There’s a reason why I deliberately emphasise the HUMAN in human performance.

The human is too often forgotten in the deluge of optimisation porn.

Humans often don’t feel like training, make poor food choices, or sleep late because they’re stressed.

Human lives are often messy and complex with work and family demands.

For many high performers you have to layer on fame and the complex challenges this brings, before they can even get to their ‘day job’.

Yet somehow in 2025 the biohackers suggest we all need to have multi-step protocols for everything (nutrition, supplementation, sleep, training)…

The only way is an arsenal of the latest supplements, IV vitamin drips, hyperbaric chambers, etc.

A plug-and-play which ignores the human and unique context and daily challenges.

Don’t get me wrong, there are times on a project we will start working with a high performer and will need them to follow a strict programme or protocol:

• Coming into a headline music tour, especially multi-stage and with international travel
• During injury rehabilitation
• During a filming run, especially during prolonged filming and/or involving night shoots
• An intensive period of work stress: team working on M&A, designers towards fashion week, tech team towards a product launch

But this is the peak, this isn’t year round!

The Journey of Human Performance

Human Performance is a journey for anyone trying to get better, it’s not reserved for the 0.001%.

This starts from where you are today. Not where you’d like to be. Where you think you are. Where your best friend is. Where you are. Your ‘current reality’.

A current reality which includes understanding capability, opportunity and motivation (termed the COM-B system).

Often the biggest challenge I give high performers is to change less at the start of a programme, to reduce cognitive load, but embed those changes (interventions) well.

Incremental optimisation

Focus on making 1 high-impact (intervention) per week.

Monitoring its effectiveness (subjectively or using wearable data) and refine as required.

Build evidence (and confidence) on what is working for you.

Do that for 52 weeks across the highest impact changes in 5 elements (nutrition, psychology, activity, recovery, environment).

In 1 year you will have clear evidence.

It’s that simple.

But remember, simple isn’t easy…