What is the Currency of Performance?
How understanding the concept of time unlocks sustainable performance.
Clarity cuts through - focus funds performance.
The first sign of decline
What is the currency of performance?
To answer that, imagine a cyclist in a high-stakes race. What's the very first thing that happens right before the cyclist begins to slow down? Right before his ‘level of performance’ starts to drop? A thought arises.
It might be a leap into the future: “What if I don’t win? What if I lose my contract? What if I disappoint?” Or it drifts back into the past: “I should have trained harder. I shouldn’t have gone to that party. I should have rested more.”
Neither the future nor the past exists in that moment. Yet both siphon energy away from the only place where action is possible: the now.
Thinking, or neural activity, consumes energy. These distracting thoughts - whether anxious projections about the future or regretful reflections on the past - siphon energy away from the present moment, the only time when effective action is truly possible.
Einstein once said the separation between past, present, and future is only a stubborn illusion The body knows this. It can only act in the present. But the mind leaks energy into dimensions where no action is possible.
Performance does not drop because the body fails first. It drops because attention fractures. That fracture siphons energy into neural activity - into thoughts trapped in past regrets or future fears. Energy that is no longer available for the body here and now. The body’s capacity may be unchanged, but its usable energy is reduced. And so the body begins to fail, and with it, performance declines.
The real currency
Think of it this way: imagine you always have 100 units of energy at your disposal. And given Einstein’s insight - E = mc²; we understand that energy isn’t lost, it only transforms. What matters is where that energy is invested.
Now, Suppose each distracting thought about the past or future consumes around 10 units, redirecting your energy away from the now. If four such thoughts emerge - two about future worries and two about past regrets - you lose 40 units, leaving only 60 of your 100 units of available energy for the present.
Now, back to our cyclist. At full presence, with all 100 units available, he sustains 400 watts. But in our illustrative scenario, where attention leaks into mental projections, his power drops in proportion to the energy lost in time dimensions where no action is possible: from 400W to 240W.
The math is metaphorical, but the principle is not: where attention goes, energy flows, and performance follows.
(Note: These figures are conceptual, intended to illustrate the energetic cost of divided attention - not to represent empirical data.)
The currency of performance, therefore, is attention. Attention is your capacity to target the totality of your energy in the now.
Olympic wanting vs. needing
This dynamic echoes the story of the Judoka and the Zen master:
A determined judoka visits a renowned Zen master, frustrated and worn out.
“Master,” she says, “for years I’ve trained relentlessly. Every thought I have is about victory. Yet I still lose. Teach me.”
The master responds quietly: “Your need to win drains you of power.”
From my work with Olympic athletes and top-level leaders, I’ve seen this truth play out again and again: if you want something and remain unattached, you can move toward it with precision and clarity. But if you need it, i.e. if your identity or psychological safety depends on it, you stop performing and start surviving. And survival rarely produces sustainable excellence.
This same truth surfaced in an interview with Olympic bronze medalist Jemima Montag. A journalist asked her: “You are an Olympic bronze medalist. How does that sound?”
“That's crazy. I had a lot of belief. I had a good feeling this last week. I felt significantly more pressure this year because in Tokyo there were no spectators. Today there were about 30 family and Team Gem t-shirts yelling my name. And you want to do well for them because you know how excited they'll be. You want to show gratitude for the 15-year journey this has taken since Little Athletics.
But it's a careful balance of wanting that medal but not needing it. It's really a nuanced difference. So not needing it for your own self-worth or feeling that people love you, but wanting it. Saying, yeah, I'm willing to give this a crack and be tough. And if it doesn't happen, the sun will rise tomorrow, but let's give it a go.”
Her words capture the essence perfectly: the difference between wanting with clarity and needing with attachment.
In scientific terms, excessive attachment to outcomes activates stress responses in the brain, increasing cortisol, reducing working memory, and narrowing attentional scope. In other words, your mind becomes preoccupied with the future, draining resources from the now - the only place where real impact happens.
Act without attachment. Stay fully present. Performance will follow.
Bringing the power of attention to leadership
The same distinction plays out in leadership. Some time ago I was working with a senior executive - we’ll call him Thomas. Thomas paced anxiously, consumed by thoughts of everything that could go wrong in his upcoming deal: shareholder expectations, competitive threats, and financial pressures. Recall the principle we explored earlier from neuroscience: where attention goes, energy flows.
Thomas' attention - and therefore his energy - was directed toward the future, a time dimension where no real action is possible. Consequently, significant energy was drained from the present moment, impairing his ability to perform. His intense need to successfully close the deal drained him of the very energy he needed to do so. He ultimately lost it.
Contrast this with Thomas later, equipped with greater insight and clarity - having truly understood the difference between wanting and needing, and how it impacts performance. In a similar high-stakes negotiation, his attention remained firmly anchored in the present. He didn’t need to close the deal to secure his self-worth or to feel validated by others. But he genuinely wanted it. Saying, yeah, I'm willing to give this a crack and be tough. And if it doesn't happen, the sun will rise tomorrow, but let's give it a go.”
This difference mattered: all of her (metaphorical) 100 units of energy were focused in the present moment. As a result, this time his mind was clear, free from anxious thoughts about possible outcomes. Fully present, he now interacted with precision and decisiveness, successfully closing the deal.
Psychological flexibility and performance excellence
Olympic sports psychologist Peter Haberl, in his Theory of Performance Excellence (Pocwardowski & Aoyagi, 2021), scientifically supports this principle. He highlights psychological flexibility - the ability to remain present and adaptive rather than entangled in past or future worries. Psychological flexibility, developed through mindfulness and Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT), allows individuals to respond calmly and precisely under pressure.
In simple terms, ACT teaches you to accept and observe your thoughts and emotions without being controlled by them. Instead of resisting or suppressing uncomfortable feelings, you learn to notice them, let them pass, and refocus on meaningful actions aligned with your core values.
Tools to access performance under pressure
You might be wondering: that’s all very nice in theory, but how do I actually access this power of attention and bring my full performance online?
Watch Rafael Nadal before he serves. Shorts, shoulders, ears, nose - a ritual of touches. To the casual eye, it looks like superstition. In reality, it’s a tool. Nadal uses touch to anchor his awareness in the present.
I’ve guided high-performers of all industries to apply the same principle. Judoka’s running their fingers along the stitching of the kimono before stepping into combat. Race drivers, feeling the seams of their steering wheel—both before and during their laps - to anchor themselves under pressure. Senior leaders practice distinctive breathing patterns before entering high-stakes meetings. Different arenas, same principle: using physical sensation - touch, breath, micro-action - to reclaim attention and direct it fully to the only actionable moment, the now.
Science backs this up. Bilateral stimulation is one such technique: gently tapping both sides of the body in an alternating rhythm - for example, tapping your knees with your index fingers under the table. This calms the brain’s emotional center (the amygdala) and promotes cross-hemispheric communication, similar to what happens during REM sleep. When paired with peak-performance memories, it becomes a fast, effective way to restore focus under stress by anchoring attention back in the present.
Other simple techniques that high performers I work with have successfully used include:
Taking a single breath with an exhale twice as long as the inhale, just before responding;
Pressing your thumbnail into your index finger until it’s impossible to ignore;
Making a fist and increasing tension until it redirects your awareness fully into the body;
…
These micro-anchors may seem subtle—but in defining moments, they separate reactivity from deliberate action.
Practical takeaways for leaders
Invest your attention wisely.
Right before your next high-stakes moment—don’t overthink. Just do this:
Inhale for 4 seconds, exhale for 8. Once.
It takes 12 seconds. It signals safety to your nervous system, clears mental noise, and anchors your full energy in the now. Where performance lives.
