Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success Hardcover – June 6, 2017

I admit it. I’m a sucker for books on productivity and improving performance. Ever since I was a teenager, I’ve looked for ways to improve my own productivity and performance. I’m not an athlete. I’m an author, ghostwriter, and book writing coach. My purpose is to help other people discover and create great business books. That’s what I want to be fit for, and productive at.I don’t know how many books on improving performance and productivity I’ve read over the years, but I’m sure it’s over 100. As a result, when I read a new book, I’m not looking for some grand secret that no one has yet discovered. I’m looking for a fresh presentation of some things that I already know. I’m also looking for a tip or two about how I can change my behavior to do better. Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with The New Science of Success delivers on both of those.The authors introduce themselves and the book by telling the story of how they both achieved significant levels of performance and success early in life, then had that all come apart. They made their first connection online and shared their individual stories with each other. Here’s how they describe what happened next.“What started out as a two-person support group morphed into a close friendship, followed upon a shared interest in the science of performance. We became curious: Is healthy, sustainable peak performance possible? If so, how? What’s the secret? What, if any, are the principles underlying great performance? How can people like us – which is to say just about anyone – adopt them?”Here’s the core truth that this book builds on.“The key to strengthening your biceps – and, as we’ll learn, any muscle, be it physical, cognitive, or emotional – is balancing the right amount of stress with the right amount of rest. Stress + rest + growth. This equation holds true regardless of what it is that you’re trying to grow.”That’s not new. Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz wrote an excellent book about that basic principle almost 20 years ago. The title is The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal.Stulberg and Magness build on that core truth in the three sections of their book. Section one is about the growth equation. Section two is what they call “priming” and discusses optimizing your routine. The third section is about developing and living out your purpose.What makes this book different is contained in one of the quotes above. The authors aren’t just after peak performance. Lots of people write books about that. They’re after “healthy, sustainable peak performance.” That difference from other books is important and significant and why I thought this was a great book.This is the kind of book that repays reading straight through. Sure, you can jump around from topic to topic, but the organization is perfect for a straight-through read.Every few pages, the authors summarize their key points in a section called “Performance Practices.” This is great for helpful review. They even go further by putting a recap of all the performance practices toward the end of the book.In A NutshellIf you’re looking for solid advice on improving your performance at anything in a healthy and sustainable way, Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with The New Science of Success is the book for you. It’s well-researched and well-written.

Peak Performance explores the science behind high achievement, breaking it down into key themes—stress as a growth driver, focus, flow, mindset, and motivation. The book makes a strong case against multitasking, backed by fMRI research, and highlights how our perception of stress shapes its physiological effects. One unexpected but useful topic: fatigue and recovery.For anyone new to these concepts, this is a solid introduction with plenty of actionable takeaways. That said, if you're already familiar with Csikszentmihalyi, Ericsson, and Carol Dweck’s work, much of this will feel like reinforcement rather than new insight.One practical shift for me is that while I already structure my days around deep work, I haven’t been intentional about priming rituals beforehand. Given the research on positive mood and cognitive performance, it makes sense to add a short check-in before deep work sessions—something I already do before coaching calls but hadn’t extended to focused solo work.Overall, a worthwhile read for those looking to optimize performance through science-backed strategies.

This is a thoughtful, well-written and practical work on ways to improve your performance based on principles developed from both real-world examples (across many fields) and the latest science (across multiple disciplines). This is a "Do the work" book - if you are looking for the success and flourishing equivalent of a get rich quick scheme, then look elsewhere. If you are willing to do the work, try some new things (and/or stop doing some others), then this book will provide a wealth of ideas and information to help you on your journey.The book is broken into 3 sections based on their key principles of:* The Growth Equation (stress + rest = growth)* Priming - the power of developing optimal routines and designing your day* Purpose - to keep you focused and motivatedThere are many valuable ideas and insights in each chapter. My favorite feature of the book are the "performance practices" - these are callout boxes that distill key ideas into actions you can take right away to start to improve.I learned and was challenged throughout the book - my 2 favorite chapters are:* minimalist to be a maximalist - life is about choices and it is important to be highly focused in some areas and minimize the decisions and attention we give to other areas. I loved this quote from Michael Joyner - "You need to say no to a lot of things so that when it is time to say yes, you can do so with all your energy." The key is to be intentional and to make habits for the areas that are needed but not part of your focus.* transcend your "self". This chapter is on purpose and it challenges a lot of my thinking. I plan to work with some of the ideas mentioned here (and do the exercise on purpose that they recommend) and see how this works for me. I want to understand both the theory and practice in this area so I will be reading some of the works mentioned here in the near future. I am a strong believer in purpose but not "self-transcendence" and that is what I want to understand more.The book is truly action oriented and I have already starting using the ideas as I read the book over the last few days. I recommend the book highly and for those who are coaches or leaders, I would encourage you to share the ideas with your teams (and encourage them to read the book).Two additional thoughts - any critical thinker will find areas they disagree with in most books and this is no exception. The power of this book is that it is encouraging me to explore those areas in more detail. Additionally, most of us know that psychology and the social sciences have been plagued with a "reproduce-ability crisis" with many studies. While this work is very evidence based, it is important to remember that these ideas and findings will continue to evolve and change. For those with a growth mindset, that is just another piece of the puzzle in long-term learning and growth.I hope this book gets a wide audience and helps others in their personnel success and flourishing.