The High Performance Podcast

Welcome to High Performance. Through fascinating conversations with remarkable guests, Jake Humphrey and Damian Hughes uncover the secrets behind High Performance and explore how we can all become the best version of ourselves. We focus on uncovering the learnings from top performers in every field, from sport to entertainment, business, health and wellness.​ No matter where our guests have excelled, they all have first-hand experiences and lessons to share. On High Performance we find out what non-negotiable behaviours they employed to get them to the top and keep them there. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 14 hr ago ·  Video

    Why You Attack Monday And Crumble By Friday

    Why does a weekly to-do list feel so overwhelming on a Sunday night? Jake and Damian argue it's not because of your workload, it's because your capacity . Sleep, energy, confidence, clarity, control: when any of these drop, the same list of tasks stops looking like separate, manageable jobs and starts looking like one overwhelming message — everything, now. In this episode, Jake and Damian hear from: Steve Peters on the "chimp" that hijacks you in traffic, and why recognising it isn't you is the first step to managing it.Ash Dykes on preparing for the worst before it happens, so it arrives as something expected rather than something that ambushes you.Shane Parrish on why you don't need the confidence to reach the destination — just the confidence to take the next step.Ali Abdaal on the five-minute rule, and the three-quid hourglass that got him moving on the days motivation didn't show up.James Clear on the two-minute rule, and the heaviest weight in the gym: the front door.Jameela Jamil on the power of small, unglamorous no's.Alistair Brownlee on breaking an impossible-feeling task down into the next five-minute reason to keep going. By the end, Jake and Damian give you a ten-minute reset for the next time life all feels like too much because the goal was never to shame yourself into trying harder. It's to rebalance the equation. Thanks to our partners: AG1 👉 head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance and get a free Morning Person Hat to help start your AG1 daily habit - plus a free D3 and K2, and five travel packs Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Why You Attack Monday And Crumble By Friday
  2. 5 days ago

    Fernando Alonso: The Real Pain of Losing

    We revisit our conversation with Fernando Alonso - two-time Formula 1 World Champion, 437 Grand Prix starts, 32 wins - recorded in a rare moment where the visor comes off completely. Jake and Damian get behind the "robot" Alonso becomes the second his helmet goes on, and into the boy who started racing a homemade go-kart at three years old, in a family with no money, no expectations, and no competitive gene to explain where his came from. Fernando is disarmingly honest about the cost of that competitiveness: the two championships with Ferrari he came agonisingly close to and still can't fully explain losing; the two titles he did win, in 2005 and 2006, that he now barely remembers because he was already thinking about the next race before the champagne had dried; and the moment, at 13 years old, a mechanic pulled him aside after his best result yet and told him, "second is the first loser." It's a line that shaped the next three decades of his career. Moments that will stay with you: Why his own parents still can't explain where his will to win came fromThe 20% of every race weekend spent planning not for victory, but for everything that could go wrongWhat changed when he left Formula 1 for two years and heard, for the first time, how much people actually missed himThe advice his father gave him before his first ever Grand Prix, in case it turned out to be his lastHe's unflinching about what elite performance actually costs: that you can spend twenty years being told to fear enjoying it, that humility has to be actively protected once fame tries to take it from you, and that self-confidence isn't the absence of doubt it's simply deciding, in advance, what you're capable of, and then closing the visor. AG1 👉 head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance and get a free Morning Person Hat to help start your AG1 daily habit - plus a free D3 and K2, and five travel packs Go Henry 👉 Grow their skills and their money at gohenry.com/highperformance with £5 FREE to get started! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Fernando Alonso: The Real Pain of Losing
  3. 26 Aug ·  Video

    Why Fewer Options Make Better Ideas

    What do you do when every option is on the table and you still end up with the same idea you always have? Jake and Damian tackle one of the quiet traps of creative work, and land somewhere counterintuitive: freedom doesn't make ideas bolder. Constraints do. Damian unpacks David Epstein's Inside the Box and the psychology behind why unlimited time, unlimited method and unlimited scope send the brain straight to its safest, most familiar answer and the three tools for building a better box: the Fake Deadline, the One Rule, and the Small Box. Along the way you'll hear Shane Parrish on the Henry Kissinger question that outed a staffer's "best work" as anything but; René Meulensteen on the Federer clips he used to teach Man Utd players to stay one point wide; Sarina Wiegman on the training session she deliberately ran with a terrible referee, just to see what her players would do with it; and Lewis Morgan on what he'd actually do with a spare £1,000 and a Facebook Marketplace login. The idea doesn't need better conditions. It needs a smaller box. Listen to the full episodes: Sarina Wiegman: https://shows.acast.com/the-high-performance-podcast/episodes/sarina-wiegman-the-leadership-secrets-powering-england-lione Lewis Morgan: https://shows.acast.com/3d30295e-f7fb-5af1-b618-30a8763cc75a/625c41bcfa71dd0012e7f614 René Meulensteen: https://shows.acast.com/3d30295e-f7fb-5af1-b618-30a8763cc75a/67e02799511f1304b0d74225 AG1 👉 head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance and get a free Morning Person Hat to help start your AG1 daily habit - plus a free D3 and K2, and five travel packs Go Henry 👉 Grow their skills and their money at gohenry.com/highperformance with £5 FREE to get started! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Why Fewer Options Make Better Ideas
  4. 24 Aug ·  Video

    Michael Owen: Ballon d'Or at 22, Retired at 33 - The Mentality That Nearly Broke Him

    Ballon d'Or winner Michael Owen became one of the world's best footballers by developing an extraordinary ability to turn doubt, mistakes, and setbacks into self-belief. He joins Jake and Damian to reveal how that mindset was built, and why it eventually became one of his greatest challenges. Michael reflects on the injuries that took away the explosive pace that defined him, and the painful eight-year gap between the player he believed he was and what his body could still deliver. He also opens up about retiring at 33, losing his sense of purpose, the strain it placed on his marriage, and how he eventually found a new competitive outlet beyond football. This is an honest exploration of self-belief, identity, and what happens when the mindset that drives success becomes difficult to switch off. Meet the Owens, a six-part docuseries in the UK and Ireland, is available on Prime Video from the 28th August. AG1 👉 head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance and get a free Morning Person Hat to help start your AG1 daily habit - plus a free D3 and K2, and five travel packs Go Henry 👉 Grow their skills and their money at gohenry.com/highperformance with £5 FREE to get started! Vitality 👉 We've partnered with Vitality because our philosophies align perfectly: healthy habits build high performance and can lead to a healthier, longer life. Find out more about health and life insurance with Vitality: https://highpfrmc.com/vitality-hpp-au  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Michael Owen: Ballon d'Or at 22, Retired at 33 - The Mentality That Nearly Broke Him
  5. 21 Aug

    Bradley Wiggins: The Trauma Behind My Greatest Successes & Finding New Purpose

    We re-visit one of the most emotional and gripping conversations we have ever recorded. Eight Olympic medals, five of them gold, and the first Briton ever to win the Tour de France. For one summer in 2012, Sir Bradley Wiggins was the most famous man in Britain — sideburns, gold medal, sat on a throne at Hampton Court. He couldn't bring himself to put the medal on. Bradley takes us right back to the beginning: a council estate in Kilburn, a father who left when he was eighteen months old and came back only once his son was successful, and a coach who sexually abused him between the ages of thirteen and sixteen — something he didn't say out loud for thirty years. Then he traces, with total honesty, how that damage became the fuel that made him great, and how the same fuel nearly destroyed him when the racing stopped. Moments that will stay with you: Why Bradley laid his Olympic gold medal on the sofa rather than put it round his neckSmashing his trophies off the mantelpiece, and throwing out his knighthoodHis father's line, a week after they finally met: "Don't forget, you'll never be as good as your old man was"Realising the voice screaming at him up every climb of the Tour was his stepfather'sLance Armstrong offering to pay for his treatment, and what Bradley said backThe hotel room his son had to come and find him in He's unflinching on what drove him: that greatness often grows out of a dark place, and that isn't something to romanticise. That you don't rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your habits. That fulfilment carries you further than happiness ever will. And his hardest-won lesson — not everyone who helps you is your friend, and not everyone who hurts you is your enemy. The answer isn't to forget the past. It's to change your relationship with it. Contains discussion of the sexual abuse of children and of addiction. Please listen with care. Revolut Business 👉 High-performing businesses need powerful financial tools. Get a £200 welcome bonus with Revolut Business when you sign up at https://revolutbusiness.onelink.me/jLOt/hp-ep9-aud and add money to your account by 30/09/2026. Fees, promotion terms and T&Cs apply.  AG1 👉 head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance and get a free Morning Person Hat to help start your AG1 daily habit - plus a free D3 and K2, and five travel packs Go Henry 👉 Grow their skills and their money at gohenry.com/highperformance with £5 FREE to get started! Eight Sleep 👉If you want to discover deeper sleep. Use code HPP to get £360 off your Pod 5 Ultra here: https://highpfrmc.com/eightsleep_au Vitality 👉 We've partnered with Vitality because our philosophies align perfectly: healthy habits build high performance and can lead to a healthier, longer life. Find out more about health and life insurance with Vitality: https://highpfrmc.com/vitality-hpp-au Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Bradley Wiggins: The Trauma Behind My Greatest Successes & Finding New Purpose
  6. 19 Aug ·  Video

    How to Deal With People Who Don’t Believe in You

    What do you do when the people around you don't believe you can do it? Jake and Damian tackle one of the things listeners struggle with most — being doubted — and land somewhere they didn't expect: the doubt that really holds you back is usually your own. Damian unpacks Albert Bandura's self-efficacy theory and why the two ways to build belief are evidence and self-talk, Alison Brooks' research on reframing nerves as readiness rather than fear, and self-determination theory — why being doubted by others can become the most durable fuel there is. Along the way you'll hear Rugby League legend Jamie Peacock on the day he stayed on the bus and rode past his trial at Bradford Bulls, and the mantra he repeated the second time to get off; Karl Lokko on where he found the confidence to walk into rooms that weren't built for him and Mel Robbins on the morning in her bathroom that changed how she talks to herself. Plus, Jake and Damian are joined by High Performance listener Claire, who spent 31 years in policing, to hear what all this means from the other side of the microphone. The belief doesn't have to come first. The action does — and the evidence follows. Vitality 👉 We've partnered with Vitality because our philosophies align perfectly: healthy habits build high performance and can lead to a healthier, longer life. Find out more about health and life insurance with Vitality: https://highpfrmc.com/vitality-hpp-au  Listen to the full episodes: Jamie Peacock: Mel Robbins: Karl Locco: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    How to Deal With People Who Don’t Believe in You
  7. 17 Aug ·  Video

    Getting Fired Was a RELIEF: Guenther Steiner on the Truth About His Haas Exit (E433)

    Guenther Steiner is one of Formula 1’s most recognisable team bosses, building Haas from nothing and becoming known for his straight-talking approach to leadership. He joins us to reflect on ambition, pressure, and knowing when it’s time to walk away, as well as discuss his new position as CEO of MotoGP team Red Bull KTM Tech3. Guenther opens up about his final years at Haas, admitting he stayed around two years too long, and how he knew the belief was gone when he could no longer see a path to a podium. He also reveals the moment he discovered he’d been sacked, and why it brought an unexpected sense of relief. He shares the thinking that built Haas and how he’s applying the same principles to his new chapter in MotoGP with Tech3. This is a candid conversation about ambition, identity, and knowing when to let go. Learn more about Red Bull KTM Tech3: https://motogp.tech3racing.fr/index.php Revolut Business 👉 High-performing businesses need powerful financial tools. Get a £200 welcome bonus with Revolut Business when you sign up at https://revolutbusiness.onelink.me/jLOt/hp-ep9-aud and add money to your account by 30/09/2026. Fees, promotion terms and T&Cs apply.  AG1 👉 head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance and get a free Morning Person Hat to help start your AG1 daily habit - plus a free D3 and K2, and five travel packs Go Henry 👉 Grow their skills and their money at gohenry.com/highperformance with £5 FREE to get started! Eight Sleep 👉If you want to discover deeper sleep. Use code HPP to get £360 off your Pod 5 Ultra here: https://highpfrmc.com/eightsleep_au Vitality 👉 We've partnered with Vitality because our philosophies align perfectly: healthy habits build high performance and can lead to a healthier, longer life. Find out more about health and life insurance with Vitality: https://highpfrmc.com/vitality-hpp-au Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Getting Fired Was a RELIEF: Guenther Steiner on the Truth About His Haas Exit (E433)

About

Welcome to High Performance. Through fascinating conversations with remarkable guests, Jake Humphrey and Damian Hughes uncover the secrets behind High Performance and explore how we can all become the best version of ourselves. We focus on uncovering the learnings from top performers in every field, from sport to entertainment, business, health and wellness.​ No matter where our guests have excelled, they all have first-hand experiences and lessons to share. On High Performance we find out what non-negotiable behaviours they employed to get them to the top and keep them there. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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