In all walks of life there are people that we admire as being very successful. The wealthy entrepreneur, successful businessman, champion athlete, super-mum, grade A student.

I’ve known each of these and admired them for being at the top of their respective field. Dig a bit deeper you find something different. The wealthy entrepreneur and successful businessman so focussed on their work that they have no social life, hobbies or downtime. The champion athlete with a trail of broken relationships. The super-mum living on anti-depressants because of the strain of keeping the family going. The grade A student lacking social skills.

High performing in one area and failing in all of the others. Don’t get me wrong, I admire the drive of such people and their single mindedness and laser like focus but I don’t want to be them.

I chose a different path.

My goal is to:

• Have great relationships with my partner and family members
• Spend quality time with them and my best friends
• Be successful in what I do to earn a living
• Be fit enough to enter the events I choose without needing to spend months preparing
• Eat great healthy food
• Get enough sleep to allow for sharp thinking

Keeping all of these plates spinning is like finding the Sweet Spot.

Sometimes it’s hard and occasionally one drops to the floor, but the goal is to perform highly in many areas of my life, NOT to be outstanding in one area. It’s called being a “High Performance Human” instead of being a ‘High Performance Athlete”.

It requires sacrifices (I call them choices). For example, in my chosen sport of triathlon I take part in ironman events. My best time is 10 hours 18 minutes and I’d love to go sub 10 hours. But the time requirement needed to achieve this would impact on other areas of my life. It’s a goal I won’t pursue because it means dropping some plates.

I frequently get asked what I do for a living. Previously I would say “I am a triathlon coach”.

Now I’m more likely to respond with “I am a life coach who works with triathletes”.