Performance Intelligence

Have you ever finished a presentation, race, meeting or performance and someone asked, "How did it go?" only to realise you can barely remember it? Not because you failed but because you were completely immersed.Dr Sue Jackson is one of the world's leading researchers on flow and co-authored the defining book on the subject alongside the man who first named it, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.Sue takes you inside one of the most sought-after and least understood states in human performance.Why do some moments feel effortless while others feel like a grind? Why can pressure elevate performance one day and destroy it the next? And why do some of our best performances seem to happen when we stop trying so hard to force them?Using examples ranging from Olympic athletes to Wallabies captain Harry Wilson's match-winning moment against England, Sue explores why some performances feel effortless, why pressure can either sharpen or derail us, and why trying harder isn't always the answer.This is about attention, confidence, pressure, preparation and the hidden conditions behind extraordinary performance.Because flow isn't something you find. It's something you allow.00:00 Why your best performances can be the hardest to explain02:14 The psychological state that fascinates elite performers05:58 What athletes mean when they say "everything just clicked"10:08 Flow vs clutch: two very different ways to perform under pressure13:09 Harry Wilson's match-winning Wallabies moment, and what it reveals about performance19:27 The letter that changed Sue Jackson's career26:51 The hidden ingredients behind a flow state28:00 The challenge-skill balance that can make or break performance32:00 Why anxiety might be closer to flow than you think39:03 The attention crisis nobody is talking about42:18 Are we losing our ability to focus?45:40 The coaching habit that can pull athletes out of the moment48:53 Why flow feels energising instead of exhausting50:32 Can you perform brilliantly without being in flow?52:18 The mistake people make when they try to force flow54:31 What extreme athletes understand about being fully present57:19 The surprising connection between deliberate practice and effortless performance59:00 How to experience more flow in everyday lifeDr Sue Jackson Website: www.drsuejackson.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/drsuejackson Instagram: @suejackson_flow Facebook: drsuejacksonflowView the 8 channel flow model: https://performanceintelligence.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/8-Channel-Flow-Model_Jackson-scaled.jpgBooks: Flow in Sports (with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, 1999): drsuejackson.com/flow-in-sports-book Experiencing Flow: Life Beyond Boredom and Anxiety (2024): drsuejackson.com/new-book-experiencing-flow Use Code "PQPODCAST10" to get 10% off your Lumo Coffee order:https://lumocoffee.com/ Interested in sharing your story? Email Producer Shannon at support@performanceintelligence.com today with your story and contact details. Learn more about Andrew and Performance Intelligence: https://performanceintelligence.com/Find out more about Andrew's Keynotes : https://performanceintelligence.com/keynotes/Follow Andrew May: https://www.instagram.com/andrewmay/Watch the Performance Intelligence Podcast on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@performanceintelligencepodcastIf you enjoy the podcast, we would really appreciate you leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Play. It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps us build our audience and continue to provide high quality guests.

Inside the venom of a desert lizard, scientists found a molecule that does something the diet industry spent 50 years failing to do. It quietly switches off hunger. That molecule is now the most talked about drug on the planet, and it's sitting in the fridges of millions of people who couldn't explain how it works if you paid them.Dr Tom Buckley, 30 years in medicine and a professor at Sydney University, has looked at the evidence and called these drugs revolutionary.But what about "Ozempic face"? What if the wait comes back after you stop? Who should never touch these drugs? Dr Tom and Andrew get into the science so you finally have all the answers you need. 00:00 – A desert lizard that eats twice a year 03:32 – What a GLP-1 actually is, in plain English 07:36 – Ghrelin and leptin: hunger and fullness, explained 10:23 – The venom that cracked the hunger code 14:06 – Why your body is built to hold onto fat 15:19 – How to raise GLP-1 without a prescription 18:10 – Become the CEO of your body and brain 22:10 – You don't lose fat cells, they shrink 24:39 – "Ozempic face," and why you lose weight slowly 28:17 – The "Limitless" effect: cognitive horsepower 29:28 – 76 trials, 40,000 patients: the evidence 30:47 – Lancet 2024: heart attacks and strokes down 32:11 – Why Tom calls these drugs regenerative 34:18 – Who should never take it 35:23 – The side effects nobody mentions upfront 41:19 – On it and off it: what you have to get right 48:14 – Most regain 75% within a year of stopping 50:09 – Metabolic rebound: worse than where you started 52:51 – The hidden economy GLP-1s are reshaping 56:13 – Tom's cliff notesYou can find Dr Tom at his LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-buckley-06a76b98/ Use Code "PQPODCAST10" to get 10% off your Lumo Coffee order:https://lumocoffee.com/ Interested in sharing your story? Email Producer Shannon at support@performanceintelligence.com today with your story and contact details. Learn more about Andrew and Performance Intelligence: https://performanceintelligence.com/Find out more about Andrew's Keynotes : https://performanceintelligence.com/keynotes/Follow Andrew May: https://www.instagram.com/andrewmay/Watch the Performance Intelligence Podcast on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@performanceintelligencepodcastIf you enjoy the podcast, we would really appreciate you leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Play. It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps us build our audience and continue to provide high quality guests.

October 12, 2002. AFL star Jason McCartney was on holiday in Bali. By the end of that night, 202 people were dead, and he had burns to 50% of his body. Most people with his injuries spend 3-4 months just getting out of hospital. Jason was back on the football field in 5 months.What got him there was not superhuman toughness. It was a specific set of skills, built through years of setbacks, that clicked into gear when everything was on the line. Skills that translate far beyond sport.1:05 A career built on resilience before Bali even happened6:15 Nearly walking away from football...and what brought him back14:50 That night in Bali: what he remembers20:25 Goal-setting from intensive care27:20 The decision to return and play one last game32:40 What he pushed through in training that he never told anyone39:20 Doing the psychological work: compartmentalisation, exposure therapy, and why talking about it healed him48:25 Building elite culture at GWS and what leaders get wrong about performanceSubscribe on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Learn more at performanceintelligence.com.You can find Jason at his LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-mccartney-oam-b10a39217/ Use Code "PQPODCAST10" to get 10% off your Lumo Coffee order:https://lumocoffee.com/ Interested in sharing your story? Email Producer Shannon at support@performanceintelligence.com today with your story and contact details. Learn more about Andrew and Performance Intelligence: https://performanceintelligence.com/Find out more about Andrew's Keynotes : https://performanceintelligence.com/keynotes/Follow Andrew May: https://www.instagram.com/andrewmay/Watch the Performance Intelligence Podcast on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@performanceintelligencepodcastIf you enjoy the podcast, we would really appreciate you leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Play. It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps us build our audience and continue to provide high quality guests.