Episode Details

Most people believe peak performance comes from pushing harder, longer, and faster. The science says the opposite.

Your brain was never designed for nonstop focus. The highest performers don’t grind, they reset.

Mental Skills Coach, Andrew May (Wallabies, Sea Eagles, Tim Tszyu), breaks down why productivity works in waves, not willpower, and why mental resets are fundamentally different from mindfulness. It explores how short, strategic pauses protect performance rather than interrupt it, and how even 30 seconds can change the state of your nervous system.

From controlling an amygdala hijack to using breath, music, and vision to reset your brain under pressure, this is a reframe of rest as a performance skill,  not a weakness.

This isn’t about doing it perfectly. It’s about learning how to reset before everything unravels.

1:30 The science of mental resets, how they differ from mindfulness, and why we work best in waves

4:15 Why resets protect performance (and the power of micro-recovery)

7:45 The 30-second reset: breath, music, and state change

11:20 Visual resets: covering the eyes and panoramic vision

15:30 Amygdala hijack — and how to regain control

18:30 Common reset mistakes and why progress beats perfection