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The High Performance Podcast
Micro Habits: The 5 Minute Changes That Actually Transform Your Life (+ Exclusive Audiobook Preview)
00:22:13
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- [00:03]
Jake
Happy New Year, Damian.
- [00:04]
Damian
Happy New Year, Jake.
- [00:05]
Author 1
Look at this, the 2nd of January and you and I are together.
- [00:08]
Damian
I know, yeah. What a great way to welcome in 2026.
- [00:11]
Author 1
Start the year as you mean to go on with your colleagues.
- [00:14]
Damian
Thank you.
- [00:16]
Author 1
Look, what we actually thought we would do to start the year for the wonderful listeners to high performance is give them a little something that they are hopefully going to take into the new year and use to really make a difference. Right. So, as you know, because we wrote.
- [00:29]
Author 2
It together, we have a brand new.
- [00:30]
Author 1
Book that has been out for 24 hours.
- [00:32]
Damian
Yeah, microhabits.
- [00:33]
Author 1
Microhabits. And it's basically taking the biggest lessons and the learnings that we've taken from so many conversations on high performance.
- [00:41]
Author 2
Because what we've realized over the years.
- [00:43]
Author 1
Is that your dreams don't determine where you go, your habits do. Your habits determine whether those dreams become.
- [00:49]
Author 2
A reality or not.
- [00:50]
Author 1
So we've created a book, it's called Microhabits. And I thought we could maybe talk about the book in a moment. But maybe to start with, let's just play the introduction to people listening so they can hear a snippet of the audiobook and get a good understanding of what it's about.
- [01:03]
Damian
That's a great idea.
- [01:04]
Author 1
Okay, so here it is.
- [01:05]
Author 2
This is the introduction to the brand.
- [01:06]
Author 1
New book available now from myself and Damian. This is Microhabits.
- [01:13]
Author 2
What if you could change your life in less than five minutes?
- [01:18]
Jake
Introduction. Small, simple, speedy. The Australian sun was shining brightly. The blue sky was shimmering in the early morning heat, and the green grass of the rugby pitch had never looked so inviting. But the words I was hearing weren't nearly as enticing. We're going to start tackling practice now, explained Tony Smith, the charismatic head coach of England Rugby League. Would you mind holding one of the tackle pads with a gulp? I nodded my assent and trotted onto the training field. I gathered the bag, threading my arms through the straps to ensure it was held tightly. My insides felt equally tight. Jamie Peacock, the 6 foot 5 inch leviathan standing 30 yards away, looked like he'd been carved out of granite as he pawed the ground, eager to commence the drill. The whole of the England camp paused their activities. Their faces were filled with an undisguised zeal at their imminent firework display, just waiting for the blue touch paper to be lit. Many teams have induction processes for new recruits. Over the years, I've been forced to sing songs, recount bawdy encounters, even deliver a joke in front of the most hostile of audiences. Your colleagues. But this was different. I had yet to experience the joy of being run into full pelt by the captain of England Rugby League. This is my induction, I thought resignedly. As Peacock began his run up, I braced for impact, planting my feet in the lush green turf and fighting the rising urge to close my eyes or run away. As he ran faster and faster, I could see his steely gaze fixed firmly upon me. I braced myself. Here it comes. I started counting down to the moment of impact. 3, 2, 1. Until with his final step, the Leeds Rhino's legend subtly twisted his trunk to avoid colliding into me. The whooshing sound as he passed was matched only by the speed of the air leaving my chest. I realized I'd been unconsciously holding my breath. I looked to the sidelines and saw the whole England team laughing. Thanks, Jamie, I muttered. I appreciate that. Is it possible for a single moment to teach you everything you need to know about a team? Since arriving at England's World cup training camp on the Gold coast, there had been no grand welcome speeches, laminated team values or ping pong tables in the staff areas to signal the type of culture I'd entered. But Peacock's little practical joke and the kindness in choosing to not in fact launch me into the Pacific Ocean had communicated exactly what sort of team this was. Despite first appearances, I was safe here. I had been given a sense of belonging in the group and would had a laugh about it too. Throughout my career, working with teams ranging from England Rugby League to Scotland Rugby Union and England Netball, I've come to understand the power of these small and frequently overlooked occurrences. These microscopic behaviors and moments are the essential ingredient of any high performing culture, the cement between the bricks.
- [04:39]
Author 2
I'm living proof that small changes in behaviour can have an outsized impact. I transformed my life by just tweaking the time of my morning alarm. For most of my adult life, my mornings had been a rushed blur of getting the kids to school, rushing for the train to work, all whilst feeling underprepared and overwhelmed. I always missed breakfast, which killed my energy. I didn't engage with my family, which killed my mojo. I didn't get ready for the day ahead, which killed my effectiveness. Only a couple of years ago did I do the obvious thing. I shifted my alarm clock forwards by 15 minutes and for a while I couldn't quite believe how big an impact it had. Having just a few minutes of solitude to think about the day ahead was a revelation. By the time my wife Harriet and the kids woke up, I was ready with cuddles and coffee. It was a small change, and it changed everything. It was my first hint that I'd been sold a myth about the Path to success for too long, high performance has been characterized as a complex, ever changing system, one invariably tied to a pricey course or at the very least, a bewildering 1,000 page textbook. But here's the Success starts simple. It begins in moments, just like when I was tinkering with my morning alarm. The moments you often ignore because they seem too insignificant to matter. And I'm not the only one. Over the last five years, your two authors have completed over 400 interviews with people who've scaled the heights of their chosen professions on our podcast High Performance, and we have repeatedly witnessed that a commitment to tiny, even imperceptible behaviors of this kind makes the difference between success and failure. Every choice you make, however small, contributes to ensuring high performance and and eliminating low standards. As Eddie Jones, the former England rugby Union coach, told us, nothing you do is neutral. Sir Ian McGeehan, the legendary rugby union coach, calls these small practices with an outsized impact, world class basics. And he spent his career creating cultures of sustained excellence in a succession of triumphant teams, Northampton Wasps and most famously, the British and Irish Lions. And he credits tiny basic commitments for his success. I'll let Ian McGeehan explain more.
- [07:06]
Guest Speaker
Each position or each role has certain skills that are very specific to that role. It's actually delivering something that you know you can do or needs to be done that actually makes a difference. When it matters, it's not.
- [07:25]
Author 2
Show these small, basic skills, consistently passing the ball well, consistently being in the right position, consistently making the correct decision under pressure. They all add up to elite performance. In fact, once you start looking for these basic, consistent behaviors, you start to see them everywhere. Take the words of Sean Wayne, the head coach of England Rugby League. How you do anything is how you do everything. And his point is that each small behavior is a microcosm of your wider approach and your values. One of his proteges, Sam Tompkins, once told us a strange story about how Sean used to make him carry around a Filofax. You know, like a bulky, unseemly and seemingly irrelevant item. I guess most of us would associate it with only fools and Horses. Derek Trotter. He had it everywhere he went. If he couldn't brandish it on request, the consequences would be severe. Now, it does sound a bit weird, to be fair, but the point was simple. If Sam couldn't be trusted to do something small and specific, like carry around a Filofax, then he would never be able to do something big and expansive, like win the Super League. Or finally, take the words of Rob O', Neill, a member of the celebrated US Navy SEALs, who recounted the advice he was offered when he faced the unit's grueling selection training, including the ordeal that everyone calls Hell Week.
- [08:51]
Guest Speaker
He told us, here's how you get through SEAL training. Wake up in the morning on time, make your bed the right way, and then brush your teeth. You just started your day with three.
- [09:00]
Author 2
Wins and these small changes changed everything.
- [09:04]
Guest Speaker
And because you took the time for yourself in the morning to make your bed the right way, regardless of how bad today was, and it will be bad tomorrow, is a clean slate.
- [09:15]
Author 2
In every case, the principle's the same. The tiny, insignificant behaviors are just as important as the big obvious ones. For Sirin McGeekan, it was summarized by a phrase, world class basics. For Sean Wayne, it was summarized in a mantra. How you do anything is how you do everything. For Rob o', Neill, it was summarized in a few small actions, such as brushing your teeth and making your bed. Well, Damien and I have another term for these actions. We call them microhabits.
- [09:47]
Jake
What are microhabits? Microhabit is a term we've come to use for the simple, imperceptible behaviours that we've noticed many of the highest performing people depend upon. Over the years, we've come to define a microhabitation as a simple, repeatable behavior with three qualities. First, and most obviously, a microhabit needs to be small. In our previous books we've spoken about big, meaty concepts, from teamwork to mindset to motivation. But in this book we want to write about how all of these big outcomes are built upon miniature strategic decisions, the little things with outsized impact. As such, nothing we suggest here will require a radical shift in your life, cost you any money, or require any particular skill to implement. Second, a microhabit needs to be simple. Do you remember the scene in the British sitcom Fawlty Towers where the hapless hotel owner Basil Fawlty is rowing with his long suffering wife Sybil? He suggests that should she ever participate on the quiz show Mastermind, she must choose the bleeding obvious as her specialist subject. Many of our high performers have a similar specialism. A lot of the ideas in this book are common sense, and that's deliberate. After all, just because an idea is simple common sense doesn't make it common practice. Third, a microhabit needs to be speedy. During our interviews, we've been Struck by the fact that many of the behaviours that the most successful people point to as being key to their success don't take very long to implement. Think of Rob o' Neill brushing his teeth or Mel Robbins high fiving her reflection in the bathroom mirror. And that makes sense. Part of what makes microhabits successful is that you can implement them right now. That's why this book is divided into 48 short entries, each designed to be understood quickly. Don't get us wrong, putting some of these changes into action will take a while, particularly when they amount to a major shift in mindset or perspect. But we think you can learn them and understand them in the time it takes to listen to a single entry of this book.
- [12:05]
Author 2
Our hope is that each one of these entries raises an intriguing possibility. What if you could change your life in less than five minutes? Now, this approach might sound crazy, but in fact the science is clear. The small details often tell you as much as the overall objectives. For example, Dr. Peter Attia, one of the world's leading medical experts on how we can live longer, pointed us towards evidence showing the outsized effects that astonishingly minuscule changes in our approach to exercise can have get this undertaking. Just 90 seconds of vigorous physical activity per day can reduce our risk of heart attacks by a third. Walking 5,000 steps three times a week can add three years to your life expectancy. And this is not only true for health and exercise, but for any number of your behaviors and those of the people around you. And why? Because the small changes that you introduce start a chain reaction of positive actions for you, your team, your life in general. A chain reaction leads eventually to high performance, whatever that means to you. In the last sentence, there was one word doing an awful lot of heavy lifting for us eventually. Let's be clear, this book is not offering a quick fix. Whilst these methods are quick to implement, it will take time to feel their effects. In his book Atomic Habits, the psychology writer James Clear, probably the best known expert on how small changes in behaviour can have outsized results, describes a fascinating study conducted by health psychologists at University College London. Philippa Lalali and her colleagues monitored a number of volunteers who were seeking to incorporate one small change into their lives.
- [13:50]
Author 1
Examples of these changes included eating one.
- [13:52]
Author 2
Piece of fruit with lunch every day. Another wanted to do 50 sit ups a day. Each volunteer was then tasked with logging whether they'd completed their chosen behaviour and rated the degree to which it felt habitual and whether they'd find it hard not to complete it. A little like asking someone not to brush their teeth every morning. The idea was to explore how long it took until the participants felt the same way, and there was a significant spread among the participants. Answers. Some suggested it took them just 18 days, others much longer. The results suggested, however, that it took participants on average around 66 days to feel they turned a new behaviour into a habit that is an effortless, automatic part of their routine. The key takeaway is that patience matters. We all learn and we all change at different rates. So don't feel disappointed when things don't get easier overnight. Just try your hardest to persevere. The entrepreneur and Crystal Palace Football Club owner Steve Parish captured this point when talking about a piece of advice he received from his head coach, Dougie Friedman, on our podcast. Parish had asked whether it was appropriate to come into the dressing room after a win, and his coach said it didn't matter as long as he was also prepared to always come in after a defeat too. The lesson nothing is as important as consistency. You need to remember, he said, you're only really there for the bad days.
- [15:23]
Jake
Small changes change everything. In what follows, we've curated the most powerful microhabits that we've come across over five years of interviews with high performing people. They're organized into 12 domains of high performance, one for each month, and if you wish, you can apply the ideas in this book in order over the course of a single year. But that's not the only way to use it. You might also look through the contents for advice on a specific challenge you're grappling with, or even just pick a section at random and see what you learn. Our promise is simple. In every chapter we will tell a story and explain the science behind how one small change transformed the lives of some of the most remarkable people in the world. We will show you how a simple commitment to deferring gratification helped Matthew McConaughey win an Oscar. We will delve into the small method Usain Bolt used to realise his potential, and which he credits with turning him into the fastest man in history. And we'll explore how a simple commitment to expressing appreciation helps Serena Wiegman lead the lionesses to win the European Championship twice. The ideas in this book are a mixed bag, and that's deliberate. The English playwright Alan Bennett once suggested there should be a sign placed near to the entrance of the National Gallery, which reads, you don't have to like everything in here. Bennett was challenging those who passed through to be discerning rather than fawning and active, not passive. In how they saw the art. And we want this book to elicit the same response. We will share with you a wide range of examples that look at how you can kickstart your own chain reaction to high performance, whether mentally or physically, personally or professionally. Not all of them will work for you, and that's okay. We want you to dip in and feel free to dismiss any microhabits that are definitely not for you and pick just a few that are. By the end, we hope you'll have a toolkit of simple behaviors for high performance, but personalised for your own journey to success. Remember Shawn Wayne's maxim, how you do anything is how you do everything. But that doesn't mean that each of us has to do everything the same way. How boring would that be?
- [17:50]
Author 1
So, look, I mentioned at the beginning why we call it microhabits because we believe that habits are far more impactful on people's lives than sort of grand gestures or big moves in certain directions. It was actually you that came up.
- [18:01]
Author 2
With the idea for the book.
- [18:01]
Author 1
And I remember you coming to me saying, look, I've got this cool idea. How would you describe it to people and why you decided that you wanted to do it?
- [18:09]
Damian
Well, when we were due to interview Lee Childs a few years ago, I decided to read one of his Jack Reacher books in preparation for it. And one of the things, things I loved was the short chapters. And I think in this day and age our attention spans are being depleted by social media and the sort of fast pace of life. So I thought short chapters were the way to go of giving people ideas that do one of three things. One, every habit that we've picked up from our guests is small enough that you can write it in a succinct chapter. Two, they're speedy enough that you can explain it in a short chapter as well and implement it in your life. And then number three is they're really simple to be able to adopt, they're not difficult. So some of the ideas might be, including things like just reframing the way that you view your job. It can be a job, a career, or a calling. Lando Norris spoke to us about the power of that somebody else might choose to be thinking about their greater sense of purpose. We spoke to Johann Hari about the Cambodian cow and how he found that free framing, something like that, staves off depression and helps with our mental health. So there's lots of really small ideas that we can use and I wanted to capture it in 48 chapters so people can dip in and out of it pick and choose the ones that they like and be able to keep it as a companion throughout the course of the year.
- [19:29]
Author 1
And, you know, I probably haven't told you this, but I actually. I didn't really believe in the concept when you first brought it to me. But I didn't say that because I was like, well, what's the point saying that? Let's at least have a look at what the concept looks like when it comes to life. But you know how I was really keen to do high performance because I'm frustrated about the short attention span. I hate my kids being on YouTube shorts. I don't like the fact that interviews on the TV and other places are often like two or three minutes. They provide no value. And the reason for high performance is the depth and the length and the richness of the conversations. And I was worried that creating a book with short.
- [20:02]
Author 2
And, you know, we've recorded the audiobook.
- [20:03]
Author 1
Like some of the chapters are like a page long or a page and a half long. I was like, oh, we can't get to the depth if it's that. But actually, having worked with you on the book, having read the audiobook, having read the book itself just on my bedside table a couple of times in December when I got sent some early copies, the impact is ridiculous because the chapters are so short. So I remember one morning I was with the kids and I just was like, look, I've got five minutes before we need to do the school run. And I thought, I can honestly do a chapter a day. I can read a chapter of this book every single day.
- [20:35]
Author 2
And I did it.
- [20:36]
Author 1
It took me three minutes to read the chapter. And then I talked to the kids in the car about it. And I think I actually now think that it's the most important book we've ever written, the best book we've ever written. But the way that we've kind of created it, I think it almost makes the lessons go in more, you know?
- [20:51]
Damian
Yeah, I think so. Remember Shaun Wayne, the England Rugby League coach, when he said to us, how you do anything is how you do everything. And I think what this allows you to do is to pick up something that creates a catalyst for how you do everything in your day. Whether it's about the moment you get up, whether it's about we delve in with Keely Hodgkinson, how you motivate yourself to do tasks that you might not want to, or how, through our Shane Parish interview, it's about how do you organize your time and your diary and your priorities. They're all simple ideas that are the catalyst that eventually leads to high performance in your own life.
- [21:25]
Author 2
Brilliant look.
- [21:26]
Author 1
Thank you so much, mate. Thanks for coming to me with the idea for the hard work on the book. And actually, I can't wait to see what people's reaction is like. I really think it's going to be a game changer for people in 2026. And if you're interested, the book is called Microhabits. It's out now.
- [21:41]
Author 2
You can get it from Waterstones, WHSmith's.
- [21:43]
Author 1
Amazon, and of course, all major book retailers. And from the both of us and the whole team here. Happy New Year. I love that we are like Anton Deck.
- [22:03]
Jake
It.