We know what creates peak performance but what about what prevents it? Author of The Inner Game, Timothy Gallwey refers to the barriers to performance as interference. Emotions that get in the way of us achieving our potential.

performance = potential – interference

Gallwey’s 3 emotional interferences are worry, guilt and fear. These are all barriers to us achieving our potential and therefore performing. Gallwey believes to maximise performance we need to minimise inference.

Whilst interference comes from our thoughts it can also be impacted by our surrounding environment, including the people and distractions in it. Gallwey also advises an essential component to performance is giving our full attention to what we’re doing (flow) and is an advocate for removing inference in the form of distractions.

Worry is a commonly experienced emotion with anxiety at work much talked about. I like using the circle of influence to control my worries when they occur and I love the quote by Mark Twain “There has been much tragedy in my life, at least half of it actually happened”

Worry is an emotion that robs us of the present and also robs us of our potential. If we spend all our time worrying about things that have happened or the what ifs that may happen we’ll miss out on the potential we have in the here and now.

Anxiety is an emotion that can exacerbate burnout and also impact some of the good habits we need for peak performance like sleep, exercise and what we eat.

Guilt is more subtle and not talked about so much but sits there under the surface for most of us and is just as impactful. It’s one of the emotions that drives unsustainable work-life balance. The guilt of saying no or not leaving early for an appointment for example.

Many of us can think of a time fear has stopped us at work, whether it be applying for a promotion or speaking out in a senior meeting. Where fear is concerned our minds play negative tricks on us to keep us safe, but this can also keep us unchallenged and unfulfilled. Our biggest fear is often our fear of failure.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest to achieve peak performance we have to fail – and this is the opposite to what we get taught. Our society believes failure is the opposite to success and many of our organisational cultures operate the same way leaving us feeling there’s no place for failure and therefore a resulting fear of it on this quest for peak performance. It’s why giving ourselves permission to fail is so hard on our journey to brilliance, they seem like competing ends of the extreme and yet it’s one of the most impactful strategies we can employ.

Once we understand our unique talents and the barriers that get in the way we are equipped with the knowledge to achieve our potential. From here cultivating a mindset of brilliance and the habits and structures that ensure we remain energised and sustainable unlock the key to peak performance.

Find out more in the new book, Burnout to Brilliance, out now