When Fleur Marks talks about rebuilding after her health crisis, she’s clear that she didn’t choose to change. Her body made the decision for her. But what followed was a deliberate, practical redesign of how she worked and thought about performance.
“I stopped treating myself like a human doing machine that could be optimised,” she says.
“I got ruthlessly honest about what it actually took for me to perform at my best. Not what I thought high performance should look like. What it actually was.”
What she stopped
The endless proving. Back-to-back scheduling from 8am to 6pm followed by real work at night when she was already spent. Treating rest as something to be earned rather than planned. Doing her most important work at her lowest point of the day and calling it dedication.
“I will never reach the bottom of my inbox. Ever. Once I stopped treating that as failure, something shifted,” she explains.
“I started asking one question every morning – what will deliver the most value today? That question cuts through everything.”
What she started
The redesign was systematic and included a consistent bedtime, no alcohol during the week, no screens before 9am, movement in nature and a morning check-in. Every day she asked herself: ‘how am I actually feeling today and what do I need?’
“That question sounds small but it wasn’t. It made me the first item on my own agenda for the first time in my adult life.”
The diary changed too. No more than three most important tasks a day, done first in her peak window (mornings, when she’s sharpest).
Three ten-minute micro resets were built into the day; genuinely unplugged. A walk and space to breathe without scrolling or emailing.
“Most high performers never do this,” she says. “You have to unplug your brain to recharge it. Know your peak window and guard it.”
For anyone who thinks they can’t slow down
Fleur is direct about the objection she hears most often; that too much depends on them to change anything.
“I know that too much depends on you. I know you’re the person holding everything together. And I know that the single most expensive thing for everyone depending on you is you breaking.”
Redefining success, she says, isn’t a grand vision statement. It’s the small, deliberate choices made every day. Things like planning your week before it plans you, celebrating small wins, building in strategic rest and holding the boundaries you set for yourself.
“It looks like going home at the end of the day knowing you led with impact, not just volume. And having enough energy left to enjoy your loved ones.”
The one thing she wishes someone had said to her before the crisis is that your ambition doesn’t require you to sacrifice all of yourself to prove your worth.
“There is a better way to succeed that includes you. Not one or the other – both.”
