Page de couverture de Peak Performer

Peak Performer

Peak Performer

Auteur(s): Larry G. Maguire
Écouter gratuitement

À propos de cet audio

A show about the mental skills of peak performance from psychologist and lecturer Larry G. Maguire. On Peak Performer, you can get tips and advice on how to obtain the best from yourself and others while maintaining psychological health. We'll examine aspects of performance such as leadership, motivation, well-being, expertise, intelligence, personality and positive psychology. Learn to manage stress and anxiety, cope under pressure and produce consistently higher-level performance at work with the psychological skills of experts. Read more at https://peak.humanperformance.ie/

peak.humanperformance.ieLarry G. Maguire
Développement personnel Hygiène et mode de vie sain Psychologie Psychologie et santé mentale Réussite
Épisodes
  • Day 22: Accepting Conditions
    Jul 16 2025

    Accepting conditions for what they are is probably our greatest challenge, because our surface-level mind is almost always active and almost always looks to the past for evidence of the apparent future. If you take time to contemplate it, you’ll realise that neither the future nor the past exists in reality. Our experience only exists now, all we have is this moment that seems to be both fleeting and yet eternal. Thinking creates the past and the future, and time is merely a social convenience. This is so well established in philosophy and science that it hardly needs discussion, and yet, our society and everyone in it is bound by thoughts of the future or the past, and rarely the present.

    Developed from behavioural and cognitive therapies, Acceptance and Commitment Theory (ACT) (Hayes, 2006) emphasises the importance of being psychologically flexible. This includes the capacity to remain present and take action in accordance with one's values despite obstacles. Primarily employed in clinical contexts, ACT is now being applied in non-clinical settings, such as workplaces and sports, to help people improve performance, cope with stress, and support overall well-being.

    The ACT model is grounded on six core psychological processes

    * Embracing thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations without attempting to suppress or avoid them is referred to as Acceptance.

    * Reframing thoughts as mental events rather than absolute truths is referred to as Cognitive Defusion.

    * Developing a mindful, present-focused awareness of the ongoing experience is termed as Being Present.

    * Understanding the concept of self-as-context involves recognising a consistent sense of self that observes thoughts and feelings without being controlled by them.

    * Defining personal Values helps in identifying what holds significance for an individual.

    * Engaging in actions aligned with one's values despite the presence of unwanted thoughts or emotions is known as Committed Action.

    These strategies aim to enhance psychological adaptability, which is strongly correlated with improved mental well-being and achievements in various aspects of life (Kashdan & Rottenberg, 2010).

    Kashdan and Rottenberg say that psychological flexibility spans a wide range of human abilities to: recognise and adapt to various situational demands; shift mindsets or behavioural repertoires when these strategies compromise personal or social functioning; maintain balance among important life domains; and be aware, open, and committed to behaviours that are congruent with deeply held values.

    Applying ACT in Your Daily Work

    Engaging in an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) process may help you feel less overwhelmed in challenging situations and improve your ability to navigate your thoughts constructively. The core principle involves recognising that your thoughts and feelings are integral to who you are and committing to behaviours that align with your values. A professional will collaborate closely with you to help you achieve your goals, as ACT is highly individualised. Similar to other forms of intervention, you may encounter uncomfortable emotions or memories during the process. This is why it’s best to work with a trained ACT professional.

    Free Resources

    I have a growing collection of free resources to help you develop the psychological skills necessary to achieve your goals, regardless of the domain of work you find yourself in. The mental skills I teach are fundamental to peak human performance. Hit the blue button to download free mental skills resources.



    Get full access to Peak Performer at peak.humanperformance.ie/subscribe
    Voir plus Voir moins
    14 min
  • Day 21: Understanding Stress
    Jul 14 2025
    Stress is a normal part of life. It represents the challenge that being alive presents, and without it, life would be very boring. What do you want, an easy and challenge-free existence? Best of luck with that. Yes, I know that pretty much every marketing campaign out there promises you an easier life, a hedonistic life, even, but the truth is that it is idealistic and naive. To live a life full of pleasure and ease, without pain and discomfort, is unrealistic. Instead, you’ve got to embrace whatever life throws at you and, in the meantime, cultivate the skills you need to survive and grow.Aristotle wrote that most people are slaves to their desires. They crave the easy life and run away from difficulty. He stated that pursuing the hedonic lifestyle was detrimental to the good life. Instead, he advocated for the Eudaimonic life—a life spent engaged in things that were inherently challenging and interesting. It was there that he said the meaning and purpose of life could be found. In contemporary terms, we refer to this as flourishing wellbeing. It is the doing of things for their own sake rather than for their outcomes. There is no ulterior motive in our actions, and we accept whatever life sends our way because we possess the mental skills to cope and to flourish regardless.Stress and burnout are significant psychological phenomena with wide-ranging implications for health, well-being, and occupational functioning. While stress is often a short-term response to perceived threats or challenges, burnout is a chronic state of physical and emotional exhaustion that develops gradually in response to prolonged stress, particularly in work contexts. Understanding the pathways from stress to burnout involves examining both dispositional (personality-related) and environmental factors.The Yerkes-Dodson Law (1908) describes the relationship between arousal (or stress) and performance. It proposes that performance improves with increasing arousal, but only up to an optimal point, beyond which performance deteriorates. This relationship is typically represented as an inverted U-shaped curve, as seen below. The curve illustrates that both low arousal levels (leading to boredom) and high arousal levels (leading to anxiety) impair performance, while moderate arousal levels are associated with optimal performance.Originally based on experiments with mice, Yerkes and Dodson found that simple tasks benefited from higher arousal, while complex tasks required lower arousal for a longer time. This idea has since been applied across various domains, including work, education, and sport. In work psychology, the Yerkes-Dodson Law explains how moderate stress can enhance motivation and productivity. Chronic or excessive stress, on the other hand, contributes to burnout—a syndrome marked by emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced professional efficacy (Maslach et al., 2001).Dispositional Stress: The Role of PersonalityDispositional stress refers to an individual's inherent predisposition to stress, as observed in research in personality psychology. High levels of neuroticism—a trait characterised by emotional instability, proneness to anxiety, and sensitivity to adverse situations—have been strongly correlated with higher perceived stress (Ebstrup et al., 2011). If you score high on neuroticism, you may interpret ambiguous situations as threatening, experience greater physiological arousal, and struggle with emotional regulation. In other words, your typical reaction to difficulty is not very productive.Maladaptive perfectionism, in particular, has been linked to chronic stress and increased risk of burnout, especially in achievement-oriented domains (Hill & Curran, 2016). These individuals set unrealistically high standards for themselves and experience distress when they fail to meet them. Influential research by Lazarus and Folkman (1984) highlighted that those who predominantly use emotion-focused coping strategies (avoidance, denial) rather than problem-focused strategies (planning, seeking support) are more susceptible to stress. This highlights the significance of dispositional variables in influencing how individuals perceive and respond to stressors.Environmental StressEnvironmental stressors are external conditions or demands that challenge your ability to cope. In occupational settings, high workload, time pressure, low autonomy, lack of support, and role uncertainty are familiar sources of stress (Karasek & Theorell, 1990). The Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) model (Siegrist, 1996) further explains how chronic stress arises when the effort invested in work is not matched by adequate rewards, resulting in a sense of unfairness and a lack of equity. This imbalance can lead to persistent stress and a sense of injustice, fostering emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation, two hallmarks of burnout.Outside the workplace, environmental stress can also stem from team or group conflict, aggressive forms of ...
    Voir plus Voir moins
    12 min
  • Day 20: What Is Anxiety?
    Jul 11 2025
    We’ve all felt anxiety at some point in our lives, the apprehension associated with possible adverse future outcomes. It’s usually associated with something important to us, like performing well in a job interview, going to a social event with people that we’re uncomfortable being around, or running our first marathon. We hope things will go well, but we’re uneasy about the unknown and imagine something different. Depending on the person, it can be mild, like butterflies in your stomach. To others, is can become chronic and completely debilitating. Individual differences count, and so too does past experience. Still, essentially, it is our thoughts about the future and our perceived potential for failure that have the most significant influence on the intensity and duration of anxiety we feel. If you want to perform to your best, understanding and managing anxiety is critical.What Is Anxiety?Anxiety is a natural response to perceived threat or danger, characterised by a range of emotional, cognitive, and physiological symptoms. While short-term anxiety can be helpful, allowing you to respond quickly to potential harm, chronic or excessive anxiety impairs healthy functioning. At its worst, prolonged anxiety can lead to physiological illness and psychological disorders. If we can understand anxiety, we may be better able to mitigate against it. Perspectives include neurological, psychological, and physiological mechanisms at work in its presentations. Each perspective offers distinct insights into how anxiety arises, how you experience it, and how you can effectively treat it. Cognitive Behavioural approaches can be very helpful, and you don’t necessarily need a professional practitioner to help you here; you can execute these strategies yourself. Exercise can also have a positive effect.A paper by Severinsen & Pedersine (2020) reported that physical exercise has positive health effects on cognitive function and brain health. Through the muscle’s production of Myokines, they say that physical activity can decrease the rate of cognitive decline in healthy people and in people with neurodegenerative disorders across the life span. Physical exercise has a positive impact on stress, anxiety, and depression, they report. Other studies have shown that an active lifestyle is associated with improved learning and memory, enhanced executive functions, better language skills, faster reaction times, higher academic achievement in children, and increased intelligence in adolescents. Physical activity also has beneficial effects on appetite, sleep, and mood. Difficult and challenging workouts also build resilience to stress.The Neurological Perspective on AnxietyFrom a neurological standpoint, anxiety is rooted in the functioning of several brain structures and neurotransmitter systems responsible for emotional regulation and threat detection. The amygdala, the fear centre, plays a central role in the processing of apparent threat. In anxiety disorders, hyperactivity in the amygdala leads to exaggerated responses to perceived dangers, even in safe situations (Etkin & Wager, 2007). This over-activation is often accompanied by insufficient regulation from the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for executive control and emotional regulation (Bishop, 2007). When the prefrontal cortex fails to inhibit the amygdala effectively, anxiety symptoms can intensify. What we mean here in practical terms is, the capacity to become accept conditions as they are, and to realise the threat is mostly imagined, not real.The hippocampus, which plays a crucial role in contextual memory and learning, is also implicated. Dysfunction in the hippocampus may lead to overgeneralisation of fear responses—responding with anxiety to cues that resemble, but are not identical to, previous threats. Neurotransmitters such as gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), serotonin, and noradrenaline are also key. GABA is the brain’s primary inhibitory neurotransmitter and is responsible for dampening neural excitability. Low levels of GABA are associated with heightened anxiety. Similarly, imbalances in serotonin and noradrenaline systems can lead to increased arousal, poor mood regulation, and hyper-vigilance. Diet can impact neurotransmitter regulation. Exercise also impacts their production in the brain.Summary:* Amygdala hyperactivity and poor prefrontal regulation contribute to anxiety.* Hippocampal dysfunction leads to fear generalisation.* Low GABA and serotonin levels increase emotional reactivity.The Psychological Perspective on AnxietyPsychological theories of anxiety focus on the mental and behavioural processes that contribute to the onset and maintenance of anxious states. Cognitive theory, as proposed by Beck (1976), suggests that individuals with anxiety disorders engage in maladaptive thinking patterns, such as catastrophising or selectively attending to threat-related information and ignoring information that supports ...
    Voir plus Voir moins
    16 min

Ce que les auditeurs disent de Peak Performer

Moyenne des évaluations de clients

Évaluations – Cliquez sur les onglets pour changer la source des évaluations.