Critical Habits of High Performance in Today's New Normal with Mark Cunningham
Mark Cunningham, founder and CEO of the Achieve Institute and a former Olympic-level decathlete, explores high performance habits with hosts Stephen Sakach and Mike Liwski, sharing how commitment and focusing on the whole team, not just top performers, build results that actually last.
High performance habits aren't about working harder, they're about working differently. In this episode of The Bliss Business Podcast, hosts Stephen Sakach and Mike Liwski welcome Mark Cunningham, founder and CEO of the Achieve Institute and a former Olympic-level decathlete, to talk about what actually separates sustainable high performance from burnout.
In this episode we explore:
• Why commitment, not talent, is the habit most teams skip first
• The "rear view mirror" trap that keeps people repeating what already stopped working
• Why "create, don't fix" outperforms constant problem-solving
• What happened when one sales leader stopped ignoring the bottom two-thirds of the team
• Why working harder has a point of negative returns, and what to do instead
• How love and connection show up as a real performance lever, not just a nice-to-have
Mark traces high performance back to one overlooked first step: "unanimous people want to be on a high performing team... but oftentimes that's the missing first piece is that commitment." Without it, teams default to repeating the past: "I expect more of the same, so then I do more of the same... we're really stuck in what we call the rear view mirror instead of looking forward."
His signature reframe is simple: "create what you need, don't fix what you have." He learned it the hard way as an athlete: a full year spent fixing his discus throw made him worse, until he switched to imagining the ideal throw instead. "In six weeks, I gained 30 feet, and I was one of the top throwers in the world that year."
The clearest business proof point came from a sales team he coached to stop over-indexing on its top 10%. Once the leader focused on the middle and bottom performers instead: "that group we worked with, within two quarters, they went from... 33% year over year, and 75% four quarters with the same people."
That same instinct, that real growth comes from raising the whole group instead of just rewarding the easiest wins, is exactly what good marketing has to do too. It's the same principle behind Zero Company's approach: build for the full audience, not just the easiest slice to reach.
Key Takeaways
• (4:47) Commitment is the habit most teams skip first: "unanimous people want to be on a high performing team... but oftentimes that's the missing first piece is that commitment"
• (10:44) His "create, don't fix" reframe: "create what you need, don't fix what you have... when you're in create mode, you're forward oriented instead of backwards oriented"
• (26:49) A sales team that stopped over-indexing on top performers grew results fast: "up 33% year over year in two quarters and 75%, four quarters with the same people"
• (33:32) Working harder has a point of negative returns: "working harder, you literally get worse and worse and worse"
• (39:35) Asked if love belongs in business: "when you love what you do, it's easier to do it"
FAQ
What's the most overlooked habit of high performers?
Mark Cunningham says it's commitment. Most teams want to be high performing, but skip the step of actually committing to it, which he calls the missing first piece that everything else depends on.
What does "create, don't fix" mean?
Mark Cunningham's framework for staying forward-focused instead of reactive: constantly fixing problems keeps you oriented on the past, while creating what you actually need moves you toward a result. He credits this shift with turning his own athletic performance around in six weeks.
How did one sales team improve 75% by focusing on the bottom two-thirds?
Mark Cunningham coached a sales leader to stop over-indexing on the top 10% of performers and instead get more out of the middle and bottom of the team. That shift alone drove a 33% year-over-year gain in two quarters and 75% within a year, with the same people.
Mark's answer when asked if love belongs in business: "when you love what you do, it's easier to do it... there's a lot of heart in that." Learn more about Mark and the Achieve Institute at achieveinst.com.
Founder and CEO, The Achieve Institute
Mark is the founder and CEO of The Achieve Institute and creator of the Achieve SystemTM, a customizable, scalable performance and productivity system used by some of the largest and well-known corporations in the US. He has more than 25 years of performance consulting experience -- an elite athlete turned business coach and entrepreneur.
Mark was training to compete in the Olympics in the decathlon (10 grueling events) when he hit a proverbial wall and injured himself. He realized he had taken the wrong approach for maximum performance and began mapping out a system to turn it around. He spent the next eight years building and perfecting the Achieve System.
He began coaching senior executives on their performance before the age of 30. He then founded The Achieve Institute to share his unique set of productivity tools to help organizations transform and innovate, define and drive strategy, lead through change, develop current and future leaders, strengthen employee engagement and drive results and revenue.
The learnings, lessons and discoveries from Mark's athletic journey led to the breakthrough Achieve System that has been helping people, teams and organizations achieve for over 20 years.
