What sets high achievers apart?
"How to Create Outstanding Results" from World-Class Scholars and Mentors

As time goes by, the fundamentals of work do not change!

Time is limited, but work is piling up.
In a work environment that demands maximum effectiveness with minimal manpower, the quality of performance is becoming increasingly important.
How to get maximum results in a short period of time?

In Volume 1 of the Momentum for Growth series, which imparts timeless self-management wisdom, world-class experts and mentors share their tips for achieving peak performance.
This book has compiled the core ideas of world-renowned scholars and mentors, including Peter Drucker, revered as the 'father of modern management'; psychologist Anders Ericsson, who developed the '10,000-hour rule'; Ellen Langer, who advocated mindfulness; James Clear, author of the bestseller 'The Power of Small Habits' and a self-development mentor; and Heidi Grant, a leading expert in motivation research.
You can find the time-tested classics of self-management in one volume.

This book will help you build the essential foundations of self-management, including developing professional expertise, career planning, changing habits, managing your mood at work, leveraging your strengths, managing your time efficiently, and developing leadership skills for collaboration.
This will be helpful for those who want to improve work efficiency, those who are achieving some level of performance but want to perform even better, and those who want to achieve tangible results.

Across a wide range of fields, including athletes, novelists, and musicians, it's extremely rare to find someone who can practice with concentration for more than four or five hours at a time.
In fact, professional teachers and scientists devote only two hours a day, usually in the morning, to the most demanding mental activities, such as writing about new ideas.
While it may seem like a relatively short investment of time, two hours a day is more than most executives and managers in organizations invest in self-development.
Instead, they spend most of their time in meetings and routine tasks.
And this difference amounts to about 700 hours per year, or about 7,000 hours over 10 years.
Just think what you could accomplish if you dedicated just two hours a day to focused practice.

--- p.20

Even people who understand the importance of responsibility in relationships often don't communicate well enough with their colleagues.
Because they are afraid that they will seem presumptuous, curious, or foolish.
But this thinking is wrong.
Someone goes to a colleague and says, “This is what I’m good at.
This is how I work.
And these are my values.
When I say, “This is what I plan to focus on in terms of contributions, and this is the outcome I expect,” the response I always get is:
“Stories like this really help.
But why didn't you tell me sooner?"
--- p.52

Typically, the feedback process emphasizes the negative aspects.
Even if the overall evaluation is positive, the discussion always focuses on 'areas for improvement'.
Also, harsh criticism is remembered longer than gentle praise.
Studies show that people pay more attention to negative information.
For example, if you ask people to recall events that had a significant emotional impact, they will likely recall about four negative memories for every positive one.
So it's no surprise that most members of an organization give and receive performance evaluations as noisily as children going to the dentist.

--- p.84

If you want to develop habits that will help you achieve your goals, there are two things to keep in mind.
The first is that many people start out with goals, ambitions, or resolutions that are too grandiose, and because of that, they often fail to achieve what they want.
Breaking down habits and behaviors into smaller pieces to make them simpler and easier to achieve is a more effective way to achieve your goals.
Doing so will also increase your chances of maintaining your goals.
I call this method the '2-minute rule'.
Whatever habit you develop, reduce it to something you can do in two minutes or less.
So, ‘read 30 books next year’ becomes ‘read 1 page a day.’
‘Do yoga four days a week’ becomes ‘Get out your yoga mat.’
--- p.127

While it's widely believed that high pressure and fear promote achievement, research shows that, at least in the realm of knowledge work, people are more creative and productive when their internal state at work is positive—when they feel happy, intrinsically motivated by their work, and positively perceive their colleagues and organization.
In this positive state, we become more dedicated to our work and our camaraderie with those around us also strengthens.
The inner state of work life can change from day to day, sometimes rapidly, and performance can vary accordingly.
During work life, your inner state on a particular day affects your work performance that day and also affects your performance the next day.
So, can such effects be intentionally induced through management? What specific events evoke positive or negative emotions, motivations, and perceptions? The answer lies hidden in the study participants' journals.
There were indeed predictable triggers that drove the inner state of work life in a positive or negative direction.

--- p.177

An indispensable leader in an organization tends to excel at a few things rather than being good at many things.
These strengths allow a leader to accept his inevitable weaknesses.
Analysis of the database revealed that those without unique strengths scored an average of only 34 percent on overall leadership ability.
However, when there was just one outstanding strength, the overall leadership score rose by an average of 64 percent.
In other words, the difference between leaders in the bottom third and those in the top third was one outstanding strength.

--- p.157

Group members inevitably 'pick up' on each other's emotions.
In 2000, Caroline Battel of New York University and Richard Saavedra of the University of Michigan studied 70 work teams across a range of disciplines and found that participants in meetings shared their feelings with each other within two hours.
(…) Groups, like individuals, experience intense emotional swings together, sharing everything from jealousy to anxiety to happiness (note that good vibes spread fastest when humor is used wisely).

--- p.227

It's important to remember that stress isn't caused by events, but by how we view them.
Imagine something happening, and the dire consequences if it does.
But this kind of imagination is just an illusion.
We don't know what will happen in the future.
Now, here are five reasons why you shouldn't quit your job.
Then think about the benefits of quitting your job.
New opportunities may arise, and you may be able to spend more time with your family.
Before, I thought something bad was bound to happen, but through this process, my thinking changed to, 'That might happen, but it's okay.'
You can use the same approach when you feel overwhelmed by all the responsibilities.
It's about questioning the belief that only I can do it, that there's only one way to do it, and that if I don't do it, the company will collapse.
When you open your eyes to mindfulness, stress just disappears.

--- p.259