Sometimes less really is more.

That old saying is the reason I am enjoying motor-racing more than ever and also why, I believe, I am driving better than ever.

The shift for me came when I purposely decided that motor racing would again be my ‘hobby’. It would be the one thing in my life that I just loved doing. Stress-free. Living my passion.

Aligned with that was setting up my own production company – my ‘day job’. The two sit perfectly in tandem.

I am still living my dream of being a race car driver, but that no longer consumes me 24/7.

During the week I am able to get my head out of the car and think about something else, something that I also enjoy and that motivates me.

Most people who know me know I’m a strong believer in whatever you want to do, you must make your goal your sole focus.

That certainly was my mantra when growing up. I knew that all I wanted to do was race at the top … to race cars for the rest of my life.

When you are young it is important to chase your dream, to make it a reality.

Time and the lack of responsibilities are also on your side. You can afford to have more of a carefree attitude and believe that everything will just work out.

But as you get older you start to realise that you also have to pay the bills.

That sometimes, despite you performing well, not everything does fall into place. And also that being totally focussed on just one part of your life can have its negatives.

Through seasons 2015/16 that’s when the mental transformation started to occur for me.

I was with Dick Johnson Racing and that’s when I really started to understand that I needed something else in my life other than being a driver. I knew that couldn’t be the only thing that defined me.

I also knew that having that something else would also help me stay focussed on racing.

So when it came time for my next contract I knew it couldn’t be just about being a driver. I didn’t want racing to be my only source of income; it needed to go back to being ‘a hobby’.

Also, I wanted to use my time better. Drivers are in a really fortunate position where we do have a lot of spare time and I think that can be a good thing and it can be a bad thing.

I think if you don’t do anything with your spare time, then you’re not constantly learning or achieving things. Your sport is your only focus.

So when something negative happens in your sport, then that negativity can consume you.

That’s what sort of happened to me. I was looking at contract renewals through 2016 and was really stressing out.

I don’t think it hurt my performance because the best thing you can do in those situations is just get in the car and drive. That’s when you’re having the most fun.

However outside of the car… I look back and I was frustrated. So when I did the deal with Walkinshaw, I did a nice long-term deal.

They had faith in me that I could do the job. But crucially that’s when I looked at setting up something outside of racing, which has happened now with our production company.

It’s funny, because a lot of people look at what I am doing off-track and assume straight away that it’s going to be a distraction, but the entire reason for setting that up was actually to make racing my ‘hobby’ again.

Yes, racing is where I make my income. It’s my job, but I don’t think of it like that any more.

I’m really enjoying my racing now. I get to drive race cars on weekends and I am back in the office on Monday making videos and messing about with my editors.

Because of the right balance I’m driving better. I work better with my team. I’m much more relaxed.

I’m not as up and down as I used to be and yeah, I’m just enjoying myself a lot more.

The credit for all of this goes to what I’m doing outside the car now.

When I was just racing, all I thought about was racing. It got to a point where it probably wasn’t working for me that well.

We can’t test during the week, so thinking about racing seven days a week wasn’t constructive because I couldn’t actually do anything about what I wanted to fix by sitting at home, or driving my own car around.

So you end up just sitting and thinking about what you wish you could try in the race car and that’s just not healthy.

The only time I think it’s worth thinking about is when you can do something about it.

I am back really enjoying what I believe I was born to do … and the results are the best indication that I am doing it better than ever.