Coming from the very structured world of elite sport, I’ve found that high performers in entertainment (actors, musicians) and business leaders (including Fortune 100 CEOs), often operate with far less structure in their health and performance.

As I discussed with Jake Humphrey on the High Performance Podcast , a really useful tool I use to add structure is a framework I call the Human Performance Gap.

Usually during an initial consultation or on a whiteboard or over a long walk…

Now the concept of gap analysis is not new — it’s long been used in psychology and management consulting to compare a current state vs. desired state (see e.g. ResearchGate summary).

But, I’ve found it to be extremely effective when working across the 5 elements of human performance: nutrition, activity, recovery, psychology, and environment.

Most importantly, I use it when clients feel stuck — for example, when they’re no longer sure what they’re working towards.

It has three parts:

1. Ideal Future State — your deeper motivation for change. Identity, family, or a career mission. More than surface goals (e.g. reducing body fat, or increasing muscle mass) — it’s the why that gets you out of bed on a cold November morning.

This is what Jake and I were digging into on the podcast. It’s something that I highlighted in my book, The Energy Plan, a while back too – most clients come to me with surface level goals and it really takes some time to discover their deeper motivation.

2. Current Reality — a clear-eyed look at the five elements of human performance. Everyone starts from a different place, with strengths in some areas and weaknesses in others (e.g. I find that nutrition, recovery and the right environment to support lifestyle changes, are most often neglected).

And it almost goes without saying, it’s vital to meet the performer where they are (not where they [or we] would like them to be).

Many clients may require deeper specialist support from experts in our INTRA Performance Group team or our trusted partners, across each of the 5 elements.

3. Closing the Gap — What will really move the dial for them? Which of the 5 elements are limiting their progress?

It’s vital to then set the expectation that the process is iterative, with regular feedback to refine the strategies. Changes are introduced one-by-one and measured for their impact (using subjective or objective data, often both).

I’m using this process almost daily at present and continuing to refine its use.

One thing all of my clients have in common is that they are all time poor. It’s my job to make my processes as simple and ‘sticky’ as possible for them (and yes, I love very bad hand drawn diagrams and analogies!).

The diagram is a v1 and isn’t quite there, so any feedback is most welcome!

Over the coming weeks, I’ll dig deeper into each of these areas in more detail.

I’d also love to hear from you if you, a partner, or colleague is stuck in the human performance gap.