Professor Tim Noakes has made a career and habit of proving people wrong. Not too long ago the world’s top scientists ‘knew’ that it was the cells in our muscles which determine the point at which we get fatigued in running races. It was Professor Noakes and his team that first postulated a model showing that it is in fact the brain and not the muscles which determine this. In other words, the point at which you feel exhausted has a lot to do with your perception of how far you still have to go. Amongst other things, this principle sheds some light on why when you’re desperate to get to the toilet, the closer you get the more desperately desperate you become! It’s also an important factor in explaining how we manage to create huge energy in working towards a deadline, only to suddenly collapse once we’ve made it.