The Performance Margin 

This month I’ve had quite a focus on adapting to change. I’ve introduced my ADAPT model , looked into why we as humans are resistant to change and how change helps athletes to improve their performance . Now I’m taking my own advice and pausing to see how I’m making changes to continue growing as a coach and athlete. In the past, I’ve worked with a triathlon coach who got me over that initial hurdle of juggling three sports in one event, and we worked well together over this

Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya holds the male world record for the marathon. His time? 2:00:35. He can run 42.2km (26.2 miles) in seconds over 2 hours. That’s running 2:51 per km (or 4:36 per mile) for 2 hours. Not only was he the first person to get under 2:01 for the marathon, but he also ran the second half faster than the first half (called a negative split). While training for this feat, Kelvin would have put his body through progressive stress, time and time again. Breaking dow

We, as humans, are creatures of habit. It’s a mindset embedded within us from our days as hunter gatherers (and probably well before that). Habits and routines are good for us, as we operate more efficiently on ‘autopilot’, with our prefrontal cortex not having to work overtime making every single decision we make on a daily basis. It also keeps us safe. Being predictable, always collecting the same tried and tested wild fungi that didn’t kill us, taking the same hunting rout

Change is the only constant - in sport, aviation, and life. Yet most people treat it as something to survive, not something to train for. Just like physical conditioning builds strength, mental conditioning builds adaptability. That’s where the ADAPT Framework comes in - a simple, evidence-based method for building resilience through small, sustainable steps. A - Assess Before you can change your response, you need to understand it. Notice where your resistance comes from:

As humans, we know a remarkably large amount of what’s going on around us. We see everything, hear everything, taste everything, smell everything and feel everything. So why don’t we observe everything? Think back to the last time you went to a supermarket. If you went in for some apples, you’re probably fully aware of how much the apples were, how many they had, and which type had any special offers on them. But what about the peaches? Did they have any? Or oranges? It is l

In high-stakes environments - like aviation, emergency response, sport, and leadership - we talk a lot about situational awareness. But too often, we only talk about it after it disappears. One moment you're tuned in. The next? You miss a cue, overlook a signal, or lose track of what matters most. So why does situational awareness fade? And more importantly, how can we rebuild it when the pressure’s on? 1. Situational Awareness Isn’t a Switch - It’s a System Situational awar

Aviation is one of the safest industries in the world - not by accident, but by design. Through decades of hard-earned lessons, aviation has created systems and cultures that prioritise safety, performance, and trust. These same principles, especially around communication, non-punitive reporting, and learning from error, hold powerful lessons for sport and business. In this post, we explore what coaches, managers, and leaders can borrow from the cockpit to build stronger, saf

I joined the RAF back in 2016, after the findings of Haddon-Cave’s Nimrod review . The changes to culture were already well and truly progressing, and by the time I had completed training, I was in an organisation that was living and breathing Just culture. Whether everything was spot on is a different discussion, but I hadn’t experienced life before. Flying training through a civilian school showcased a different attitude to culture in aviation Creating this Just Culture do

The crossover between sport and professional performance is one that I hold at the core of my coaching philosophy. It’s why I train athletes and professionals with a similar approach. Lessons identified in one area can be related across and applied to enhance performance. Let me prove it to you... In mid-May, I packed my bike onto the back of my car, loaded up my wetsuit and running shoes and made my way to Burghley House in Stamford. The whole way my stomach was churning wit

In today’s fast-paced world, we send more messages - but understand less. Whether it’s a WhatsApp from a coach, a safety note in aviation, or an email to your boss, written communication is efficient… until it isn’t. Without tone, context, or instant feedback, even well-intentioned messages can cause confusion, mistrust, or worse - critical mistakes. In high-stakes environments, relying solely on written communication isn’t just risky - it’s reckless . The Illusion of Clarity

In aviation, sport, and leadership, few things erode trust faster than blame. In high-performance environments, where human error is inevitable, the way we respond matters more than the error itself. This article explores how blame destroys psychological safety, how Just Culture offers a better path, and why distinguishing between honest mistakes, risk-taking, and negligence is crucial for any high-performing team. This was the Mansfield 10k back in September 2024. I was in d

As human beings, we are all fallible. Mistakes occur, despite knowing every Human Factor at play and identifying the potential for errors to creep into our daily avtivities. Still, they happen. In the complex and high-stakes world of aviation, safety is the top priority. To maintain and continuously improve this safety, the aviation industry relies not only on technology, regulation, and training but also on culture. One concept that has emerged as a cornerstone of modern saf

How many times do we see it in our day-to-day lives? Whether its an email to our boss that they took the wrong way, or a text to a family member where our dry sense of humour is misconstrued for being confrontational, we find that communication breaks down quite frequently. As it happens, that second one happens far too often between my mum and I… Despite technological advancements and decades of Crew Resource Management (CRM) training, communication failures in aviation are

While flying recently, I was handling the aircraft on an instrument approach in for a touch and go. I was wearing the oxygen mask, as we had practiced the smoke and fumes drill, and I hadn’t landed wearing the mask for a while. It was a good training opportunity, however in itself it provided a bit of a distraction. Additionally, the weather was quite poor, and the cloud base was close to the minima for the approach. On reflection, it was one of those approaches where the hol

Communication always comes with its challenges, but there are ways we can overcome these and avoid ambiguity.

Technology is used in today’s society as both a help and a hinderance. We utilise it in all aspects of our lives, and sleep is no different! A 2021 study into the use of electronic devices before bedtime highlighted the impact this has upon sleep quality. So, we should be avoiding screens before bed, but how can we use other forms of technology to monitor and potentially improve our sleep? Wearable sleep trackers have gained a lot of traction in recent years. Most devices

Everywhere you look, there is a lot more focus on sleep than there has been over the past decade. Previously people would wear the badge of ‘don’t mind me, I’m just operating on 3 hours sleep’ with pride, but the narrative has now changed. It is now widely accepted that between 7 and 9 hours of sleep is what most adults need. But where has this research come from, what is the benefit of getting sleep and (most importantly) what can a lack of sleep look like in our day to day

Investigating accidents and incidents serves one sole purpose; to identify the causes and prevent recurrence. Over time, this data can be analysed to identify common issues and precursors to events, which could be used to predict cases of human error in the future. It’s not quite as cut and dry as it sounds, but human behaviour is actually surprisingly predictable. The US military have used this concept to devise an AI programme called Raven Sentry , which was employed in Afg

On 1st June 2009, Air France Flight 447 was flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. During the flight, the Airbus 330-200 flew through some weather and ice crystals began forming in the three pitot tubes. These measure the differential between static air pressure and the dynamic, to provide airspeed readings to the cockpit. As these became blocked with ice build-up, there was a disparity between measurements from the three tubes, which disconnected the aircraft’s autopilot and a

In most walks of life, people find themselves in high pressure situations. This often builds over time, with increasing workload, or responsibilities, at home or at work. Pressure builds and people’s fight, flight or freeze (also known as the acute stress response ) kicks in. Some crumble under the stress, some thrive and use it to motivate them. However, the aviation domain is one where pressure does not always build consistently. The Yerkes-Dodson Law, also referred to as t