Controversial opinion: There’s no such thing as working too hard.

Controversial opinion: There’s no such thing as working too hard.

There is just being under-rested.

1. Winston Churchill used to work 16 hours per day in his old age during the war — but he also worked in bed every day until 11 am.

He had a nap after lunch, and a 2-hour nap before dinner at 8 pm before working late into the night.

2. John. D Rockefeller took a 30-minute nap every day at 12pm.

No meeting was important enough to move this out of his calendar.

3. Advice I’d give my younger self:

Don’t focus on energy output (working too hard).

Focus on energy production (recharging activities). If you produce more energy than you burn, it’s impossible to burn out.

4. The person who is well rested might be able to work 16-hour days 6 days per week.

The person who never works but scrolls TikTok all day can struggle to do 30 minutes without burning out.

5. Josh Waitzkin has this concept called the "Simmering Six":

“Most people in high-stress, decision-making industries are always operating at this kind of simmering six, as opposed to the undulation between just deep relaxation and being at a 10. Being at a 10 is millions of times better than being at a 6. It’s just in a different universe.”

6. Eleanor Roosevelt credited one thing to surviving her White House schedule for 12 years: Before meeting crowds or giving a speech, she would sit still, close her eyes and relax for 20 minutes.

7. When Dale Carnegie asked Henry Ford how he had so much energy before his 80th birthday:

“I never stand up when I can sit down; and I never sit down when I can lie down”

8. Marcelo Garcia, the best BJJ practitioner of all time, was found asleep minutes before his semi final world championship bout and stumbled into the ring out of a slumber — before destroying his opponent.

9. When Triple H went to see Floyd Mayweather before his fight with Marquez backstage, he expected Floyd to be psyching himself up for the big occasion. Instead, he was lay on the sofa watching a baseball game.

10. Christopher Nolan doesn’t have a smartphone.

His assistant manages his emails and he writes everything on a laptop without an internet connection.

“I do a lot of my best thinking in those kind of in-between moments that people now fill with online activity”

11. What does the rest and recharge industry get wrong?

It tries to sell a magic pill for everyone.

Instead, it should always be personalized to the individual.

Some people get energy from a massage — others like to do 48 hours in Vegas Denis Rodman style.

12. There’s a simple algorithm for identifying the highest leverage relaxation for yourself: (Energy produced ÷ time it takes)

13. Ironically, if Type-A personalities rest better, they’ll also be happier and live longer.

But it’s always better to sell it as the ability to increase their work — and sneak happiness and health in the back door.

50% of productivity is rest and relaxation.

So try skipping a night of sleep and then perform your best.

Impossible.

So when you think of being optimally productive, it's not just about your total output per unit of time.

It's also about the time you spend preparing for that optimal performance.

You can't separate the two, and say that productivity only happens during those hours when you are doing the work that moves the needle.

When you are asleep, right at that moment, you are also productive.

That's the kind of mindset shift we need around productivity ahead of productivity day...coming soon.