Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success

by Brad Stulberg

PERFORMANCE PRACTICES •Sleep 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, consolidated from the world’s leading researchers: Ensure you expose yourself to natural (i.e., non-electric) light throughout the day. This will help you maintain a healthy circadian rhythm. Exercise. Vigorous physical activity makes us tired. When we are tired, we sleep. But don’t exercise too close to bedtime. Limit caffeine intake, and phase it out completely 5 to 6 hours prior to your bedtime. Only use your bed for sleep and sex. Not for eating, watching television, working on your laptop, or anything else. The one exception is reading a paper book prior to bed. Don’t drink alcohol close to bedtime. Although alcohol can hasten the onset of sleep, it often disrupts the later and more important stages. Limit blue light exposure in the evening. Don’t start working on hard, stressful activities—be them mental or physical—after dinner. If you struggle with a racing mind, try inserting a brief mindfulness meditation session prior to bed. When you feel yourself getting drowsy, don’t fight it. Whatever you are doing can wait until the morning. Keep your room as...

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.

It turns out that a positive mood is also beneficial for problem solving and creativity.

Those in positive moods demonstrated increased activity in a region of the brain that is associated with decision making and emotional control.

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. As crazy as it sounds, research shows that something as simple as watching funny cat videos on YouTube can enhance subsequent performance on cognitively-demanding tasks.

mood has profound effects on performance deep inside our brains and bodies.

Be consistent and frequent; execute the same cue/routine every time prior to the behavior to which it is paired.

Consistency is king. The best routine means nothing if you don’t regularly practice it.

you should identify and strive to cut out all the superficial things in your life. You should be fully intentional with how you spend your most precious resource of all: time.

his entire life around eliminating distractions and decisions

“that don’t really matter.” In doing so, he reserves energy and willpower for the activities that are critically important to him. In other words, the secret to Joyner’s accomplishing so much, to being a “maximalist” in his field, is that he is a “minimalist” in nearly everything else.

“making many decisions leaves a person in a depleted state,” impairing his performance on future activities.

Become a minimalist to be a maximalist. •Reflect on all the decisions that you make throughout a day. •Identify ones that are unimportant, that don’t really matter to you. •Automate as many of the decisions that don’t really matter as you can. Common examples include decisions about: Clothing What to eat at meals When to complete daily activities (e.g., always exercise at the same time of the day so you literally don’t need to think about it) Whether to attend social gatherings (It’s not always a good idea, but during important periods of work, many great performers adopt a strict policy of saying no to social events.)

In addition to eliminating as many decisions as possible, don’t devote brainpower to gossip, politics, or worrying about what others think of you. (Unless, of course, your core mission is to

be an elected official—then these things are, in fact, critically important.) •In addition to reflecting upon daily decisions, think about the second- and third-order effects (e.g., commute time, financial pressures, etc.) of larger life decisions, like where to live.

larks perform best on tasks requiring creative insight in the evening, whereas owls tend to be most creative in the morning.

Protect the time during which you are most alert and use it for your most important work. Schedule less demanding tasks during periods in which you are less alert.

The best performers are not consistently great, but they are great at being consistent. They show up every day and they do the work.

we concentrate deeply on something beyond ourselves, our ego is minimized.

Thinking less about your “self” is one of the best ways to improve yourself.

In one study, researchers from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania found that hospital janitors who cleaned bedpans and mopped floors performed better and reported higher levels of satisfaction when their job was framed as being integral to the healing of other people. The janitors were constantly reminded that by keeping the hospital clean, they were minimizing the chance of bacteria spreading and harming the already vulnerable patients. They no longer saw their job as just removing vomit from the floors; they saw it as saving lives. Some hospitals have even eliminated the job titles “janitor” and “custodian” in favor of titles like “health and safety team member” or “environmental health worker.” Other research shows that college students working as phone solicitors asking alumni for donations improved their performance after a recent graduate spoke to them about how grateful he was for their work. This wasn’t just any graduate student, though; he had attended the university on scholarship dollars raised via the solicitation efforts of the students. In the month following this meeting, the student solicitors raised 171 percent more money. These are just two of many examples that show how linking one’s work to a greater purpose enhances everyday performance, even on mundane tasks. Just ask yourself: Are you more likely to give something your all if you know doing so will benefit someone else or a greater cause? For almost every great performer we asked, t...

Especially when we are feeling tired or worn out, we should think about why we are doing what we are doing.

Commitment

Consistency

Courage

Creativity

Enthusiasm

Honesty

Positivity