# 164 | Create, Keep & Become a High Performer

Ever wonder what motivates Olympic medalists and NBA champions? Thanks to Dr Ruth Gotain I now know most of the time it’s not actually the gold medal at the end. (in fact most of them store their medals in their sock drawers!) Dr. Ruth Gotian has studied hundreds of high performers and interviewed loads of successful athletes, astronauts and Nobel Peace Prize winners. She joined us this week to share some of their secrets and mindset hacks that we can implement to help us succeed at work.

She noticed high achievers look at failure as data. If you pay attention during the Olympics she says almost every athlete will immediately look to their coach for feedback after an event. The good, the bad and the ugly they want it all so they can analyze what they can tweak and do better on.

They’re also tracking their progress and their goals. Ruth says she uses this same concept by making a very clear list of goals for herself and making sure every opportunity aligns with that list before she agrees to say yes to anything. I asked her what we should do if we haven’t discovered our passion yet. How do we make sure we’re motivated in the right direction? Whether you’re juggling too many interests or struggling to find motivation, Ruth has a passion audit tool she shared on her website to help you hone in on what really matters.

This conversation had so many stories that motivated me to take a look at my life and work and improve on the pieces of it that I can! Whether it was the story of the lawyer who gives his closing argument to his children before a big case or the astronaut who kept applying for a job she was rejected for multiple times I was reminded that failure isn’t the end and that becoming a high performer and associating with other high performers takes some work but the end result is even better than a gold medal.

Want To Skip Around? Timestamps:

10:22 How Olympians view success

15:08 Tips for embracing failure

20:30 How to find your true passion

25:45 Grit and resilience in challenging times

30:12 Tips for finding the right mentor

35:27 Ruth’s career change journey at 43

40:18 How to reignite your motivation

Links Mentioned:

Creating Your Passion Audit: https://ruthgotian.com/passionaudit/

Ruth’s Book: “The Success Factor”

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