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Stickgold proved that during sleep, on a very deep level we process the experiences and information that we gather while we are awake. When we sleep, and in particular when we dream, the brain goes through the countless things we were exposed to throughout the day—the cars we saw in a parking lot, the story arc of the TV show we watched, the ideas we generated, the new people we met, and so forth—and decides what is worth storing in memory. It also figures out where in our web of knowledge to store these things.
Sleep also impacts our self-control. In a review of numerous studies, researchers from Clemson University found that chronically sleep-deprived individuals have less self-control and are at increased risk for “succumbing to impulsive desires, poor attentional capacity, and compromised decision making.”
Almost all of sleep’s benefits occur in the later stages, mainly during something called REM, or rapid eye movement. We spend only about 20 to 25 percent of our total sleep time in REM. And, in an interesting twist, the longer we sleep, the greater the proportion of it is in REM. That’s because REM time increases with each sleep cycle. In other words, there are increasing marginal returns to sleep. Hours 7 to 9—the hours that the majority of us never get—are actually the most powerful.
“As we sleep, our brains replay, process, learn, and extract meaning. In a sense, they think.” Let’s pause for just a moment to reflect upon this in the context of the equation stress + rest = growth. During our waking hours we expose ourselves to all kinds of psychological stimulus (stress), and during our sleep (rest) we make sense of it all. As a result, we’re literally more evolved when we wake up the next morning. In our sleep, we grow. And we grow not just our cognitive and emotional muscles but our physical ones, too.
But if we listen and allow the body to rest, it shifts from a catabolic state to an anabolic one, in which the body repairs and rebuilds so that it can come back stronger. This is to say that the stress of hard physical training breaks us down, and it is only when we follow stress with rest that adaptation and growth occurs. This is especially true with sleeping, which is a catalyst for physical growth. Just as the brain is actively processing the work we’ve done throughout the day, when we sleep the body is doing the same.
Similar to the benefits of sleep for our brains, the benefits of sleep for our bodies also increase the longer we sleep. This is because with each additional sleep cycle we receive another pulse of powerful anabolic hormones.
Regardless of what all the “life hackers” may tell you, napping does not make up for insufficient nighttime sleep. You can’t nap your way to growth, be it physical or psychological. That said, napping does help restore energy and concentration during midday lulls, so it’s a strategy worth considering for long and intense days. A growing body of research demonstrates that naps can improve performance, alertness, concentration, and judgment.
most experts say anything under 30 minutes is effective. Even if you don’t actually experience the sensation of falling asleep, simply closing your eyes can help switch your active brain off, allowing it to recover. Staying asleep for more than 30 minutes, however, can be counterproductive. This is because with longer naps we run the risk of waking up feeling even groggier and more sluggish than before we fell asleep. This condition, called “sleep inertia,” occurs when we are awoken in the middle of a deep sleep cycle.
But here’s the thing: If we never take “easy” periods, we are never able to go full throttle and the “hard” periods end up being not that hard at all. We get stuck in a gray zone, never really stressing ourselves but never really resting either.
Research shows that breaks lasting 7 to 10 days have positive effects on motivation, well-being, and health that last up to a month. Other studies have shown that a week-long vacation can diminish or even completely eliminate burnout.
Rather than viewing vacations as a last-ditch tool to save someone on the edge, it’s better to think of extended breaks as part of a broader “rest” strategy that includes mini-breaks, sound sleep, and off-days.
PERFORMANCE PRACTICES •Regardless of the work you do, take at least 1 off-day every week. •Time your off-days strategically to follow periods of accumulated stress. •The more stress, the more rest that is needed. •To the extent that you can, time your vacations strategically to follow longer periods of stress. •On both single off-days and extended vacations, truly disconnect from work. Unplug both physically and mentally and engage in activities that you find relaxing and restorative.
The implications are straightforward: You can improve performance by priming yourself into a positive mood prior to important work that involves problem solving and creative thinking.
Equally as important as conjuring a positive mood is avoiding a negative one. In the interest of upping your performance, try to avoid people, places, and things that may put you in a negative mood.
athletes tend to perform best when everything is clicking not just on the field but also off it.
PERFORMANCE PRACTICES •Reflect upon the activities in your life that are most important to you. •Determine what state of mind and/or body they demand. •Prime yourself for performance by readying your mind and/or body prior to key activities. •Test and refine various priming techniques, eventually developing customized routines. •Be consistent: Use the same routine each and every time you engage in the activity to which it is linked (more on the importance of consistency in a bit). •Remember the impact of mood on performance; positivity goes a long way.
Ecological psychology suggests that the objects that surround us are not static; rather, they influence and invite specific behaviors. Experiments show that the mere sight of an object elicits brain activity associated with particular actions.
Strategic routines go far beyond superstitions, like wearing the same socks or underwear before a big event. Rather, the activities we do prior to performing prime our bodies and our minds into specific states, and the environments we work in invite and influence certain behaviors. When we repeatedly execute the same routine and work in the same environment, we create strong links deep inside our brains and bodies. We connect what we do before we work and where we work to the act of working itself. Essentially, we condition ourselves to work.
PERFORMANCE PRACTICES •Link key behaviors to specific cues and/or routines. •Be consistent and frequent; execute the same cue/routine every time prior to the behavior to which it is paired. •If possible, link key activities to the same context (e.g., time of day, physical environment, etc.). •If your pursuit requires variable settings, develop portable cues/routines that can be executed anywhere (e.g., a deep-breathing routine, self-talk, etc.). •Consistency is king. The best routine means nothing if you don’t regularly practice it.
Each time we make a deliberate decision, however inconsequential it may seem, our brain is processing different scenarios and evaluating all the options. As the decisions we make add up, so, too, does the amount of processing required by our brain. Just like any other muscle would, our mental muscle gets tired.2 In addition to fatiguing us over the course of a day, making decisions, even small ones, interrupts our acute train of thought.
The key to being a minimalist is making a routine out of just about everything that is not core to your mission.
When decisions are automatic, you skip the conscious deliberation and associated brain activity. You move straight from encountering a situation (e.g., I need to get dressed) to performing an action (e.g., putting on the same shirt as I do every day) without expending energy in between. In a sense, you are cheating fatigue, saving your mental muscle for things that actually matter to you. The more decisions you make automatic, the more energy you’ll have for the work you deem important. The most essential part about adopting the minimalist-to-be-a-maximalist lifestyle, then, is figuring out
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Motivation isn’t the only emotion that is contagious. Research shows that when we see someone else express happiness or sadness (e.g., by smiling or frowning), the neural networks associated with those emotions become active in our own brains. The same goes for pain; the mere sight of someone in pain activates our own neurological pain response.
show up every day and they do the work.
Strecher discovered that throughout history, when people focus on a self-transcending purpose, or a purpose greater than themselves, they become capable of more than they ever thought was possible. Strecher believes this is because when we concentrate deeply on something beyond ourselves, our ego is minimized.
This led Noakes to conclude that contrary to popular belief, physical fatigue occurs not in the body, but in the brain. It’s not that our muscles wear out; rather, it is our brain that shuts them down when they still have a few more percentage points to give.
What’s more, these effects were not confined solely to the lab. The individuals who reflected on their core values actually went on to overcome threats and fears in their lives at a much greater rate than a control group.
In situations that feel scary or overwhelming, our brain—our central governor, our ego, our “self”—automatically tries to protect us from failure. It shuts us down and tells us to turn in the other direction. Even if failure doesn’t mean physical injury, our ego doesn’t like emotional injury, either—it doesn’t want to risk getting embarrassed, so it ushers us down the safe route. It’s only when we transcend our “self” that we can break through our self-imposed limits. In a paradoxical twist, the less we think about ourselves, the better we become.
PERFORMANCE PRACTICES •Our “ego” or “self” or “central governor” serves as a protective mechanism that holds us back from reaching our true limits. •When faced with great challenges, our ego is biologically programmed to shut us down, telling us to turn in the other direction. •By focusing on a self-transcending purpose, or a reason for doing something beyond our “self,” we can override our ego and break through our self-imposed limits. •To the extent you can, link your activities to a greater purpose (more on how to do this in Chapter 9). This way, when you are faced with formidable
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Marcora believes that we constantly weigh our perceptions of effort associated with an activity (i.e., how hard something feels) against our motivation to do that activity. When perception of effort is greater than motivation, we slow down or ease up until the two are balanced. It follows that the more motivated we are, the greater the perception of effort we are willing to tolerate. According to Marcora, an athlete can improve her performance by either decreasing her perception of effort (i.e., training her body so that running 5-minute miles feels easier) or by increasing her motivation.
Purpose fosters motivation; motivation lets us endure a greater perception of effort; and enduring a greater perception of effort often results in better performance.
“Highly aversive experiences may become more bearable when they are viewed as having positive consequences that transcend the self.” The power of purpose strikes yet again, this time as a theme underlying grit.
Viktor Frankl, PhD, has shed light on how he and others managed to survive. In his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl wrote, “A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life.”
PERFORMANCE PRACTICES •We are constantly balancing perception of effort, or how hard something feels, with motivation. •If we want to endure more effort, which often leads to better performance, we may need to increase our motivation. •The best way to increase motivation is to link our work to a greater purpose or cause. •Not only will focusing on activities that help others make the world a better place, it will also make you a better performer. •Especially when we are feeling tired or worn out, we should think about why we are doing what we are doing.
The basic premise of “give back to get back” is that instead of moving away from your work when burnout strikes, you may actually need to move closer to it, albeit in a different manner. That different manner is “giving back” to your field. This can take many forms, including volunteering and mentoring, but the basic gist is that you should focus on helping others. Helping others activates reward and pleasure centers in the brain. Not only does this make you feel better, but it also helps you re-associate positive emotions with your pursuit.
PERFORMANCE PRACTICES •Find opportunities to give back in the context of your work; these can be more intensive, such as coaching and mentoring, or less intensive, such as posting sincere advice in online forums. •The only criteria is that your “giving” is closely linked to your work and that you give without the expectation of getting anything back. •While “giving” is especially powerful for preventing and reversing burnout, you should still aim to avoid burnout by supporting stress with appropriate rest.
Write down your purpose and strategically stick it in places where you are likely to need a boost.
Studies show that non-conscious visual cues (i.e., those that we don’t fully process) can alter the perception of effort, making something that is objectively hard feel easier. And as we mentioned in the previous chapter, consciously engaging with your purpose, even for just a few seconds, can have profound effects on your brain and subsequent motivation.
It should come as no surprise, then, that using our purpose as a mantra during “self-talk” (repeating it in our heads) can have significant performance-enhancing effects.
There is widespread evidence that self-talk boosts performance. In particular, studies show that self-talk increases motivation and willingness to endure uncomfortable situations. Self-talk is most effective when what we tell ourselves is short, specific, and, most important, consistent.
we also think it’s a good idea to reflect on your purpose every night. In particular, we encourage you to ask yourself: On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being “completely” and 1 being “not at all”), did you live today with purpose? After making your ranking, spend just a minute or two reflecting on what you could have done differently to move closer to a 10. If you gave yourself a 10, reflect on what you did to get there.
“Expressive writing”—a type of journaling that involves exploring issues that are integral and foundational to our lives—has been shown to strengthen the cells in our immune systems. In addition, expressive writing is associated with declines in depression and anxiety, reduced blood pressure, fewer visits to the doctor, improved lung and liver function, and increases in positivity and social connectedness.
Scientists speculate that expressive writing yields such profound results because it gives us a safe space to reflect on the issues that are most important to us.
There is nothing that enhances performance, vitality, and health like living on purpose.
There is nothing more gratifying or fulfilling than setting a goal on the outer boundaries of what we think is possible, and then systematically pursuing it. In a paradoxical twist, we are often at our best when we wholly immerse ourselves in the process of getting better. All of the great performers you heard from in this book share the inability to be content. Even though they may be atop their respective fields, they remain fiercely driven to improve. We hope that you are inspired to adopt a similar mindset in your own pursuits. Throughout this book, we’ve covered the key principles
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SYSTEMATICALLY GROW BY ALTERNATING BETWEEN STRESS AND REST Stress Yourself Seek out “just-manageable challenges” in areas of your life in which you want grow •Just-manageable challenges are those that barely exceed your current abilities. •If you feel fully in control, make the next challenge a bit harder. •If you feel anxious or so aroused that you can’t focus, dial things down a notch. Cultivate deep focus and perfect practice •Define a purpose and concrete objectives each time you set out to do meaningful work. •Focus and concentrate deeply, even if doing so isn’t always enjoyable. •Remove
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Nurture a growth or challenge mindset •Keep in mind that how you view something fundamentally changes how your body responds to it. •In situations when you feel the sensation of stress, remind yourself that this is your body’s natural way of preparing for a challenge. Take a deep breath and channel the heightened arousal and sharper perception into the task at hand. •Push yourself to view stress productively, and even to welcome it. You’ll not only perform better but also improve your health. Have the Courage to Rest
Apply your growing mindful muscle in everyday life •Have “calm conversations” during stressful periods; remember that you are separate from the emotions and sensations that you are experiencing. •Realize when you want to “turn it off” and then choose to leave stress behind. Taking a few deep breaths helps because it activates the prefrontal cortex, your brain’s command-and-control center.
Prioritize sleep •Reframe sleep as something that is productive. •Aim for at least 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night. For those doing intense physical activity, 10 hours is not too much. •The best way to figure out the right amount of sleep for you is to spend 10 to 14 days going to sleep when you are tired and waking up without an alarm clock. Take the average sleep time. That’s what you need. •For a better night’s sleep, follow these tips: Ensure you expose yourself to natural (i.e., non-electric) light throughout the day. This will help you maintain a healthy circadian rhythm. Exercise.
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PRIME FOR PERFORMANCE Optimize Your Routine Develop warmup regimens for important activities/performances •Determine what state of mind and body your performance demands. •Develop a sequence of activities that puts your mind and body in that state. •Be consistent: Use the same routine each and every time you engage in the activity to which it is linked. •Remember the impact of mood on performance; positivity goes a long way. Create “a place of your own” •Find physical spaces to dedicate to unique activities. •Surround yourself with objects that invite desired behaviors. •Consistently work in
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