Vera: Your latest book ‘’Thriving’’ focuses on super achievement. Can everyone become a super-achiever and how do they do it?

Corey: Yes, even though everyone has the ability to become a super-achiever, it’s typically only a small percentage that do. The reason, and it relates to how one goes about achieving it, is because it takes a lot of effort, and it doesn’t happen overnight. There are a lot of steps to getting to the stage where someone is achieving at the highest level – more than I could efficiently detail here – but it starts with determining what one’s real passion is and doing more of it, and also finding out what the current super-achievers are doing daily, and doing more of it.

Vera: Many people want to accomplish super success for a variety of reasons but not often for the reason of ‘’becoming the best they can be’’. Why is personal growth important as a strategy for one achieving their A game?

Corey: It’s important because when you focus on becoming the best you can be, being a life-long learner, and taking personal growth seriously while you’re also on the path to becoming a super-achiever, you don’t lose that knowledge, and it makes your success more sustainable. What you learn as you grow is something you carry with you for life, something you can apply over and over again, rather than looking for some quick flavour of the week short-cut which won’t be relevant a week later. Personal growth (and life-long learning) has always been a sustainable path to becoming a super-achiever.

Vera: Tell me about the ‘’Law of Action’’ and why/how this is so crucial to thriving as a person and becoming your best self?

Corey: Everything starts with action. As had been said in the past, “hope is not a business strategy”. You need to take action if you want to achieve your goals, in your life, or in a business. When you take the ‘right’ action, over and over, your results compound. When you take the right action consistently, big things happen quicker than expected, and the momentum that can build is simply amazing.

Vera: Getting to sustained accomplishment is obviously no easy road, what are some of the less glamorous actions that people shouldn’t try to circumvent?

Corey: There are many in fact. Practicing the same habits day by day, consistently is one. It’s exciting to start something new, but not often as exciting to do the same thing over and over for an extended period of time. Another example could be making sales calls. If you’re in business and involved in selling, and most of us are, most people don’t find making the necessary sales calls particularly exciting. Many of the actions involved in growing a business or growing personally seem unglamorous but if you are truly passionate about the business you’re in, you can find some glamour in the daily practices that will get you closer to the best version of you.

Vera: Determining one’s comfort one and repeatedly expanding it is one of the success keys you share. How does one identify their comfort zone and step outside of it consistently?

Corey: It involves making a list of the things you are uncomfortable doing that you know if you do will bring you closer to your goal(s). Then, it’s a matter of determining the steps required to achieve each applicable goal that is sitting outside your comfort zone and taking baby steps in that direction and rewarding yourself for each milestone you complete. The process is bigger than this but this is a good starting point.

Vera: People try to increase their chances of reaching the top by saying yes to everything but you’re saying ‘’learning to say no’’ can make one more productive? How does one sift through what to do and what to ditch?

Corey: Saying ‘’no more’’ is very difficult, but crucial and one of the practices most super-achievers share, and is a big part of the reason they are so productive. This too is a big thing to detail here but the digest version to my approach is I defined (in writing) my core purpose and then when each ‘’possible to-do’’ comes my way, I test it against my core purpose statement and ask if it will move me further toward my goal to do this or further away from my goal. If it will move me further away, it’s a no for me, if it will move me closer to my goal, it becomes an easy yes.

Vera: What are the non-talent factors that make the difference between achievers and the not so successful that people?

Corey: This isn’t all inclusive but things like putting in the hours, spending time  preparing before execution, harnessing one’s passion, surrounding yourself with and collaborating with the right people, finding good mentors, hiring people who will make up for your weaknesses. These are all things super-achievers do to both enhance the talent they start with and hone it, while also making up for talent they may not have or need to develop.

Vera: You are big on learning; from your own experience and what you’ve heard from the many others what’s the best approach to identifying learning sources?

Corey: Ask others who you admire, respect, feel are the top achievers in your circle or you feel are further along the path than you. Find out what they are reading, who they are listening to, and what they are watching. The specific things such as books, thought leaders, podcasts, websites, talks that come up most often, go there first. This will help you start the process of finding the best learning sources for you.

Vera: What’s the thrust of your ‘’Better-life formula’’ and how do you ensure your life keeps getting better?

Corey: The basic formula is Passion. It essentially involves living on purpose (your passion) daily, while reducing the amount of negativity you allow into your life and increasing the amount of positivity. I simply design my days (i.e. surrounding myself with specific people, saying no to things that aren’t in alignment with me, stepping outside my comfort zone regularly) so that I’m always minimizing the negative and maximizing the positive influences in my life.

Vera: You’ve interviewed hundreds of super-achievers. Which interviewee has impacted you most personally and why?

Corey: The first award winning business leader I interviewed because it demonstrated to me that I could reach out to, secure and complete an interview with a person I thought I would be able to communicate with, and share some space with. It kind of showed me that I could achieve more than I previously thought and that allowed me to take bigger steps outside of my comfort zone as things moved forward.

Corey’s profile

Corey Poirier is an award winning Keynote and a TEDx Speaker who has shared a stage with renowned speakers such as Deepak Chopra and General Rick Hillier. He is host of the top rated Conversations with PASSION Radio Show which features the likes of Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup for the Soul), John Gray (Men are from Mars) and Dr. John Izzo. Corey is also a best-selling’ author, CEO of a Seminar Company and a Media Company. Corey has interviewed over 3000 of the world’s high achievers and ‘’dissects the wisdom of thousands of thought leaders so you don’t have to!”  His websites are www.thatspeakerguy.com, www.coreypoirier.com