I recently watched an old documentary of the pain and hardship a world Championship Boxer goes through to prepare for a fight. Normally around 12 weeks of training, clean food, massages, intensive training, all conducive to being at the peak of their performance levels come fight night.
What dawned on me was the emphasis in business around socializing with clients such as networking over dinners, which sometimes involves huge gluttonous dinners, copious amounts of alcohol and late nights. How many times have you seen someone present knowing they were hitting some big moves on the dance floor at 2am the night before?!
The differences are clear, so why do elite business-men and women not follow the regime for a healthy mind & body? One argument could be the need for periodization. The boxing analogy isn’t totally comparable, as an elite athlete needs to be at their peak once, maybe twice a year. Business people on the other hand need to be ‘on their game’ making smart decisions 365 days a year. Hold on a second; in theory would it not be more important for business people to take care of their living?
One thought that springs to mind is the idea of being a one-dimensional asset to a company. The thought of simply going to bed at 9, waking up at 6 to hit the gym followed by a protein shake and kale salad every day would seemingly be a great contribution to a healthy mind and body. However you could argue that a routine this rigidity could lead to lack of inspiration or ideas from the person. A CEO recently suggested to me that 90% of innovation within companies comes from outside experiences. This shows the need to keep the mind busy, meet new people, network & simply experience different things.
Another interesting shift I’ve recently seen is the incorporation of many Eastern principles in to the Western business world, things such as meditation or mindfulness for example. A calmness of the mind & a centering of ones self again seem to be a good thing to do in order to achieve peak performance at the work place. This started to make me think about whether or not there might be a formula for success in the business world & to always be at your peak performance in the same way an athlete structures his or her training regimen. What I have learned is the following work well for me.
- Sleep: Lots of it.
- Meditation, Mindfulness & Deep Breathing: Regularly.
- Fitness: 3-4 times a week.
- Socialising: With others outside of your workplace brings new ideas. A few beers also helps along the way.
- Exploring new places: Always makes you think differently.
- Reading: Papers & Books.
- Good food: Eat a McDonalds, see how you feel to prove this one out!
I'm not saying these things work for everyone but I'm often at my best when these things have been key elements of my week. If you try and build a formula from this & plan out every day of every year however, I do think you would run the risk of putting too much pressure on yourself. I think the key is to identify what works for you & get a balance of these things regularly. If you do, I think you’ll be giving yourself a fair shot of getting to your peak performance in the world of business.