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Uncharted Performance

I lead driven individuals to find direction, create strategies and accelerate toward the greatest ve I help driven individuals to fulfil their true potential.

To create a robust, strong and durable body. To forge a tough, resilient and flexible mindset. And to effectively lead and communicate with those around them, and those who would depend on them. If you’re reading this.. The chances are that you feel like you’re currently living to 10% of your true potential...

If you have no interest in expanding on that, living life on your terms, challenging yo

urself and breaching the door of your true capability, then stop reading here. This is not for you. But if you're the person who knows they can achieve more.. Who has worked hard, professionally. Who has shown, in a former life, you have the fortitude and capability to be a physical specimen.. But has, for some reason, fallen in to bad habits, negative self talk and a state of low-self confidence? Then this is for you. We can lead you to not only re-gain your former glory, but surpass it. Send me a DM to find out more.

25/04/2026

You’re not different. You’re not broken.

Most of us don’t have pathological dysfunction.

We’re not “wrong” because we have burning ambitions to do, be and achieve more.

We ought not be ashamed of the fact we ask for more from our careers, relationships and lives.

We don’t need to feel guilty for talking about the problems we run in to in the pursuit of all that.

But whilst we aren’t broken…

We are problematically locked in our own heads - and often isolated & disengaged as a result.

No material trappings in the world can substitute spending time around people who believe what you believe.

Sharing great food at the dining table - with men who are on the same journey as you - and having a few whisky’s to celebrate a long day of summiting Munros.

It’s a simple truth that this is missing from many of our lives…

And it’s the most incredible feeling to be able to bring this group of humans together.

Well done to all who attended for summiting 7 Munros - and thank you.

Thank you for attending. Thank you for seeing the same vision that we do and thank you for being part of the mission.

Time to put the phone down and cameras away to celebrate the weekend 👀

24/04/2026

Part rewiring. Part re-wilding.

Months in the making. Today it begins!

13 of our fantastic clients have travelled from across the UK, Canada and Bermuda for this.

Suited, booted, and heading into the Cairngorms with myself and expedition leader

The Scottish weather Gods have rewarded their efforts!

This is what it looks like when you close the app, put the phone down and actually go do the thing you've been talking about doing for years.

We’ve got two full days in the mountains, a banquet and whisky tasting session to look forward to!

Here’s to an incredible weekend with even better company!

23/04/2026

You have everything you said would make you happy.

Why aren’t you?

I think it comes down to something called problem creep.

As you solve more problems in life…

Financial stability.

Creating a home.

Starting a family.

Career security.

You don’t become more satisfied.

In fact, we just lower the threshold of what we considered to be a problem in the first place…

Essentially giving ourselves more problems.

But, in the absence of any truly meaningful problems remaining…

The new problems are progressively more hollow and insignificant - yet continue to separate you from feelings of happiness and fulfilment.

I’ve thought this for a while, and lived it, but didn’t know how to put words to it - until now.

I may be biased, as it’s been at the core of my coaching philosophy for some time now…

But I feel anyone reading this would be palpably better off from heading to the wilderness and solving some real problems for a day or two.

Feel real fresh air against your skin. Wind, rain and all; instead of Air Conditioning.

Feel your heart pumping in your mouth and your lungs & legs burn. Instead of getting tired after sitting down all day.

Learn to read the lay of the land and its contours - instead of reading between the lines of emails being circulated by the seniors.

Go out and challenge yourself.

Not through self loathing, or solely for physical accomplishments.

But to ask…

“What am I mentally and spiritually willing to ask of myself…

in an effort to be the best human being I can be?”.

21/04/2026

Mary Oliver asked the question most men spend their lives avoiding.

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

You might have heard it. Nodded at it. Maybe felt something move in you, for a moment.

You can’t fake the feeling it gives you.

In that moment - you actually see an answer.

You can clearly see what you want, and more importantly…

What’s holding you back from living it.

Then Monday arrives.

You open your inbox.

More meetings are put in your calendar.

More corporate nonsense, turbocharged by Ai, is flying around and no-one - including you- wants to be seen to challenge it.

But better to tolerate fools and bureaucracy than risk saying what you really think. Isnt it?

So, your days get longer.

Weeks get faster.

And the years just seem to be flying by.

Busyness is the perfect hiding place from the question of life.

It looks like ambition and society will celebrate you for it.

It feels like progress; to be constantly ‘doing’ something.

Nobody questions a man who's always moving, after all…

But movement and direction aren't the same thing.

The men I work with aren't lazy.

They're exhausted from running hard in every direction but their own.

Saying yes to everyone else's priorities.

Making themselves indispensable to other people's visions.

Confusing productivity with purpose.

Who taught you that you can finish first by always putting yourself last?

Here’s a question for your journal, or even just your drive home.

“What your 80 year old say, if he could see you now?”

20/04/2026

On the 29th of June 2007, boredom was pronounced dead.

It was the birth of the iPhone.

And our ability to form meaningful human connections went with it.

Not because the phone is evil.

Because boredom was doing something.

On the other side of boredom is presence.

Where you'd actually look at someone. Notice them.

Have an original thought wasn’t a reaction to content or thinking about ‘performance’.

That gap is gone.

Sitting on the toilet.

Standing in a queue.

The moment you come out of a meeting, or off a zoom call.

In the deafening silence as you and your partner argue.

You reach for the phone.

Not because you need it.

Because we’ve normalised a complete abandonment of our nervous system.

Because we’ve been conditioned to treat stillness as a problem to solve.

Presence, intimacy, connectedness and innovation lives in those gaps.

So does who you really are.

From time to time, it's imperative you go somewhere that makes you forget to check your phone.

That's precisely why we're leading our clients through the Cairngorms this week.

Scenery that makes you forget your phone exists…

Around people who make you not feel worried about checking it.

19/04/2026

I didn’t realise I had this skill until I stopped grinding all the time.

Historically…

I thought this trait was airy-fairy.

That it was about painting, rejecting capitalism, being vegan and wearing h**p.

I didn’t think it was a word I’d ever use to describe myself, not least enjoy.

I’m talking about creativity.

Everything used to be about output, productivity & optimisation.

Everything that wasn’t conducive to work needed to be systemised to make more room for more work.

Not a minute was wasted. Food had to be convenient and take minutes to cook & eat.

As soon as I woke up, I needed to be in training kit and tearing around to get everything done.

But when I did take time off…I had nothing to do.

I didn’t actually know ‘who’ I was, or what I liked to do anymore.

So I’d sell myself BS: “I may as well just be working”.

That is the quickest way to resent your life and burn out. I couldn’t go on like this.

My nervous system was shredded. Gut health was smashed. Sleep was more of an exhausted collapse.

I learned to deliberately slow down.

I started to cook from scratch and by hand with meat from a butchers.

I got an axe and started chopping our own sticks and logs.

Last summer - I tended the garden and got a record crop of Tomatoes.

I’ve started investing time in these things I was quick to get rid of for the sake of ‘optimising’…

And not only have I never been more fulfilled…

I’ve also never been more productive in the hours that I do work.

The thing that’s been culled isn’t either the meaningful work - it’s the time wasted as a result of exhaustion.

For every day you try and ‘work harder’ - the amount of actual output per hour of input will drop. Focus is lost, procrastination will increase. No matter who you are.

You’ll use more caffeine to combat that - but that’s tracked by poor sleep and anxiety.

Trust me when I say the answer is doing less, but better.

*I still manage to run a global business, be a committed partner, train up to 13 hours a week, have a friendship group & travel.

Proof > promises.

Let’s try something different, shall we?

18/04/2026

Authenticity is an act of rebellion.

I don’t doubt that this would be a living hell, to some.

But more of this is what I’m optimising for.

I’ve felt the confusion & exhaustion of chasing a false God before.

Money without meaning. Profit without purpose.

I’d built, and was running, a multi six figure business before I was 30.

But there comes a point where you realise you’re trading hidden metrics (freedom, sense of purpose, privacy, being your own adventurous self)…

For visible metrics (revenue, status, material possessions).

“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell”.

Both completely deplete your energy. Both have a lack of purpose. Both are inherently destructive.

If you keep trying to force growth, into pain…

Theres a ceiling you’ll hit that you won’t push past - regardless of how much potential you think you have.

You don’t need more effort, or to “work harder”.

You need clarity over what you actually want from life, the self belief to go after it and the systems to support it.

Ironically - things will develop exponentially once you have those things in place.

Normalise pursuing your own version and vision of success.

16/04/2026

I’ve noticed a recurring theme in almost all of you I’ve spoken to.

You’re numb from the neck down.

You spend your whole life in your own head.

Not just ‘thinking’…

But more often, overthinking.

In conversation - most of you are then quick to respond:

“Oh yeah, I’m definitely an over thinker” as if it were some sort of lifelong condition.

Once upon a time - you were not.

You were healthier and happier as a result.

You intuited more, thought more creatively, slept better & laughed harder.

Probably like you do after a few days on holiday.

Being in your own head so much comes partially as a consequence of being intelligent.

You think that if you can logically compute a situation - you can fix it.

That if you can think about something enough - you can have a greater degree of control over it.

This is rarely, if ever, true.

Holding worries closer to you in the hope of controlling them is a complete waste of time, energy and mental bandwidth.

And continuing to do it is driving your nervous system deeper into the red.

That’s where the racing thoughts come from at night.

That’s what’s causing the irritability after work.

That’s what drives the procrastination, doom scrolling & flicking through your inbox repeat.

It’s why you can’t sit still and why you rush to check emails in the morning.

If you think learning to be in your body isn’t going to help ‘productivity’…

I’d ask you to consider how much potential you’re wasting with your current approach.

I’m here when you’re ready to feel the next level.

14/04/2026

You don't have an energy problem. You have an activation addiction.

You need to know the difference.

One is created organically - the other, synthetically.

The former is created when you sleep 7-9 hours a night.

When you prioritise minimally processed foods.

When you’re aerobically fit and globally strong…

Laugh frequently, have meaningful connections and when you spend enough time outside.

What I’m referring to is ‘energy’.

On the other hand of the spectrum…

We have ‘activation’.

This is what you get when you have a coffee.

When you open social media.

When you’re delivering a presentation.

When you going through your emails.

When you get external validation.

When you get irritated by that LinkedIn post.

When you listen to the news.

None of these things are inherently bad.

The problem is when your energy is low but your activation is high…

Which is almost everyone that comes to work with me.

Their natural energy reserves have been dwindling, or dry, for some time now.

But activation is what’s keeping them pepped and keeping them going.

This is why, even when you know you’re shattered, it feels impossible to slow down.

This is why screen time creeps up.

Why your diet begins to see higher rates of ultra processed foods…

And yet another coffee.

This is why, even going on holiday can fill you with dread, guilt or feelings of anxiety…

You are distancing yourself from the only things keeping you going.

And, in your new map of the world, ‘doing = good’…
‘Slowing down = weak.’

This is the line of thinking, and the behaviour, that’s slowly destroying your nervous system.

It’s behind all of the behaviours that you think ‘discipline’ will solve.

It won’t.

There’s only one thing that will…

And it’s learning to flip this ratio.

You may need to be held accountable to different standards.

13/04/2026

You're not bad at achieving goals. You're bad at wanting the right ones.

Humans are famously bad at knowing what they want.

That’s why I’m not a huge advocate for setting static goals.

On the other hand; we're remarkably good at knowing what we like doing, and what we don't.

Most men I work with have spent years building towards something.

A job title.

A race time.

A business revenue.

A certain station in life…

But almost universally, it feels decidedly unfulfilling.

Why?

Not because they failed.

Because they succeeded - and the feeling they hoped for; wasn't there.

The seemingly logical reaction is to set a bigger goal.

Ran a marathon? Maybe now I need to run an ultra.

Got a promotion? Maybe I’ll feel more powerful when I make the C Suite.

Got to your revenue target? Maybe I’ll feel more safe if I make even more.

…and the cycle continues.

This is what “goal-setting as a happiness strategy” actually produces.

Not fulfilment.

All-or-nothing behaviour.

Boom and bust cycles.

And a persistent sense that no matter how much you achieve…

You're still slightly behind.

Being ambitious isn’t a problem and I’m not discouraging that - quite the opposite.

I’m implying that what actually builds a sustainable & consistent standard of performance, and fulfilment…
Is starting with values.

Working from how success feels, rather than how it looks.
Or as I often say to my clients; “optimising for the average tuesday”.

Building around that feels palpably different.

You stop chasing peaks and start raising the floor.

I call this performance through peace.

The goal isn't the best day of your year.

It's the best version of your average Tuesday.

Professionally productive.

Physically powerful.

Personally present.

Get that right…

And the peaks take care of themselves.

12/04/2026

“When anxiety calls, pick up the phone”

Feelings of anxiety aren’t the problem.

The avoidance of it is.

I truly believe that most men innately know why, or what’s causing, their worrisome thoughts.

Every time you don't address the thing sitting in the back of your mind…

The conversation you haven't had, the decision you've been circling, the thing you did or didn't do…

Calls again.

Louder.

And when you don't pick up, it doesn't leave a voicemail and move on.

It starts showing up when you’re trying to fall asleep at night.

It starts congesting your mental bandwidth.

It runs quietly in the background of every room you walk into…

Every interaction you have and every moment you're trying to be present for.

That's where the sleepless nights come from.

The intrusive thoughts.

The increasing screen time.

The problematic procrastination.

It’s not the anxiety itself…

It’s your decision to just let it ring out.

Most men I work with aren't struggling because they lack awareness.

They're struggling because awareness without action creates its own kind of pressure.

They know. They've known for a while.

But there’s a gaping chasm between knowing and doing.

When anxiety calls - pick up the phone.

Not to try and fix everything.

Not even to have all the answers.

But to notice the worry and start creating an actionable plan.

09/04/2026

This tends to happen as you become more Senior at work…

It’s worth noting that most of the clients I work with have designs on ascending at their place of work.

Either growing their own business, or moving up the ladder in Industry.

But when they do, they succumb to a different level of stress which causes absolute confusion and often significant frustration - sometimes leading to a performance dip.

New levels, new devils - after all.

The problem they encounter, and maybe you have too, is you get less time do your own work.

Consequently - you get less ‘flow’.

You go from having several days a week where you can be ‘in-flow’, cranking out projects, materials and emails and feeling like you’ve moved the needle…

To having to be so much more responsive.

You get far more emails asking for your attention and approval.

You’re expected to attend more meetings. To be more accessible. To make more decisions for the benefit of other people…

And as a result - you don’t get that incredible feeling of ‘going deep’ with your work anymore.

What you need to understand is that this isn’t a problem for everyone.

It only happens to ‘autotelic personalities’. People who love the process of doing the work, as much [often more than!] the outcome.

This is a term I became familiar with when I qualified in Neuroscience & Flow Research in 2023.

It’s now a challenge I’m intimately familiar with, through applying the frameworks to myself and hundreds of clients since then.

What’s holding you back isn’t that you’ve got more responsibility now…

What’s making you feel like you’re not doing enough, is that you haven’t learned how to internally and externally trigger flow in your life again.

Yet.

When you want to get back to the top 1% - you know where I am.

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https://www.marcrhodescoaching.com/

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Let’s start with Why. I help guys get the Muscle, Body and Confidence they’ve always dreamed of but never been able to achieve.

Having coached hundreds of guys, and myself, from a place of not being happy and confident with how they look.. I know how frustrating it is when nothing seems to work. Nutrition seems so overwhelming and knowing which Training plan to follow can create nothing but anxiety. That’s why everything I do is geared up to help Guys get leaner, build muscle, feel more confident, be happy with what they see in the mirror and reap the rewards in their lives.