How to Increase Your Self-Awareness and Achieve High Performance with Craig Harper

We're often told not to care too much about what other people think of us. However, understanding how others perceive us can play to our advantage. Sometimes we fail to see our own mistakes or flaws, and to overcome this, we need to develop self-awareness by looking at ourselves from a different perspective. Once we realise our flaws, we can do better and achieve high performance.

Craig Harper joins us in this episode to discuss how self-awareness can lead to high performance. He also explains the importance of external awareness or the ability to understand how others perceive us. We also talk about events that changed our life perspectives and how to live aligned with our values.

If you want to increase your self-awareness and achieve high performance, then this episode is for you.

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Here are three reasons why you should listen to the full episode:

1. Discover what external self-awareness is and how it can help you achieve high performance.
2. Find out why motivation alone doesn't work.
3. Learn how to live in alignment for a healthy and meaningful life.

Resources

• The You Project Podcast with Craig Harper
• The You Project #360: Embracing the Suck with Lisa Tamati
• Check out Craig's books.
• Connect with Craig: Website | Instagram | Linkedin
• BrainPark

Episode Highlights [03:44] About Craig

• Craig used to be the fattest kid in school until he decided to lose weight at 14 years old.
• Curious about fitness and nutrition, he started working in gyms.
• Craig eventually set up his first personal training centre in Australia.
• At 36 years old, Craig went to university to study Exercise Science.
• Realising the importance of understanding human behaviour, he's now taking a PhD in neuropsychology.

[08:58] External Self-Awareness

• Being self-aware means understanding how other people perceive, process and experience you.
• You can make better connections when you know what it's like for people to be around you.
• Going into a situation assuming others have the same mindset can create problems.
• Acknowledging your lack of awareness is the first step in overcoming it.

[15:20] On High Performance

• High performance answers the question of how you can do better.
• It applies to all aspects of life.
• For Craig, high performance means getting the most out of your potential, resources and time.
• Listen to the full episode to get a rundown of the principles you need to achieve high performance.

[16:14] Recognising Your Programming

• Humans have the power to recognise and change how they see the world.
• Because we do the same things daily, we fall into living unconsciously.
• When our approach doesn't give us the results we want, it might be time to try something different.
• It may be not easy, but going out of our comfort zones makes us stronger.

[28:43] Working Around Genetic Predispositions

• What you're born with doesn't change the fact that your choices have power.
• Focus on things you can control and own the situation at hand.
• Be careful that self-awareness doesn't become self-deprecation.
• From there, focus on how you can attain high performance.

[33:42] Reflecting on Your Relationships

• Despite his nutrition expertise, Craig faces a constant battle to make good food choices.
• Reflect on your relationship with food. Is it good or bad? Healthy or unhealthy?
• You can apply this to other aspects of your life as well.
• Doing this opens the door to self-management and self-awareness.

[37:51] Where People Get Their Sense of Self

• We learn that self-esteem, self-worth and identity is an outside-in process. Craig's theory is that it's an inside-out process.
• The external and observable things don't matter as much as the things happening internally.
• Listen to the full episode to find out how two experiences in Craig's life put his life into perspective.

[1:00:38] Motivation Alone Doesn't Work

• A lot of people rely on their current state of motivation to get things done.
• What's important is how willing you are to put in the work despite the inconvenience and discomfort.

[1:02:25] Live in Alignment

• Ask yourself if you're willing to put in the work to achieve your goals.
• You can live in alignment with your values by following an operating system based on them.
• Listen to the full episode to know the questions you need to ask yourself to create this operating system.

7 Powerful Quotes from This Episode

'Firstly, I've got as many issues as anyone that I work with. And this is not self-loathing; this is me just going, "Okay, so how do I do better?" And this for me is the process of high performance'.

'Nobody is totally objective or open-minded because the human experience is subjective'.

'Real awareness and consciousness is to first be aware of your lack of awareness'.

'The only person that can ever really get in my way is me, you know. But also, I'm the solution to me'.

'So we get taught directly or indirectly that self-esteem and self-worth and identity is an outside-in process. My theory is that it is the other way around—it is an inside out journey'.

'Of course, there's nothing wrong with building a great business... or whatever. That's not bad, but it's not healthy when that's the totality of who we are'.

'I don't care what you get done when you're motivated; I care what you get done when you're not motivated because everyone's a champion when they're in the zone'.

About Craig

Craig Harper is one of Australia's leading presenters, writers and educators in health, high performance, resilience, self-management, leadership, corporate change, communication, stress management, addiction and personal transformation.

Craig has been an integral part of the Australian health and fitness industry since 1982. He has worked as an Exercise Scientist, Corporate Speaker, Consultant, University Lecturer, AFL Conditioning Coach, Radio Host, TV Presenter, Writer and successful Business Owner. In 1990, Craig established Harper's Personal Training, which evolved into one of the most successful businesses of its kind.

Craig currently hosts a successful Podcast called 'The You Project'. He is also partnering with the Neuroscience Team at Monash University, where he's completing a neuropsychology PhD. There, he studies the spectrum of human thinking and behaviour.

Craig speaks on various radio stations around Australia weekly. He also hosted his weekly show on Melbourne radio called 'the Science of Sport' for a decade. Craig currently fills an on-air role as a presenter on a lifestyle show called 'Get a Life', airing on Foxtel.

As an Exercise Scientist, Craig has worked with many professional athletes and teams. While still working with groups and individuals regularly, Craig delivers more than one hundred corporate presentations annually.

Want to know more about Craig and his work? Check out his website, or follow him on