The most powerful intervention I do with performers

How to identify your signature strengths

Here's one of the most powerful exercises you can do.

Make a list of 10 of the most important people in your life.

Ask them to send you a story about a time when they saw you operating at your best.

Where were you? What were you doing? What did they observe about you?

When you get back all the answers, group them thematically (or ask ChatGPT to do it for you).

You'll have a list of your signature strengths — as witnessed by other people with real examples you can use to tell the story of you at your best.

Each time I do this intervention, the person or people I'm working with tell me its one of the most positive experiences they've ever had.

A group of medical school residents I did this with told me it was the best thing they did in their entire residency. A VP I did this with told me it reconnected him to long-lost friends and changed the way he saw himself. A CEO I did this with said he never felt more appreciated by his team and it helped him to reach the next level.

It can be hard to see ourselves honestly. It can also be challenging to identify what it is we're great at. This exercise allows us to do both.

And that's important, because both honesty and maximizing our strengths are key to peak performance and reaching the top of our game.

This is one powerful way to get started.