Peak Performance in the Age of Distraction
For leaders and teams who need to think clearly when everything is competing for their attention
Customizable keynote available in-person and virtually
We don’t have a time problem. We have an attention problem.
If you’ve ever finished a full day and thought, “I was busy the whole time… so why do I feel like I didn't make any progress?” you’re not alone. Modern work pulls our focus into tiny pieces: messages, meetings, quick replies, constant context-switching. And when attention breaks, decisions get worse, patience gets shorter, and the work you actually care about keeps sliding to tomorrow.
This keynote shows leaders and teams how to protect the focus that drives their best work, using simple habits and team norms that make deep thinking possible again, so decisions sharpen, priorities stick, and the work that matters gets done.
THIS KEYNOTE IS PERFECT FOR LEADERS AND TEAMS WHO ARE:
- Constantly interrupted, struggling to sustain deep work amid messages, meetings, and notifications.
- Working harder but feeling behind, overloaded by speed, ambiguity, and growing demands.
- Ready to redesign how they work, not just add another productivity hack to an already full plate.
Expect a fast-moving, funny-in-the-right-places session where you'll feel the pull of distraction and learn how to break it. James mixes stories, sharp experiments, and optional live brain monitoring to show distraction in action, then offers simple but powerful frameworks and practical steps to create individual and team norms that improve focus, save time and re-energise teams.
This isn’t generic productivity advice. James is a PhD performance scientist who studies cognitive performance in knowledge work and has applied these methods with elite teams and global organisations, from F1 teams to Fortune 500 companies. You'll find practical tools, not theory, plus, a simple takeaway sheet to embed what you learn.
Audience Outcomes:
Cut digital debt and false urgency
Reduce email-driven overwhelm, trim unnecessary meetings with simple team norms, and use AI where it genuinely saves time, freeing up hundreds of hours a year.
Reclaim deep work (and the satisfaction that comes with it)
Identify your best focus windows, protect sustained attention, and make meaningful progress on high-priority work, not just more activity.
Re-energise with smarter breaks and better sleep
Practical daytime breaks and sleep habits that improve cognitive performance, so teams feel sharper, not just busier, and actually have energy left at the end of the day.
“Through his storytelling, presentation of data and personality, James was able to successfully tailor his message of sustainable high performance to a highly competitive crowd.
—Thomas R. Bucher,
Corporate Relations Manager, University of St. Gallen
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