Brad Stulberg Profile picture
Jan 25, 2021 • 12 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X
THREAD: Here are 10 insights I've learned over the last 5 years coaching executives, entrepreneurs, and athletes.

On sustainable success, peak performance, and career advice:

👇👇
You've got to put yourself out there. You can't be the person who comes off as too cool to care but is actually just afraid.

Caring deeply makes you vulnerable. Why? Because there's a good chance things don't go exactly your way. But caring deeply is also the key to a rich life.
Trying to be "balanced" does not work.

When you care deeply about something it draws you in. That's the point. You don't need to force some kind of proportionate allocation of your life.

Aim for the self-awareness to PRIORITIZE and CHOOSE how you spend your time and energy.
Find and follow your passion is a load of crap.

Expecting to find something where everything clicks from the get go and is all good from there on out is a surefire way to never be happy.

Pursue your interests. Stay curious. Hone a craft. Passion emerges over years, not seconds.
Wherever you are, the goal post is always 10 yards down the field.

If you develop a mindset, "If I just do this, or just accomplish that, THEN I'll arrive," you're in for trouble. There is no arriving. The human brain didn't evolve for it. Enjoy the process. Be where you are.
Everyone wants to be SUCCESSFUL. But few people take the time and energy to define the success they want. As a result, they spend most, if not all, of their lives chasing what society superimposes on them as success.

Define your values. Craft a life around them. THAT is success.
Stress + Rest = Growth.

-Too much of the former not enough of the latter you get injury, illness, burnout.
-Too much of the latter not enough of the former you get complacency, stagnation.

This equation is universal. It holds true for individual and organizational growth.
Read as much as you can.

Books are the best bargain there is. There is no better place to get a deep distillation of insights and wisdom.

I've helped 4-time Olympians move on from sport simply by recommending books. I've helped founders navigate rough waters the same way.
Surround yourself wisely.

The people with whom you surround yourself shape you. We are all mirrors reflecting onto one another. Ancient wisdom traditions point toward this. Latest research points toward this.

We think too much about individuals, not enough about communities.
Marry self-discipline with self-compassion.

If you are a hard-charging, Type-A "pusher," that's great! But you better work on being kind to yourself too.

It is hard to be a human. It is hard to care deeply. You've got to learn to love yourself and create space for your pain.
Don't forget to experience joy.

This sounds self-evident, but it's not. The risk of being super focused on progress and growth is that you get so caught up in where you are going you forget to relish moments along the way. No Zen on mountain tops. Only Zen you bring up there.
If you want more evidence-based content on peak performance, sustainable success, and career advice give me a follow. I post similar ideas and insights daily and threads like this 2x/week.

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More from @BStulberg

Apr 2
Struggling to read a book, sit through a meal without checking your phone, or resist the urge to scroll during a pause in conversation? You’re not alone.

Internet brain is making us all dumber.

Here’s why it’s happening—and what to do about it: Image
Our phones are like slot machines.

Every time you swipe to see if you received a notification, like, DM, or news ping you’re pulling that lever.

Sometimes you win—someone likes your post, sends you a funny reel, or you learn something super important.

But most times you don’t. And that’s the point.

Decades of research show that intermittent rewards are far more addictive than predictable ones.
The reward isn’t just digital—it’s existential.

It says: You matter. You exist. You're seen.

And so we check again.
And again. And again.

It fractures and fragments our attention, and our very sense of self.

We become less who we are—and more what the algorithm reflects back at us.
Read 8 tweets
Dec 26, 2024
Balance is overrated. Never apologize for caring deeply about something. The path to greatness—and to fulfillment, happiness, and satisfaction—requires it.

What follows are the most important ideas to help you on the path:
1. Outcomes matter—it’s normal to want to do well, but if you are to have meaningful longevity you’ve got to learn to enjoy the process. The only zen on mountaintops is the zen you bring up along the way.

2. Community is key. Nobody reaches the top alone.
3. Consistency is more important than intensity. Embrace the dull and mundane act of showing up every day. It is the path to greatness.

4. You can’t always control what happens but you can control how you respond. Focus there.
Read 13 tweets
Dec 22, 2024
In mid-life you define your path, forge your identity, and set the tone for what’s to come.

If you’re in your 30's or 40's, read this:
1. It’s a crazy world. It always has been and always will be. The best way to stay sane is to find the people and activities you love and give them your all. Full stop.

2. It’s tempting to sacrifice your health but you always regret it. Your health is the most important investment there is.

3. Consistency is more important than intensity. It’s true in work, craft, and relationships. Be the kind of person who shows up consistently, and good things will happen.
4. If you don’t define your own version of success someone else will for you; take time every year to reflect on your values; do everything you can to live in accordance with them.

5. There is no bigger trap than thinking the accomplishment of some goal will change your life. But what will change your life is the person you become in the process of going for it.

6. The people with whom you surround yourself shape you. We are all mirrors reflecting onto each other. Choose wisely. This is everything.
Read 9 tweets
Mar 17, 2024
Anyone can be consistent for a few days. It’s harder to be consistent for years upon years, through ups, downs, everything in between.

Here are 7 ideas from Master of Change that resonate with readers most.

On what it takes to stay steady amidst challenge and grow from change:
1. View life as a continuous cycle of order, disorder, reorder.

You may crave order and stability, but that stability is a moving target—it's always somewhere new. It doesn't come from resisting change. It comes from working with it.
You are always somewhere in the cycle of order, disorder, reorder.
Read 11 tweets
Feb 1, 2024
The average person undergoes more than 30 significant life changes.

Marriage. Divorce. Kids. School. Graduation. Moving. Illness. Recovery. Starting jobs. Leaving jobs. Promotions. The list goes on and on.

Yet our models for change are old and outdated. Here's a better way:
Old models represent change as a cycle of order, disorder, order.

Change is something that happens to you. The goal is to get back to where you were.

But this is neither accurate nor how change, which is to say life, actually works.
Change and disorder are not the exceptions. They are the rules.

Look closely and you'll see that everything is always changing, including you.

Life is flux. The only time something is static is when it's dead.
Read 9 tweets
Dec 26, 2023
As we round out this year and head into the next, here are some of the most powerful ideas on performance, excellence, and mastery to keep in mind:
1. Outcomes matter, but if you are to have any meaningful longevity you’ve got to learn to enjoy the process.

2. Community is key. Nobody reaches the top alone.

3. Consistency—the dull and mundane act of showing up every day—is way more important than intensity.
4. It’s easy when everything is clicking, but how you perform on your average and bad day is probably more important.

5. Work and craft can be a big part of your identity, but when they are the whole of it you become fragile.
Read 11 tweets

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