Elite athletes work harder than anyone, and to make this possible they focus a great deal of thought and effort on: recovery.
They plan rest periods between intense sessions. They eat and sleep in specific patterns, to speed their recovery and thus make possible even higher performance levels. It’s pretty near impossible today to compete at elite levels and ignore recovery.
And yet, business professionals and their employers barely think about recovery. This is especially true at the top firms, where long hours and intense effort are little more than table stakes.
How can this be? How is it possible that humans only need recovery time in athletic endeavors?
The truth, of course, is that the only way to maintain the highest levels of human performance is to follow a regimen that includes recovery time. By failing to recognize this fact, many in business accept pretty good performance and label it as something better than it is. This is a disservice to all: clients, colleagues, the employer and each individual.
It’s time to recognize that top performance is the result of both effort AND recovery time, not just effort.