Dude! Take it easy (on your nervous system).

The “getting ready” montage is one of my favorite cinematic devices.

It’s the hopeful moment in a movie or TV show that comes after the protagonist has hit a brick wall and, after considering giving up, decides to fight! They want to win!

One of the most famous getting ready montages is from Rocky. Well, all the Rocky movies actually have one. And this is often what we think of when we’re looking at launching a new product or service or even just starting a business!

We have this idea in mind that we’re going to go into crazy training mode and work super hard 20 hours a day.

But Rocky was doing what is commonly referred to as periodization training. This enables an athlete to build up over time for a specific event.

Then, after the event (or the fight in Rocky’s case) transitioning into rest and recovery because our bodies are NOT meant to run on SuperMax forever. It’s just not sustainable.

And the same is true for our minds. We can’t work super hard 24/7 forever and ever.

Now that we all have phones and 24/7 connectivity, many of us never really stop working.

And if you’re an entrepreneur or just a high achiever, you’re more than likely working 80-90% of the day….even if that’s just thinking about your business. It’s still work.

In order to be the best versions of ourselves, we have to employ some sense of periodization. We can work hard days and long hours leading up to a launch or something similar, but at some point, we have to rest and recover.

I spoke to an entrepreneur yesterday who just didn’t feel like he could dedicate any time to doing anything other than working lest he fall behind.

But for those of us who have embraced downtime, recovery, and rest (whether in our businesses or athletics), we know that we perform SO much better when we prioritize taking care of the machine that does all the work.

We only see professional athletes when they’re training for an event or in the event. What we don’t see is the countless hours of the day they spend sleeping, napping, lazing around on the couch, eating healthy food, getting massages, cold plunges, saunas, etc.

You get my point. We have to take care of the equipment if we want to be able to depend on it long-term!