High performance is not about pushing harder. It is about structure.

I’ll be honest with you, for a long time, I thought high performance was about pushing harder. More grind, more discipline, more intensity. That’s what I believed would keep me performing at my best, week after week.

But it took me years to realise that intensity without a system eventually burns you out.

I’ve spent most of my adult life in environments where performance mattered. Contracts on the line. Form under scrutiny. Pressure coming from every angle. And what I learned, sometimes the hard way, is that the people who last, the people who stay consistent, aren’t always the most motivated.

They’re the most structured.

And I’ll tell you something else that people don’t really talk about.

There were moments throughout my career where I honestly didn’t feel like I belonged. Imposter syndrome kicked in hard. I’d sit there thinking, Am I good enough to still be here?
Am I actually worthy of being in this team?
Am I worthy of being a leader?

Those thoughts can mess with you. And when they’re running in the background, they don’t only affect how you feel, they affect how you perform.

That’s when it became obvious to me that I needed something steadier than confidence. Because confidence goes up and down. Some weeks you feel on top of the world, while other weeks you feel like you’re faking it.

What helped me was building a system. Simple habits. Clear values. Things I could rely on when my mind was noisy.

There’s research that backs this up too. Around 40–45% of what we do each day is driven by habit, not conscious decision-making. So when your habits are solid, you don’t have to feel amazing to show up well. You’ve already built the structure that carries you.

And once I got clear on my values, habits stopped feeling like a chore. They became a reminder of who I wanted to be, no matter what situation I was in.

I could show up with the same standard:
On the field.
At training.
In a meeting.
At home with my family.

Different environments. Same person.

Because high performance isn’t about turning it on when it suits you. It’s about who you are when conditions change.

And if you’re in a season where you’re questioning yourself, where that am I good enough? voice is loud, you’re not the only one.

The way forward is not doing more.
It is building something small you can stick to.

Make it simple.
Make it yours.

Let your habits be the proof that you belong.

Everything else compounds from there.

By Martin Taupau, elite athlete and co-founder of Not Stationary