“You owe it to yourself to be the best you can possibly be - in baseball and in life.”
— Pete Rose (Baseball Great)
There are plenty of books written by high-performance athletes - about winning, discipline, and pushing the limits. But far less is known about what happens behind the scenes in professional sport.
What’s so fascinating about life behind the scenes is the access. You’re immersed in a world built around performance, precision, and pressure. The culture is obsessed with improvement - and winning, yes - but also with how you prepare, recover, lead, and respond when things go wrong. It’s a formula. And it doesn’t just work in sport - it works in life.
I was one of those people.
Those lessons have shaped every part of my own life—from raising two children to running a business, changing careers in my forties, and building a life I’m genuinely proud of.
That’s what this publication is about.
Sometimes I’ll take you behind the scenes into moments most people never get to see.
Sometimes I’ll share the systems that elite teams rely on.
Sometimes I’ll simply write about something I noticed while watching sport that made me think differently.
Whatever the format, the goal is always the same:
To help you perform better in whatever matters most to you.
I spent 20 years in professional sport, working quietly in the background. And, almost everything I now rely on, in relationships, parenting, business, even planning my wedding, was shaped there. I’m not just talking about making money. I mean how I think, how I act and how I follow through.
People often tell me I’m organised. That I’m always ahead of the game. And you know what? I’ll take that. I am.
But I wasn’t always like this. I used to dilly-dally around and never actually finish things. I was a master procrastinator. I listened to the noise - the “you can’t do this,” “nobody gets those jobs” kind of talk - and looking back, that noise probably delayed what I could have achieved earlier.
Moving into sport changed that. It was relentless. Actually, unrelenting. Often both. But it was also life-changing.
The habits I learnt there have stuck with me ever since - in our home, in my work and even through a midlife career pivot. When people ask, “How do you do it all?” my answer is simple:
Sport trained me for it.
I’m not an athlete. I never competed professionally. But I worked in top-flight sport - and that tattoo never washes off.
So here’s everything I’ve learnt, wrapped in what I hope are some humorous (and maybe a little inspirational) stories to help you boss your life.
Since stepping away, day to day, from sport in 2022, I’ve used every teeny, tiny lesson I picked up to not only get sh*t done, but to back myself, all the way.
Think of this as your place on the touchline.
Sometimes you’ll read a story from behind the scenes.
Sometimes you’ll leave with a practical system you can use that day.
And if you’re a paid subscriber, every week you’ll receive The Dressing Room —my weekly behind the scenes, gritty, the ugly and beautiful sides of sport that people on the outside rarely get to see.
Whether you’re leading a team, building a business, raising a family or simply trying to become more consistent, I hope what I learnt in sport helps you in your own arena.
Welcome. I’m glad you’re here.
Being close to high-performance environments often makes the importance of systems and follow-through much more visible than talent alone. In real life, the patterns people repeat under pressure tend to shape outcomes more than motivation in the moment.