CHAPTER THREE – RESTLESS RELENTLESSNESS & WEEKENDING

In sport we sometimes think of athletes as having an endurance or an explosion bias; long distance runners or sprinters on the track, back or forwards on the rugby pitch. Increasingly however, we’re seeing a new kind of athlete. The hybrid; the CrossFitter that can run, jump, swim and lift to a high level in every aspect of athletic performance. Why can’t we be the same in business…

I’m rarely happy. I don’t do contentment. I don’t rest and I hate holidays. I love my life. I love work. I love being challenged, trying to improve and achieve. In previous chapters of my career, people would tell me that this isn’t sustainable and I can’t work like this forever. It reminds me of the saying that… people who say it can’t be done shouldn’t interrupt those doing it.

Andrew has covered the fundaments or foundations of recovery, many of which I work hard to apply to my life too; especially the importance of sleep, the gym, nutrition and hydration. We are, however, very different people. I thrive off momentum, excitement and adventure, so make this part of every day, the rest and recovery is the bit I’ve always found difficult. Andrew by his own volition thrives off recovery (if you missed it, you can read more here LINK).

It therefore made sense for me to turn to an incredible adventure athlete for advice and guidance on recovery. Ross Edgley – is the first man to swim around Great Britain, amongst a load of incredible strength and endurance achievements. He has experienced and written more on the subject of performance and the role of resilience, and recovery than virtually anyone else. Whilst I’m not one for role models, when I was recently asked he was one that came straight to mind, alongside the equally incredible environmentalist and adventurer Cal Major.

The below is heavily influenced by Ross’ writings in “The Worlds Fittest Book”, “The Art of Resilience” and “Blueprint” so if you want to dive into more details please do pick up copies of his book.

PRIORISATION, PERIODISATION, PREPARDNESS & PLAY

PRIORITISATION

BE PURPOSEFUL - One of the most impactful things I’ve found is being consciously purposeful about recovery. Recognising that I want to work as hard as possible for as long as possible and that I can only do this if I can also learn to recover optimally. Tom Brady, the greatest NFL quarterback of all time, was purposeful – perhaps even obsessive – about this desire to beat Father Time and prolong his career.

As hard as my travel commitments are, I haven’t yet encountered giant people physically throwing me to the floor whilst I’m trying to secure additional land for conservation. Therefore if Tom can extend his career and continue to improve for so long, why can’t I?

“Work hard, recover harder” Ross Edgely.?

PERIODISATION

ENERGY CYCLES - I’m hugely fortunate to work with an incredible team of people, each genuinely elite in their own area of work and more importantly a brilliant person, friend and colleague. Each of us is very different and I’ve learnt we all have different energy cycles. Increasingly I think most people, especially those earlier in their career fall into 6 week energy cycles. I think this links to the academic calendar. Half terms and summer holiday train us from an early age to work and rest to these rhythms.

My energy cycle follows the week, likely because of the way I’ve always thought about the sporting week and game day at the weekend. I’m always more tired at the weekend, let myself catch up on sleep lost during the week and relax towards a Sunday. I never schedule work or high brain power activities on a Sunday evening unless I can’t avoid it and instead make time to enjoy watching sport.

DON’T WASTE YOUR WEEKENDS – PLAN THEM!

In most industries, and many of the business I’ve worked, everyone treats the annual cycle as a surprise almost like we don’t know quarterly meetings are coming, that performance reviews need to happen, that people will be away over the summer and that the calendar and financial year will end. In elite sport, everything is planned. When a new NFL Head Coach is interviewed, they’re asked to present their plans by the week for the following year, by the day, and even by the hour for key things like training camp and around each of the 17 games in the seasons.?

In business so many of us don’t plan our work weeks, never mind our weekends. If we don’t plan and schedule our weekends we’re missing out on nearly 30% of the time available for recovery, fun and improvement.

This sounds great in theory, but I’ve never liked weekends. I love what I do and hate that I can’t do it on the weekend too. One of the biggest positive changes I’ve made is scheduling seven days a week in my diary. Every week I sit down with my family and plan the next two weeks including weekends. What they need goes in first then everything I need, then travel and work commitments. ?

In discussing this point with Andrew, he raised the importance of spontaneity which makes absolute sense for many people, but for me it needs to be booked in advance – I think that’s because I’m only happy (maybe comfortable) if I’m progressing or improving.

PREPAREDNESS

DATA – We’re terrible at being honest with ourselves. We’re terrible at remembering how we felt or the impact of the small decisions we’ve made. Data can be our friend in making informed choices about recovery and its impact on performance. Whether you’re a fan of an apple watch, a Google watch, a Whoop Band or any other wearable, tracking some key metrics can really help you understand the impact of your choices and what you need for recovery.?

NUTRITION & HYDRATION – The quality and quantity of the fuel you provide your body and mind to work will have an immediate impact on your rest and recovery and therefore your work capacity and ultimately your performance. For me this has been about making purposeful choices about the food that allow me to perform at my best, to sleep well, and to support rest and recovery as much as possible.

It’s also about fuelling for performance – something that’s challenging when travelling a lot but something that over the last eighteen months we’re getting better at doing, albeit we still have a long way to go. For me this means taking food with me on the road. It’s about getting enough protein, enough fruits and vegetables supplemented with double espresso and chocolate brownies, yours might be completely different but make them more often a feature of what you do.

EXERCISE – So much of our ability to performance at the highest level relates to availability, and work capacity. Ross talks about the greater the time under stress the greater the potential for adaptation and improvement in performance. He also advocates the need to become comfortable being uncomfortable – somethings that is all too rare a feature of business.

In sport (and business) we need to constantly be putting our bodies and our minds under stress to illicit an adaptation, and offering sufficient rest and recovery for that change to occur.

For me this starts in the gym. It’s where I get comfortable being uncomfortable, its cold and dark and lonely but so important to my health, wellbeing and happiness. It’s the first thing I do in the morning, gives me energy and momentum for the day. In many ways it’s the hardest thing I do and the foundation to my ability to perform and improve.

PLAYTIME

THINGS THAT MAKE YOU HAPPY – If you only do one thing at a weekend, make sure you do something that makes you happy. Happiness might be the single biggest factor in influencing performance. If you’re an adventurer invest your time in exploring new places and spaces. If you’re a creator invest your time in producing new works, this might be the best way you can recover.

For me it’s the morning gym sessions, making pancakes for the kids before my wife goes to play hockey, then it’s the Sunday dinner as a family and watching sport into the evening. That doesn’t mean I don’t work at the weekend I always do, and I always read because those things make me happy too.

TIME IN NATURE – Nature is a performance enhancing drug. Time outside in the natural environment does amazing things to your mind and body, as well as helping you be healthier and happier. Where you can, I’d always recommend making time in nature a feature of your rest and recovery.

For me this is usually a Sunday, in my younger days this was throwing myself off waterfalls in a kayak (my first love) sadly now its limited to chasing after the kids and the dogs in across the fields or in the woods – but the purpose and in the impact are almost the same. Albeit, I really should get back in the water…

CHEAT CODE IS FINDING THIS IN WORK -?Work life balance is a concept that’s been twisted by horrible bosses in horrible businesses that treat people terribly. They want to tell people that if they tolerate this for most of the week (for many years) its ok because they can be less miserable for two days at the weekend, have two weeks off a year and then retire at some point many years from now.

Thought from Andrew – “I see it differently. It’s a form of cognitive dissonance where people convince themselves that work should be hard and that it’s ok that they don’t enjoy it because it’s part of their day. 8 hours to work, 8 hours to sleep, and 8 hours to do what they want to do. In reality, those 8 hours for themselves ends up more like 2 hours in the evening and by that time one is too tired to follow a passion. Still, maintaining the narrative allows people to put their feet on the floor in the morning and put trudge their way into a job that’s not giving pleasure, passion, or purpose. You can change that by finding a job where you can be create, challenged, and push yourself outside your comfort zone”.

The reality is now that the best people and the highest performers have the choice to find adventure, excitement and fun within their work as opposed to having to wait for it at the weekend. I’m hugely fortunate to have that exact role and can think about my weekends as a way of recovering and improving ready for the following week. I know not everyone can but I wish they could. If you can’t, and if you’re committed to being genuinely exceptional and putting a huge positive dent in the universe, keep your eyes open because we’re Scaling Conservation and we’re continuing to scale the team too.