that I enjoyed! It lays out a framework for 3, 6 and 9 month activities to assist in improving leadership skills. It encourages you to explore yourself, your personal values first and foremost and then delves into extrinsic factors. I'm hoping to work through the methods in this book with my entire leadership team in hopes of making us all better leaders both as a team and individually.

[Ali Toloczko · Rating 5 out of 5]

HIGHLY Recommend to anyone who is trying to better one's self. The book is written by a clinical psychologist and goes over mindset, strategies and other tips that olympic athletes, navy seals, first reponders use to become the best version of themselves and have the best results. Some of the strategies I do unconciously but I definitely picked up a few tips that I want to incorporate into my practice

[Sarah Cupitt]

Interesting that this book placed achievements and fulfilment in the same category. Gets 3/5 stars for me because it seemed to generic to give a 4/5. It's not bad but it's nothing new.

Action:
- A great place to kick things off is with the introspective process of crafting a personal credo – a clear statement that encapsulates your core values. This short, curated maxim acts as a compass, guiding decisions and actions, ensuring they are aligned with what truly matters to you. That’s why a credo is more than just a vision statement; it’s a declaration of your identity and how you want to live your life.

Notes:
- the five crucial mental disciplines that form the backbone of peak performance: identifying and aligning with your core values and goals; choosing and cultivating a productive mindset; meticulously planning and refining your process; developing a tolerance for adversity; and embracing the principles of balance and recovery
- Each discipline builds upon the previous, creating a comprehensive framework for not only achieving success but also for sustaining it.
- staying in the circle – focusing on the three sole elements within your control: attitude, effort, and behavior.
- No one is born with the peak performance mindset. It has to be learned and earned.

[OBrien McMahon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Few have worked with more exceptional performers than Dr. Potterat. The tips in this book can help anyone be better in life, no matter the goal. I’ve had the chance to see him speak and to talk with him about these concepts. They work and they aren’t difficult to implement. It just takings knowing and practicing them.

[Max Gifford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend. Even if you think you have things figured out and dialed in, you can always improve. This book combines thoughts from the world’s top performers and distinguishes what makes them great.

[Arun Narayanaswamy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow what an impactful book. The author makes many simple facts so amazingly relatable and impactful.
This is one which touches upon various aspects to make you more effective holistically. A must read.

[Adam Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing new here. The resume of the author is impressive but nothing groundbreaking was offered in the book. Not bad, but was not overly intriguing to me

[Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth reading again within the next year if not sooner. Wealth of ideas all in one place. Need to break down and implement step by step. Start with Breathe 4444

[Mad Sanchez · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Daniel Tanque · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great and insightful book about emotional toughness, strategies on managing habits and mindset.

very interesting to see this in BUDS and how extends to so many fields of excellence.