I was in a hotel gym recently and these slogans troubled me. They’re popular in the high performance sports world and in deed how we’re encouraged to life our life. Fast and hard, push through, sleep when you’re dead and all that. I think that’s why we’re all injured, unhappy and on the verge of burnout too though.
If I go faster and harder I’m likely to get injured and if I run through walls I’m not likely to be back at the gym the following day. I see how it might be motivating when we’re tiring from an exercise point of view but I believe the most sustainable way to perform at our peak is to listen to our bodies, know where our energy is at, what we’re capable of and respond to that knowing it’ll be different on any given day.
Now I’m in the gym rehabbing from knee surgery so there’s no way in the world I’m able to push through walls, I can’t even run yet! In fact it’s that mantra in my sporting days that got me here in the first place with multiple ruptured ligaments.
What if we didn’t push through walls or need to be faster, stronger. What if we just did enough without sacrificing ourselves. What if we gave all that was in our tank without having to go into a deficit that left us overwhelmed and sick? I reckon that’d be a better mantra for performance both at the gym and in our life and work. It also means we’re much more likely to come back and be able to do it all again the next day and the day after. It’s sustainable excellence.
The problem with the no limits mantra is that as humans we do have limits. We have limited energy, we are only capable of working so many hours in a day before our effectiveness declines. Our muscles have limits to what they can do and our brains have limits to the amount of information they can consume. Behaving as if we have no limits means we’re constantly crossing those limits – bringing about burnout, illness, injury and overwhelm.
That’s not an excuse to sit on the couch either. As high performers that’s probably something we find more difficult than pushing through walls! It’s the middle ground, the sustainable approach.
I prefer the approach of Akitō, a Māori term meaning to do things slowly, to take time and therefore make a better job. To allow rather than push, to do less but better. A more sustainable, enjoyable approach to progress. When you take time, you give more attention, you get better results.
Nature is a great example, it knows it’s limits, it works within them and it’s constantly adapting to the seasons and changing as the environment does. Lao Tzu said “nothing in nature is rushed and yet everything is achieved”
Doing enough with what we’ve got on the given day and responding to the peaks and troughs that are performance – that’s a recipe for brilliance that’s sustainable.