To achieve more, relax more. And this gets back to the primary principle that epic performance without consistent renewal leads to depletion. The old model of working was get up early and work 18 hours nonstop, and you’ll get more done. Well, very good research is showing us that’s just not true. Actually, by doing that, you flame out, you diminish, you burn out your inner fire. And most importantly, you actually not only deplete but deteriorate your core assets of mental focus, physical stamina, and execution fire. Those are your three primary elite-performing assets. Your mental focus, it’s like a well, you run it dry, you start to lose it. But you not only empty the well, you actually start to deteriorate and damage your mental focus. The second key asset for elite performance is your physical energy, and you empty that well, and you don’t renew it and restore it, you don’t only empty it, you actually start to deteriorate it. And you wonder why you’re starting to have no energy. You can’t get out of bed. And then the third asset is your execution fire. Ideas and strategy are great but what creates awesome game is your execution fire to get the job done. And so the best performers, the finest of the very best, understand that these assets are cyclical. And so every day you want to have these intense bursts of your best game, and then you want to pull back, and restore it, and refill the well. And that could be through rest, or massage, or walking in the woods, sitting in silence, meditating, praying, taking a great bath with Epsom salts. A lot of the warriors and in Roman society, baths were understood to renew and restore. So cool concept number seven is simply to achieve more, relax more. There’s great value in taking time off every day. There is great value in taking a day off every week where literally for24 hours, you are away from your devices, you’re away from technology, you’re away from work. You’re just with your family, you’re watching sunrises, you’re writing in your journal, you’re reading, you’re sleeping, you’re out in nature. And that will actually allow you to achieve more. Every month, take a few days off. Every six weeks, take a week off. Go to a beach, go swim with the sharks, go learn how to ski in New Zealand, go to Tate Modern London, go to New York City and walk through Soho, go to Dubai and go out to the desert, and walk in the sand or do the dune driving. But those kinds of things are actually essential for you not only operating at your best with the three assets, but actually being in the game a long time. And the real game for the A player is not to operate at world-class and todo world-class work output for a few months or even a few years, the real focal point and obsession of the A-player is to sustain world-class over a lifetime. And very few people get to do that, but to me, that is really where you want to be playing at.
