Hi, I’m Philip — a high-performance coach helping people perform at their best, consistently and sustainably.
High-performance isn’t just for elite athletes or CEOs.
Whether you’re working toward a personal goal, pushing for more purpose in your career, or recovering from burnout, I work with people who want to grow, shift, and show up fully in their lives – especially those of us who think a little differently.
My approach blends psychology, sport, martial arts, and performance science — drawing from both academic research and decades of real-world experience. With a master’s degree in psychology and a long track record in coaching, I focus on building the habits, systems, and mindsets that create sustainable high performance.
And because I’m also neurodivergent (AuDHD), my work naturally speaks to people whose minds work a little differently. You don’t have to be neurodivergent to work with me — but if you are, you’ll find this approach makes space for that too.
I’m based in Somerset West, Cape Town, South Africa, and work with clients locally and internationally through online coaching sessions.
My Story
I’ve always had big dreams and have chased excellence in performance throughout my entire life. I have always been wired to move, to master, to understand. Long before I had the language for it, I was chasing high performance in everything I did.
As a child, I struggled in the classroom but thrived in sport. Swimming, sprinting, rugby – anywhere I could move, complete and measure progress, I felt at home. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was trying to navigate a neurotypical education system as an undiagnosed neurodivergent kid. Sport gave me a sense of control and identity that school couldn’t. [Learn more about my sports experience]
In my teens, I discovered martial arts – first unarmed combat, then traditional Chinese systems. It wasn’t just about discipline or self-defence. It was about presence, focus and learning how to perform under pressure. Martial arts became a deep well for me: physically demanding, mentally grounding, and spiritually rich. [Learn more about my martial arts experience]
At university, I was drawn to psychology by a need to understand people – and myself. That curiosity led me to postgraduate studies where I specialised in neuropsychology and where I first learned I had ADHD. It was a turning point. Suddenly, many things made sense: my ability to hyper-focus, my restlessness, my hunger for depth and my struggle with everyday tasks others found simple.
Professionally, I moved into the business world, working in consulting and eventually in senior corporate roles focused on people development, leadership, and coaching. But performance psychology – the question of what helps people truly thrive – remained my thread. [Learn more about my academic and professional experience]
Over time, I realised I wasn’t just applying high-performance principles to sport or business. I was using them to navigate life as a neurodivergent person. The practices I’d learned in martial arts, the theories I’d studied in psychology, and the lessons from sport – they all converged into something practical and powerful.
That’s what I offer to the neurodivergent and high-performing clients I coach today.
Neurodivergent Coaching
I coach at the intersection of high-performance psychology and neurodivergence, with a particular focus on adults with ADHD and AuDHD. My work is shaped by years of academic training in psychology and neuropsychology, professional experience in performance coaching, and my own lived experience navigating life as someone with AuDHD.
At its core, my approach is about helping people understand how their brains actually work — and using that insight to build personalised systems that support real, sustainable change.
For neurodivergent adults, especially those with ADHD and AuDHD, life in the neurotypical work can feel overwhelming, inconsistent, and disorganised. So, we start by looking for patterns – not just where things go wrong, but where things go right. That’s where we begin to build.
From there, we develop routines, environments, and habits that support your goals. My approach is holistic and evidence-based, and I follow clinical guidelines for working with adults with ADHD. I draw from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), along with research in psychology and coaching.
Together, we will work on things like:
- Understand how your ADHD / AuDHD brain is wired.
- Manage energy, focus, and overwhelm.
- Develop routines that actually stick.
- Build emotional regulation and resilience.
- Create ADHD-friendly systems and environments.
- Use your strengths — not just manage your challenges.
Ultimately, this isn’t about fixing yourself. It’s about getting clear on what works for you. Together, we create a personalised ADHD blueprint: a practical, tailored approach that helps you move forward and thrive. For more about my ADHD coaching practice, visit inspiredADHD.com.
High-Performance Coaching
As a high-performance coach, I work with people across the world who want to grow, improve, and show up fully in their lives — not just in moments of pressure, but day after day. Whether it’s in work, study, relationships, health, or personal goals, high-performance coaching helps you build the habits, mindset, and systems to perform with purpose, energy, and consistency.
There are two key areas we focus on:
- Peak performance: performing at your best in high-pressure or high-stake moments.
- High performance: sustaining that performance over time, without burning out.
My approach is collaborative, practical, and evidence based. It’s grounded in psychology and performance science but also shaped by my decades of experience in martial arts, sport, leadership, and personal development. I draw from both Western research and Eastern traditions – combining structure and science with balance and adaptability.
In our sessions we might explore:
- Clarify purpose and align actions with values.
- Cultivate a growth mindset.
- Build resilience and manage stress.
- Practise mindfulness and find flow (a.k.a. being in the zone)
- Develop confidence and strengthen positive self-talk.
- Create sustainable habits.
- Design environments for motivation and success.
This holistic approach ensures you not only reach peak moments but maintain high performance and fulfilment across all areas of your life.
Articles
Harnessing your hyperfocus
Do you ever wish you could get into hyperfocus whenever you want to? And then find that hyperfocus seems most elusive when you need it? I do. I...
Mindset and 5 pillars of performance
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Race car brain with bicycle brakes
Top-down vs. bottom-up processing is widely discussed as one of the reasons why people with ADHD struggle with executive functioning....
How to recover faster to run stronger and longer
If you are like me then you’re tracking your training metrics; distance, vert, pace, stride rate, heart rate zones and more. We are...
My Academic and Professional Experience
My academic and professional journey has always focused on understanding people – how we think, grow, and perform in different environments.
I hold a master’s degree in research psychology, where I trained in both neuropsychology and psychotherapy. My thesis and internship centred on cognitive functioning and psychological assessment, which deepened my interest in how the brain influences behaviour and performance. After completing my studies, I worked in academia and later as an independent consulting psychologist, specialising in research and performance measurement.
For over twenty years, I worked in the corporate world in the fields of employee engagement, brand strategy, communications, and innovation research. Much of this involved collaborating with global research partners and clients, and product development and ownership. One of the projects I value most was designing, developing and being the global product owner of an employee engagement solution – a project that aligned closely with my passion for people and performance.
I held management and senior leadership positions, and eventually took on global responsibilities within a multinational research agency, culminating in one of the agency’s Global Directors of Innovation. These roles gave me a practical, inside view of high-performance culture, leadership dynamics, and the real-world pressures people face at work.
Helping others perform at their best became central to my work, I undertook the Investment in Excellence (IIE) facilitator course – inspired by the work of Sir John Whitmore, a pioneer in coaching psychology and leadership development – and then began supporting others through executive coaching and later as a mentor in the company’s global mentorship programme for promising young executives.
These experiences brought me full circle, reconnecting my background in psychology with my love for performance coaching and people development.
My Sports Experience
Sports have been a lifelong passion for me, deeply rooted in family traditions of swimming, water polo and sailing. From an early age, I dedicated myself to swimming – training before and after school, learning from coaches and spending countless hours in the water. I also discovered martial arts early on, which would become a major part of my life.
In high school, my focus shifted to athletics and rugby, where I found joy in sprinting and playing wing, relying on my speed and competitive spirit. Though I later regretted stepping back from swimming, I remained active through athletics, tennis, and surfing during university. After completing my master’s degree, I returned to martial arts – opening and running my own school for 15 years – while continuing to explore endurance sports. In 2010, I discovered off-road triathlons, fuelled by a desire for a challenge, a discovered newfound love of trail running and mountain biking, and the joy of open water swimming. I competed in multi-day stage races like Wines2Whales and SOX Trail Run, embracing the adventure.
A neck injury in 2018 slowed my running but reignited my passion for swimming. Inspired by a colleague’s success, I shifted my goal from Olympic dreams to competing in the World Aquatics Masters Championships. I joined the Cape Town Masters Swimming Club, started training seriously again, and have since balanced coaching, academic pursuits, and high-level swimming with a focus on sustainable performance and wellbeing.
My Martial Arts Experience
I began martial arts training at age 10 with the late Captain Ben Mängels, a world-class teacher and close quarters combat instructor to South African and British special forces. Under Ben, and his appointed successor, Sensei Thaya Moodaley, I trained extensively in Atemi-Jujitsu and related combatives systems, focusing on realistic self-defence and unarmed combat in armed attacker scenarios.
Later, I discovered Chinese martial arts, studying Tai Chi Chuan and Wing Chun under masters Stephen Elliot and Leslie James Reed. This training emphasised balanced holistic training, integrating physical skill with philosophy, meditation, and Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Over the years, I combined these diverse influences — military-based close combat, Chinese kung fu, and edged weapons defence — to develop a unique, integrative martial arts system blending Eastern and Western traditions. I’ve trained intensively, teaching and evolving my system while maintaining strong ties to my teachers and their traditions.