BONUS EPISODE: The Formula for Success with Clare Sadler | Episode 39

In this bonus episode, Simon is joined once again by Clare Sadler to take a deeper dive into one of the core ideas behind human performance: Performance = Access to Capability. Clare unpacks why success isn't determined by mindset, motivation, or even how much training we've done, but by our ability to access the skills and capabilities we already possess when it matters most.

Using examples from elite sport, including Formula 1 and football, Clare explains how pressure, uncertainty, and cognitive load can restrict access to our capabilities. The conversation explores why creating certainty through routines, environments, and clear signals allows people to perform more consistently under pressure. Practical, thought-provoking, and immediately applicable, this episode offers a fresh perspective on what really drives success—and why reducing load, rather than increasing effort, may be the key to unlocking hidden potential.

In this BONUS episode:

• Clare's formula for success: why performance equals access to capability
• The "pipeline" analogy and how pressure can restrict access to our skills
• Why certainty, not confidence or motivation, is the foundation of performance
• Lessons from Formula 1 and elite football on routines and consistency under pressure
• How reducing load can unlock hidden capacity and improve performance

Listen now to Clares full interview with Simon and Rusty – Performance Under Load with Clare Sadler | Episode 38

Find out more about Clare and her work here:

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome to the pod, everyone. We've got a very short one with Claire. And this is going to be Claire's formula for success, which is quite a hell of a thing. That formula is performance is access to capability, which I think is just astonishing. And I'm going to let Claire explain.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Thank you, Simon. So performance equals access to capability. I'm defining performance here as success, whatever it is that you want to achieve in any specific capability that you might want. So it could be learning, it could be creativity, strategic thinking, leadership, etc. And the thing that determines whether or not you're able to perform well is not mindset, it's not training, it's not motivation or effort. It's access, access to the capability that you've already got. Because if you all the skills and insight and experience and knowledge in the world is no good if you can't access to it, if you can't access it.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

That's um astonishing.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

And this is a universal pattern that's scalable. I've seen it over 30 years of working in all the high consequence, high-pressure environments that I've worked in. So under load, people lose access to their capabilities. And the conditions that determine whether or not they're able to maintain access are what dictates success. But people mistake that for performance issues rather than access issues. So think of it like a pipeline. So when your pipeline is wide, you can access your capabilities. When it's narrow, not so much. And that's the key. That's the difference.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

So how do you get a wide pipe?

SPEAKER_00 1:41

You control the conditions, the conditions unique to you that maintain that access. And that's dictated by your personal history, the things that have happened to you, the experiences that you've got, because that dictates how your system responds under load. And then also the conditions that you're operating in, how much certainty there is or uncertainty, because certainty is a particular type of load that can collapse that pipeline or bandwidth.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

So, how do you create certainty?

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Through consistency, through um accuracy in terms of signals and communication. So when people look at routine and they look at training and repetition, that builds certainty, not skills. And that's a big mistake that people make. So when there's more certainty, there's less load, and people can maintain access to capability.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

So define certainty then.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

So certainty is consistency of response, consistency of environment, or consistency of signals. So in what look like very volatile environments, um a infrastructure of routine and a cascade of decisions is what maintains certainty. So for a surgeon or for in aviation with a checklist in special forces, that that routine, that that cascade of decisions is what generates the certainty, not the content of the outcome. And the certainty or lack of it is what dictates how much load there is, and that in turn dictates how much access to your capabilities you've got, how many of your how much of your capability you can access in those in those situations.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

So it's not about the training.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

So no, it's not about the training, it's not about the skills, it's not about the expertise, it's not about effort, it's not about motivational mindset either. Ultimately, it's access. If the door's closed or the pipeline is narrow, it doesn't matter how much experience or or knowledge or skills you've got if you can't use them. So the whole the the key point is to main to look at the conditions that control access for people. And that's related to their personal history and the decisions that they've made in the past and how their system responds to load. And it's also the conditions that their system uniquely responds to under load as well.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

That's very individual as well as Yes.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

Yes, and it's also scalable. So it it an individual, a relationship, a team, or an organization will all have a unique set of set conditions that dictate load and dictate how much of their capabilities they can access under load. But that's not the way that people think. They look at training, they look at skills, they look at um motivation or working hard. And actually, in many cases, that does the opposite and it collapses that access, it reduces it.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

And you've got a really great example, uh, a metaphor, if you like, around Formula One.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

Do you want to expand on that?

SPEAKER_00 5:01

So Hamilton in Bahrain in 21. So he was driving a car that was overheated, you know, the brakes were hot, sliding all over the place. Verstappen was on his tail and he had on fresh tires. So all of the conditions that for most people would collapse that access, and he didn't do that. He stayed adaptable, he maintained access to all of his skills and capabilities under load, and that's why he was able to do what he did. And one of the things that fascinates me is in that particular sport and others, all of the money and the effort that's put into the technical infrastructure, the car, the support mechanisms, looking after his health, his weight, his nutrition, his training. But ultimately, in the moment that really matters, the thing that decides success or not, high performance or not, is access to capability. And that's what he did. He maintained access. So he adapted, he didn't compensate. So most people's systems, they compensate, they start working harder, they start trying harder, they start looking outside the right zone, and he didn't do that.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

So he fell back on systems, familiarity, the sorts of things that had happened before, that he had witnessed before. What do you think they did to help him in that moment?

SPEAKER_00 6:30

Truthfully, I think that came from him, not his support mechanisms. And that might be a controversial thing to say, because what he did was almost superhuman. But I think Hamilton has a particular way of thinking about these situations that's very different to most drivers and most athletes. And I think because of that, he was able to adapt and to look at options that other people wouldn't have access to. There's no doubt that the car, the technology, the support mechanisms are helpful, but that's not the decider. That's not the thing that dictates in those moments that really matter whether or not you can use the capability and the skills that you've got, and he was able to.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Do you think that World Cup's coming up with football, taking penalties? And Arsenal against PSG. So PSG scored all their penalty. Well, they missed one, but they pretty much hit the target every time and Arsenal missed the target twice. What do you think was going on there?

SPEAKER_00 7:40

Same thing that um for those that missed the load collapsed their access to capabilities. So they weren't able to perform in the way that they they know they're capable of because they didn't have access to capabilities.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

So what are the things that would help them?

SPEAKER_00 7:57

So it it could be a combination of um deciding who takes the penalty's how it happens. It could be a combination of routines and practice, because that practice, that repetition, doesn't lead to learning, but it leads to certainty under pressure, under load. And that often is a big one because people think I need to work out what's going to happen. But actually, what they need is is the routine or the system or the infrastructure, the cues that reduce the noise, that allow them to focus, to maintain clarity, have bandwidth, have perspective, presence, decision quality, that allow them to do what they're capable of doing because they can maintain access. And and what dictates whether their system can respond well under load is a combination of their own personal history and how their system processes it. And the infrastructure, the uh the cues that are put around them that reduce that certainty, because that's what reduces load.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

So who they speak to before they walk up, who hands on the ball, the way they put the ball down on the spot, how many paces they step backwards, where that where they're gonna place their foot. They know what they're gonna do, then they can then they can access the skill because all of the other things have been taken away, so there's less load.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

Exactly. And and if you take somebody like David Beckham or Johnny Wilkinson, you know, the popular belief is oh, practice, repetition is what made them excellent at what they do. It might have helped develop their certainty and some of their skills, but it it's the reduction of load in those key moments that allows them to continue to access those capabilities. And that's not something that's typically thought about. What's thought about is I need to refine the technique, we need to repeat to do that, or we need to have a plan of how we do it. There's not there's not much consideration, in my experience, to how do you reduce load in those moments? And the load is what dictates how much access and how much of their capabilities they can use, not how talented they are or how much they trained. It's it's it's what dictates their ability to continue to do that under pressure or time constraints or whatever the load might be, because the load is what reduces or dictates access to capability. And when you can maintain access, not only can you access the capabilities you already got, you unlock hidden capacity, which means you can do more with less effort and less time, quicker, faster, stronger. And then new capabilities accelerate and grow as well. So you get this compounding effect, this accelerating effect. But ultimately, the thing that dictates performance is access.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

Amazing. Performance equals access to capability. Well, that's the end of this little short. Um, really lovely to go and listen to the long version because there's so much in it, and you probably need to listen to it more than once to get everything out of it. But thanks for coming on, Claire, and thanks for doing this little one. And yeah, good luck, England, and the World Cup.

SPEAKER_00 11:14

Thank you.