Why Recovery Is Existential
The most valuable lesson I learned in my years as a competitive swimmer was that the human body has one major advantage over machines: the power to super-compensate. Supercompensation is the capability of the human organism to restore above the initial performance level after exercise. Basically how this works is this: Training/ physical exercise does damage to your body - muscles, mitochondria, neurons, tendons are strained, energy reserves are depleted. After your workout your organism immediately starts to rebuild your body. The exceptionally cool thing that distinguishes living organisms from machines is that your body is smart: it will recover a notch above the initial level - this magical behaviour is called ‘supercompensation’. If you manage to hit the right volume, intensity and most importantly: the appropriate recovery repeatedly, you will improve over time. If one could apply this principle to machines you could for instance buy a Fiat Panda and with the appropriate training grow it into a Lamborghini or a luxury-caravan.Practice To Pull The Plug:
Sleep Is Your Secret Super Power
One of my highly appreciated super powers is sleep. I can fall asleep within no time. In my early twenties, when I was a young Air Force cadet, military drills, infantristic maneuvers and physical exercise were a daily routine. At the Air Force Academy it was always a highlight to be woken up in the middle of the night by superiors for maneuvers. The standard agenda was to gear up, get on a bus and be thrown out in the middle of nowhere. From there the groups were to navigate back to the academy with a piece of a map, some flashlights and a compass. That's where everybody in the military learns a very valuable if not existential lesson: rest and recover whenever you have the opportunity. I still recognise the buses that carry military personnel while all the passengers are fast asleep. The ability to switch from an operating mode, whether of highly intense or shallow work, to downtime takes deliberate practice. Besides the military there’s another good school that will foster your capability to switch from intense work mode to downtime: in competitive sports you will also learn to strain your body and give it the appropriate recovery.Distraction Disrupts Downtime
People -especially young people- are developing ever more awareness for the addictive aspects of the internet and its threat to intense focus. In the modern world social media and along with it a permanent flow of distractions are omnipresent. Virtually everything is being ‘social medialized’. Nowadays every app seems to feature ‘like’ and ‘follow’ buttons which potentially trigger all kinds of notifications. The problem with this is that you are forced into a reactive pattern and your time is being fragmented by a steady onslaught of notifications. Whether it is emails, instant messages, Facebook newsfeeds, Tweets or Instagram notifications: there’s an outright war going on for your attention. However the distraction threat is not only valid for intense focus: deep recovery and distractions don’t go hand in hand neither. There’s tons of stories of people who have banned social media or locked away their smartphones over a period - it is like putting a heroin addict on cold turkey. I am not a fan of such radical measures. You should be honest to yourself and be aware of your addiction. It is ok to be addicted to a certain degree. Learn to control your addiction. Be aware of the hidden cost of technology and don’t just focus on the benefits. Define distraction slots during the day. Define purpose and rules for the use of technology, especially for social media. Don’t let yourself be owned by technology - instead own your technology. If the costs of a technology outweigh its benefits, ditch it.Dare To Shut The World Out
It still strikes me that in most work cultures downtime is not seen as part of work. Even the most modern and extravagant offices only have one venue that allows something that resembles lonetime and privacy: the toilet.Of course I am fully aware that the primary purpose of offices is not to offer infrastructure for leisure - even though Google, Pixar and a significant number of other new economy firms go a long way in order to do exactly that. During the past decade I had the opportunity to see around 50 companies big and small in size, from both traditional to young work cultures, low tech or high tech. The trend I see is that work spaces are changing. A trend that I welcome mostly, especially when office spaces are designed in a versatile way to allow for better and more intense collaboration. However I also see a threat in the development towards more open space offices. Some work requires uninterrupted focus. I find it hard to work in open spaces when I need to focus and concentrate over a longer period of time. The only way I was able to do that is to put on some noise cancelling headphones and listen to music - in fact I am doing exactly that at this very instance, however sitting at home at my desk. When I feel the need to get a defined piece of work done it implies focusing on the matter with high intensity. Collaboration should only be an option once you have done your share of the work and are able to show some results that others might be able to build upon. Unless you’re not able to contribute any discrete value to a team or to a project you should not waste anyone’s time - even if that value is only to have some questions or to ask for a specific support or help. As long as you don’t feel comfortable to produce anything finished, have the courage to take your time and to work hard. Retreat to your mind cave in order to focus deeply. In case you’re not able to focus deeply, try to restore your ability to focus. Take a walk in the park, listen to some music, meditate or do anything that recharges you. This can be as little as 10-30mins. Whatever you do in order to recover, apply the same rules you would apply if it was work: dedicate all you have to the task at hand and give it your 100%.
Take what you need first in order to give all you have.
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