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sometimes you just feel a lack of drive
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a lack of zest or motivation and it's
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really difficult to even begin a task in
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the first place what if what you do
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while you're not working is actually the
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number one determinant of your success
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at work now Marian DARS co-founder and
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CEO of the flow research Collective and
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along my partner Stephen Cutler we have
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taught thousands of professionals how to
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access flow States at will now picture
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this it's 11 A.M you're getting
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bombarded from seven different
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directions slack messages emails a call
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from a boss or employee you're both
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under slept and a little over
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caffeinated and feel that frenzied sense
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of fatigue and alertness leaving you
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frazzled this is what some mornings are
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like well if this sounds familiar it may
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seem like fatigue or low motivation or
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chronic stress but it's likely something
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different what scientists refer to as
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allostatic load now alistatic load was
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coined by two researchers at the
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Rockefeller University McEwen and
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stellar and allostatic load describes
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the physical wear and tear on your body
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and mind that occurs from constantly
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adjusting to Life's pressures if not
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properly managed this allostatic load
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increases over time and Spills over into
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subsequent days accumulating in our
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nervous system and building up and
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unfortunately most of us never clear the
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allostatic load that accumulates so you
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can think of allostatic load kind of in
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terms of working out if you endlessly
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did bicep curls without giving your
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bicep adequate time to recover
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eventually you'd hit a point where you
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literally would not be able to lift your
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water bottle off your desk however if
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you allow your bicep to recover between
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the workouts over time your bicep will
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not just function optimally it will be
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stronger than before you'll be able to
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lift more weight up your desk than you
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could before an allostatic load works
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with your nervous system in a similar
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fashion so when your allostatic load is
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high it implies that your body and brain
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are in a constant state of adapting to
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new stress with your system releasing
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more stress hormones like cortisol and
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adrenaline altering your body's
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homeostasis and cognitive functions
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whereas in contrast flow state is
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associated with a balance of certain
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neurotransmitters and hormones in the
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brain like dopamine norepinephrine
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endorphins anatomite and serotonin which
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promotes Focus creativity and problem
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solving abilities and this slow cocktail
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is disrupted under a heavy allostatic
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load your productivity suffers like
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trying to drive with a parking brake on
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but long term it can be even more severe
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Health can deteriorate career life spans
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shorten and big goals become
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increasingly impossible to reach due to
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physical limitations so to perform at
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your Peak and get into flow clearing
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your allostatic load regularly ideally
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every day after happen and we're going
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to cover are three ways that you can do
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this so you can elevate your
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productivity to new heights week after
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week and have your bicep go stronger
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rather than getting to the point where
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you can't lift a bottle off the table
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and this starts with transforming
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yourself from what we call an average
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knowledge worker whose biology is
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constantly dragging them down and
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working against them impeding their
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progress into what we call an executive
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athlete someone who uses their biology
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as a slingshot that propels them toward
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their boldest professional goals now a
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number of years ago two researchers Jim
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lore and Tony Schwartz wrote an amazing
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article in Harvard Business Review
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called corporate athlete and I want you
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to consider this analogy from that
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article the average professional athlete
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spends the majority of their time
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training and only a small percentage of
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their time actually competing several
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hours a day at most the typical
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professional the other hand and devotes
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almost no time to training yet you have
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to perform on-demand 8 10 12 hours a day
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or more athletes enjoy several months of
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off-season most executives are fortunate
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to get three or four weeks of vacation a
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year the career of the average
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professional athlete spans seven years
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the average executive though is expected
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to work 40 to 50 years and this is a
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problem the failure of professionals to
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train and recover like athletes ends up
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being a lid on performance conversely
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the most elite performers treat
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themselves and think of themselves as
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executive athletes because they
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understand one crucial thing which is
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that energy is the lever point for
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performance it's not the hours in the
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day but the energy in those hours and
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how it's allocated that shapes our
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performance that's because the number of
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hours in a day is fixed but the quantity
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and quality of energy we have available
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is variable to Elite Performance is
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grounded in the skillful mobilization of
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energy and the elegant back and forth
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between two states which we're going to
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talk about exertion and Recovery now
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let's learn how to channel your energy
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as an executive athlete the first step
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is to raise the ceiling with recovery
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now again Jim Lawrence Tony Schwartz use
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this term oscillation to refer to a
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process of rhythmically moving between
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exertion and Recovery think about the
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last time you had a heavy workout you're
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grunting you're sweating you're feeling
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the burn it feels like your muscles are
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bulging and growing right there on the
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gym floor but in fact the real muscle
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building happens later during recovery
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this process is known as super
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compensation when you stress a muscle
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through training the muscle breaks down
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and then after a recovery period the
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capacity or the strength of that muscle
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increases however if you continue to
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stress the muscle endlessly without a
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recovery period there will be no
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increase in performance just chronic
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damage and the reverse is also true if
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you don't stress a muscle at all your
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muscles will become increasingly weak
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over time they'll atrophy and you end up
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with limited capacity or strength in
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both cases though the enemy is not the
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stress that you're putting on your
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muscles the enemy is what Tony and Jim
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call linearity which is the failure to
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oscillate between these two states of
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exertion and of recovery now here's the
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key recovery determines the limits of
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your exertion which is why it's as
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important as the work itself that you do
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when exerting to perform optimally you
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need to systematically increase your
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exposure to stress through exertion and
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then enter these periods of deep
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recovery which you then emerge out of
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super compensated rejuvenated charged up
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with expanded capacity the equivalent of
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a stronger bicep after the recovery
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period now that you know that you should
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be oscillating though between exertion
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and recovery and that 50 of what is most
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important to your professional success
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is the recovery side of a coin how do
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you do it because you know what exertion
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looks like that's just your work that's
00:06:58
whatever you've got to do later today or
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tomorrow whatever tasks you have on your
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to-do list but how do you actually
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recover and what even is it and that
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brings us to step two which is recovery
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over relaxation most of us fall into the
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Trap of equating relaxation and Recovery
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you know after a strenuous day at work
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you recline on your couch and you catch
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up on your favorite Netflix series you
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might even pop open a beer or two this
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kind of feels like recovery but
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unfortunately it's not it's merely
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relaxation it's best it's like putting a
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Band-Aid on a leaky pipe it might stop
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the drip for a while but it does nothing
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to fix the real underlying problem
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relaxation feels good subjectively feels
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like we're recovering but relaxation
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doesn't flush out the stress toxins that
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build up in your system contributing to
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your allostatic load it's not
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kick-starting your parasympathetic
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arrest and digest system into action and
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it's certainly not replenishing the
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precious neurochemicals you've used up
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during the day while exerting and
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hopefully being in a flow State active
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recovery on the other hand involves some
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activity that actively promotes healing
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and Rejuvenation both mental and
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physical now when under stress our
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bodies trigger the sympathetic nervous
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system fight or flight releasing
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hormones like cortisol and adrenaline
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these hormones help us focus and perform
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but can cause damage when levels are
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consistently high so recovery methods
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activate the parasympathetic nervous
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system which counteracts the stress
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response promoting rest digestion
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recovery it clears out a static load and
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allows us to recharge this balance or
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oscillation between sympathetic and
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parasympathetic activity is key to
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preventing burnout and then optimizing
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performance active recovery is kind of
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like the on off switch the interface to
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our nervous system the most
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professionals dream of but never find
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they never learn how to click that
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switch active recovery is so important
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for float that it's in fact
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non-negotiable and the final last stage
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of the flow cycle which includes
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struggle release flow is recovery so how
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do you actually do this how do you start
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to put active recovery into practice
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well here's a list of active recovery
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protocols that we recommend and let's
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walk through a few of these to give you
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some examples so breath work is one
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practices like the four seven eight
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breathing method and box breathing can
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help stimulate the parasympathetic
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nervous system the body's relaxation
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response which can decrease heart rate
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lower blood pressure and enhanced
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cognitive function one of the nice
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things about breath work is that a lot
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of people don't succeed with meditation
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because meditation is is simple but not
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easy it's complex whereas breath work
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involves running a certain breathing
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pattern and if you do so you will get
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the result it's more Bottoms Up a
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nervous system based and works great for
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that reason now the next one is cold
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therapy cold exposure stimulates the
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production of norepinephrine a hormone
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and neurotransmitter that can improve
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mood alertness and focus and a true
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triggers
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vasoconstriction and vasodilation which
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enhance circulation and Recovery jumping
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in an ice bath after work rather than
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relaxing in front of the TV is going to
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do tremendous things and a critical
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point relaxation and Recovery are
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distinct things that actually result in
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really effective recovery can be not
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relaxing at all like sitting in an ice
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bath but high in recovery you get out of
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that ice bath an hour later your nervous
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system your out of stock load is going
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to be lower even though sitting in that
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ice bath was the least relaxing thing
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you could possibly imagine doing now
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heat therapy regular sauna sessions or
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hot baths massage your structural
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integration therapy myofascial release
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using tools like foam rollers or
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lacrosse balls to help alleviate muscle
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tension again something that results in
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recovery but doesn't necessarily feel
00:10:45
relaxing as we're doing it meditation
00:10:47
which we talked about it is more
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challenging for most but can be a
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tremendous form of active recovery
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exercise in the anonymous wide flush
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that you get post exercise to be
00:10:57
phenomenal for regulating the nervous
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system hiking and spending time in
00:11:01
nature amazing forms of active recovery
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Dr Andrew hewman friend of the flow
00:11:05
research Collective and his research out
00:11:07
of Stanford has shown that literally
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just looking at wide Horizon Lines in
00:11:11
nature has a calming soothing effect on
00:11:14
the nervous system and then sleep sleep
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seems passive but sleep's actually a
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highly active State you're consolidating
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information that's been newly acquired
00:11:23
activation and your amygdala is being
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reduced your glymphatic system is
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getting cleared out your muscles are
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being repaired so even though sleep
00:11:29
feels passive it's very active but how
00:11:32
do you know if one of these active
00:11:33
recovery protocols is actually working
00:11:34
for you and maybe you're thinking well
00:11:36
what about this other thing that I like
00:11:37
to do is that active recovery does that
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count well there's two litmus tests to
00:11:42
tell whether something is counting for
00:11:44
your nervous system as active recovery
00:11:46
the first one is an objective one and
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this is actually using a metric called
00:11:49
heart rate variability which is a key
00:11:52
indicator of stress and Recovery balance
00:11:54
and in the body if you're doing a
00:11:56
certain active recovery protocol and
00:11:57
your HRV is increasing over time this is
00:12:00
likely functioning as recovery for you
00:12:02
now the second litmus test is a
00:12:04
subjective one and this is that it gives
00:12:06
you such a dramatic neurophysiological
00:12:09
reset that it feels like you've had a
00:12:11
mini vacation one thing I always like to
00:12:13
do is in a Long evening or a full day
00:12:16
off I stack a lot of these active
00:12:18
recovery protocols together in one go
00:12:20
and then I come back into work on Monday
00:12:22
with that just back from holidays
00:12:25
feeling where your nervous system is all
00:12:26
smoothed out you've kind of forgotten
00:12:28
about the details of work and the
00:12:30
intricacies of the day-to-day and you're
00:12:32
ready to hit it again so you want to be
00:12:33
able to get that two-week vacation feel
00:12:35
in hours with the right active recovery
00:12:38
protocol now if you're someone who loves
00:12:40
the grind and you take pride in your
00:12:42
ability to outwork others I want you to
00:12:44
know this recovery is part of the work
00:12:46
recovery gives you the optimal state
00:12:49
within which you'll be able to perform
00:12:51
your highest quality work if you're
00:12:53
working late in the office on a Sunday
00:12:55
thinking you're getting ahead of the
00:12:57
competition the irony is that the exact
00:12:59
opposite is likely happening you'll be
00:13:01
beaten by the person who is letting the
00:13:04
nervous system level up on the Sunday
00:13:06
with recovery protocols because they'll
00:13:08
hit Monday morning with a superior
00:13:10
nervous system to yours Peak Performance
00:13:12
comes down to out oscillating others
00:13:15
rather than outworking others it's fast
00:13:18
and deep recovery fast and deep exertion
00:13:20
deep recovery deep exertion again and
00:13:22
again that rapid oscillation that is
00:13:25
what signifies the winners it may even
00:13:27
be the case that the more hard charging
00:13:29
you are the more you need active
00:13:31
recovery because you are more likely to
00:13:33
have an increased sympathetic nervous
00:13:34
system if this sounds like you the key
00:13:36
is to overcompensate recovery that means
00:13:38
as you become more swamped sleep more
00:13:40
and recover more the intuitive thing to
00:13:42
do is to ditch recovery when things get
00:13:44
really demanding and stressful so you
00:13:46
can cram in more work but this is
00:13:48
completely backwards and
00:13:49
counterproductive instead as work piles
00:13:51
up and deadlines Loom lean into the
00:13:54
academic recovery so schedule your
00:13:56
active recovery routines similarly to
00:13:58
how you would schedule work tasks bake
00:13:59
them in every day take an hour you might
00:14:02
have daily practices that you do in the
00:14:04
morning or in the evening for Recovery
00:14:06
like breath work in the sauna or taking
00:14:09
an ice bath or walking in nature and
00:14:11
every week you want to take a day where
00:14:13
you stack these sorts of active recovery
00:14:15
protocols maybe on that day you go for a
00:14:18
swim in the ocean and then you do a
00:14:20
workout and then you go for a hike in
00:14:21
nature and then you have a nap and then
00:14:24
you get a massage something like that
00:14:26
stack the day with active recovery
00:14:28
protocols and every month we want to do
00:14:30
a three day period fully dedicated to
00:14:33
recovery which ideally also includes
00:14:35
digital detox during this period where
00:14:37
each day we're filling our day with
00:14:39
these active recovery protocols and then
00:14:41
every quarter you want to take a full 10
00:14:43
days one week plus two weekends to reset
00:14:46
and have active recovery be the number
00:14:48
one priority and then every year you
00:14:50
want to take that full two-week vacation
00:14:52
for a complete reboot to Clay clear all
00:14:55
that out of static load that's built up
00:14:57
over the previous year now there's still
00:14:59
one more piece to the puzzle for
00:15:01
becoming the executive athlete and this
00:15:02
final piece is even more difficult than
00:15:04
recovery especially for ambitious
00:15:06
professionals Live Like a Lion when you
00:15:09
understand these first two pieces that
00:15:11
you need to be oscillating from exertion
00:15:13
to recovery and that active recovery is
00:15:15
the form of recovery you want not
00:15:17
passive recovery then you start to be
00:15:18
able to live like a lion because a lion
00:15:21
is either sleeping with the pack or
00:15:23
sprinting to kill its prey when it's
00:15:26
time to kill they do it fast then they
00:15:28
return to recover you can work in the
00:15:31
same way view it as a ferocious Sprint
00:15:33
followed by exorbitant recovery when you
00:15:36
make work binary like this you allow
00:15:39
your nervous system to recalibrate so
00:15:40
your output can reach previously
00:15:42
unattainable levels and it seems counter
00:15:44
to what you often hear you've been told
00:15:46
to do more faster than the key to Elite
00:15:49
Performance is about being able to fit
00:15:50
more tasks into your day but that
00:15:52
doesn't work that causes busyness about
00:15:54
progress and the result is reaching the
00:15:56
end of a work day feeling drained
00:15:58
looking back and realizing you only did
00:16:00
a couple of hours of real work in the
00:16:01
first place with the rest of it just
00:16:03
being low value distraction reactive
00:16:06
work fracturing your attention and
00:16:07
sapping your energy it's a terrible
00:16:09
feeling wasting away hours of our life
00:16:12
in this mode of half working this gray
00:16:15
Zone but not enjoying our lives either
00:16:17
so many people's careers get swallowed
00:16:20
by this instead executive athletes work
00:16:23
in a binary fashion they are more or
00:16:26
less always in one of two states either
00:16:28
they're working with 100 intensity in
00:16:31
sixth gear or they're 100 Switched Off
00:16:34
unplugged recovering deeply and enjoying
00:16:37
life and they ruthlessly eliminate
00:16:39
everything in between fully on fully off
00:16:42
that's it and that way the next time you
00:16:45
come back to push you can push even
00:16:47
harder than before until you integrate
00:16:49
active recovery into your life your
00:16:50
limits remain unknown the ceiling can go
00:16:53
up and up and up and if you want a cheat
00:16:56
code for mastering this process so you
00:16:58
can achieve Peak Performance daily watch
00:17:00
this video on the flow cycle which talks
00:17:02
about all the other elements Beyond
00:17:04
recovery and how to master them
