Fernando Alonso spent his career chasing victory so relentlessly that he rarely stopped to enjoy it. Two Formula One World Championships, 32 race wins and countless podiums later, many of the moments that defined his career are ones he barely remembers celebrating.

Behind the visor, Fernando learned to switch off emotion completely. A lesson at 13 that "second is first loser" fuelled an obsession with what came next, often leaving little room to appreciate what he'd already achieved. Today, his perspective has changed: some second and third-place finishes mean more to him than victories once did.

Fernando reveals what a lifetime of competition has taught him about ambition, fulfilment and the danger of always living for the next result, while explaining why, even in his 40s, the desire to improve has never disappeared.

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What do you do when every option is on the table and you still end up with the same idea you always have? Jake and Damian tackle one of the quiet traps of creative work, and land somewhere counterintuitive: freedom doesn't make ideas bolder. Constraints do.

Damian unpacks David Epstein's Inside the Box and the psychology behind why unlimited time, unlimited method and unlimited scope send the brain straight to its safest, most familiar answer and the three tools for building a better box: the Fake Deadline, the One Rule, and the Small Box.

Along the way you'll hear Shane Parrish on the Henry Kissinger question that outed a staffer's "best work" as anything but; René Meulensteen on the Federer clips he used to teach Man Utd players to stay one point wide; Sarina Wiegman on the training session she deliberately ran with a terrible referee, just to see what her players would do with it; and Lewis Morgan on what he'd actually do with a spare £1,000 and a Facebook Marketplace login.

The idea doesn't need better conditions. It needs a smaller box.

Listen to the full episodes:

Sarina Wiegman: https://shows.acast.com/the-high-performance-podcast/episodes/sarina-wiegman-the-leadership-secrets-powering-england-lione

Lewis Morgan: https://shows.acast.com/3d30295e-f7fb-5af1-b618-30a8763cc75a/625c41bcfa71dd0012e7f614

René Meulensteen: https://shows.acast.com/3d30295e-f7fb-5af1-b618-30a8763cc75a/67e02799511f1304b0d74225

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ballon d'Or winner Michael Owen became one of the world's best footballers by developing an extraordinary ability to turn doubt, mistakes, and setbacks into self-belief. He joins Jake and Damian to reveal how that mindset was built, and why it eventually became one of his greatest challenges.

Michael reflects on the injuries that took away the explosive pace that defined him, and the painful eight-year gap between the player he believed he was and what his body could still deliver. He also opens up about retiring at 33, losing his sense of purpose, the strain it placed on his marriage, and how he eventually found a new competitive outlet beyond football.

This is an honest exploration of self-belief, identity, and what happens when the mindset that drives success becomes difficult to switch off.

Meet the Owens, a six-part docuseries in the UK and Ireland, is available on Prime Video from the 28th August.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.