The 8 Factors You Need for High Performance

High performance in entrepreneurship requires the optimization of 8 factors, writes Gustavo Oliveira

Serial entrepreneur and high performance coach, Professor Gustavo Oliveira has released an eBook which supports entrepreneurs in achieving high performance in life and in business.

In his entrepreneur book he writes that to live life fully and to perform at our best we need to identify conditions and factors in order to extract our abilities and skills and then put them into practice.

And with the right conditions engineered by 8 key factors (ideas and techniques) we can achieve high performance, accomplish our goals, thrive and succeed.

Fundamentally, ’The Entrepreneurial Mind’ is an entrepreneur book that shares Gustavo’s personal experiences, learnings, concepts and principals which he uses to lead his own life as a high performance entrepreneur and influencer.

His eBook and teachings are based upon the approach of the DeRose Method.

Today, Gustavo, who has coached high performance entrepreneurs, corporate executives and professional athletes throughout the world, is also a DeRose Method head expert at the Tribeca location in New York City and a Board Member of the Global DeRose Network.

Many people already have these insights, hunches and extraordinary performance moments but they don’t know how to continuously harness them

Here, Gustavo tells Nativa World about his entrepreneur book, The Entrepreneurial Mind and reveals the 8 factors that business people need to hone and optimize for high performance in entrepreneurship

Gustavo, what’s behind your eBook ‘The Entrepreneurial Mind’?

I’ve always questioned and sought answers for everything in my life and have never settled for following what everyone else does. I’ve also tried to see life in new perspectives. One of the most significant sources of inspiration for my ‘frame of thought,’ and ultimately this book were my parents.

My father was born into an impoverished family and worked hard in to provide a better life for us. He ended up becoming the director of the largest Brazilian power supply company. My mother was extremely progressive, had broadminded views and dared to be different. She taught us to think differently.

At 25 I had an excellent job, success, and health, but felt dissatisfied and that life could not be just that. I was walking the path society had expected of me, but it wasn’t my own. I wanted to see the world through a different lens and to be freer.

In 2002 decided to leave my job and founded a cybersecurity firm. After great success, people were intrigued to learn my “secrets,” so in 2006, I decided to set up a personal development company using the methods derived from The DeRose Method.

After buying several of their schools in Brazil and taking shares in one of the DeRose Method New York City venues, I moved to Manhattan. It was there that I decided to write The Entrepreneurial Mind.

This book is my way of contributing to society. It’s part of what I’ve learned in life and how I got rid of the same boring standards that I felt were limiting me. It’s part of learning how to be richer and more productive in every aspect of your life – not just the financial one.

How is the DeRose Method integrated into your work and your entrepreneur book?

The DeRose Method is a philosophy that helps improve the quality of life and performance in every aspect of one’s life. When I use the concepts and techniques from this methodology, I develop better relationships with my teams, clients and suppliers, I remain focused in what matters the most, I simplify things and promote an awesome environment to work with discipline, collaboration, humor and a light atmosphere.

Success is also about seeking to be a better human being, in general, and not solely through entrepreneurship

How does your eBook differ from entrepreneur books written by other successful entrepreneurs?

The definition of success goes much beyond reaching a life of financial comfort. Success is also about the form and the means in which success is achieved. It’s about obtaining success in all areas of your life. It is the expansion of consciousness through entrepreneurship and how it relates to the world. Success is also about seeking to be a better human being, in general, and not solely through entrepreneurship. It’s to inspire others who are positively dissatisfied to think differently and outside the pre-established patterns of society. It’s feeling fulfilled as humans, in business and in life, to have a positive effect on society.

Success also requires more than just acquiring the technical skills. It’s crucial for the entrepreneur to improve himself, his habits, attitudes and behavior in order to find the ultimate differential that will make their dreams into a reality. We live in a very competitive world and 1% better may be the only difference you’ll need. Therefore, because we live in a very fast and cutthroat world, it may take you to unbearable levels of stress and burnout if you don’t learn how to cope with pressure. Therefore, it’s important to learn how to reset your mind from life’s daily pressures; once you’ve mastered this, you’ll start to notice improvements your performance.

In this entrepreneur book, I discuss, what I call the “high-performance state of consciousness.” When you start to apply and cultivate some of the basic habits and daily routines presented in this book, you’ll begin to develop what I call “Intuitional Intelligence”. Many people already have these insights, hunches and extraordinary performance moments but they don’t know how to continuously harness them. The book shows readers a system that you can utilize in order to access your intuitional Intelligence to reach a level of high performance.

What many new entrepreneurs don’t know is that most people don’t fail, they give up

Who would benefit from reading The Entrepreneurial Mind?

Those who are ‘positively’ dissatisfied. They live reasonably well, but they’re not entirely satisfied. They seek something more out of life. They have an entrepreneurial drive within them. Some may already be entrepreneurs, and others may be entrepreneurial executives, entrepreneurial athletes. Today, more and more people want to be freer. They want to have the ability to control their lives, their time, while still doing what they dream and love. Entrepreneurship is a remedy for this desire and the reasons why many seek entrepreneurship. On the other hand, being an entrepreneur can bring a lot of personal and professional challenges. My book is an excellent guide to help people facing those challenges to put things into a better perspective.

Do you plan to formally publish this work?

Right now, the book is available as an e-book. I have a principle with me that’s to test everything I do without fear of failure. So, before launching the book on paper, I decided to release it for free in eBook PDF format to reach large numbers of people in order to get feedback. I plan to publish the book in printed version soon.

What help do most entrepreneurs tend to need help with?

Usually, most people think that technical knowledge about the market and their chosen field of work is the only thing they need to succeed. However, what many new entrepreneurs don’t know is that most people don’t fail, they give up. As time passes in the new venture, entrepreneurs experience a lot of failures. As a result, they lose self-confidence, motivation, self-empowerment, and energy to continue during the hard moments. And finally, most of them just give up, because they don’t feel they are good enough to go on.

My book focuses a lot on this aspect, such as enhancing self-confidence, habits, attitudes, mindset, mental resilience, daily routines and focus. These are all important aspects needed in order to succeed and achieve high performance. However, the most important habits/skills a person should have are consistency and perseverance, while never forgetting to take care and cultivate every single aspect of their lives; therefore, all aspects of life can work together to contribute to your success.

The basic idea that permeates the system is to identify the conditions and factors that allow people to extract all their abilities and all their skills and start putting them into practice

What’s the ‘Entrepreneurial Mind System’ and how does it lead to high performance?

Since we were born, we’ve been conditioned by specific patterns of behaviors. We are what we repeatedly think, feel, eat and behave. Even when we see that our behaviors are not rewarding, rarely are we able to change these habits and attitudes. It’s much easier to plan around them than to change them.

Many of us may live a busy and hectic lifestyle. We wake up, work, eat and sleep almost automatically, without asking ourselves what really makes us happy and fulfilled in life? And this unconsciousness process repeats itself daily, which can lead to a non-fulfilling lifestyle. Would you like to change some habits, attitudes, and behaviors to live your life fully and to perform at your best?

The basic idea that permeates the system is to identify the conditions and factors that allow people to extract all their abilities and all their skills and start putting them into practice. Imagine the seed of a tree. Now, place this seed on a marble floor. What will happen? Nothing. However, if you take that same seed and put it in fertile soil with the right nutrients, with perfect moisture and the proper lighting, the seed will grow. And over time, it will grow into a tree. If the conditions are the most perfect, over time this tiny seed will reach its full potential, becoming a majestic tree, reaching its maximum height and achieving high performance.

Could this same principle be applied to us humans? If so, what would these conditions be for us? With these ideal conditions, how much could each one of us achieve in business, sports, and our personal lives? Could we engineer these conditions?

So far, it has taken me 12 years to develop a set of factors that consists of a comprehensive set of ideas and techniques that will help users engineer these conditions to achieve high performance.

When you read these factors, I hope that the one thought that crosses your mind is, “it ‘s so simple!” I think that this quote from Steve Jobs explains it best, “Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” – Steve Jobs

Here are the 8 factors:

• Focus (anti-procrastination and anti-dispersions)
• Technical Knowledge
• Physical Condition (vitality)
• Energy Level
• Emotional Skills (emotional intelligence or EQ, stress management)
• Mental Attitude (mindset, mental resilience)
• Challenge Level
• Maturity (how many tests and failures you had).

The system also proposes a daily routine for you to train these factors and improve your personal skills in order to live fully and perform at your best.

What’s next for you?

My next steps are: developing the final version of the eBook, The Entrepreneurial Mind, in order to become a hard cover edition. I’m already writing my next book – ‘Intuitional Intelligence, the new frontier by mastering your brain and body’. My partners and I have this goal of expanding the DeRose Method work in the US for more cities and even in NYC for more neighborhoods.

Photography courtesy of Gustavo Oliveira