Imre Ács

In our present erathe capitalist, globalized, and urbanized environment of the 21st centuryperformance has gained increasing value, both on a systemic and an individual level. There is hardly a clearer example of this than our societys fixation on GDP growth, driven by the expectation and vision of continuous expansion. According to this mindset, it is considered desirable to achieve at least 3% annual growth. However, if we apply the principle of compound interest, this would result in an elevenfold increase by the end of the century. On a planet with finite resourceswhere limitations are already clearly visiblethis inevitably raises serious questions.

Returning to the field of psychology, performance psychology is a relatively young discipline, yet one that responds remarkably well to the pressing challenges of our time. Its central focus is human performance.

The aim of this lecture is to map the psychological drivers behind our performance. It seeks to frame and clarify the concepts of peak performance, optimal performance, and performance decline. These ideas are illustrated through a clear, easy-to-use model, enriched with practical insights that participants can begin applying as early as the next day.

The talk also touches on some of todays most prominent topics, such as performance anxiety and performance intelligence. Finally, it explores what we, as everyday individuals, can learn from elite athletesand how knowledge from high-performance sport can be transformed and integrated into daily life.