Embrace the Mundane: The Hidden Power of Consistency in Motorsport

The reality of high performance isn’t always glamorous or flashy. More often, it’s monotonous, mundane. It’s not meant to always be thrilling or "sexy" — it’s meant to be ordinary. And that’s okay to say and embrace.

As a performance psychologist, I work closely with athletes, performers, and high achievers who often struggle with staying motivated when the path to success isn’t filled with instant rewards or excitement. High performance is not defined by rare moments of brilliance alone. It’s built on consistency, discipline, and the willingness to show up day after day—even when the work feels repetitive or uninspiring.

We tend to think of high performance as the pinnacle: those shining moments where everything aligns. But the truth is, those moments are the result of countless hours spent mastering the basics. It’s the relentless commitment to refining skills, improving techniques, and working through discomfort that ultimately leads to success. And this commitment isn’t always exciting. It’s not about waiting for the next high-energy breakthrough. It’s about putting in the work—even when you don’t feel like it.

These moments of boredom and monotony are where the real work begins—the tasks we’ve been avoiding, the effort we’ve put off for tomorrow. This is the work!

The Work Behind the Spotlight

There are no shortcuts or substitutes for putting in the work. Excellence isn’t a fluke or an accident; it’s the result of consistent effort over time. The basics might feel boring or tiresome, but they are the foundation of everything else. Think about it: a Formula 1 driver doesn’t just perform in the heat of the race. They spend hours perfecting their technique, practising countless laps, fine-tuning their mental and physical preparation—often in silence, away from the spotlight.

As Lewis Hamilton once said, “The work you do in the shadows is what brings success in the light.”

Excellence isn’t just about talent—it’s about doing all the little things right, time and again, until they become a habit. Outlier performance isn’t a singular act of brilliance; it’s dozens of small skills or activities drilled into habit and fitted together into a synthesised whole. There is no secret—only the doing of all those little things. Each one, executed correctly, compounds over time.

The power of tiny ordinary steps

How Does Continuous Improvement Work?

So often we convince ourselves that change is only meaningful if there is some large, visible outcome associated with it. Whether it is losing weight, building a business, traveling the world or any other goal, we often put pressure on ourselves to make some earth-shattering improvement that everyone will talk about.

Meanwhile, improving by just 1 percent isn’t notable (and sometimes it isn’t even noticeable). But it can be just as meaningful, especially in the long run.

In the beginning, there is basically no difference between making a choice that is 1 percent better or 1 percent worse. (In other words, it won’t impact you very much today.) But as time goes on, these small improvements or declines compound and you suddenly find a very big gap between people who make slightly better decisions on a daily basis and those who don’t.

Here’s the punchline:

If you get one percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done.

Honouring Your Investment

We all have moments of doubt, but there’s nothing more to do than continue. You’ve already invested time and energy to build this process for yourself. Now, it’s time to honour that investment. There’s a real sense of safety in knowing what you need to do.

As Ayrton Senna famously said, “You need great passion, because everything you do with great pleasure, you do well.”

Passion doesn’t always mean excitement; it’s the quiet determination to keep going, even when the work feels mundane. Excellence is mundane—it’s the seemingly unremarkable details done correctly, over time, that transform a good athlete into a great one.

So, embrace the ordinary. It’s in these moments—when no one is watching, when the results aren’t immediately visible, and when the process feels slow—that true greatness is forged.