The Power of Sleep and Deliberate Rest: Lessons Learned from Elite

Athletes and High Performers

Dr. Marty Martindrmartymartin@gmail.com

What is Sleep?

What is Sleep?

Sleep is a dynamic and regulated set of behavioral and physiological states during which many processes vital to health and well-being take place.

Sleep = Sleep Debt + Right

Time

Sleep Deprivation: Do Your Clients Get Your Best When You’re Just Getting By?

Is there any science to the negative effects of sleep deprivation?

§What is sleep deprivation?§ 7 hours (American Academy of Sleep Medicine)

§What are the impacts?üPoorer logical reasoningüDecreased alertness

üSlowed reaction timeüImpaired memoryüFaulty decision makingüMore errors/mistakes

Fullager, et al. (2015). Sleep and athletic performance: The effects of sleep loss on exercise performance, and physiologicalcognitive responses to exercise. Sports Medicine, 45, 161-186.

Invest in 1/3rd

of the day to OPTIMIZEthe other 2/3 rds.

Power of Goal Setting

Add your bed time and

wake up time to your

calendar.

Sleep, Schedules, and Individual Performance

The Magic of 10,000 Hours

This is how we’ve come to believe that world-class performance comes after 10,000 hours

of practice.

But that’s wrong.

It comes after 10,000 hours of deliberate practice, 12,500 hours of deliberate rest, and

30,000 hours of sleep.

The Secret Sauce of Elite Athletes

§ They mix up deliberate practice (10,000 hours) with deliberate rest (12,500 hours) throughout the DAY.§ Work 80-90 minutes with intensity and focus.§ Rest for 30 minutes with intentionality.

§ Get outdoors and surround yourself with nature.

§ They invest in recovery (30,000 hours of sleeping). § On day before the “big game,” they engage in sleep extension by sleeping not

the recommended 7-9 hours but 9-10 hours. § Why? Winning at high levels of performance and competition is a mental

game and a game played by optimizing FULL RECOVERY.

Is this true in your experience?

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Deliberate Rest

How many hours per day did the man that accomplished ALL of these achievements work each day except Sunday?

§ He modernized the banking system in the UK.§ He popularized the term “Neolithic” based upon his writings.§ He served in Parliament for decades.§ He wrote 29 books including a few best-sellers.§ He advocated for Britain’s bank holidays.

Deliberate Rest: Purpose Driven

Rest is not something the world gives us. It’s never been a gift. It’s never been something you do when you’ve finished everything else.

If you want rest, you have to TAKE IT. You have to resist the lure of busyness, MAKE time for rest, take it SERIOUSLY, and PROTECT it from a world that is intent on STEALING it [p.10] (from you, your performance, your well-being).

3 Easy Ways To Rest

•Unplug from expectations, commitments, and the flood of information.•Enjoy a mini-vacation before you feel fatigued. •Absorb your FULL SELF into something COMPLETELY

DIFFERENT.

ChronotypesTwo opposite chronotypes exist:§Morningness§Eveningness

Most people lie somewhere in between.

Remember to REST

DELIBERATELY.

Find Out Your Chronotype

Are you self employed?Do you have freedom to schedule your work?

Power of Time of Day

When you should schedule an initial client engagement meeting?

Schedule your prospecting,

client, coaching and “crucial

conversations” before lunch.

Are you under the influence at work?

The performance change between the daily high point and the daily low point can be equivalent to the effect on performance of drinking the legal limit of alcohol.

Dr. Russell FosterOxford University Chronobiologist & Neuroscientist

Are you proud of your decision making and logical reasoning competencies?

§Decision making is slower but more accurate in the morning. 1

§Decision making is faster but less accurate in the afternoon. 1

§Logical reasoning is best done between 8am – 2pm. 2

§After 2 pm, logical reasoning decreases linearly over time. 2

1. Leone et al. (2017). Time to decide: Diurnal variations on the speed and quality of human decisions. Cognition. 2. Fokard (1975). Diurnal variation in logical reasoning. Psychology.

Do you need to innovate to create or sustain a competitive advantage?

Insight or creative problem solving is best done under the following conditions.

§ When you are less alert.§ When your inhibitions are less engaged.§ When you are not at the peak of your analytical and reasoning

capabilities.§ Later in the afternoon or early evening when your analytical and

reasoning capabilities decline. 3

Wieth (2011). Time of day effects on problem solving: When the non-optimal is optimal. Thinking & Reasoning.

PEAK TROUGH RECOVERY5am-11am 11am – 5pm 5pm-11pm

Optimal Time for Analytical Tasks

Optimal Time for Administrative Tasks

Optimal Time for Insight-Creativity

§ Analyzing data§ Writing reports§ Going through

strategy proposals

§ Answering routine email messages

§ Making routine calls§ Filling out

spreadsheets§ Cleaning out your

inbox

§ Brainstorming§ Creating/Designing§ Innovating

Identify which tasks you do

BEST at which times of day.

Steps of the Financial Planning Process Phase

Identify needs and objectives Peak

Gather information PeakTrough (routine data)

Analyze information & develop a plan Peak (analyze)Trough (format)Recovery (design/style)

Plan presentation & delivery Peak (face to face)Trough (email delivery)

Implement the plan Peak (analysis)Trough (administrivia)Recovery (BIG change)

Review your progress & update Peak (analysis, monitoring)Trough (administrivia)Recovery (design/style)

Blow up your schedule for you and your office if it is NOT aligned

with your circadian BEST.

Sleep Formula

Sleep Debt + Right Time + Right Conditions

Seven Keys To Enhance Performance, Productivity, Satisfaction and Well-Being§ Invest in 1/3rd of the day to optimize the other 2/3rds. § Add your bedtime and wakeup time to your calendar. § Remember to rest deliberately.§ Find out your chronotype. § Schedule your prospecting, client, coaching and “crucial

conversations” before lunch. § Identify which tasks you do best at which times of day. § Blow up your schedule for you and your office if it is NOT aligned with

your circadian best.