Achieving Peak Performance Requires Rest

Athletes understand something about achieving optimum performance that many of us in corporate life tend to overlook. They know that you cannot perform at your best without proper recovery time.

An athlete would never expect to train at maximum intensity every hour of every day and still continuously perform at their best, let alone improve. Rest days are planned. Recovery is built into the programme. Sleep, nutrition, stretching and movement all matter, as does the time and mental space between training sessions.

We all understand and accept this completely when it comes to physical performance. Go to the gym every day and relentlessly work the same muscle group and someone will quickly tell you that approach isn’t sustainable. Your body needs time to recover if you want to achieve results.

So why do we treat our brains differently?

For me, when I have multiple projects heading towards the same deadline, I instinctively start earlier and work later to get everything done. I tell myself I just need to get through the ever-increasing to-do list, becoming blind to project creep. I’ll subconsciously label what I’m doing as conscientious and thorough, when the reality can be that I’m simply wading through tasks rather than achieving goals. I’m busy, losing focus.

Then I go to bed mentally exhausted, and my brain decides that now would be an excellent time to start thinking it all through. I’m lying awake mentally rewriting presentations, solving problems and remembering things I should have done three hours earlier.

I used to believe those sleepless nights were simply the consequence of having a lot going on. Upon reflection, I’m beginning to see they are often the consequence of not giving my brain any space during the day to process, reset and refocus.

I’ve been feeding it information, decisions, conversations and deadlines from the moment I wake until the moment I stop, and then I’m surprised when my brain tries to process everything in the middle of the night.

The irony is that working harder, without creating space to properly think, can actually make us less productive. We can become so distracted by trying to keep on top of everything and completing tasks that we stop creating the space needed to think about where we are actually going, what really matters and what we are trying to achieve. This is why recovery rituals matter. They don’t need to be complicated.

For me, it can be going for a walk in the morning before opening my laptop, creating not only headspace but movement. A phone-free, quiet lunch away from my desk, preferably outside and looking into the distance, resting my eyes as well as my brain. Taking ten minutes after a big meeting to make a cup of tea and digest the information before jumping straight into the next thing. Creating space to let my thoughts wander without immediately filling the silence with another podcast, message or email.

Those moments can feel unproductive because nothing visible is being produced, but quite the opposite can happen. You are giving your mind the space to think and allowing those productive light-bulb moments to happen.

This is often when you find the answer to the problem you have been wrestling with. You realise something doesn’t need doing at all. You see the bigger picture. Or your brain simply gets a few minutes to rest and reset.

Elite performance isn’t about operating at maximum intensity all the time. It is about knowing when to push and when to recover so that, when performance matters, you are capable of being at your best.

Let’s learn from the athletes and build our working lives around the same principles. Here are a few things worth trying to see what works for you:

Look at your diary and block out some thinking time.

Take a screen-free lunch.

Create time and space between demanding meetings to digest the information and think through the next steps.

Go for the walk rather than telling yourself you are too busy.

Give your brain time to catch up with you.

Because sometimes the most productive thing you can do is stop producing for a while. Recovery isn’t time away from high performance. It is part of it.

It is the fundamental first principle, Love Yourself First.