Uncharted Performance

23/02/2026

I think the reason so many men are afraid to go after what they want…

Is the fear of judgment.

To take time off from work to head for the mountains…

Could incur judgments that they’re lazy. Not committed. Work shy.

To take time away from family life for the same purpose…

Could infer they’re selfish. Not providing enough for the kids. Not being a good husband.

But here’s the facts.

None of these things are true.

In fact…

They are figments of your imagination.

Literally.

These judgements, and countless others like it…

Are your own projections.

These are the judgments you’ve likely been casting onto other people and other situations.

And in these moments, you’re turning the weapon on yourself - metaphorically speaking.

When you point a finger…

There are three pointing back at you.

That’s why life can feel so claustrophobic at times.

That’s why you have this recurring clash between ‘heart’ and mind.

This is why you keep using ‘logic’ to deter you from doing what you’d love to do.

But this is neither finite or fatal.

It is completely changeable and you have agency.

You simply need to raise awareness to your own inner critic.

To become your own inner coach, instead of an innate cynic.

This is precisely what we teach men to do.

If you want what you’ve never had…

You need to do things you’ve never done.

22/02/2026

Struggling with paralysis by analysis? Ask these two questions.

Almost all times…

Paralysis by analysis is simply overwhelm.

Call it fear of judgment. Call it perfectionism.

Call it whatever you want - you’ve frozen because you’re afraid of making the wrong decision and looking foolish.

You’re thinking too much and feeling too little.

So the first question is designed to connect you with your inner wisdom.

“What would I do if I weren’t afraid?”

Write it out.

You’ll be amazed how clear and obvious the answers are.

The next problem, though…

Is that your limiting beliefs will reflexively, almost instantaneously, start producing reasons why you shouldn’t.

Reasons why it’s harder for you.

Explanations about how it could fail.

Reminders of previous attempts to act.

Limiting beliefs are labelled as such because they’re beliefs that limit you.

Not facts. Not truths. Not laws.

Beliefs.

They can be changed.

So the second question seeks to gain understanding of these.

“What do I believe to be true about myself when things aren’t going my way?”

This is where the good stuff is.

Once you get to this point…

Your only decision is what you do with it.

Do you avoid the truth?

Will you seek distractions from the right path?

Will you continue to protect a level of comfort over growth?

Or will you do the damn thing.

If you want to do the latter…

Then my DM’s are open.

I look forward to hearing from you.

19/02/2026

I wanted to wait to share these reflections…

I DNFd my first race - the Arctic Spine.

As it unfolded, I felt a sense of disbelief.

“Is this really happening?”

But as I put distance between myself and it…

I realised it’s my first DNF, but far from my first failure.

I’m proud of putting myself in a position where I could fail.

I’ve learned tremendous amounts from previous successes on “world’s toughest” races.

Each one has changed my life in a significant way.

But upon deep and transparent reflection…

I think those successes had embedded a negative trait I already had.

Growing up being hyper-independent in order to survive [literally]…

Had led me to see the world, people and myself in a very binary way.

It makes life easier. Less painful. Less nuanced.

But it also means I’d never checked my tendency of quantifying people - myself included...

Based on successes and achievements.

I also thought success was the pre-requisite for acceptance and love.

I think many men do, if they’re honest with themselves.

I needed to learn a lesson deeper than that.

To see, accept and love, a human [once again, including myself] based on traits deeper than what they’ve achieved.

That’s not to say lessons wouldn’t have been learned from success - either for me, or for others.

We all learn the lessons we’re ready to learn at the time we’re ready to learn them; after all.

But with time, I’ve recognised the bittersweet but beautiful lesson to have come from all of it.

It’s not the one I would have picked for myself - but the one I needed. Of that I’m certain.

It would have been easy to dismiss it as “just a race” - but in doing so…

I’d rob myself of these lessons.

It wasn’t just a race. It was, is, a snapshot of the timeline of my life.

I’m grateful to have had these lessons bestowed upon me.

I believe I will continue to be a better coach, because of it.

I feel I’ll be a better human, in fact, due to it.

And when all is said and done…

What a fu***ng ride.

I’ll take this over ‘what if’ any day of the week.

Thank you to all of those who supported me in this endeavour.




uk

17/02/2026

To give yourself affection and attention is to be weak.

To relax and enjoy some true, clean rest - is not what ‘masculine’ or ‘tough’ men do.

Or at least that’s the subtext for men over the last few decades.

Trying to outrun your vulnerability…

Is like trying to outrun your own re**um.

It has a habit of following you wherever you go.

Still, I lived for 3 decades trying to do precisely that.

Never ‘showing any raw flesh’ for fear of having it used against me…

Or, worse still, ignore it entirely.

The problem, though, is that living in denial of one’s vulnerability is living in denial of one's actual wants and needs.

You say you want a meaningful connection with a fraternity of like-minded people…

But always feel like you’re distant, different or detached.

Has it occurred to you that it’s because you’re not being your true self?

That alcohol isn’t the only, or even a good, way to bridge that gap?

You dream of a level of love and lust within your relationship…

Yet daren’t let yourself, flaws and all, be fully seen by this person.

Most men are so afraid of seeming weak, feminine or incapable…

That the thought of saying “this is what I’m feeling” to their wife is completely off the table.

Not only does this keep you estranged from others…

It ensures you continue to abandon yourself.

You place the wants and opinions of others…

Above your own needs, dreams and desires.

For what?

For optics.

You’d rather collapse from exhaustion and burnout…

Than talk about the fact you feel like you’re drowning.

The irony is…

You do all this to avoid being seen as self indulgent.

But this level of shame around one’s own perception is the definition of self indulgent.

The way out is self esteem.

It is the only antidote to shame…

And the only way to take true responsibility.

16/02/2026

The ugly truth about success.

It doesn’t matter what you’re aiming for.

Promotion.

Growing the profit margin.

Making the training habit finally stick.

Completing big races or competitions.

Learning to balance your home life and work concurrently.

The same applies to all of this…

It does not require as much intensity as you believe it does.

Sprinting off at maximal effort, giving “100% or nothing”…

Feels empowering. It FEELS like the right thing to do…

But in a modern & dynamic world…

The challenge is not how hard you can work.

It’s controlling for chronic distraction.

Be that procrastination, avoidance or simply filtering out the noise.

The fact of the matter is that consistency beats intensity.

That is a hill I’m willing to die on.

I’ve proved it time and time again.

I was abandoned as a child and grew up emotionally unavailable, confused and angry as a result.

I failed my A Levels.

I got a bang average degree.

I’ve never been a pro athlete.

I was medically discharged from the military.

Yet I’ve gone on to build a global coaching brand famed for it’s high standards and consistent results…

And completed three of the worlds toughest multi-day ultra marathons.

I have achieved what I have thus far through consistency.

Through finding ways to turn up. It’s that simple.
The bar is set so low these days…

That all you have to do is turn up, whilst others’ heads are turned…

And you will win.

It’s just a matter of time.

But time passes whether you’re on task or not.

Values led + accurate thinking = consistency.

Consistency = success.

15/02/2026

“Be the person you would hate to compete against”.

Many men I talk to spend disproportionate amounts of time inflating the abilities and successes of others…

Whilst minimising their own.

To an extent, this is normal and natural.

But often, it’s unhelpful.

The comparison leads us to low self esteem and consequently…

Diminished output.

Retreating to the safety of avoidance, procrastination and unhelpful coping mechanisms.

But what if we were to draw inspiration from these comparisons, instead?

If you can observe a trait, or characteristic in another…

You can develop it in yourself, thanks to the wonder of human learning.

If you observe that someone is ruthlessly consistent…

Rather than setting off at maximal intensity and trying to ‘outwork’ them…

Ask instead, what would it be like to operate at 80% - but meticulously?

If what you want to achieve has a long runway…

Instead of asking “how can I speed this up?”…

Ask instead, how could I make this process more enjoyable and fulfilling?

You simply cannot beat a man who’s having fun.

Trying to speed things up doesn’t usually lead to better outcomes.

It only speeds up how quickly you’ll think about quitting.

Anything worth having, or achieving, usually has a timeline that we cannot control.

That’s the very reason that’s it’s desirable to us.

But what we can control, is how you feel about it.

What we can control is your effort, consistency, energy and tenacity.

Realise that it’s not always about who’s smartest, or even best…

It’s about who’s left.

If you want to be in the top 1%…

You need to start finding answers to these questions.

12/02/2026

There’s one emotion I struggled with more than any other…

Guilt.

Like a lot of the guys I work with; I didn’t struggle with knowing I needed rest, to set boundaries, or create time for myself.

The problems start the moment we try to actually do it.

That guilt usually isn’t random. It’s a conditioned belief.

Men especially grow up being taught that our value comes from being useful.

That rest has to be earned through hard work, rather than hard work being made possible through clean rest.

That other people’s needs come first and we need to put on a brave face.

That being “good” means self-sacrifice.

That other people's opinions of us, and the way we live our lives, are more important than our own.

So when you slow down, take time off, say no, set a boundary or when you advocate for your own needs…

Your nervous system reads it as having done something wrong -, even when it’s healthy for you, and your future.

Here’s the reframe I come back to again and again:
Guilt doesn’t mean you’re doing something bad. It often means you’re doing something new.

You don’t have to wait until the guilt disappears to take care of yourself.

It’s imperative that you learn that affection and attention can come from you, to you.

That’s not selfish.

That’s unlearning belief systems and behaviours that no longer serve you…

09/02/2026

08/02/2026

Kit checks complete. Navigation assessment passed for all members of Team Uncharted.

Less than 24hrs is all that now stands between us and starting the toughest expedition race on Earth.

It’s easy to look at the recent past of a training cycle and pretend “6 months of training got us here”.

But this is a decades long aggregate of character, commitment and conditioning...

And we couldn’t be more ready to pick up that gauntlet.

Success is not ours to promise - but we intend to come out swinging.

Head down, eyes up.

06/02/2026

We made it (…to the start line).

After 2 days of traveling - we’re here.

200km north of the Arctic Circle in Abisko; the start line of the notorious Arctic spine.

Growing in notoriety as the most extreme expedition race in the world - we begin at 9am on Monday.

Between now and then we’ve got kit checks, competency assessments, medical briefs and navigation assessments to get through

But until then - we’re making the most of the meatballs and best adult playground there is.

05/02/2026

You need to be reminded more than you need to learn.

I took a rare scroll through LinkedIn the other day.

Post, after post, after post…

Promising new frameworks, innovative solutions and proven blueprints.

Bu****it. AI Slop. Noise.

The same goes for Instagram and YouTube.

Almost all of it is noise and nonsense.

The only posts that stand out to me, after 13 years in the field…

Are the people who are being honest.

That the way to high performance is the same now as it’s always been.

My honest belief is that the men I work with already inherently know what to do.

You don’t need new information.

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel.

No matter how cleverly packaged the shiny new thing is…

It’s a fu***ng distraction, plain and simple.

You need to re-connect with the voice of inner wisdom that you already have within you.

You need to learn to trust yourself, and your decisions, again.

That’s not always easy to do, after months, years or even decades of broken promises…

Or prioritising everyone’s opinion over your own…

But you have already created a degree of success in your life.

You have demonstrable evidence that you’re able to do it.

So many men I coach learn to draw on these past lessons and perspectives and all say the same thing…

“God it’s so simple. I used to do this years ago, I don’t know why I stopped!”

The problem isn’t an information deficit…

The problem is that you’ve forgotten who you are, and what you’re actually capable of.

You’ve habitualised letting yourself down in order to satisfy others…

And you’ve normalised inflating the success of others, whilst minimising your own abilities.

It’s not a skill, will or even information problem.

It’s a belief issue.

And there’s only one way you can build it.

Let’s do the damn thing.

03/02/2026

The way I motivate myself has changed completely.

Earlier in my ultra endurance ‘career’ - if we can call it that…

During long or arduous sections of races…

I would repeat a three word mantra to myself.

“This will end”.

I write it on bits of kit, where only I can see it.

It reminded me to bite down on my gumshield and ‘dig in’…

Because sooner or later, it will all be over. I needed that reassurance.

I needed the certainty of knowing the pain and pressure would end.

I guess many of us, my former self included, think that’s what toughness and endurance is all about.

But on a 230km, 5 day race through the amazon rainforest in 2024…

I cracked. The dark energy ran out.

The chip on my shoulder had fallen off. The heady mix of sleep deprivation, malnutrition and heat exhaustion meant I no longer cared about what others thought.

Everything I knew how to use to motivate myself, no longer worked…

But I had a 75km stage left to finish.

So I returned to those three words. “It will end.”

Only to realise that my perspective on them had transformed entirely .

It was no longer about ‘grinding through’ and clutching on, fearfully.

I realised this life changing experience, in the rainforests of Peru, will end…

And I felt genuinely sad about that.

It had taken so much from me, but I’d taken far more from it.

Deeper than that - our health, and our life itself will end…

And here I am, in the Amazon, getting the chance to run through ecosystems less than 100 people have ever even seen.

I wanted it all to slow down.

I stopped dissociating and started taking it all in and, dare I say it…

Enjoying it?

7 months later I competed in the Ice Ultra. 230km across Arctic Tundra. Self supported.

I went from a mid-pack runner, to a podium finish.

Because I wanted to be there. It’s only a race and I didn’t give a f**k what others thought of my ‘performance’ anymore.

It’s my one and only life and I want to enjoy it, on my terms. So that’s what I started doing.

I went from ‘clutch’ to ‘flow’.

There will be a last time you do everything.

All of this will end.

Stop waiting. Stop wasting. Start living.