I feel like all my best thoughts come when I am in the shower, seems normal for most of us right?! I was thinking about the people I respect most—the true peak performers I’ve met in government, business, and competitive arenas like poker. It’s not just their talent that impressed me. It’s how they respond when everything goes sideways.How they handled the downswings!

Resilience is the real differentiator.

A study published in Frontiers in Psychology found that resilience—the ability to adapt to adversity—is one of thestrongest predictors of long-term success, even more than intelligence or experience.

Resilience isn’t about pretending things are fine. It’s about:

• Having emotional agility under pressure.

• Bouncing back after failure.

• Staying grounded when chaos hits.

How to Build Resilience:

• Train your recovery habits—not just your hustle habits.

• Practice reframing challenges as opportunities.

• Strengthen your physical, mental, and emotional foundation daily.

Peak performance isn’t just about winning on a good day. It’s about staying strong through the inevitable tough ones.

Key Takeaways:

• Resilience predicts success more than IQ or raw talent.

• Peak performers bounce back, not just push harder.

• Recovery, reframing, and foundation-building create resilience.