Do you ever feel like you’re doing most things right… but something still feels off?
Your energy is inconsistent.
Your focus drops.
You’re showing up, putting in the effort… but it’s not translating the way it should.
This is where most high performers sit.
And it’s not a lack of discipline, motivation or effort.
It’s a systems problem.
In this solo episode, I break down the five habits I’ve seen repeated across 15 years working with elite athletes, special forces, executives and high-performing individuals who don’t just reach the top, but stay there.
In this episode I share:
- Why doing “most things right” is not enough
- The difference between a reactive approach and a daily operating system
- The five core habits that underpin sustainable high performance
- Why foundations will always outperform fads
- The shift from rigid routines to flexible, personalised rhythms
- How to think about energy through “charge up” and “charge down”
- Why recovery is not a reward, but part of the system
- The concept of the Domino Habit and how it shapes your entire day
- How to identify and protect the one behaviour that makes everything else easier
Key Quotes
“Doing most things right is not the same as doing the right things consistently, in a way that actually fits your life.”
“The biggest gap I see in high performers is not effort. It’s running their health reactively, without a system.”
“Work with your biology, not against it. Otherwise everything just costs more.”
Episode Resources
Jessica Spendlove Website – www.jessicaspendlove.com
Jessica Spendlove Keynotes – JessicaspendloveKeynotes – Jessica Spendlove
The High-Performance Profile Quiz https://jessicaspendlove.com/quiz/
Jess Spendlove Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jess_spendlove_dietitian/?hl=en
Jess Spendlove LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-spendlove-64173bb8/
About Your Host
Jessica Spendlove | Wellbeing Speaker & High Performance Strategist
Jess Spendlove is an international wellbeing and high performance speaker, coach, and advisor. With over 15 years of experience across corporate leadership, elite sport and the military she is known for helping ambitious leaders and teams optimise energy, build resilience, and sustain peak performance.
As one of Australia’s leading performance dietitians and a trusted voice in executive wellbeing, Jess delivers science-backed strategies that empower individuals, teams and organisations to thrive under pressure and achieve long-term success.
Episode Transcript
The following transcript has been automatically generated and not checked for accuracy
Jess Spendlove (00:10.808)
Do you ever think to yourself, I’m doing most things right, so why do I feel flat? Why is my energy inconsistent? Why does my focus drop off? Gosh, I’ve got more brain fog than I used to. If you’re having these thoughts, firstly, you’re not alone. The truth is, you’re actually doing a lot of things right. You’re showing up, you’re putting in the effort, but there’s that feeling underneath.
I’m doing most things right, but something still doesn’t feel off. That but is where this episode lives.
Because doing most things right is not the same as doing the right things consistently in a way that actually fits your life. And most importantly, the current version or season. So today, I’m going to give you a framework for what that actually looks like. We’re gonna look at five habits I’ve seen repeated over 15 years across special forces, elite sport, corporate leadership, and all of the clients
teams and organizations that I’ve worked with. And you’re going to also be walking away with one practical tool that you can immediately apply. Let’s get into today’s episode.
Jess Spendlove (01:37.122)
We’re getting straight into it today, looking at five habits that a sustainable high performer has. Now, I bet most of these resonate with you. Now, you might think, okay, I’m doing a version of this or this is a slight shift to what I’m currently doing, but a version of it or a slight shift when done consistently actually drives huge gains. And so on that, the first one,
first habit that a sustainable high performer has is they build an operating system, not a to-do list. Now, most driven people, the…
The biggest gap I see for a lot of high performing, motivated and driven people is that they run their health the same way that they run a bad meeting. And what I mean by this is it’s reactive and it’s without a clear agenda and they don’t have an exact operating system or framework for what they’re aiming for. But if we look at what a sustainable high performer does differently, well, they operate in a completely different sense.
And specifically, they have a daily operating system. So when I talk about a daily operating system, you could think about many other areas of your life. You might think about work or your own business and standard operating procedures or SOPs. You might also think about operating systems from a tech.
point of view. So when your computer, which I feel always happens at the most inconvenient time, what about you? But when your computer, I’ve got a Mac, says I’ve got an iOS update, that is an operating system. And so this is ticking along in the background. And the thing with an operating system is in most areas of our life, which they run, they help them run more effortlessly. We only actually really
Jess Spendlove (03:45.106)
notice when they’re not working when something becomes outdated or if we’re thinking of it in a work sense and maybe you’ve got new team members or your team or your business has grown and your operating procedure needs to be updated. In my new book For the Long Run, it is completely about helping you build a daily operating system with practical tools that give you more energy, better recovery and improve your well-being today.
tomorrow and in the future. And so the first habit that a sustainable high performer has is a daily operating system when it comes to their health. Now
What I’m really talking about here is you having a personalized structure that’s built around three core functions. I call these the three C’s. The first one is about charging up. What are the behaviors that help you create and sustain energy across the day? The second is capacity. This is about how do you improve your stress tolerance and have activities and behaviors across the day that help you down-regulate to
then build and enhance that stress tolerance. And then the third one is charge down. This is how do you have micro moments of recovery across the day as well as charge down intentionally and effectively at the end of the day and then across different cadences like each week, each month, each quarter, each year. Most importantly, your operating system is not about perfection. It is about creating stress
structured flexibility and I reference this a lot in the book. Now, this is about having boundaries or four walls so that you put some structure in place, but it needs to be able to adapt and have agility. So when you’ve got those busy days or some of your hardest days that you can still execute on what you need to do. Most importantly, the operating system is built for your busiest day.
Jess Spendlove (05:59.792)
and we’re not just benchmarking off our absolute best ones. Which I don’t know about you, but I definitely have a habit of doing this in the past. Even to be honest, when I first had Millie and even now, you know, 15 months into the journey, there were still times where I catch myself thinking I can get done or achieve in my day or week what I used to before navigating this season. And so I even have to constantly check myself
from this. One area in particular is exercise. Like for me I would much prefer to wake up and exercise first thing in the morning. I have done that my whole life and it’s great for a few reasons. One, I love to just get it out of the way and two, it’s how I feel after. But obviously right now with Millie I can’t necessarily always do that. I have to plan and have logistics with my partner or who’s looking after her, what’s
etc. So I have had to learn to have structure but flexibility and adaptability in that specific area of my life.
And I’m sure if you think to yourself, there’s probably an area and whether it’s your nutrition or whether it’s your exercise, it might be your stress and recovery and I’m going to bucket that together. Maybe it’s your sleep or maybe it’s even connection. Now, connection isn’t something I directly have spoken a lot about on this podcast before, but I will be talking about it a lot more for a few reasons. The main one being that in the book for the long run, I do talk about five
different areas or rhythms which help make up that daily operating system and connection is one of them. And the reason I have included that is because when we look at one of the longest and most robust studies which looks at health across our lifespan, it’s the Harvard study, the number one predictor
Jess Spendlove (08:07.965)
as we get into the later parts of our life in our 70s and 80s is healthy relationships.
Jess Spendlove (08:18.625)
And so as I started to put this book together and I started to do the research, this area needed to be included for for that reason.
Jess Spendlove (08:41.729)
The second habit that a sustainable high performer has is they prioritize foundations over fads. Now, I don’t know who needs to hear this, but if you think you can ice bath your way out of chronic sleep debt, or you can supplement or IV vitamin fusion your way out of a poor diet, I’m sorry to let you know, but that is not the case.
Yes, there is a place I quite like, well, I don’t like an ice bath. I value what it can do for me. I should reframe that. But while ice baths and cold showers are something that I do, I also use supplements. So I’m not saying not to do that, but we need to understand where they sit in the context.
of what is really going to move the needle with your health and your performance. And always foundations, so nutrition, exercise, stress and recovery, sleep and connection, need to prioritize them. They are the foundations and they are the most important factors.
Jess Spendlove (09:53.644)
And we live in a time where we’ve got so much access to information. We’ve got reels and we’ve got podcasts and we’ve got so much information. We’ve got AI, we can just go and we can Google anything. And all of these things might present you with the best protocol. You need to do this protocol and you need to do these steps and we need to put this into action. And that might be the case, but my issue with that kind of messaging is it doesn’t actually consider you. It doesn’t consider your life.
it doesn’t consider where you’re starting from and it’s not customized to that. And so for someone who’s really dialed in and they’re in a phase of life where they can really execute on those five areas, their nutrition, their exercise, their stress and recovery, their sleep and their connection, and that’s all really, you know, in a good rhythm for them, then fine, go and look at these protocols and look at these one percenters. But if you are…
in a really high demand season of life and you’re struggling with these areas or you’re navigating parenthood or you’ve got a family or you’ve just got a really busy job and you’re struggling in those areas, then I do have an issue with that messaging because that’s not where you should be focusing your attention. It should be on these five foundational fundamental areas or what I am calling in the book rhythms. It is these five
rhythms that underpin sustainable high performance. They are not necessarily exciting or sexy but these are the things that work. And if you listen to the episode I did with Dr. Sebastian Peterson last week, we started talking about this as well and he was mentioning it from his medical training, from his longevity and health span and lifespan area of interest, that these are the areas.
Jess Spendlove (12:06.933)
And in most instances, it is these foundational areas that are going to drive the biggest impact. And so maybe for you, it’s looking at which area is the biggest opportunity for me.
Or if you’re making good inroads with all of them, maybe it’s not about which area, but it’s about being more consistent. My favorite word. And so the reality is that the boring stuff, the foundational stuff is the elite stuff. And we need to take a look at what is the one area or the one habit that I am going to start to make an improvement on. What am I focusing on for the next few weeks? What am I elevating? What am I
locking into before we then move on to the next area. It’s a concept called marginal gains and the marginal gain…
Jess Spendlove (13:28.363)
The third habit of a sustainable high performer is they design rhythms, not routines. So there’s, in my view, there’s a critical distinction between a routine and a rhythm.
For many people a routine is quite rigid. It’s in a set time and a set place and a set order and unless that’s executed on, if something gets missed that potentially leads to the whole thing, the whole structure, the whole day collapsing. Whereas I really like the idea of a rhythm because rhythm… that word…
indicates flow and consistency and repeatability and personalization. And so it’s really designed to work with your life, not against it.
And so sustainable high performers don’t have one perfect morning routine. You might not have a morning routine at all, but what a sustainable high performers have is they have a nutrition rhythm. They have an exercise rhythm. They have a recovery rhythm and a sleep rhythm and a connection rhythm.
And in my book, For the Long Run, we really dive into each of these areas, looking at your current rhythm and then helping you set them up to build your daily operating system. Most importantly, these areas and rhythms flex and move and change across seasons of life. They adapt, they move with you, and they may look different.
Jess Spendlove (15:10.977)
but the underlying intention of you having clarity on what that is for you and helping you be consistent stays the same.
Jess Spendlove (15:35.384)
There are also a range of biological rhythms, which I look at in the book. And a couple of them are your circadian rhythm, which is your 24 hour rhythm, and also your ultradian rhythm. Now, when I talk about ultradian rhythms, I’m often talking about brain breaks and learning how to work in a performance pulse and then a recovery pulse. Both of these are biological rhythms.
which all of us have and we’re exposed to.
And when we work with these rhythms, it allows everything to flow more easily. The way I like to think about it is when you align your circadian rhythm and when you work with your ultradian rhythm, that it feels like you’re swimming with the current rather than against it. So one of the key points on the circadian rhythm is the consistency around the time you wake and you go to sleep. And there’s a whole knock on benefit to that. And in a few weeks,
I’ve got an amazing guest episode coming up, Dr. Gemma King, who’s written a book specifically on sleep, and we’re going into this in more detail. But the concept that I just want you to try, the concept that I just wanna mention here is this working with your biology is like swimming with the current rather than against it. And so if we’re waking up at all different times and we’re not getting sunlight on our eyes and everything’s just…
inconsistent, that’s the best word for me to use, is the same, that, how I like to think about it, is swimming against the current. So you’re still going to get to where you’re going, but it’s just going to be more exhausting, more tiring, and it’s going to take longer. And so rather than what we, so instead what we want to do is work with it.
Jess Spendlove (17:37.314)
The fourth habit of a sustainable high performer is they know how to charge up and charge down. So most people who have got a lot going on, motivated and driven, we’re great at the output. I get that, this is the story of my life. There’s never been, this isn’t about you not having the drive or the motivation or putting in the effort, putting in the output, that’s not an issue.
But what we tend to be terrible at, this is definitely how this is definitely one of my biggest downfalls in the past, is recovery. And for many people, and this used to be my narrative, is that rest and recovery doesn’t feel productive. But the thing is that the rest and the recovery is actually where the adaptation and the performance happens.
And I feel like the biggest hypocrite because there I was and I still work with the special forces. I’ve been consulting to them for the last six or seven years. But when I look back at my elite sport days, when I was working with seven different elite teams, the Cronulla Sharks and the GWS Giants and the Waratahs and the Kings and the Giants netball and the Western Sydney Wanderers, and I was working with all of these teams and a big focus of my role was recovery. There I was being a hypocrite.
and not taking the same advice. I thought I was invincible. I thought I could just go back to back, day after day, long days, sometimes working with two or three teams in a day, running on adrenaline and cortisol and just powering through the day and not factoring in recovery. Not factoring in recovery the way that I need it anyway.
Sleep was still a focus and a priority for me then. And at the time I think I thought, well, that’s enough.
Jess Spendlove (19:37.26)
but it’s absolutely not enough. What is most important is looking at how do you charge down every single day? How are you building in micro moments to down regulate? Now these today are what I mean by brain breaks, having this intentional stimulant free time. It’s also about how do you switch off from the day? How do you have that end of day routine that signals to your brain, I’m ending my work day and I’m switching into my non work time, whatever that is.
for you, whether that’s exercise, whether that’s rest and recovery, whether that’s time with friends, time with family, whatever it is. But it’s also about how am I charging down across the day? How am I building in recovery pulses so I’m not just foot to the floor 100 kilometres an hour all day long?
Charge up is how you create and sustain energy. And this is through what you eat, how consistent you are, the size of the meals, the gaps, the timing, how consistent that is, how inconsistent that is. When it is more consistent in size, timing, and also gaps, then your energy is going to be more consistent.
It’s also about how do you start your morning? Now this is not about a complex morning routine, but do you have a set of non-negotiable behaviors and do you do them every single day? How are you protecting your mornings? How are you setting yourself up so that you’re not just reacting to everything, you’re not just having a coffee when you get tired, having a meal when there’s a gap, having some sugar when you’re crashing and burning. When you’re living like that, you’re living reactively and what we want to be doing
is living proactively, that not only gets you back to baseline, but that starts you from a more elevated place. You start with more energy. And when you start with more energy, you can then retain and sustain that energy across the day with more behaviors. And so with this concept of having…
Jess Spendlove (21:44.226)
behaviors and habits that feed into these rhythms that help you charge up and charge down. This is also about not thinking recovery is a reward for hard work, but it’s about understanding it is part of the system and equally if not more important part of the system.
Because this is what allows you to adapt and keep pushing. This concept is well known and executed in sports science, in elite sport and also the military. As I said, I feel like such a hypocrite that I have a big role in that with the work that I did previously and the work that I still do with the Special Forces. Recovery is a huge focus for me in the workshops and the programs that I run with leadership teams and organizations. And it’s also a conversation
I have a lot with the few one-on-one clients that I still work with because these people are high-performing corporates. And as I said, there’s not an issue with output, but it is how are we building in recovery to manage stress, to get the adaptation, to then elevate or protect ourselves.
And look, the truth is you’re not a machine. You are a biological system. And biological systems need cycles. We need recovery cycles, not just output cycles. And so the fourth habit of a sustainable high performer, which I cover in my book for the long run, is knowing how to charge up and charge down.
Jess Spendlove (23:26.573)
The fifth habit I wanted to talk about today is a sustainable high performer knows their domino habit. And they don’t only know what their domino habit is, but they protect it.
Jess Spendlove (23:46.55)
Now, let me ask you this. Do you have those days where they just feel more effortless? It’s like the day runs more effortlessly. You move from task to task, you have lunch away from your desk and you make a good choice, you’re drinking your water, you’re getting through everything, you’re having one of these really productive days. They’re the best, aren’t they? Now, do you also have those days where you think, my gosh,
I’ve got nothing done, everything’s felt hard, it’s required more cognitive bandwidth, I’ve had to think about everything, I’ve had to rely on willpower to make good decisions with my food and gosh it’s know two o’clock in the afternoon and I’ve had two coffees and I’ve hardly drunk any water. If you have both of those days, you are not alone.
But what I want you to reflect on when you’re having those days is to think about what have I done on the day where things feel more effortless and what have I maybe missed on the days where everything feels harder.
One of the things, and I’m going to give you a clue so you can tune in and you can pay attention, is something that I talk about a lot in my keynotes and I’ve spoken about it on some other episodes. So depending on how long you’ve been listening for, you might have heard me talk about it, but it is the domino habit. And the domino habit is that first habit that when you do it in the morning, sets your whole day up to run more effortlessly.
The thing with the domino habit, it’s going to be different for everyone. And it’s also gonna change for you. I know mine has definitely changed in different seasons of life. So right now, my domino habit is having a cappuccino and a baby-cino with Millie because it’s really important for me. I don’t, so I feel present and I have that connection in my day, every single day with her, depending on where I am and what I’m doing and what she’s doing,
Jess Spendlove (25:53.38)
is always there. Previously the domino habit for me has been exercise or I’d even go a step further and say that it has been what I do the night before to get me in a position to be able to get up early and do the things.
When I ask this question in workshops and panels and keynotes, it’s different for everyone. For some people it’s a morning walk, for others it is a gym class, for others it’s a high protein breakfast or an electrolyte drink. I have one lady say to me, it’s having a coffee when I get to work with one of my good friends. I know when I do that, my whole day runs more effortlessly. And so my question to you is this, what is your domino
habit. If you know it, protect it. Think about how you can do it every single day. Think about do you need a different option for when you’re at home or when you’re traveling or if it’s school holidays or whatever the variations are in your life.
Jess Spendlove (27:00.437)
If you don’t know what it is, the most important thing is that you have a think about it and you identify it. And so if you have those days where things run more effortlessly and then you have those other days that everything just feels harder, use that as your example to get curious.
And then also if you’re not sure, test things, move things around. It’s really subjective to you. And like I said, it can be first thing in the morning, it can be when you get to work, it can even be the night before. But the thing is when it’s in place, decisions feel easier, your energy is more stable, and the day runs more effortlessly. And that is the goal that we want.
Because when you miss it, everything costs more. It costs more focus, it costs you more energy, it costs you more cognitive bandwidth, and everything just feels harder.
Jess Spendlove (28:02.731)
And so the reason I’ve called it the domino habit is because everybody understands what a row of dominoes is like. You set them out and when you knock that first one in the direction that you want, they all fall, leveraging momentum one off the back of the other. And that is what we want for your day to feel like. Because no doubt you’ve got a lot of things that you wanna get through.
probably more things than what you are actually realistically going to get through, or is that just me? I feel like some days I write my to-do list and they’re realistic, and then plenty of days I write my to-do list and it’s very unrealistic.
But the domino habit helps you move through things. It helps you make decisions with less cognitive energy and it just leverages off the power of momentum. And that is what we want.
Jess Spendlove (29:06.657)
And so just to recap on the five habits that a sustainable high performer has, one, they build an operating system, two, they prioritize foundations over fads, three, they design rhythms, not routines, four, they know how to charge up and charge down, and five, they know their domino habit and they protect it.
Now these five habits are not necessarily independent. Ideally they are working together to form a system and in particular your daily operating system. And most importantly, this is not about the ideal version of your life. This is about the one you’re actually living right now.
Everything I’ve covered in today’s episode is I dive much deeper in my book for the long run which is now available for pre-sale. The link will be in the show notes. If this sounds of interest, head to the show notes to pre-order your copy.
I’ll be doing more dedicated episodes and more information. I’m also going to be having some special offers and webinars and different things. If I’m being totally honest, I’m still working through this right now, but I am going to be having special…
Jess Spendlove (30:31.477)
I am gonna be offering something special for people who do pre-order because I really appreciate, that’s my way of saying thank you for your interest in this work, for pre-ordering the book. And I’m just really excited to celebrate and share it with you all. And I also am really committed to you achieving the goals that you want to achieve.
Jess Spendlove (31:05.389)
So as we come to the end of this episode, the practical tool I want you to walk away with and reflect on is for you to find and protect your domino habit. And so there are three questions I want you to sit with this week. One, what is the one behavior that when you do it makes the rest of your day run better?
Two, what is the one behaviour that when you miss it makes everything harder? And three, is that behaviour protected in your life right now? Or is it one of the first things that you sacrifice when you get busy? So reflect on those three questions. It’ll help you get clear on your domino habit.
And so you know what it is and you can protect it. Because when everything gets really busy, it can be really tempting for these things to slip. But if you know that is your domino habit, that is the thing that helps you set your day up for success. It is the first part of your daily operating system and it is key to helping your day run more effortlessly. Then you have clarity on that and you know that you can protect it. And so that’s the starting point this week. Find your domino habit.
Name it and protect it.
Jess Spendlove (32:32.703)
That brings us to the end of today’s episode. If you have liked this episode, if you know someone that you think would find value, share it with a friend, share it with a family member, share it with a colleague. If you haven’t already subscribed, make sure you do so you don’t miss an episode.
Jess Spendlove (32:56.469)
And most importantly, know that everything that this podcast and my new book for the long run is bringing to you. It’s all about helping you adapt.
to life and the curve balls and building an operating system that is tailored to you, it is about you having practical evidence-based strategies that fit the rhythm and flow of the life that you’re currently living. It’s not about what you do on your best days, it’s about what you do on your worst, and it’s about finding consistency. Because consistency is the compounding superpower.
Thank you for tuning into another solo episode of Stay At The Top. I’ll be back again next week, helping you all not only reach the top, but sustainably stay there. I’ll see you all then.