Have you ever met an interesting person — let alone a deeply passionate one — who is balanced? - Brad Stulberg

the zone." For Billingslea, the zone represents a mindset in which he doesn't dwell on mistakes or get distracted by the crowd. Ideally, he told us, he stops thinking altogether and his performance becomes automatic:

common trap is when our short-term feelings are misguided and do not align with our values or long-term goals.

great performers never just hope they'll be on top of their game. Rather, they actively create the specific conditions that will elicit their personal best, priming themselves for performance.