The Power of Sleep and Deliberate Rest: Lessons Learned from Elite
Athletes and High Performers
Dr. Marty [email protected]
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.