End of Year Review: Our Most Impactful Conversations & Our Biggest Guest Responds!

Summary

The High Performance Podcast

Episode: End of Year Review: Our Most Impactful Conversations & Our Biggest Guest Responds!

Release Date: December 22, 2025
Hosts: Jake Humphrey & Damian Hughes
Special contributor: Will (Producer)

---

Overview

This special end-of-year episode marks the conclusion of six years of The High Performance Podcast. Hosts Jake and Damian, alongside producer Will, reflect on their most impactful and memorable guest conversations of 2025. The trio reviews which episodes resonated with listeners, highlights key lessons learned from top performers across sports, business, entertainment, and wellness, and plays selected audio clips from influential guests. The tone is conversational, introspective, and light-hearted, as the hosts exchange stories, revisit challenges, and set ambitious goals for 2026.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Podcast's Purpose & Growth (02:31)

• Six-Year Milestone: The team expresses pride in six years of authentic, purpose-driven content focused on helping listeners become the best version of themselves.
  • Jake: "We were both passionate about it, weren't we, right from the very beginning?... It's genuinely what drives us."
  • Damian: "Does this leave the world a better place for our children?" (03:22)
• Authenticity: The hosts emphasize their commitment to sincerity over clickbait, noting Gareth Southgate recognized their unchanged sense of purpose over five years.

2. Year in Numbers & Listener Trends (04:38; 05:36)

• New Guests: 73 new guests joined the show in 2025.
• Top YouTube Episode: Surprisingly, the most-viewed episode on YouTube was with Callum Nicholas of Red Bull F1, outperforming bigger star names (06:07).
  • Jake: "It shows you that they're willing to dig a little bit deeper rather than just the headline names..." (06:25)
• Podcast vs. YouTube: Listener preferences for episodes often varied between platforms.

3. Noteworthy and Impactful Conversations

a) Boris Becker – The Power of Honesty (06:43)

• Boris Becker's Prison Story: The exclusivity and candour of this episode stood out for the team and listeners.
  • Damian: "For me, that's still the moment, you know, when he said, 'What did I go to prison for?'" (07:02)
  • Jake: "He didn't want to talk about his upbringing or winning Wimbledon... He wanted to come at us about, what did I go to prison for?" (08:30)
• Lesson Learned: Importance of reading a guest’s needs and state of mind in interviews and learning from past mistakes.

b) Listener Feedback: Most Impactful Conversations (09:32)

• Featured guests included Keely Hodgkinson, Ryan Yates, Professor Steve Peters, Adam Peaty, James Collins, and Roman Kemp.
  • Quote highlighted by listeners: "Just because it's hard, it doesn't mean it's bad for us."

4. The Hosts’ Most Impactful Conversations of the Year

a) Rob O’Neill – Facing Mortality (12:33)

• Clip: Rob describes writing goodbye letters to his daughters before the mission to find Osama Bin Laden.
  • Rob O’Neill (13:26): "No. I thought that was it. And that's the hardest part right there. Getting shot at is really easy... But looking your kids in the eyes and you're both aware that this could be it..."
• Lesson: The ability to be so mentally prepared, calm, and in control—even taking a nap before a potentially fatal mission—was cited as an example of high performance.
  • Jake (15:07): "High performance is the ability to be so at peace with yourself and your life..."

b) Damian’s Picks – Enjoyment in the Pursuit

• Alistair Brownlee:
  • The need to find enjoyment in the journey rather than wait for the gold medal to deliver happiness.
  • Alistair Brownlee (17:59): "Winning the race and standing on the podium was nowhere near the... joy and happiness and satisfaction from that, that all the training deserves..."

c) Honorable Mentions & Memorable Moments

• Daniel Dubois – The simplicity and discipline behind using a flip phone to cut out distractions.
  • Daniel (17:01): "Cut out all the bullshit, innit... It's all distractions."
• Roman Kemp & Noel Fitzpatrick – Deep insights on mental health and responsibility.

5. Most Useful Life Tips from Guests

a) Damian – Sarah Pascoe’s “Unconditional Positive Regard” (20:04)

• Sarah Pascoe described ditching her negative assumptions about audiences in favour of assuming the best intentions.
  • Sarah Pascoe (20:04): "Why don't you just trust that most people are here because they actually, they do want to see you. How delightful is that?"

b) Jake – Stephanie Romachevsky’s Sleep Advice (21:05)

• The critical insight that wake-up time consistency, not just length of sleep or bedtime, is most vital for quality rest.
  • Stephanie Romachevsky (22:48): "If you lie in bed till 9am you're gonna wake up like you're jet lagged through three time zones... Our circadian rhythm is the most important thing."

---

The Listener’s Top 5 Episodes (29:09)

• Carlos Sainz and Steve Peters were among the most listened to on audio platforms.
• Ian Graham, the Liverpool stats analyst, was highlighted for a ‘surprise hit’ episode.

---

Honesty and Openness: Notable Guests

a) Callum Wilson – Vulnerability in Football (31:17)

• Wilson’s confession about past trauma, despite his cheerful public image, broke stereotypes of stoic footballers.

b) Heston Blumenthal – Mental Health (33:01)

• Heston (33:01): "I would become a danger to myself, right, and the people that care for me... Then I was seeing this psychiatrist and she said, you’re bipolar."
• Importance of creating safe spaces for guests to open up candidly.

c) Tom Aspinall – The Role of Fear in Sport (36:27)

• Tom Aspinall (36:27): "I'm actually one of the rare UFC fighters... that will sit here and look you in the eyes and talk about fear..."

---

Most Resonant Episode: The Lasting Impact

• Damian: Professor Jonathan Haidt (39:07)
  • On the dangers of social media for youth and the need for parental vigilance.
  • Jonathan Haidt (40:30): "We have overprotected our children in the real world and we've under protected them online."
• Jake: Triple H (WWE) on Leadership, Authenticity & Work-Life Balance (44:47)
  • Series of inspiring quotes on discipline, balance, and vulnerability as a leader.

---

Notable Quotes & Soundbites

• Triple H (44:56): "Discipline is doing something that you don't want to do... It's getting up anyway and going and doing it like you love it. Not going through the motions..."
• Triple H: "Work life balance is just managing how you emotionally handle the push and the pull."
• Sarah Pascoe: "Why don't you just trust that most people are here because they actually, they do want to see you. How delightful is that?" (20:04)
• Rob O’Neill: "There's a huge difference between kissing your kid good night and kissing your kid goodbye." (13:31)
• Jonathan Haidt: "We have overprotected our children in the real world and we've under protected them online." (40:30)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment / Highlight | Timestamp | |---------------------------------------------------------------------- |---------------| | Podcast reflection, purpose, authenticity | 02:12–03:51 | | 2025 in numbers: most popular guests & episodes | 04:38–07:02 | | Boris Becker’s prison story & interview reflections | 06:43–08:30 | | Listener feedback on most impactful guests | 09:32–10:18 | | Rob O’Neill’s story: prepping for the Bin Laden mission | 12:33–15:07 | | Daniel Dubois: phone simplicity/philosophy | 16:29–17:14 | | Alistair Brownlee: enjoy the journey, not just the gold | 17:59–18:53 | | Sarah Pascoe: Unconditional positive regard | 20:04–20:51 | | Stephanie Romachevsky: sleep consistency insight | 21:05–22:48 | | Top 5 listened-to episodes (with Will) | 29:09–30:17 | | Callum Wilson: vulnerability in football | 31:17–33:01 | | Heston Blumenthal: mental health and bipolar diagnosis | 33:01–34:31 | | Tom Aspinall: talking about fear in UFC | 36:27–37:58 | | Jonathan Haidt: Sextortion & digital dangers for kids | 39:07–40:38 | | Triple H: Leadership & life philosophy clips | 44:47–47:19 |

---

Episode Tone and Closing

The episode weaves insight, humour, and gratitude as the hosts reflect on personal lessons and growth, share self-deprecating stories, and recognize their audience’s openness to deeper, non-superficial content. The closing moments are filled with big promises for 2026, playful banter about dream guests, and reminders of their continuing purpose.

Damian: "We'll continue to strive to live up to the sense of purpose of giving people the lived experiences of some of the planet's highest performers that you can use in your own life." (49:51)
Jake: "2026 is going to be the breakout year for high performance. I think we've created the foundations, we've created the framework... 2026 is the year that we light the fuse underneath it and go for it." (50:05)

---

Memorable Moments

• Jake’s self-deprecating stories (e.g., confusion about sports guests) kept the tone light.
• Daniel Dubois answering his phone mid-interview, using a retro flip phone, and giving Damian a "gentle" punch.
• Will, the unassuming producer, getting featured and praised for his work behind the scenes.

---

Final Thoughts

This end-of-year review captures the essence of High Performance: meaningful conversations, openness to learning, and the courage of both guests and hosts to reflect with vulnerability. Whether it’s drawing lessons from elite athletes, military heroes, or comedians, each segment offers listeners practical tips, real-life inspiration, and reasons to anticipate an even higher-performing 2026.

Transcript

[Jake Humphrey]

This holiday, Verizon is giving you incredible gifts and savings you'll enjoy all year. When you Switch, you'll get four new iPhone 17 Pros. No trade in needed. That's right, get four lines for just 25 a line and the amazing iPhone 17 Pro for everyone. Save big this holiday. Visit Verizon today. 20 monthly promo credits applied to account over 35 months with a new line on unlimited welcome in times of congestion. Unlimited 5G and 4G LTE may be temporarily slower than other traffic domestic data roaming at 2G speeds. Additional terms apply for phone offer. See verizon.com for details. So good, so good, so good. Score Holiday gifts Everyone wants for way less at your Nordstrom Rack store. Save on Ugg, Nike, Rag and Bone, Vince Frame, Kurt Geiger, London and more.

[Damian Hughes]

Because there's always something new.

[Jake Humphrey]

I'm giving all the gifts this year.

[Sarah Pascoe]

With that extra 5% off when I.

[Jake Humphrey]

Use my Nordstrom credit card. Santa who join the Nordy Club at.

[Sarah Pascoe]

Nordstrom Rack to unlock our best deals. It's easy.

[Jake Humphrey]

Big gifts, big perks. That's why you rack. Are you a trailblazer? A risk taker? Maybe someone with countless tales of epic adventure? Well, I'm not quite there yet, but I'm working on it. Even the boldest among us started off small, right? Daring themselves to reach greater goals every day. And if you're looking to take on a challenge like that, the Defender is too. Now, I've driven a Defender for a few years. It's the best car I've ever owned. It's a vehicle built for drivers capable of great things, whether they're heading towards uncharted territory or just fancy a weekend getaway. Defender was engineered to meet challenges head on so you can explore with confidence. It's the legendary icon of adventure, reimagined through modern design, fit for a new generation of Explorers. My kids love it as much as me. It also has a tough, rigid body tested to the extreme, a modern functional interior built for comfort. It's a vehicle that, like you, is capable of great things. And with next gen technology, from 3D surround cameras to clear sight ground view, it will help you embrace the impossible. Explore the full Defender lineup@land roverusa.com hey everyone. Early happy Christmas from High Performance.

[Damian Hughes]

Happy Christmas. I hope wherever you're listening to this you're settling down and getting ready for a really lovely, relaxing break.

[Jake Humphrey]

And my present from you hasn't arrived yet and this is now the 22nd of December, so there's only three days to go. What are you planning? Nervous laughter.

[Damian Hughes]

Yeah.

[Rob O'Neill]

What?

[Damian Hughes]

My present for you.

[Jake Humphrey]

Yeah.

[Damian Hughes]

I wish you peace and happiness and contentment type ass.

[Jake Humphrey]

Well, look, we've come to the end of another year of high performance. So we came into the studio this morning and Will, our producer, who's in the room. Hi, Will.

[Will (Producer)]

Hello, guys.

[Jake Humphrey]

He said. So here we go, then. Six years we've been doing this for. And it still stops me in my tracks when I think it's been six years. Like, that's. I've spent more time hosting this podcast than I had hosting Formula One.

[Damian Hughes]

Really? Yeah.

[Jake Humphrey]

I did four years on F1.

[Damian Hughes]

I think that's a good example of where something starts as a passion, you know, like we. We were both passionate about it, weren't we, right from the very beginning? And I think that that's really important to share with people into that. It is genuinely what drives us.

[Jake Humphrey]

Yeah, well, because we have the same goal, right. On day one, not to be salacious, not to chase the clicks, not to put out conversations that we know are going to do good numbers but actually aren't very valuable to people. You know, we ask ourselves the same question about our kids before every record we.

[Damian Hughes]

Which is, does this leave the world a better place for our children? And I think it's worth sharing. I don't think it's betraying the confidence that. One of the biggest buzzes I got this year was when Gareth Southgate agreed to come and chat with us. And part of the reason was that he'd met us five years earlier and he said, I can see you still have the same sense of purpose from five years ago. That, to me, was a real compliment that he recognised. It was an authenticity at the heart of what we do.

[Jake Humphrey]

Yeah. Oh, you're totally right. And we're gonna spend the next few minutes actually looking back at some of the biggest episodes that we've recorded this year. We've had some lovely messages from you guys about the things that have been impactful. And Damian and I are gonna share with you the. The thing that we've heard this year that we've taken on board ourselves. The conversation we think is most impactful this year, the guest who surprised us the most, the answer that stayed in our head the longest as well, sat up there was one of our biggest episodes of the year on audio. Gareth. I know it's only just been recorded recently, but is it tracking?

[Will (Producer)]

Absolutely, yeah.

[Jake Humphrey]

What else have you got? Because Will is the numbers guy. Like, I think for our audience, Will as the producer, Like, I think they and I are Interested in like what's. What works on audio, what are people listening to on audio, what have been the biggest things they've listened to and all. And then YouTube, because I bet they're not the same.

[Will (Producer)]

They're not the same. I want to start actually by. Let's just ask you both how many actually new guests we've recorded this year.

[Jake Humphrey]

New guests. Yeah. Well, guess that we'd not previously had on before. 20. 25.

[Damian Hughes]

I'll go 70.

[Jake Humphrey]

I'll go 48.

[Will (Producer)]

73.

[Damian Hughes]

73. Oh, what a guess.

[Jake Humphrey]

73 people.

[Will (Producer)]

73 people.

[Jake Humphrey]

Wow.

[Will (Producer)]

More than you think, isn't it? Yeah, well, you were pretty close, but.

[Damian Hughes]

I was only basing that on some of the people like that we've done on habits. We've got 52, roughly.

[Jake Humphrey]

Yeah. And then I've also recorded when it happened, guys, so I've worked really hard.

[Damian Hughes]

You've done even more.

[Will (Producer)]

The split that there is a. There is a little bit of a difference between YouTube and. And the RSS, Spotify and Apple. But let me ask you, what do you think is the most popular episode that we have recorded this year on YouTube?

[Jake Humphrey]

I think either Triple H or Boris Becker.

[Damian Hughes]

I'd go Becker.

[Will (Producer)]

Callum Nicholas.

[Jake Humphrey]

The F1 conversation with one of the. Yeah.

[Will (Producer)]

Which is interesting.

[Jake Humphrey]

At Red Bull.

[Will (Producer)]

Not someone who might actually stand out as the most well known person. Yeah, but actually I'm going to text.

[Jake Humphrey]

Him and tell him.

[Will (Producer)]

Text him now.

[Damian Hughes]

Yeah, let him know.

[Will (Producer)]

Yeah. But you know, shows you actually the. How much that sport has exploded.

[Jake Humphrey]

Yeah.

[Will (Producer)]

Into the mainstream. But then also how much we don't also need, you know, the superstars to come in and give us the insights.

[Jake Humphrey]

You recorded his biggest.

[Will (Producer)]

He's literally telling him right now.

[Damian Hughes]

I'm just telling.

[Jake Humphrey]

I'm a voice note, guys, you know, you recorded the biggest episode of 2020, 25 on high performance on YouTube. How many views will like 700,000 or something?

[Will (Producer)]

Way more than that. In the millions.

[Guest Speaker]

Yeah.

[Will (Producer)]

Five, six million.

[Jake Humphrey]

Well, there you go. Callum Nicholas, congratulations.

[Damian Hughes]

But that to me makes me really appreciate our listeners and our viewers because that shows you that they're willing to dig a little bit deeper rather than just the headline names to find somebody that's in a world that they're intrigued about.

[Jake Humphrey]

What else will.

[Will (Producer)]

Well, you're right about Boris Becker.

[Jake Humphrey]

Yeah.

[Will (Producer)]

Like, I mean, probably all of our collective highlights of the, you know, amount of time he gave us the. The story that he had like, and being able to be. The exclusive podcast that he came on to tell that experience of going to prison. I Think for all of us, that was up there with one of the biggest, most like, impactful moments was for.

[Damian Hughes]

Me, that's still the moment, you know, when he said, what did I go to prison for? You actually know what I did. You know what I was found guilty of.

[Jake Humphrey]

Yes. I will ask you, because that's one part of the book is.

[Damian Hughes]

And I give you a few minutes.

[Jake Humphrey]

To think about it, part of the book is that people wrote so much.

[Damian Hughes]

Rubbish of what I supposedly have done.

[Jake Humphrey]

I was scrambling at that point. Remember it? Yeah, I know.

[Damian Hughes]

I don't know, Boris.

[Jake Humphrey]

I know, but I kind of. I think I just about got away with it because I sort of just do. You know, I remember actually thinking at that point, well, I can say what I think he might want to hear, or I can just tell him the truth, which is that when I watched the news reports, I just thought you were a fraud. Like, you know, you were embezzling money or whatever. And I think the reason why that was kind of okay to say was because I was putting across the view of probably most people at that point. Yeah. Because I think what we both, I think, got early from that conversation with Boris. And for people that don't know, you know, we traveled out to Germany to do the record. He was out there commentating on a big tennis tournament. He's not able to come, or at that time maybe, still the case wasn't able to come to the UK because of visa restrictions, because of his conviction. And, like, he'd obviously written a book about his life. But, you know, when you understand early on what someone actually wants to tell you, he didn't want to talk about his upbringing or winning Wimbledon or what his future looks like. He wanted to, like, come at us about, what did I go to prison for? Like, that was his frustration. Do you know what I mean?

[Damian Hughes]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jake Humphrey]

And I sometimes think, like, one of the big lessons I've learned when we. In the time we've been doing High Performance is reading that guest sort of early on.

[Damian Hughes]

Yeah.

[Jake Humphrey]

Like. Because the big mistake that I know we both feel we made was when we interviewed Edwin van der Saar, the Ajax director.

[Damian Hughes]

Still bothers me.

[Jake Humphrey]

That does me. And he came in the room, and for those. Well, none of you will know this because we've spoken about it, but he came in the room, didn't he? We said, hey, how are you? And he went, shit. Do you remember?

[Damian Hughes]

Yeah.

[Jake Humphrey]

And he looked really stressed. The world was on his shoulders. Ajax was struggling. He was obviously under massive pressure. And we just go, okay. Well, what's your definition of high performance? And it's like, hold on.

[Will (Producer)]

And what happened two weeks later? Had a stroke.

[Jake Humphrey]

Had a stroke.

[Damian Hughes]

It's like that old Henry Ford quote, isn't it? If you ask your. If he'd have asked his customers what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse. Whereas actually the reality is I think we could have gone somewhere completely different on the podcast.

[Jake Humphrey]

Yeah, but you know, you live and learn, Right. And as we talk about, often those mistakes are the ones where you pick up the most knowledge. I know there's messages coming in from people that have listened to the show over the year, Will. What are they saying?

[Will (Producer)]

Well, I think the main thing we want to focus on, like, what has been the most impactful conversation of the year. And I know that you guys are going to give us your answers, but, you know, we've had a few mess. One in one from Dwayne on our Insta channel saying Keely Hodgkinson and Ryan Yates. Ryan Yates would be one of my favorite.

[Jake Humphrey]

Yeah.

[Will (Producer)]

I mean, I love someone who comes in and just is a great. You know, when someone's in a conversation, they're an amazing storyteller, but they lean into you guys so much and they so want to be in the chair. And he was the epitome of that. Colin Morris said Professor Steve Peters.

[Guest Speaker]

Yeah.

[Will (Producer)]

And we got Joseph Worrell said Adam Peaty, James Collins and Roman Kemp. And then he also listed out one of our favorite sayings. Just because it's hard, it doesn't mean it's bad for us.

[Damian Hughes]

Oh, wow. I was talking to yesterday, Kevin Pickard, who, who works with Adam Petey and Kevin came on the day of the record and he said that Adam still uses some of the, some of the references from our interview when he's doing his camps for parents, you know, trying to help.

[Jake Humphrey]

And I love the fact that he's back in the squad more under Sean Dyche as well. He's like a Sean Dyche guy, isn't he?

[Damian Hughes]

Adam? Peter.

[Jake Humphrey]

Oh, I'm still on the Adam Yates. Welcome to the. So, you know, like Alan Pete now playing football. I thought your face was like thinking.

[Damian Hughes]

How do we spin this?

[Jake Humphrey]

Did you guys not know that PT signed for Forest? How did you miss that news? Yeah, he has. He scored the other week in the Europa League. What are you talking. Why you guys don't know what's going on? That's the problem. By the way, just so you all know, at home, most of 2025 has gone like that. But we normally edit out the bits where I sound like a total twerp. I think we should leave that one in for honesty.

[Will (Producer)]

And actually one thing that the viewers don't get to see is that the messages that they write in a book afterwards, I think that also says quite a lot. You know, when they say this has been like a therapy session for me. I, you know, I've Joe Mar that didn't he? Yeah.

[Jake Humphrey]

And I. And what I've loved since then is like the way he's played at the back for forest. Joe Marlowe. Should we get into some of our best. The things that have impacted us the most this year?

[Damian Hughes]

Yeah, go on. So you start.

[Jake Humphrey]

Okay, I'm going to go for. Most impactful conversation of the year for me was Rob o'.

[Will (Producer)]

Neill.

[Jake Humphrey]

And it's interesting this because I actually. And I think we all feel the same like we hate the remote records, don't we? The whole point of doing this is the time we spend with the person. But it wasn't possible for Rob to be in the uk and I kind of thought that because he's spoken a lot about the mission that he went on to kill Osama bin Laden that he would be kind of like, I've spoken about that loads. Is there something else that we can discuss? But when he started talking about what happened on that mission, I was just like in it at that moment. And should we play a bit of Rob o' Neill talking to us and really like breaking down in detail what went on on the day that they were sent out. Here we go.

[Rob O'Neill]

I hand wrote notes to my. I had three daughters at the time. Like my middle daughter was seven and I didn't write her. I didn't write the seven year old a letter. I wrote a letter to the 27 year old woman. I'm really sorry I missed your wedding. I know you were beautiful and thanks for taking care of your mom and your sisters. But you know, what we did was noble kind of explaining tears hitting the page to each one of my daughters and then to my family, another one to my family. And then the hard part after that was I had to put it in a manila envelope and I couldn't give it to a friend because if I die all my friends are going to die with me. So I had to find someone on the base that was working in one of the intelligence shops and I handed him this manila envelope maybe an hour before the mission and said, hey, when you see me tomorrow, I want this back. If you don't see Me tomorrow. There are instructions inside the envelope. Do what it says. And he goes, how will I know? And I had. All I could say was, trust me, you'll know.

[Jake Humphrey]

When you said to your daughter, I'll be back soon, did you believe that?

[Rob O'Neill]

No. No. I thought that was it. And that's the hardest part right there. Getting shot at is really easy. Getting blown up, I'm assuming, is really easy. But looking your kids in the eyes and you're both aware that this could be it. This might be the last time we ever see each other. And there. There's a huge difference between kissing your kid good night and kissing your kid goodbye. And, I mean, two of my daughters, I've kissed them goodbye 11 different times. I can think back to right before we went up the last set of stairs. It was me and one other guy. He was. He was called the point man, which means he's in front of me. And I was referred to as the two man. And it wasn't planned that way. It's just. That's how tactics work. As we were going up the last set of stairs with him in front of me, he was being brave. I was just thinking, we're gonna blow up for sure, because bin Laden's right behind this curtain. He's definitely a suicide bomber. And when we went through the curtain at the top of the stairs, he moved it. And he. The guy in front of me jumped on, kind of tackled people he thought were suicide bombers, which is incredible because he jumped on a grenade that didn't go off. He gave his life for the guy behind him. He didn't know it was me. He knew it was one of his guys. And because he went sort of left, I had to go right based on tactics. And because I did that, standing in front of me, three feet away, was Osama bin Laden. Based on his stature, he wasn't surrendering. So he's got to have a suicide vest on. And the way you handle a suicide bomber is by shooting him in the face. And seeing a suicide bomber in person is very, very loud, very, very fast and very permanent. So if you deal with. And it doesn't take them long to clack off a vest. So if you see a suicide bomber, better shoot him in the face. I hope no one ever finds himself in that situation. But if you do, that's how to act.

[Jake Humphrey]

What I loved about that conversation was that he had this idea that he wasn't going to come home, didn't he? And that when he was. And when he was on the helicopter flying in he, sort of in his head, he decided it was the final mission. And all of the other Navy seals he was with had already come to that conclusion, yet one of them was having a nap. And I just think, like, that's almost a missed moment of what high performance can actually look like. And I know there'll be people listening to this going is high performance, you know, being in the military and killing people for a living. But in this context I'm talking about, high performance is the ability to be so at peace with yourself and your life and your decisions and what's about to happen, that when you think you're on a mission that you're gonna die on, you're still able to have a nap. Like that for me was like, wow, okay. That they. Those. Those guys had worked so hard on their mentality that they managed to get to that place. What was your most impactful chat of the year?

[Damian Hughes]

Well, when I was thinking about this, there was a few that, like the Roman Kemp conversation we had where he told us about that a man will take his own life every 90 minutes in the UK. There was other examples, like Noel Fitzpatrick. Do you remember when he was talking about holding a pet's life in his hands at that moment and the responsibility he felt. Or I still love your face. When Daniel Dubois answered his phone halfway through the conversation.

[Jake Humphrey]

Oh, my goodness. I know. I know that people can't see what's happening, but can we just play the clip, please, for people to hear?

[Damian Hughes]

So what are the requirements it takes to be a member of Team Dubois now? What are the qualities that you look for? Let me take this call. Can we.

[Jake Humphrey]

Can we talk about the flip phone, by the way? What's going on here?

[Damian Hughes]

Yeah, I'm just. Just in it now. All right.

[Jake Humphrey]

It's an old school phone. That's an old school phone. Why do you have an old school phone?

[Damian Hughes]

Because. Just cut out the.

[Jake Humphrey]

Is that right?

[Damian Hughes]

Cut out all the bullshit, innit?

[Jake Humphrey]

Cut out all the bullshit. No X, no Instagram, no no, no, no.

[Damian Hughes]

No Facebook.

[Jake Humphrey]

No need for that.

[Damian Hughes]

It's all distractions.

[Jake Humphrey]

And is that your phone in camp or is that your phone?

[Damian Hughes]

Camp phone.

[Jake Humphrey]

There he is. That was Daniel Dubois picking the most random, ancient phone out of his pocket. And then I said to him, but that's a bit of a brick of a phone. He's like, yeah, yeah. No destructions, no bullshit. Do you remember?

[Damian Hughes]

But for me, the one that sort of stands out was the conversation with Alistair Brownlee, because it was a fresh take on a theme that we've heard a few times where Johnny Wilkinson told us that the view from the top of the mountain is not worth the climb if you haven't enjoyed it. And it resonated with me when Alistair said about this idea of. He said, I've stood on the top step of the Olympic podium twice and I can reassure you it is not worth the journey to get there. If you're not enjoying the journey, don't wait to think a gold medal is going to solve all your problems.

[Jake Humphrey]

Here he is. There isn't a clock on something that achievement is. If it takes 24 hours in a day to do it, you know, that's the work and effort you have to put in. But most importantly, finding, really enjoying what I do, I think, I think that's absolutely crucial, that real deep sense of enjoyment, but finding satisfaction in the process of doing it. I worked out very early in a sporting career that winning the race and standing on the podium was nowhere near the. You didn't get the, the, the joy and happiness and satisfaction from that, that all the training deserves. You know, you have to find that everyday satisfaction. I love that. Okay, let's, let's move on to a tip we've heard this year from a high performance guest that we've taken into our own lives. You've gone, you start.

[Damian Hughes]

You know that I came out of the interview with Sarah Pascoe and I said to you at the time that I said, that is one of my favourite chats I've ever had. And I thought about it afterwards and some of it is because she'd obviously prepared, but she was really engaged in the moment, so she thought about what she was coming to chair, but equally then listened to our questions and adapted. And I loved the bit when she spoke about the fear of how she tormented us behind stage, of thinking that these people won't like me, that men won't think women are funny, they're determined not to laugh at me. And then she realized one day, actually, what good is this doing? So she decided to adopt that approach of unconditional positive regard, which is where it's not that you think everybody is great, but you choose to see the better angels. You choose to believe that most people are doing the best that they can. And once she was able to do that, she was able to pivot and start to enjoy the experience and found that the audience enjoyed hers as well. So just trying to remember the Sarah Pascal thing of just, see, this is just somebody doing the best they can at this moment, I found it far more helpful and stopped my own stress levels spiking.

[Jake Humphrey]

Yeah, it's good. Should we have a listen to that clip?

[Damian Hughes]

Yeah, go on.

[Sarah Pascoe]

I used to have this horrible thing where I used to imagine with tour shows that half of your audience had been dragged there by someone. A really negative thought where I'd go, men dragged by wives. They don't think women are funny. That's so unusual to my brain to think I'm trying to convince I'm good at my job. And as I've done it more, I just started to go, they're here. If they didn't want to be here, why would they be here? This is how far that journey's gone. From a 14 year old who didn't think anyone liked her, who wants to be on stage, to go, I don't care if you don't like me, you have to look at me. To come to a place of like, why don't you just trust that most people are here because they actually, they do want to see you. How delightful is that? And Alan Davis has a bit in his book, actually, it's about being a toddler and how walking out as a comic to an audience who want to see you is like running into a room as a toddler.

[Damian Hughes]

Hey, it's you.

[Sarah Pascoe]

You're here.

[Jake Humphrey]

And that's already enough Sarah Pascoe there. And by the way, you can listen to these episodes in full. Just go down to the description wherever you're enjoying this podcast and you can click the links and enjoy them in full.

[Damian Hughes]

What's yours?

[Jake Humphrey]

Mine was when we were joined by Stephanie Romachevsky, who's sleepyhead on Instagram. She's like a sleep expert. And the tip that I picked up from her was this idea that we've obsessed for over the number of hours that we're asleep for, or we've obsessed over the time that we go to bed. And all of us make such a lot of effort or think we should make a lot of effort to not watch screens and not be on our phones and have a hot drink and start to wind down and chill out with the kids and take a bath or a shower. She said we're all, we're all thinking about it back to front, like, what, what is the most important part of your sleep is not what you do before you go to bed, it's when you wake up. And she spoke about, like, your, like, sleep consistency. The bedtime and the waking time are the most important thing. And I definitely was in this world where I thought, well, if I've got a Late night, I'll have a late start tomorrow. Or it doesn't matter if on the weekends I lie in bed till 9am because there's no pressure and I can chill out. And she's saying like, if you lie in bed till 9am you're gonna wake up like you're jet lagged through three time zones. Because I'm normally a 6am kind of guy, or I would be thinking, well, as long as I get eight hours, I'm fine. How can I possibly be tired if I've got eight hours of sleep? And so her point was that our circadian rhythm is the most important thing. And you start your circadian rhythm by getting out of bed at the same time every day. So that by the time you go to bed in the evening, your body, and again it should be of same or similar time, your body started to get into this routine where it knows you're about to go to sleep. Whereas if you wake up an hour before, an hour later every day, you're waking up when you're in a deep sleep or you're waking up too late and your body's just out of sync the whole time. So she can explain it way better than me, but I thought her advice about focusing on your wake time, not your sleep time or your number of hours in bed was really good.

[Sarah Pascoe]

It's worrying how we talk about, you know, basically from an adult onwards till the day you die, you're supposed to get eight hours of sleep or it's completely impossible when you wake up around about the same time. What you don't have the ability to do is sleep in. And when you sleep in, you're confusing your brain. It doesn't understand then that you still want to feel sleepy at 10 o' clock or 11 o' clock and you still want to be able to get through the night. I guess a good way of explaining it is a bit like a phone battery. Most of us kind of understand now that with a phone battery you probably need to let it go down quite a bit and then you charge it up again. And that's a nice consistent pattern. It's nice and predictable. You understand when it's going to work and when maybe it won't work. But then if you're quite inconsistent about that process, not only do you not know when it's going to work, but you now have a problem with the actual battery not being very strong and the battery weakens. That's basically what you're sleep drive is doing. So if you think about it, when you get up about the same time every day. You can't alleviate any sleep debt that you might have incurred. So what your brain will do if you really do have anything that it needs to alleviate is it will make you either go to bed a bit earlier if you need to, so you might feel a bit sleepier a bit earlier. But actually something amazing happens in your brain which is that you don't always have to get like for like. So if you lose four hours, you don't have to gain four hours. I think that expectation really sends us down the wrong track. Sometimes what your brain does is it just figures out what stages of sleep that you were missing, that it really needs you at that point in time to have the most, and it will increase those in your next night's sleep. So the crazy thing is, is that sometimes having a poor night can actually improve the efficiency and the quality of your sleep, but only if you're being fairly consistent. You've got a fairly consistent baseline in your behavior.

[Jake Humphrey]

The brilliant Stephanie Romachevsky, who joined us on the podcast in 2025 and that's got a book.

[Damian Hughes]

Well, Steph's got a book coming out in 2026 as well. She sent me an early manuscript of it and everything that you've just heard there, she explains it in such a accessible way that that's definitely going to be a must read.

[Jake Humphrey]

You know, you don't have to let big wireless and your overpriced phone bills suck the joy out of the holidays this year, because right now all of Mint Mobile's Unlimited plans are 50% off. You can get 3, 6 or 12 months of unlimited premium wireless for 15 bucks a month. It's the best deal of the year. I mean, it makes it easy for you to give your expensive wireless build a Scrooge treatment. Right? I switched over and honestly, the service is just as good as my odd provider. But without those big monthly bills. All Mint plans include high speed data and unlimited talk and text on the nation's largest 5G network. And switching is easy. Keep your phone, keep your number. No contracts, no hidden fees. So turn your expensive wireless present into a huge wireless savings future by switching to Mint Shop Mint unlimited [e-mail] HPP that's mintmobile.com HPP Limited time offer upfront payment of $45 for three months, $90 for six months or $180 for 12 months. Plan required $15 a month equivalent taxes and fees extra initial planned term only above 35 gig may slow when the network is busy capable device required. Availability, speed and coverage varies. See mintmobile.com we talk a lot on this show about performing under pressure, but sometimes that pressure shows up somewhere where you at least expect it, like maybe in the bedroom. And that's why I want to talk to you briefly about hims, because big moments deserve less stress and more confidence. Through Hims, you can access personalised prescription treatment options for ED, like Hard Mints and SexRx plus Climax Control. If prescribed, you can get effective ED treatments for up to 95% less than other brand name options. And it's all 100% online. No waiting rooms, no stress, but real medical providers making sure you get exactly what you need. It's a simple way to get back to feeling like yourself without the stress or the awkwardness. To get simple online access to personalised, affordable care for ED, hair loss, weight loss and more, visit hims.comperformance that's hims.comperformance for your free online visit hims.comperformance actual price will depend on products and subscription plan. Featured products include compounded drug products which the FDA does not approve or verify for safety, effectiveness or quality. Prescription required. See website for details, restrictions and important safety information. So good, so good, so good. Get ready cause Clear the Rack is on at your Nordstrom Rack store now through Thursday, January 1st. Find incredible deals on Wear now styles on sale for even less at Nordstrom Rack. Take an extra 25% off red tag clearance throughout the store from brands like Rag and Bone, Madewell, Adidas and more. All sales final.

[Sarah Pascoe]

The best stuff goes fast, so shop this sale at Nordstrom Rack today.

[Jake Humphrey]

Please see nordstromrack.com or ask a store associate for details. AI agents are everywhere, automating tasks and making decisions at machine speed. But agents make mistakes. Mistakes. Just one rogue agent can do big damage before you even notice. Rubrik Agent Cloud is the only platform that helps you monitor agents, set guardrails and rewind mistakes so you can unleash agents, not risk. Accelerate your AI [e-mail] that's R U B R-I K.com. You're listening to Jake and Damien and Will, our producer. Hi Will.

[Will (Producer)]

Hello.

[Jake Humphrey]

Who we've allowed on the podcast for one time and one time only to celebrate the end of the year. He's looking crestfallen.

[Damian Hughes]

He is genuinely the power behind that.

[Jake Humphrey]

He's been trying to steal your job for six years. So just be careful.

[Damian Hughes]

He's better looking. He's more just better guys. Just better in general.

[Will (Producer)]

Stop, but don't stop.

[Jake Humphrey]

It's our review of 2025, we're looking back at some of the things that have meant the most to you. Before we go on with some more clips, can you break down maybe like the top five biggest episodes that people have listened to and the top five biggest ones that they've watched?

[Will (Producer)]

Will the top five biggest ones that they've listened to? Actually, I'll throw. Let throw some guesses at me and I will see whether you're right. I will give you the top five episodes that people listen to.

[Jake Humphrey]

So this is on audio.

[Will (Producer)]

On audio, Spotify and Apple.

[Jake Humphrey]

The Carlos signs.

[Will (Producer)]

Correct.

[Damian Hughes]

Triple H?

[Will (Producer)]

No.

[Jake Humphrey]

I would say Gareth Southgate, but we only recorded it a couple months ago. So I think at the moment it wouldn't be in the top five.

[Will (Producer)]

It wouldn't be in the top five. But it will be.

[Jake Humphrey]

Okay.

[Will (Producer)]

These are people, these are things that are currently in the top five with the most listened. So think a bit further back.

[Damian Hughes]

Steve Peters.

[Will (Producer)]

Correct.

[Jake Humphrey]

I'm gonna say Alistair Brownlee, who Damian's already mentioned.

[Will (Producer)]

Yeah, Alistair Brownlee's there.

[Jake Humphrey]

Yeah.

[Damian Hughes]

Is he?

[Jake Humphrey]

Yeah, in the top five.

[Will (Producer)]

In the top seven.

[Jake Humphrey]

He's seven. Okay, good.

[Will (Producer)]

One of them. Okay, we'll do one more. This one might surprise you. It's somebody that wasn't a known person, but came in with an amazing statistical analysis.

[Jake Humphrey]

I got it.

[Damian Hughes]

Go on.

[Jake Humphrey]

Do you know? Yeah, go on then.

[Damian Hughes]

Ian Graham.

[Will (Producer)]

Yeah, Ian Graham.

[Jake Humphrey]

So people are going. Because they don't know who he is. Who's Ian Graham?

[Guest Speaker]

He's.

[Jake Humphrey]

He is the stats guy that basically helped transform Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp, right?

[Will (Producer)]

Correct.

[Guest Speaker]

Yeah.

[Jake Humphrey]

And those stories that he told us were just like when there was a bit where he spoke about Mo Salah and why they signed Mo Salah wasn't there. And like other people, people were saying, no, no, he's not the guy. And then he went, no, this is why we signed him. Virgil Van Dijk was the same. They looked at the stats, didn't they? Said, no one on the planet is doing what Virgil Van Dijk is doing.

[Damian Hughes]

Well, it was interesting, wasn't it? I was thinking about that recently when I saw Carragher saying that before he joined Liverpool that he was regarded as the. The Chelsea V Jet. And I was like, but we met the guy that said, no, no, no, look beyond that. He wasn't a reject. Look at what he did.

[Will (Producer)]

That was exactly the reason why they signed him. That is exactly the reason that Jurgen Klopp saw the failure at Chelsea as a positive to why he would work at Liverpool.

[Jake Humphrey]

Right. Time to go to some more clips. Then let's go to the most honest guest of the year. Who do we feel came on and just opened up? I've got two that I'd like to mention.

[Damian Hughes]

Go on, you start.

[Jake Humphrey]

Okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna play a clip from the second person, but I'm gonna talk about the first person first. So the person I believe came in and was most honest, and by the way, for any other guest that did join us and thought I was really honest. We know you're all coming in and being honest, but I thought Callum Wilson was massively brave when he came on and we thought it'd be a conversation about football. And he sort of sat down and he puffed and he went, look, I've been speaking to my partner about whether I should even talk about this, but I'm going to. And then he shared the trauma that he had as a young person. It's tell the story, not me. So if you want to hear the Callum Wilson episode in full and why it was so honest and impactful, again, you can find it in the description to this podcast. But he, he kind of, he came in and told us that he had some really dark times as a kid and that as a footballer, the more he smiled, the harder life was for him at that time. So I, I know people that have played with him and I said to them before the episode was out, I said, hey, tell me about Callum Wilson. They were like, funniest guy, good time guy, happiest guy, always up for a laugh, always full of energy. And, you know that he really has spent a 20 year professional football career not telling anyone the truth about his life and what happened to him. And therefore to fight, A, to finally tell the truth, B, to finally tell it in a public platform, but C, for that truth to be something so personal to him. I like applaud someone like Callum Wilson for doing that. And I think it's a good example of the direction that football and hopefully the world is going where guys, guys do open up. So Callum Wilson is up there, but here's a clip from Heston Blumenthal. And the clip that I'd like you to play, actually will, is when he talks about, in the moment that he's having a serious mental health breakdown and he has to be sectioned. Here he is.

[Damian Hughes]

I would become a danger to myself, right, and the people that care for me around me. So she had arranged it so that I, I had a couple of policemen turn up to the house, five firemen, a Doctor, an assistant. They basically injected me and took me to. I woke up in a. They woke up in a psychiatric hospital. I didn't know where I was, what it took me after. It was. My wife couldn't see me for the first, I think two days. And then I started to know and then, and then I was seeing this psychiatrist and she said, you're bipolar. And I never thought. I knew I had adhd. I thought I might have had or might have ptsd. Going for the full house of neurodiverse things. Although bipolar is not neurodiverse. I had no idea. I was surprised more than anything else. And the two months I spent in hospital, I was being monitored daily, not just by the doctor, but the nurses there and stuff. So you can say, thanks to mom's, thanks to my wife, I had this really clear diagnosis that when I was doing the research about symptoms and signs of bipolar, I ticked nearly all the boxes. But it's bipolar one, bipolar two, and then another bipolar three. You can sort of flip between, between them again.

[Jake Humphrey]

It's funny, isn't it? You forget who you've spoken to, the things they've said, the impact it had on you. And I think that's one of the biggest disappointments actually of the human brain is that I still know 31415, which was my home phone number when I was 11. I don't need that information anymore, but it's there. I would much rather remember what Aston Blumenthaler said to me. Yeah, I forget that stuff. You can probably explain why, but it's. It's weird, isn't it? Like, why am I remembering things that I don't need to remember and I can't help it.

[Damian Hughes]

Yeah, it goes in your long term memory where there's like certain episodes go into a memory bank because we only hear it once. Often it's only hearing it once. Often it's thinking about the applicability of it. That's part of the challenge that we have, isn't it? That because we often run in at such a fast pace, the ability to stop and do things like what we're doing now and reflect is a really valuable part of our learning.

[Jake Humphrey]

If only we listened to our own podcast, we'd remember an awful lot more. Go on then. What's your most honest moment of the year from a guest?

[Damian Hughes]

Well, for me, I was tempted to say Boris Becker when he wanted to talk about prison in such a candid way. But then I reflected on growing up in, in a boxing gym to have Tom aspinall come on as, like, the UFC heavyweight champion and not talk about sort of the grappling and the fighting and the challenges of facing some of his opponents, but to talk about facing his own inner opponent of fear was really powerful for us. The fact that he came and said, you won't hear any alpha male like him talk about fear in his world. He never heard it as a child when he was watching fighters that came before him, but then being willing to say, but. But this is a real opponent that I need to face, and I had to make peace with it. And once that cage door closes, it's just me, my opponent, and fear that exists between us. That, to me, was just really powerful.

[Jake Humphrey]

Trevor, listen. Yeah, well, I'm actually one of the rare fight, rare UFC fighters that I'm aware of that will sit here and look you in the eyes and talk about fear, because a lot of UFC fighters like to pretend they're not scared. Now, I basically spent my life in gyms and backstage at events and in these changing rooms, and listen, I've never seen. I'm yet to see a person who isn't scared, but it's very rare that, like, you'll get a UFC fighter who will talk about fear. I'm willing to step in the cage with. We're talking about Jon Jones here, who is the most dangerous guy to ever fight in mma. So I'm talking about potentially the most dangerous man unarmed on earth, right, Who I'm potentially going to fight with. Now, if I'm sat backstage getting my hands wrapped, knowing that he's over the opposite side of the arena getting his hands wrapped, we're both going to walk into the arena in front of 35, 000 people with millions watch, watching around the world, and one of us is going to get separated from our consciousness, quite literally, and you're not scared of that, then, like I said, you're either a complete idiot or you're just lying. So fear is extremely present in what I do. Amazing. And Tom Aspinall, by the way, if you listen to this Tom, he's had a shit year. That injury, you know, that injury that he had when he got poked in the eye, they've now looked at that and, like, he can't fight at the moment, and they're not even sure when he'll be able to again because he's really injured him.

[Damian Hughes]

But what was interesting was, like, commentators sort of, whether it's on social media or on the tv, sort of criticizing him for not fighting blind, you know, as if as if that was an acceptable comment to make about somebody that has already conquered the ultimate favor stepping into the octagon. But then the idea that he would trade his own health and well being to fight blind was ridiculous.

[Jake Humphrey]

Right, final question then for 2025. The conversation that rung around in your head the longest, the thing that stayed in your head after we, after we ended the chat.

[Damian Hughes]

Well, I base my answer on this, on the episode that I passed on to people. How like which is the one that I've said to people, listen to this. I've sent them links to it, I've given them the information that I glean from. It was the chat that we had with Professor Jonathan Haidt. He's the author of the brilliant book the Anxious Generation and it's topical at the moment given Australia have just banned social media for under 16s because there was two bits that he shared with us that felt like I'd been punched in the guts. Let's listen to the first one. Snapchat.

[Jake Humphrey]

We now know they get 10,000 reports of sextortion. Not a year, a month, 10,000 kids, mostly boys in mid teens, are falling for this.

[Damian Hughes]

They're sextorted.

[Jake Humphrey]

The FBI looked into 20,000 of these reports and they found 22 confirmed cases of suicide. So we don't know the total number of suicides but it's surely in the hundreds. And the. So sextortion is probably one of the worst things that can happen to your kid online and it is closely linked to suicide. And so I just ask what would you think about a consumer product that said I'm going to put your kid in touch with strangers around the world who are not verified. A lot of them are lying about who they are and they're going to trade photographs. What do you think? Like we would never do that in the real world, but online we're like, well whatever, that's what the kids are doing. So I think there's no way to stop this other than keeping kids off social media. We have to have a global awareness that social media is like tobacco or alcohol or driving or other things where we say, you know what, we're going to let adults make their choices. But these things are just wildly inappropriate for minors.

[Damian Hughes]

Now for that bit for a parent of teenage children, it sort of really resonated and scared me a little bit where it took me a while to process it, but he summed it up really succinctly with this other clip.

[Jake Humphrey]

And I can summarize the whole book by saying we have overprotected our children in the real world and we've under protected them online.

[Damian Hughes]

So hopefully if you're listening to this and you have similar emotions to what we did when we listened to it, it. I hope Jonathan's chat made you realize you're not powerless to do something about this. You can write letters to your children's teachers, you can sort of stand up knowing that there's a social movement behind you that is advocating, actually we need to overprotect our children in the digital world and maybe under protect them a little bit in real life.

[Guest Speaker]

Yeah.

[Jake Humphrey]

You see, what I actually took from that wasn't let's do more to protect them online. Although we should. I'm like, let's do less to protect them in the real world. Let's step back a bit actually, and. And, you know, let our kids go to the park with their mates and play and have some fun.

[Damian Hughes]

Which one is it for you?

[Jake Humphrey]

Well, before I get onto this, you know when you said you got it felt like you've been punched in the guts.

[Damian Hughes]

Yeah.

[Jake Humphrey]

In that conversation, was it more or less of a punch in the guts when Daniel Dubois tapped you very softly around the stomach and you lost your balance and nearly collapsed? Which people can't listen to. Let's just, let's play the audio. Here's the audio of that moment. Go and do it again.

[Sarah Pascoe]

Perfect.

[Damian Hughes]

But let me give you.

[Jake Humphrey]

No, wait, cuz you need. They need to watch the clip, which is on our Instagram, the face that you did.

[Damian Hughes]

Let me set the context to this that when it came in, Willard said, oh, I've spoken to Daniel people, and he's agreed that he's going to replicate the punch that he knocks on. So he just you down with. With you. And I was like, I'm not letting Daniel Dubois unleash your right hand on me. Like, that guy's not messing about. So then I said to Daniel, listen, if you're gonna do it, let's get a big cushion in place like a body bag. So he agreed and then he sort of did this slow motion punch. I was like, you need to hit me a bit harder than that, mate.

[Jake Humphrey]

But it was still, what, 5% of what he could have done.

[Damian Hughes]

20.

[Jake Humphrey]

And you staggered. I loved it when you staggered backwards. Hold on, guys. I've just had a voice note from Callum Nicholas.

[Will (Producer)]

Oh, play it.

[Jake Humphrey]

Our most Popular guest of 2025, as we've just revealed. This is what he said. Mate, this is so good to hear. I love that, bro. I hope you're well, man. Thanks for reaching out and letting me know. That's really, really nice. So, thank you. Have a great Christmas, all of you.

[Rob O'Neill]

Have a time over the winter.

[Jake Humphrey]

See you on the other side. So that, ladies and gentlemen, is someone reversing their car while leaving a voice note and halfway through it jumps onto Bluetooth. But all the same, Callum, thank you so much, mate. I'm delighted that you have delivered the most popular episode of high performance in 2025. And that's what I love, actually, also about this show, like, when you book a guest and.

[Will (Producer)]

And it's.

[Jake Humphrey]

He's obviously very popular, but it's not Boris Becker. It isn't a global megastar, it isn't a Hollywood actor. It isn't one of the greatest Olympians or sports people the world's ever seen. It's someone who was almost like a grafter behind the scenes. And then he delivers the best ever episode we've recorded.

[Damian Hughes]

So that's good. So who. So who's yours? So what is the episode that resonated longest?

[Jake Humphrey]

The episode that resonated the longest with me was Triple H. And it resonated with me because I love the fact that he has fully lent into how to lead people, because he now leads the entire wwe and he's gone from being a wrestler and understanding that wrestling is about storytelling. It's about taking people on a journey, it's about having impact. It's. It's about staying true to yourself. And he's taken that into business. And there's a few clips, a few quotes that I love. Leadership isn't about power or position, it's about intention. A leader should refuse to waste a single day. Success is not about talent or fame. It's about teamwork. All of these. So what I would love, Will, do you reckon for, like, a minute you could just cut together some really nice little quotes from Triple H that people can listen to? Or is that too much work at.

[Will (Producer)]

This time of the year for you because it's Christmas?

[Jake Humphrey]

I will do that. Amazing. Go on, then. Here we go. 60 seconds, or whatever Will decided to create. Probably 12 seconds in the end, knowing Will. Here we are. Some of the greatest lines from Triple H that he delivered in 2025, adding.

[Will (Producer)]

To the workload at Christmas time.

[Jake Humphrey]

Happy Christmas, Will. Your wife, by the way, ask me, can you please keep Will busy and out of the house at this time, time of the year? Here he is, Triple H. Discipline is.

[Guest Speaker]

Doing something that you don't want to do. Everything in your body is telling you, don't do this like, it's hard. Stop. Go take a nap. Go sleep. Do whatever. Like, get. Don't get out of bed this morning. It's warm and cuddly in here and it's cold outside. Stay in bed. It's getting up anyway and going and doing it like you love it. Not going through the motions. Doing it like it is the greatest thing you've ever done in your life. That's high performance. But what's really high performance? And people used to ask me, what work life balance all the time. And I would say, it's bullshit. There is no such thing as work life balance. When you are working, you will think, I should be spending time with my kids. When you are home with your kids, you are thinking, I shouldn't be sitting on this couch watching a movie with my kid. I have so much work to do and I got to get this done. Work life balance is just managing how you emotionally handle the push and the pull. I'm not just a guy that runs the creative for wwe. It's all wonderful. But I'm a lot of other things that are in a lot of ways, way more important than any of that other stuff. That's just a job. During that period of time while I was out and I was sick, like, a lot of the stuff that I created was collapsing and falling apart and going away and all these things and teams that I had and all that stuff, right? And that could have cascaded, made me even worse and made me depressed. It fundamentally changed who I am as my kids were growing through all this in like a daddy daughter dance or something like that, that I'm like, I couldn't tell you what would have happened on that day work wise or anything else wise. But I know there was a conscious decision of, like, man, that's really important. If something happens in the show and it's emotional and I see some talent succeed in a way that they only dreamed of and they come back and they're emotional. I'm emotional, I'm crying with them and so proud of them. That's. That's not embarrassing to me. What's embarrassing to me is if they screw up and I'm like, you stupid motherfucker. Like, I. I'm better than that. I should be at least, like, I should control that. That. That's the stuff that's embarrassing to me. The other stuff, it's wonderful that you can. And it makes people motivated. It makes people want to work for you, with you to achieve things. It. It. Passion is infectious.

[Jake Humphrey]

Well, there we go. Not just the end of our review show, but the end of the year.

[Damian Hughes]

I know, it comes fast, doesn't it?

[Jake Humphrey]

Yeah.

[Will (Producer)]

Let me ask you a few questions. Some predictions for next year go on them. Let's. Let me say, what is your dream guest for next year?

[Jake Humphrey]

Oh, good question.

[Will (Producer)]

I mean, I, I actually know what you said last year.

[Jake Humphrey]

I bet I said Lewis Hamilton and the year before. Did I Lewis just come on the bloody podcast, mate of his misery. I'd also add Max Verstappen to that.

[Sarah Pascoe]

That list.

[Will (Producer)]

Yeah, 100%.

[Jake Humphrey]

I'd love that. And. And Landon Norris again. But I'm just obsessed with F1, obviously. I'd also like Simon Sinek to come back. I'd like James Clear to come back. I'd like Manson to come back and I'd like them all in person.

[Damian Hughes]

Yeah, yeah, that'd be good. I'm going to go for. I'd like Roy Morris. Keane.

[Will (Producer)]

Who?

[Damian Hughes]

Roy Keane.

[Jake Humphrey]

Oh yeah, Roy Morris will name him. How much you love him.

[Will (Producer)]

Well, he did write him a letter. Letter to try and get on.

[Jake Humphrey]

Please tell us the story of that.

[Damian Hughes]

So when we first started, I. I reached out to a few people that we had in common and they said to me, here's his address, get in touch with him. So I figured that the old school way of handwriting a letter, posting it to him had the most effective way of getting an answer one way or the other. And I think he's got like a.

[Jake Humphrey]

Shredder for a letterbox because he never responded.

[Damian Hughes]

Well, I sent two and then I'll tell you, I sent two letters, weirdo. But I'll tell you, I was on the train. I was on the train earlier this year and he was on it. He was just about to get off and I walked past him and I thought, I'm not gonna bother him on the train. Like it was one of them where I didn't want to give him the chance to tell me to off.

[Jake Humphrey]

So instead you wrote him nine more letters.

[Damian Hughes]

The letter writing idea works. I also like writing letters to guests after I've had them on as well. Well, just to talk about their reflection, like my reflections on what they shared with us. Steve Barthwick earlier this year. We traded a few letters afterwards. He quite liked the old school way as well.

[Jake Humphrey]

Yeah, it's great. And I know, you know, six years we've done this and you've only got, I think, three injunctions out against you.

[Damian Hughes]

Yeah, yeah, just the three. But I do feel there's something about that old school way of just Just.

[Jake Humphrey]

Let it show some effort, doesn't it? Sending an email or a voice message like, you know, I love a voice note. I think it can be a bit lazy.

[Will (Producer)]

Yeah, well, let's finish then with let's. What would you like to promise the listeners for next year? One thing you'd like to say to.

[Damian Hughes]

Them, I'm gonna be boring and say we'll continue to strive to live up to the sense of purpose of giving people the lived experiences of some of the planet's highest performers that you can use in your own life.

[Jake Humphrey]

And I am going to say the opposite and say they are going to be blown away by what's coming in 2026. There are things happening behind the scenes, there are conversations ongoing that are going to transform high performance in 2026. It's going to be bigger, more impactful, more shows, it's going to be more in your pockets every day. We're going to be in person in front of you. It's just going to be like. I honestly feel 2026 is going to be the breakout year for high performance. I think we've created the foundations, we've created the framework, we've earned the trust, we've built a genuine brand that people understand what we, what we are here for. 2026 is the year that we light the fuse underneath it and go for it.

[Guest Speaker]

Brilliant.

[Will (Producer)]

Amen. Merry Christmas, guys.

[Damian Hughes]

And you, mate.

[Jake Humphrey]

Happy Christmas, everyone. This holiday, Verizon is giving you incredible gifts and savings you'll enjoy all year. When you Switch, you'll get four new iPhone 17 Pros. No trade in needed. That's right, get four lines for just $25 a line. And the amazing iPhone 17 Pro for everyone. Save big this holiday. Visit Verizon today. $20 monthly promo credits applied to account over 35 months with a new line on unlimited. Welcome. In times of congestion, unlimited 5G and 4G LTE may be temporarily slower than other traffic. Domestic Data roaming at 2G speeds. Additional terms of high for phone offer. See verizon.com for details. So good, so good, so good. Just in thousands of winter arrivals at your Nordstrom rack store.

[Sarah Pascoe]

Save up to 70% on coats, slippers and cashmere for from Kate Spade, New.

[Jake Humphrey]

York, Vince Ugg, Levi's and more.

[Sarah Pascoe]

Check out these boots.

[Jake Humphrey]

They've got the best gifts. My holiday shopping hack. Join the Nordiclobe. Get an extra 5% off every rack purchase with your Nordstrom credit card. Plus buy it online and pick it up in store the same day for free. Big gifts, big perks. That's why you rack AI Agents are everywhere, automating tasks and making decisions at machine speed. But agents make mistakes. Just one rogue agent can do big damage before you even notice. Rubrik Agent Cloud is the only platform that helps you monitor agents, set guardrails, and rewind mistakes so you can unleash agents, not risk. Accelerate your AI [e-mail] that's R U B R-I K.com.