S4E05. Success Leaves Clues: High Performance Lessons with Dr Jo Lukins

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Sep 22, 2025

Dr. Jo Lukins, a renowned performance psychologist with notable experience across elite sports, military, and corporate leadership, shares her insights on achieving sustainable success. She discusses how a strong belief system is crucial before competition and redefines resilience as 'bouncing forward' rather than just recovering. Jo explains the dangers of an all-or-nothing mindset and offers practical tools to tackle limiting beliefs while promoting wellness in high achievers. Tune in for actionable advice on cultivating a high-performance mindset!

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ANECDOTE

Serendipity Shaped Her Career

Jo originally planned to join the police but a chance conversation steered her to psychology and sports psychology. She became the inaugural sports psychology consultant for the North Queensland Cowboys and spent 26 years with them.

INSIGHT

Mindset Is The Common Thread

Sport, military and corporate domains all share an achievement orientation and performance demands. Jo translates lessons between domains because mindset is the common thread that sustains performance.

INSIGHT

Curiosity Sustains Elite Performance

A performance mindset sustains growth by keeping curiosity and learning central even for top performers. Relying on narrow motivators (like money) eventually fails to sustain effort and purpose.

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In this episode of Stay at the Top, I’m joined by performance psychologist Dr Jo Lukins, who brings decades of experience working across elite sport, the military, and corporate leadership.

We explore the mindset shifts that sustain long-term success, why belief comes before competition, and how resilience is more than just bouncing back. Dr Jo shares wisdom from her 26 years with the North Queensland Cowboys, her work with the Australian Defence Force, and the high performers she supports in business today.

If you have ever struggled with limiting beliefs, the all or nothing mindset, or balancing relentless drive with wellbeing, this conversation is full of practical insights you can apply straight away.

In this episode, we cover:

- How Dr Jo found her way into psychology and became one of Australia’s most respected performance psychologists.

- The common thread between elite athletes, defence personnel, and corporate leaders, and why mindset is the key.

- What a “performance mindset” really is, and how it sustains growth at every level.

- Why limiting beliefs hold us back and how to reframe them.

- The all or nothing mindset, why high performers are drawn to it and how to move towards excellence instead of perfection.

- Resilience redefined, why it is not just about bouncing back but learning, growing, and bouncing forward.

- Practical tools to build self-awareness, values in action, and sustainable high performance.

Key Quotes:

“Resilience isn’t just bouncing back, it’s bouncing forward.” – Dr Jo Lukins

“Success leaves clues, and disappointments offer lessons.” – Dr Jo Lukins

“Excellence looks like getting most things done well most of the time.” – Dr Jo Lukins

More about Dr Jo Lukins

Get the Debrief Insight Guide by Dr Jo Lukins sent straight to your inbox, just click: LINK. As a Stay at the Top podcast listener, enjoy 10% off all books plus free shipping at drjolukins.com with code DEBRIEF10.

Instagram: @dr_jo_lukins

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrJoLukins/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drjolukins/

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