The Secret to Your Best Performance
1 Habit That Will Multiply Your Impact
You don’t rise to the level of your goals.
You fall to the level of your mind.
Most engineers chase performance through effort.
They hustle. They grind.
They overload their schedules and hope to outwork the chaos.
But here’s the thing:
The highest performers aren’t stressed.
They’re calm.
The Calm Before the Win
In the middle of a world championship, Marcelo Garcia, the greatest grappler alive, was asleep.
Minutes before the fight.
And then?
He stepped on the mat and dominated like a storm.
Same with Floyd Mayweather.
Before big fights, he didn’t sweat or shadowbox.
He watched TV.
Why?
Because they understood this:
Peak performance doesn’t come from pressure.
It comes from peace.
The Mind Is a Muscle
You train your body to run, lift, fight.
But how often do you train your mind?
Naval Ravikant says it plainly:
“A clear mind leads to better judgment.
Better judgment leads to better outcomes.”
In today’s world, decisions have leverage.
One good decision can scale to thousands through code, capital, or communication.
So if your mind is foggy, your leverage is wasted.
Calm Is a Superpower
A calm person can think clearly under stress.
A calm person can listen.
A calm person can strike at the right moment.
Most engineers operate at a constant “simmering six” out of ten.
Always a bit tense. Always a bit anxious.
But that dull tension burns your energy.
You can’t sprint if you’re always jogging.
The best performers?
They oscillate.
Fully relaxed.
Then fully intense.
Back to relaxed.
Not stuck at a draining in-between.
Why We’re Always Anxious
Anxiety isn’t random.
It’s the signal of an unexamined life.
You’re not stressed because you’re busy.
You’re stressed because you’re unclear.
Every loop in your brain is an unresolved desire,
a decision avoided, a boundary not set.
Naval puts it this way:
“Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy
until you get what you want.”
Most of us never question the contract.
We collect more and more desires, and wonder why we’re overwhelmed.
Fix the Mind, Fix the Outcome
Want to be powerful in programming?
Learn to sit with yourself.
That means:
Long walks, without podcasts.
Meditation, not just breath-counting, but true self-reflection.
Silence, not as escape, but as confrontation.
Don’t just train harder. Think clearer.
If meditation doesn’t shake your life, you’re not doing it right.
It should make you quit things.
Leave things.
Change who you are.
Because once your mind is free, really free, you don’t just perform.
You dominate.
Final Twist
The best version of you?
Isn’t more intense.
It’s more relaxed.
The world pushes you to always be “on.”
But the secret?
Is learning when to be completely off.
'A clear mind leads to better judgment.
Better judgment leads to better outcomes.' - True for all scenario in Life!
A calm mind can think more clearly.
When we’re anxious or afraid of how we’ll be perceived, we tend to wrap our words in fluff. But when we’re calm and confident, clarity comes more naturally.
Start with calming your mind. The clarity will follow.