Overachievement: The New Science of Working Less to Accomplish More

289 Pages·2006·1.06 MB·English

by  John Eliot

VERACHIEVEM

OVERACHIEVEMENT
The New Science of Working Less
to Accomplish More
John Eliot, Ph.D.
PORT FOLIO

portfolio
OVERACHIEVEMENT
John Eliot, Ph.D., teaches business and psychology at Rice University
and is adjunct professor at the University of Houston and SMU Cox
School of Business Leadership Center. He is the former director of
Rice’s program in sports management and performance enhancement.
In 2000, he cofounded The Milestone Group, which provides perfor-
mance evaluation and training to business executives, professional
athletes, and corporations nationwide. Consulting relationships have
included Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Adidas, NASA, the United
States Olympic Committee, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Washington
Capitols, The Mayo Clinic, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, and hun-
dreds of elite individual performers. Visit www.overachievement.com.

VERACHIEVEM

OVERACHIEVEMENT
The New Science of Working Less
to Accomplish More
John Eliot, Ph.D.
PORT FOLIO
portfolio
Published by the Penguin Group
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Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices:
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First published in the United States of America by Portfolio,
a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 2004
This edition published 2006
Copyright © Milestone Consulting, 2004
All rights reserved
library of congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Eliot, John, 1971–
Overachievement : the new model for exceptional performance / John
Eliot.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN: 1-4362-9542-4
1. Success—Psychological aspects. 2. Overachievement. I. Title.
BF637.S8E3845 2004
650.1—dc22 2004051959
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In Memory of John Sackett and Dr. Tim Simpson,
world champions and exceptional thinkers, both

Acknowledgments
When it comes to support systems, I would wager that there is no
greater overachiever than me. Twists of fortune and adventure have
blessed me with a truly remarkable collection of fascinating, brilliant,
visionary, kindhearted, character-rich compadres. I owe unquantifi-
able thanks to all of them, to those I have learned from and taught,
been pushed by and offered encouragement from, played alongside
and battled against.
My sincerest thanks to the exceptional team behind this book:
To the exceptional thinkers who serve as vivid illustrations and les-
sons throughout this text. To all the coaches, executives, doctors, and
performers I’ve worked with. To Willis Wilson. To my students at Rice.
To renaissance man Edward Tivnan. Without Ed on board early,
this project would never have gotten off the ground. His dedication to
helping people through great writing is unmatched; his collaboration
is indeed priceless.
To the entire all-star squad at Penguin Portfolio. To Adrian Zack-
heim and Will Weisser for being great thinkers and right on the cut-
ting edge with me. To my editor, Stephanie Land, whose insight
helped shape the look and feel of Overachievement, and to my assis-
tant editor, Megan Casey.
To my incredible agent, Stephanie Kip Rostan, and everyone at
viii Acknowledgments
the Levine-Greenberg Agency for their expertise and thoughtfulness,
and for helping make this project really sing, all the way from concep-
tion to bookstore displays. To office-putting champion Jim Levine.
And finally, my profound thanks:
To my publicist David Hahn, Rick Frischman, and the out-of-the-
box team at Planned Television Arts.
To Tony Apollaro and his whole peak-performing family. To John
Goff, John Katen, Terry Davison. To the inspirational team at Texas
Childrens’. To Martyn Howgill, Dr. Kathryn Stream, Dr. Richard
Wainderdi, and Dr. Rick Stasney. To Fayyadh Yusuf, LA, Chip Hay,
Shaheen Ladhani, the Simon brothers, the docs from Brown (Dr.
Ravi?!), the St. Kitts crew, and Doug Paige for their wit, wisdom, and
impact on the world. To the Dartmouth Family and all of its far-
reaching branches. To Dr. John Corson.
To Drs. Matt and Kim Combs, Paul Thomas, Fred Paine, the rest
of the Blues, and of course Ernie Baker, for writing a few pages of
baseball history, for the hours of BP (particularly the Scooby Snacks),
and for allowing me a deep connection with the true spirit of human
competition. To Kevin Costner and Roy Hobbs.
To Bob and Darlene Rotella.
To my family.