There is a tendency for people to have a mindset of “I have to kill myself” to make more money, get stronger, lose weight, etc. Not everybody has this mindset, but we see our fair share of this mentality in the gym and I see a fair share of this with performance and business coaching. This is a recipe for disaster in the long-run.
The opposite is apathy and a lack of drive. We want to land somewhere in the middle. By being on the extreme ends of the spectrum we will either get nowhere or burn out. Neither of which is likely your goal.
If you are living your life like every day is a MAX effort day then you have a rude awakening coming in the form of adrenal issues, heart attack, stroke, digestive problems, sleep disturbance, relationship trouble, and depression. Just like we train at Kvell you must learn to cycle your effort from restorative to MAX. This will not only keep you healthier but it will lead to superior results over the long-term.
The cycles are different for everybody. But there is a cycle for everything we do from sleep/wake to work/recreation to physical restoration/working out. Finding your optimal cycles will create a life that feels less effortful and forced.
A good example of this is your sleep cycle. When you are off your normal sleep cycle you have to exert more effort to do the things you normally do without issue. This is happening in all areas of your life you just are less aware of it. If you don’t take sufficient time to restore your body it will become a forced effort to workout. If you spend all day cramming information into your brain and then don’t get sufficient sleep you will retain less.
Cycles progress from easy to medium to max and then repeat. You want to focus on improving or advancing by small amounts every cycle so that eventually your easy is what your max used to be. This takes YEARS. Further, mentally and physiologically speaking you want to only push yourself to the max for short infrequent bouts. Most of us are trying to run a marathon at a 100-meter dash pace day after day after day for our entire life. Even for Patrick Makau that would be impossible.
In the physical world, it is very apparent because our body simply says no. Well, our body tells us no when we are pushing too hard in other areas as well we just don’t listen. When your relationships are falling apart life is saying no to how you are doing things. When your body is unwell your body is saying no to how you are doing things. When your bank account is empty it is saying no to how you are doing things.
Start listening to your body and your life to determine how to optimize your rhythms and cycles for a more enjoyable, more successful, and less effortful life.