4 requirements for high performance

Why talent alone isn’t enough to achieve your goals.

Excerpt: What do you want to be when you grow up? 

Think back to when you were young (or maybe you are young and currently reading way above your grade level)—what was your dream? Maybe you had a love of horses, so you envisioned that Breyer collection one day turning into a stable where you were the vet who kept them healthy. Or maybe your dad occasionally let you hold his guitar while you listened to music, and your dream became to one day play for real on a stage? 

When John Amaechi was young, he wanted to become an NBA player. 

“Everybody told me it was ridiculous. Everybody told me it had never been done. Everybody told me that a fat kid from Stockport who liked eating pie and reading books was hardly a candidate for the world’s best basketball league. But to me, it was compelling.”

However, the lofty aspiration of becoming a professional basketball player wasn’t enough on its own—by the age of 7, he also knew he wanted to become a psychologist. So, after competing at the highest level of basketball and playing with the Cavaliers, Jazz, and Magic, he did just that. 

Amaechi is now an organizational psychologist, a bestselling author, a professor at the University of Exeter Business School, and the founder of APS Intelligence Ltd. This former NBA player isn’t just his own success story; he’s made it his goal to help others unlock their potential.