Secrets to Peak Performance in Life, Sports, Business and Beyond

“Stress is global. It’s really important to not just switch tasks but to try to build some space into your day, into your life where you can really just check out from all of those stimuli... the lowest hanging fruit is sleep. Sleep is so important [for mind, body, and emotional capacity].”     -Brad Stulberg libsyn  Have you ever felt overwhelmed like every part of your day was spiraling out of control and you weren’t enjoying your life at all? I admit that I have, and so have this week’s podcast guests Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness. Feelings of overwhelm and burnout happen to the best of us. In a society that pressures us to do everything and be everything all the time and where we are connected to our devices 24 hours a day, the idea of balance is impossible. We are told to have great careers, be in great shape, spend quality time with our families, cook, sleep 8 hours a night, eat healthy, have a social life and the list goes on. It’s hard to pull the e-brake and take some down time without feeling guilty or even knowing what you need to do to give your body and mind a break. After listening to this show, you’ll feel a sense of calm and will be empowered take back control of your time and energy doing one simple thing: rest.   But how do you actually execute that? [video width="940" height="788" mp4="http://www.sonyalooney.com/wp-content/uploads/EP14-video.mp4"][/video] Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness have had very close personal experiences with overwhelm and burnout. While their road maps to burnout were from different areas, they both experienced the same feelings and ultimately had to start over. Brad was working at the White House working far too many hours as a consultant and Steve was a completely committed high school phenom runner, clocking a 4:01 minute mile and never ran that fast again. Brad is now an accomplished writer for Outside Magazine, New York Magazine, Forbes, Runner’s World, LA Times, and The Huffington Post and Steve is a coach to the top runners and Olympians. Their book, Peak Performance is one of my favorite books. Steve and Brad combed the research on rest and energy management to bring stories from artists, top business professionals, athletes and more to teach readers to “have the courage to rest.” Their mountain of research shows that if you take the time to rest, you’ll be even more productive, successful, and inspired in your work and training I know I personally struggle with burnout. I don’t struggle to take rest days off the bike, but when I am reducing my training, it means I generally work crazy hours on all the other facets of my business. I love everything I do, but I take on way too much and never take any time to rest. Our addiction to results and success impact our self worth and self-identity. We are told to hustle, work harder, push HARDER! But where does all that effort start to break down and furthermore, what do the results of those efforts mean? In this podcast episode, we discuss self-identity and the awareness around the feelings like, “I lost, therefore I am a loser.” Those thoughts are not true and are tied to a fixed mindset. It’s something I personally had to work on in many aspects of my life, but that’s another story! (You can find some of it in this episode). If you view your self-worth based on your results, it makes you miserable. If you can change how you approach things and sever the umbilical cord of self-worth to results, you won’t fear failure as much because you are focused on the process, not the outcome. The book, Peak Performance, tells you exactly how to rest, how to manage all the moving parts of life and how to rest your mind and body. There is a “Performance Practices” section at the end of each chapter that I found really informative. Topics Discussed in the podcast (and their book) • self identity, validation, intrinsic motivation • anxiety and stress as performance enhancers • productivity • goal setting • personal expectations • optimal intervals of working and resting • sense of purpose and motivation • sacrificing sleep for work or work-outs • multitasking • what to actually do to rest Show Notes: Get the book : Peak Performance About the book: Peak Performance The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor Hysterical or superhuman strength Brad Stulberg on Twitter Steve Magness on Twitter Support the Show I happily do this podcast (for free) because I think it’s important to produce content that makes the world a better place and brings personal value to every listener. I would really appreciate any financial donation to support the growth of the show! Patreon Page Shop my products!  Leave a review or share on social media Don’t forget to subscribe! Apple Podcasts Stitcher Google Play