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I regularly share practical, evidence-based articles and tools on mindset, decision-making, habits, and personal growth—to help people manage stress, build resilience, and perform at their best.

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How I Coach Myself: Importance First, My Daily Practice, Time, Workflow, Priorities, Uncertainty, Inbox = 0, Evolution

There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all. Peter Drucker - Management Consultant, Educator, Author. I love that quote. And it begs the question: So what should be done? It’s not enough to simply move away from useless work. I’d rather move towards importance and have that guide what I choose to do and not do.

How I Coach Myself: Importance First, My Daily Practice, Time, Workflow, Priorities, Uncertainty, Inbox = 0, Evolution

Showing Up – My Olympic Inspiration, A Minute, A Few Words, An Old T-shirt, Pay It Forward.

“You’re not in the official squad Toby. You don’t get swimmers and uniform.” This announcement from the head coach was in front of 30 of the best water polo players in the country - some of them my great mates. All of us were striving to be a part of the Sydney Olympics just 2 years away. We were in the briefing room above the pool at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra for an Australian Men’s water polo training camp with Serbia. When the coach asked if everyone had their gear, I was the only one who put my hand to say I didn’t. I was on scholarship, living and training at the AIS at the time. The training block in the lead up had been the hardest I’d ever trained. I’d put everything into it but still hadn’t been selected in the official squad. It was a completely fair response. “You can join in the conditioning work and be part of the warm ups. But you won’t be getting game time. You can watch and learn.” I wanted to crawl into a dark corner and hide.

showing up - my olympic inspiration

The Challenges Of Asking For Help (And What Can Be Done): Demons, Debt, Listening, Action, Importance and Qualifiers.

The Challenges Of Asking For Help (And What Can Be Done): Demons, Debt, Listening, Action, Importance and Qualifiers.

“Who Am I?” (v15,493) – How To Regain Momentum In 3 Mins

If you’re anything like me, you might like to just get straight to the “how to” part. So here it is. I’ll explain the backstory afterwards. Regaining Momentum As an experiment, I’ve tried this exercise recently with people feeling stuck in different situations: intense negotiations, family troubles, stepping down from their business and assessing job opportunities.

“Who Am I?” (v15,493) - How To Regain Momentum In 3 Mins

How To Script Difficult Conversations – Getting Hyper-Tactical With Values.

“I’m insanely busy. And I still have to do my work over and above our time together. So that means you need to give me something pretty special Toby.” I was 5 minutes into a workshop. I’d asked: “What do you want to take away from our time together?” This immediate challenge rattled me. But I had to respond. “Thanks for being real with me. I’ll definitely use that to sharpen up how we work through this together.” It was the best I could do at the time. I pushed my way through the slide deck.

How To Script Difficult Conversations - Getting Hyper-Tactical With Values.

[Podcast] The Power of Decoupling Identity, Building An Internal Compass, Waking Up At 3am, Filling The Void, My Daily Practice

Jack Ferguson (entrepreneur, host of The Push business podcast) and I caught up recently. It became clear very quickly that we were in similar situations. Having both gone through big challenges and change in our businesses, and neither of us really knowing what the next step is, it seemed like a good idea to explore this on Jack’s podcast.

[Podcast] The Power of Decoupling Identity, Building An Internal Compass, Waking Up At 3am, Filling The Void, My Daily Practice

Is Perseverance Toxic?

If perseverance is solely for its own sake or for the sake of ticking the next box, then I say hell yes. It’s toxic.

Is Perseverance Toxic?

The Pedestal Effect – An open letter to my role models.

Simply recognising the pattern through reflection has been really powerful.

The Pedestal Effect

What Now? Filling The Olympic Void – 18 Years Later.

The Olympics was the culmination of an 11 year journey. It left a huge void in my time, focus, energy, commitment, passion, drive.

What Now? Filling The Olympic Void - 18 Years Later.

The Mirror Is The Hardest Place To Look

I love the quote from American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer, John Dewey: "We don’t learn from experience, we learn from reflection on experience."

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Kevin Ryan – Changing The Game Of Influence

This event was a wide ranging discussion with Kevin Ryan who has been a secret weapon for me in sport and business for 20 years as a speaking, sales and negotiation coach.

Kevin Ryan - Changing The Game Of Influence

Values Based Decision Making

Despite the fact that organisational values are virtually ubiquitous, we don't see a corollary explosion in great businesses. From public values failures (like the banking sector here in Australia) to private conversations, implementation of values desperately needs a new approach.

Values Based Decision Making

Chris Gaviglio and Jonah Oliver – The Art & Science of Recovery

"0.4% improvement is competitively significant." High stakes decisions, performance expectations, ambitious projects, adversity, balance, prioritisation, transition and change. We're all living and working under uncertainty, stress and pressure. Rather than just surviving, what can we do to thrive in these environments as individuals and teams? Dr Chris Gaviglio is the Head of Strength & Conditioning at the Queensland Academy of Sport with nearly 20 years of strength and conditioning training experience with Olympic sports and professional codes (Wallabies, Gold Coast Suns, QLD Maroons Rugby League). He's an applied sports science researcher (performance biomarkers, blood flow restriction training, warm-up and peri-competition strategies) and speaker and consultant on enhancing human performance: From World Class to World Best. He's also a product designer/entrepreneur (Thera-wedge, Backsak, Sports Rehab Tourniquet), husband and father of two.

Chris Gaviglio and Jonah Oliver - The Art & Science of Recovery

Arjan Vos – Mistakes, Facilitation and Coaching Olympic All Stars

Arjan Vos is a Dutch women's water polo coach and was responsible for a diverse squad at Queensland Academy of Sport. In this conversation Arjan shares his coaching philosophies.

Arjan Vos - Mistakes, Facilitation and Coaching Olympic All Stars

Questions for my dying father

That night, I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. A million things were running through my head. Amongst them was a query: "If Dad might be dying, what questions could or should I be asking him?"

Questions for my dying father

Tatiana Grigorieva – Transitions, Fear and Willingness

Tatiana Grigorieva is an Olympic silver medallist (in pole vault, Sydney 2000), mother, coach, entrepreneur and all round fascinating person. In this interview I did for the Queensland Academy of Sport Action TV series.

Tatiana Grigorieva - Transitions, Fear and Willingness

“2 Chairs” decision making

The first time I used the 2 chairs game as a decision making technique was when I was invited to go to the Australian Institute of Sport on scholarship for a year straight after finishing high school. Frankly I was terrified.

Using Death as a Compass

When I think about flying, it's essentially a tin can thousands of meters above the earth travelling at hundreds of kilometres per hour. It's a humbling reminder of how precious life is.

Using Death as a Compass

The Art of Learning: Fractals, Water Polo and Marketing Templates

We do not learn from experience, but from reflecting on the experience.” - John Dewey Josh Waitzkin has a fascinating story.

The Art of Learning: Fractals, Water Polo and Marketing Templates

Go Slow to Go Fast – a Business Lesson from Water Polo

When I was up to my eyeballs in water polo, a part of my training was weekly martial arts sessions with Andy Sutton. Back in early 2002 he introduced me to the principle: "Go slow to go fast." This wasn't just counter intuitive when I first heard it - it seemed plain mad. We'd been training one on one in a park in West End in Brisbane and it really didn't make much sense to me. At the time I opted to file it away in my subconscious in the "too hard basket".

Go Slow to Go Fast - a Business Lesson from Water Polo

Introvert, Extrovert or both?

Have you ever lingered in the bathroom at a social event to take a few extra minutes to re-gather yourself? Have you ever found that working alone was much more productive? Or, on the flip side, that working alone was much less productive? I can definitely answer “Yes” to all three. If you’re looking to understand why you answered these questions the way you did, then “Quiet – The power of Introverts in a world that can’t stop talking” might help… I first saw Quiet’s author, Susan Cain, speak in Boston at Hubspot’s Inbound Marketing conference. Her presentation really struck a chord with me as Susan discussed the role and importance of introversion in our business and personal lives. (I’m looking forward to sharing a video interview with her in a second post soon.)

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The 5 Temptations (and remedies) of a CEO

In the vein of Marshall Goldsmith’s “What got you here, won’t get you there”, The 5 Temptations of a CEO, forced me to take a look in the mirror. Result = opportunity to improve!

The 5 Temptations (and remedies) of a CEO

20 Habits That Won’t Get You There

I've just finished Marshall Goldsmith's great book: "What got you here, won't get you there - How successful people become even more successful". What is the book about? My one sentence answer is: It is about removing your personal obstacles to further magnify your strengths.

20 Habits That Won't Get You There

Why Do We Exist as a Business?

It’s an existential question I asked myself after reading Ben Horowitz’s blog post: Lead bullets. Fortunately I was reading Ron Baker’s book Implementing Value Pricing at the time.

Why Do We Exist as a Business?

Not Choosing Is A Choice Too

I read once that your gut feeling is the sum total of everything - everything you know, everything you've ever been taught and everything you've ever experienced - boiled down to a yes/no, right/wrong choice and impetus to act. I absolutely agree.

Not Choosing is A Choice Too

You Can’t Eat On Facebook – 3 Timeless Fundamentals from Never Eat Alone

You know it's a good book when you dog ear the last page. That's what I did with Never Eat Alone, by Keith Ferrazzi. I did it for this quote: ...you can't do it alone. We are all in this together. It's a book about the power of relationships. It's a book of advice and practical tips for starting, growing and strengthening relationships. It's a book that takes it one step further and holds up your relationships as the single most important ingredient to your success. While the success part is all in the eye of the beholder, I completely agree with him on the importance of relationships - and it's a timely warning.

You Can't Eat On Facebook - 3 Timeless Fundamentals from Never Eat Alone

Reinventing Education (More Opposite Thinking)

Consider your schooling for a minute. What if you had lectures for home work and exercises for class time? What if you could have spent more one on one time with your teacher to help you really grasp the details of concepts, and help you solve problems rather than sitting in a classroom trying to concentrate on the 5th lesson of the day? What if you could have rewound the teacher to listen again to the part that you didn't quite understand? Would it have made a difference? Would you have learnt faster (or at least at your pace), been more engaged, been more interested? It's underway.

Reinventing Education (More Opposite Thinking)

Opposite Thinking

Look hard at how your industry works now. Then see what might happen if you do the opposite. If you were looking at the web design industry, the exercise might start [and I mean start - you could definitely get much more hard core than this...] in a list looking something like this:

Opposite Thinking

Be grateful. Life’s a Black Swan.

What is a Black Swan? A Black Swan has 3 attributes: First it is an outlier, as it lies outside the realm of regular expectations, because nothing in the past can convincingly point to its possibility. Second, it carries an extreme impact. Third, in spite of its outlier status, human nature makes us concoct explanations for its occurrence after the fact, making it explainable and predictable. (p xvii)

Be grateful. Life's a Black Swan.

Humanising – the real value of Real Time

"Our people are our greatest asset." "Our differentiator is our relationships." "Product X is great but it’s our people and our culture that really makes the difference." "Our competitors could walk into this place and look around. They can even copy everything we do, but they can’t copy our culture or our people." Have you ever heard these statements? I have. Many times.

Humanising – the real value of Real Time

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